Natural Remedies for Sweet Corn Blight

Cause and Appearance

Sweet corn blight is caused by a fungus that occurs naturally in a landscape and clings to both sweet corn and grass debris that is left to rot in the field at the end of each growing season. The fungus can survive the winter months on infected corn plants or grass and infect the following year's sweet corn crop. When the fungus that causes sweet corn blight attaches itself to a new sweet corn crop, the first signs appear on the lower leaves of the plants as brown spots, which spread and grow larger.

When you select sweet corn plants each planting season, look for cultivars that are crossbred to be resistant to the fungus that causes sweet corn blight. Numerous sweet corn cultivars meet this requirement, according to Darin M. Eastburn of the University of Illinois, including Apollo, Maxim, Lancelot, Silverado and Shield crest. If you purchase your sweet corn plants through a local nursery, ask the growers which of their sweet corn cultivars are resistant to blight and wilt.

Preventing sweet corn blight from year to year can also be accomplished through some pre-planning of your garden. Since the fungus that causes sweet corn blight remains on the previous year's corn remains, changing the location of your sweet corn stand each spring can help prevent the reoccurrence of corn blight. When changing the location of your sweet corn planting, choose a spot in your garden where you didn't plant any type of grass the year before.

Though the only way to remedy sweet corn blight is to prevent it, you can take steps to prevent its spread and minimize it's damage to the corn crop once it appears. Warmth and moisture help the fungus and corn blight spread, so careful watering can help keep fungus in check. When watering, make sure not to allow water to splash up on the leaves of the plant and provide the sweet corn stand in your garden with adequate drainage to prevent standing water at the base.