Issue # 8, August 2, 2000

• Sending CCC Forms via FAX Machine
• Sunflower Midge
• Downy Mildew in Sunflower
• Plateau Herbicide Section 18 for Leafy Spurge Control
• Marketing Commodities Online    

Sending CCC Forms via FAX Machine

    The following are the minimum information needed to FAX CCC forms to the FSA office.  Before a FAX will be accepted, the producer must complete a FAX Signature Authorization and Verification form, FSA-237.  This form must be signed at the FSA office.  

CCC-666LDP

• Name
• Crop year, commodity, class
• Farm number
• Storage location, basis for quantity
• Quantity, quantity requested
• Signature, shares, date       

CCC-666

• Name
• Storage location
• Crop year
• Commodity
• Farm number
• Bin id, class, basis for quantity
• Quantity in bin, loan quantity
• Signature, date    

CCC-681-1

• Name
• Crop year, commodity
• Loan number
• Storage location
• Name, address of buyer
• Signature, date    

CCC-697

• Name
• Crop year, loan number, commodity
• Part A:  bushels
• Part B:  all
• Part C:  all    

Sunflower Midge

    I have been finding sunflower midge damage around the Cooperstown area.  At this time it is too early to assess how much damage has occurred.  There are no control measures for midge due to the time and length of adult emergence.  Variety selection is the best method for tolerance or resistance of this insect.  The following pictures are from samples taken from the headlands.  Damage was not assessed throughout the field.  One plant was infected with sclerotinia head rot.  Infection occurred from midge feeding damage.

    Midge damage to the stem (left).  (click on picture to enlarge)  

    Midge damage to sunflower head.

    Midge damage to the center of the head.

    Trumpet shaped heads due to midge injury.

Downy Mildew

    Downy Mildew and midge injury

The following is from the Sunflower Production Handbook EB-25

Description: Downy mildew has been observed on cultivated and wild sunflower throughout the United States and was quite common before the advent of resistant hybrids and the use of fungicides as seed treatments. It is
most serious in areas with flat topography or with heavy clay soils that foster water-logged conditions conducive for disease development. 

Typical symptoms in seedlings include dwarfing and yellowing (chlorosis) of the leaves and the appearance of white cottony masses (fungal mycelium and spores) on the lower and sometimes upper leaf surface during
periods of high humidity or dew.  Many seedlings are killed, but those that survive will produce stunted plants with erect, platform heads with little, if any, seed. When seedlings are infected several weeks after emergence, they usually start showing symptoms at the four, six or eight-leaf stage onward. Such plants have the typical leaf symptoms but do not exhibit the stunting normally associated with mildew. If susceptible plants are exposed to the mildew fungus after the seedling stage, they may develop a thickened, club-like root and become stunted but will not usually show foliar symptoms.  These infected plants serve to perpetuate the fungus in the soil and are more prone to drought stress and lodging. Wind-blown spores may adhere on the leaves and produce small, localized, angular chlorotic spots. These spots may coalesce and appear like systemic infection but the foliar lesions rarely produce a true systemic infection. Dwarfing and distortion of leaves also are symptoms typical of herbicide drift damage, especially 2,4-D and related phenoxy compounds, and these may be confused with downy mildew symptoms.  Herbicide damage, however, will never exhibit the white appearance (fungal spores) on the underside of the leaves nor the chlorosis typical of downy mildew. 

Disease Cycle: Downy mildew is caused by the fungus Plasmopara halstedii (Farl.) Berl. and deToni which is soilborne, windborne and seedborne. Sunflower plants are susceptible to systemic infection for only a
very short period, ranging up to a maximum of two to three weeks, depending on soil temperature and moisture. Cool, water-saturated soil during this period greatly favors infection. The plant is less susceptible to systemic infection after the seedling's root length exceeds approximately 1 inch. The fungus may persist in the soil for five to 10 years as long-lived oospores. Sunflower planted on land with no previous sunflower history has occasionally shown downy mildew infection. Windblown and soilborne spores account for the majority of such infections. Spores of the fungus occurring on volunteer sunflower or wild annual sunflower, even a few miles distant, may be blown to newly planted fields and result in substantial infection under favorable conditions of cool, water-logged soils. Spores may also adhere to soil particles and move to neighboring fields during dust storms. Water running through an infested field also may carry mildew spores into a previously disease-free field. These three means are the principle ways mildew may occur in fields with no previous history of sunflower. 

Modern seed production practices coupled with stringent inspection of certified seed virtually eliminates the possibility of introducing mildew into a "clean" field via infected seed. Seed from infected plants is generally either unviable or so light in weight that it is separated during seed processing. There is a slight possibility that viable seed may be produced on infected plants.  These seeds may either produce healthy plants, systemically infected seedlings, or plants with latent infection in which the fungus is localized in the roots and does not produce symptoms on the leaves. These latent infections, however, will help to perpetuate the disease in the field. 

Damage: Severely infected plants may die before or shortly after emergence or in the seedling stage. The few plants reaching maturity seldom produce viable seed. Heads on these plants typically face straight up, rendering them extremely vulnerable to bird feeding. Yield losses from downy mildew can be substantial depending on the
percentage of infected plants and their distribution within the field. If infected plants are scattered randomly throughout a field, yield losses probably will not be observed until infection exceeds 15 percent due to the compensating ability of healthy plants adjacent to infected plants. When the disease is in a localized area, such as a low spot in a field and all plants are infected, the resultant yield loss is much greater. 
Management: The discovery of new races of the fungus has altered management strategies. Virtually all commercial hybrids from the United States are resistant to races 1 and 2 of downy mildew. Now, at least nine
races of the downy mildew fungus are known to exist in the United States and many of these races also exist in other countries. As both sunflower and the downy mildew fungus are native to North America and have evolved together, other additional races of the fungus not yet detected may exist on wild sunflower and other hosts in the Compositae family. Commercial hybrids currently available have resistance to several races but no hybrids currently are immune to all known races. Breeding lines which are immune to all races have been identified and such resistance could be incorporated into hybrids.  Chemical control in the United States relies on the use of the fungicide metalaxyl (Apron) or oxadixyl (Anchor) as a protectant seed treatment. These
fungicides protect very well against root infection by all races but do not last long enough to protect against foliar infection. Since the fungicides are water-soluble, they can be washed off shallow-planted seed with excessive rainfall. No curative, foliar-applied fungicides are registered for use on sunflower against downy mildew. Additional management practices which will minimize mildew problems include extended crop rotations, eradication of volunteer sunflower, avoiding poorly drained fields or those with excessive low areas, and delaying planting until soil temperatures foster rapid seedling growth. 

EPA Okays Plateau Herbicide for Leafy Spurge 

    The EPA has approved a Section 18 exemption for the herbicide Plateau for use in pasture and rangeland for leafy spurge control on June 27.  The exemption allows a single application of Plateau at a rate of 12 fluid ounces of product per acre.  There is no grazing restrictions but hay may not be harvested from treated acres for at least seven days.  A maximum of 95,000 acres may be treated, and exemption expires December 31.
    NDSU has done quite a bit of research with this product and recommends a 8 oz of Plateau with 1 qt MSO/a.  Fall applications have had the best control.  Plateau offers another tool in our fight against leafy spurge.

Marketing Commodities Online 

    Farm Journal (July/August) recently review web sites that offered online marketing of commodities. Here are some of the sites listed.
    Consolidated Grain and Barge Company (http://www.cgb.com) has contracting capabilities where you can view posted bids and delivery periods or even offer an alternate price for your crops.  You register on the Web site and no fees are associated with online transactions.
    LocalHarvest through Ocean Group's site (http://www.localharvest.org) is an online farmers market.  Registration is free through the end of the year.
    CyberCrop.com (http://www.cybercrop.com) is schedule to launch throughout the Corn Belt and into the Plains states in late summer.  This site allows buyers and selllers to make realtime bids, offers, and counteroffers 24 hours a day on corn, soybeans, wheat and grain sorghum.  Free to sellers of grain, the buyers pay a per-bushel transaction fee.  The site will also offer news, weather and market information.
    FutureCom (http//:wwww.furturecom.org) is one of the first sites that is offering online trading of cattle futures and option contracts.  This was made possible by a decision by the Commmodity Futures Trading Commission.  You first must get an application for a free exchange membership, ther rule book and trading demonstrations (mock trading so you can try you skill starting with $250,000 in mock money).  Use of encrypted E-mail confirm the order fills, complete the maintenance margin calls and then even deliver the closed out position reports.  As a part of the software package, a separate program automatically collects running quotes so traders don't have to stay hooked to the exchange site but do have to have their computer online for retrieval of the real-time quotes.  Use of automated trading site is predicted to lower transaction costs to 25% of traditional fees and commissions.

Please Contact Our Office For Additional Information
E-mail: griggs@ndsuext.nodak.edu
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