Daren S Mueller
Daren Mueller is a professor and extension plant pathologist at Iowa State University. He is also the coordinator of the Iowa State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. Daren received his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, and his master's degree and doctorate in Plant Pathology from the University of Illinois-Urbana in 1999 and 2001. Daren’s main research interests involve understanding the biology and management of field crop diseases. Daren is also a co-director of the North Central IPM Center and the Crop Protection Network.
Subscribe to RSS FeedIn 2024, commercial foliar fungicides were evaluated across seven Iowa State University research and demonstration farms to determine their effect on disease control and yield response on soybeans.
By Nabin K. Dangal, Edgar Nieto, Stith Wiggs, Jose Gonzalez-Acuna, and Daren S. Mueller.
Crop scouting performed by farmers and Ag professionals is one of the most important steps towards predicting possible issues and diagnosing existing problems with health of a field- informing critical management decisions.
Made possible by partnering with Integrated Pest Management (...
A Masters of Agronomy student, Kelsey Richie, is conducting a survey in hopes of getting a better understanding of how tar spot may affect farmers' decisions around fungicides.
Brrrrrrrrr. Is summer ever going to come? It’s cold. It’s wet. Planting progress is behind and everyone is starting to get antsy. When we finally get our seed in the ground, as Emily Unglesbee so eloquently wrote, “...
Foliar fungicides were evaluated across seven Iowa State University research and demonstration farms to determine their performance for disease and yield response on soybean in 2021.
Planting soybean in the same field that just grew soybean is not recommended. Soybean yield will suffer even before factoring in environmental conditions, weather, and pest/disease pressures.
Four different studies in Minnesota and Wisconsin have shown a yield decline of at least 5% and...
I have seen yellow patches in Iowa soybean fields this past week. Plants within these patches have foliar symptoms that appear to be caused by sudden death syndrome (Figure 1; SDS). When...
The “I See Dead Plants” podcast, a new offering from the Iowa State University Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program, is now open to listeners interested in learning how plant science research impacts everyday life.
Crop management experts are interviewed to share findings about plant...
If you grow specialty crops in Iowa or another North Central state, please help us with a study to:
- assess frequency, severity, and other details of herbicide drift damage.
- measure related farmer...
Several Crop Protection Network (CPN) webinars are scheduled for this spring. Some of the best minds in agriculture will talk about ways to keep soybeans healthy.
Martin Chilvers, Michigan State University associate professor of plant pathology; Carl Bradley, University of Kentucky...
The 2020 derecho left large amounts of downed corn as it swept across Iowa. Farmers faced the challenge of determining the best way to deal with this corn, which in some cases is being left in the field. Most of these fields will be planted to soybean in 2021, which brings up an interesting...
Help the CPN determine how to serve you best through this short survey.
The Crop Protection Network (CPN) develops tools to help farmers, ag industry, and...
Wind and storm damaged soybean have been reported across Iowa, creating yet another stress for farmers this growing season. Certain fungicide products are marketed as being capable of reducing stress in crops, so should they be sprayed on soybean this late in the season?
...
Crop scouts and field researchers now have a new tool at their disposal to help correctly estimate disease severity and insect defoliation in field crops. The new online tool has been created by the Crop Protection Network and can be...
Hailstones damaged corn and soybean in multiple locations across Iowa on July 11, 2020. Fungicide use after hail injury is sometimes suggested as a way to benefit damaged plants. In order to help determine if fungicide use after hail is beneficial, Iowa State University undertook multiple years...
Now is the time when decisions to apply a foliar fungicide in soybeans are being made. As you are making that decision, this is a quick reminder that fungicide resistance, particularly to the quinone outside inhibitor (QoI) fungicides (FRAC Code 11), has been found to be widespread in Iowa in...
Corn is starting to tassel and beans are flowering so no wonder everyone is asking about fungicides.
There is also a lot of talk about preventative and curative fungicides. Some fungicide labels also use these terms. What exactly do they mean? When is a fungicide “preventative”? When is...
Now that we’re within the time frames for planting to achieve optimal yields for corn and soybean, producers might be getting antsy with the cold, damp weather, and weighing the risks of a potential cold front that can cause damage to germinating seeds or seedlings.
For those that have...
With the 2018 growing season coming to an end, it’s time to bust out the record books and begin logging the most prevalent diseases we’ve seen this year in Iowa soybeans. It’s important to review these diseases so that farmers, agronomists and all of our partners can make informed decisions...
The University of Illinois, Urbana, is seeking assistance from its friendly neighbor to the west, the corn-state of Iowa, in locating samples of tar spot in corn. This is part of the university’s new research project investigating the genetic variability of the tar spot pathogen.
Tar spot...
Widespread hail occurred in Iowa on 6 June 2018, causing damage to many acres of corn and soybean plants. At this time, most of the corn is in the V6 to V8 growth stages, while soybeans are at the V1 to V3 growth stages. Some areas of the state also received hail injury earlier this season....
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach published the Field Crop Scouting book as an online learning tool for crop scouts and other ag professionals in Iowa. This interactive textbook allows individuals to acquire knowledge about multiple crop scouting topics to help create stronger crop...
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has published an updated version of the Soybean Diseases publication to help farmers and other professionals in the agriculture industry identify and scout for disease threats to soybean production in Iowa. The publication includes scouting tips,...