Stalk rot occurs to some extent in every cornfield in Iowa each year because as corn stalks mature, they naturally decay. However, stalk rot can occur prior to physiological maturity and is considered a disease problem, which reduces yields in two ways. First, affected plants die prematurely (Fig. 1) and therefore produce lightweight ears with poorly filled kernels. Second, and this is more common, plants with stalk rot easily lodge (Fig. 2), which makes harvesting difficult, and many ears are left in the field.