Soybean Farmers Advised to Check Fields for SDS Symptoms

Farmers seeing Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in soybeans this summer are being urged to look closer for a dangerous mimic: red crown rot. Alison Robertson, plant pathologist at Iowa State University, says the emerging disease can be easily mistaken for SDS if growers rely only on leaf symptoms.

Robertson says, “The best way to check for red crown rot is to look at the base of the soybean stem, and if you see little bright red structures, it almost looks like the soybean plant is bleeding — then you probably have red crown rot.” Robertson’s message to growers and agronomists this season is to move beyond windshield scouting when they see SDS-type symptoms in fields.

Robertson emphasizes that confirming how widespread red crown rot is in Iowa now will depend directly on what farmers send in from their fields.