I have had a few emails, tweets and phone calls from folks who are starting to find disease in corn in Iowa. It is very common to find anthracnose leaf blight on the lower leaves of young corn plants, particularly in corn-on-corn fields. If you know the disease cycle of this pathogen, this should be no surprise given all the spring rain we have had. Colletotrichum graminicola survives in surface corn residue. In moist conditions in the spring, it produces spores on the residue that are splash-dispersed onto these lower leaves. Infection and colonization of the leaf tissue occurs, and we see the dark irregular-shaped lesions on the bottom four to five leaves. Once canopy closure occurs, it is rare to see anthracnose leaf blight and, because it occurs so early in the growth of the plant, it does not affect yield. Furthermore, data from both Iowa and Wisconsin found no relationship between the incidence of anthracnose leaf blight and anthracnose stalk rot. Iowa State UniversityRobertson, Alison E., "Anthracnose Leaf Blight, Common Rust, Gray Leaf Spot and Goss’s Wilt Found in Iowa" (2013). Integrated Crop Management News. 43. The Iowa State University Digital Repository provides access to Integrated Crop Management News for historical purposes only. Users are hereby notified that the content may be inaccurate, out of date, incomplete and/or may not meet the needs and requirements of the user. Users should make their own assessment of the information and whether it is suitable for their intended purpose. For current information on integrated crop management from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, please visit https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/.