Indiana has received quite a bit of rain in the last few months, and fields are flooded throughout the state. How can you determine if you just have a flooding injury or a seedling disease has taken hold? Standing water leads to root suffocation as roots are oxygen-deprived and CO2 builds up. Digging up a few plants in the area can help determine the issue. If the outer root tissue sloughs off and reveals the white hair-like core of the root, then there may only be a flooding injury. If the roots appear rotted, brown and mushy, then a root rot may have infected the stressed plants. Flooding also kills the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, so you can cut open the soybean nodules to see if they have lost their healthy pink color. In contrast, seedling diseases, such as Phytophthora root and stem rot, can leave the roots brown and rotted, but[Read More…]