Frost/freeze effects on soybean rust?
What kind of effect will the Easter weekend freeze have on soybean rust development this season? The following reports were filed Sunday and Monday on USDA's soybean rust web site:
- Florida: "We had a record breaking frost Easter morning, with temperatures in the Panhandle below freezing for several hours. We will not know what this means to the rapidly growing kudzu for several days, but expect that the rust epidemic will be set back several weeks. To see the Quincy, FL overnight weather open the Word file below. Our normal last frost is March 15."
- South Carolina: "Kudzu was roughly 75% sprouted and growing rapidly when a hard freeze (25F) across the state on the night of April 7 killed more than 50% of the leaves in our sentinel plots in Barnwell and Springfield Counties. This freeze also severely damaged most of the corn, cantaloupe and watermelon crops."
- Louisiana: "It is unknown at this point whether the low temperatures in the northern half the state had any affect on soybean sentinel plots. the southern half shows no damage to soybeans or kudzu."
