A sweet corn sample from a home garden in west Alabama was recently diagnosed with crazy top, a disease caused by the pathogen Sclerophthora macrospora. Symptoms of crazy top can include excessive tillering, rolling, and twisting of the upper leaves. Later, infected plants produce a leafy tassel. Symptoms can vary depending on the time of infection and amount of disease present. Infected plants usually don’t produce a corn ear.
Recent wet conditions in the state likely have led to limited outbreaks of this disease. Crazy top typically develops when soils have been flooded shortly after planting or before plants are in the 4- to 5-leaf stage. Pooling of water in the whorl and/or saturation of the soil for 1 to 2 days can lead to infection.
Crazy top can damage plants in low-lying areas of the garden or field that are susceptible to flooding. This disease is best managed by improving drainage or by avoiding low, wet areas when planting corn. Removing infected plants can reduce disease inoculum in the area for the next year.
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Integrated pest management or IPM is the use of multiple pest management tactics when pest populations reach above the action threshold. The action threshold is simply the level of pest populations when control should be implemented to avoid damage to the crop. Action thresholds help determine both the need for control actions and the proper timing of such actions.
Download the Home Garden Vegetable: Insect Control IPM Guide, IPM-1305.
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April’s Grow More, Give More Harvest of the Month is sweet peas! Find growing instructions as well as yummy recipes that use sweet peas below.
Garden Series Card
Recipes
- University of New Hampshire Extension’s Pea Hummus
- North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Bacon and Green Pea Salad
Find other Grow More, Give More Harvests of the Month at www.aces.edu/go/growmore.
32,157 Pounds of fruits and vegetables donated
$64,314 Retail value of fruits and vegetables donated
5,360 Number of families helped
66 Zip codes contributing
15,440 Vegetable and herb transplants donated
$11,580 Retail value of transplants donated
Bethany O’Rear, Regional Extension Agent, Home Grounds, Gardens, and Home Pests, Auburn University
Revised March 2024, 2023 Alabama Extension Grow More, Give More Impact, ANR-2977
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2023 Alabama Extension Grow More, Give More Impact, ANR-2977