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Thumb of Michigan | All things being equal, the answer is yes.
2 theories on why, choose whichever you like.
1. Theory one (Michigan State) The spores are prevented from hitting the flowers due to the residue being in the way. Much like a person trying to jump up and down in a room that's right above their head.
2. Theory two (Wisconsin) The spores are light sensitive. The residue mimics a full canopy. If the spores believe that May is really July because of the shading of the residue and the spores become active, so what? There's no flowers to infect.
I believe both theories are OK by me. I have no idea why there's so much "fact" perpetuated that no-till causes greater incidence of white mold, there's just too much data proving the opposite. I do know that some "corn belt" universities used to promote plowing to control white mold. That recommendation was made at one I know of for sure that I won't mention ( starts with a P and ends with an E) with absolutely zero data to back it up. I believe that recommendation has since changed, but to be honest it didn't bother me enough to ever check that out. In fact, almost all the mold control measures that same university was promoting had either zero effect or could in fact perpetuate white mold. Go figure.
But really, why would any northern states know anything about white mold? We've only dealt with it for 4 or 5 generations.....
As mentioned, variety selection is the number one way to prevent white mold. Row width helps. We chose 30" rows because we got better yields over narrower rows, regardless of white mold pressure. Cover crops such as rye help- not because the rye has anything magic, but because it shades so much of the ground when its killed. See theory one or two above.
I realize there are chemical controls. Cobra and Contans come to mind. There are some very effective cultural controls available as well, they seem to get forgotten easily for some reason. | |
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Does no-till suppress white mold spores?
