Once established, this fungus will survive between barley crops on crop residues at or on the soil surface. Use fungicide seed treatments to eliminate seed-borne inoculum. Rotating barley with other small grains or winter forage crops will greatly reduce losses to scald. Deep plowing or burning crop residues will also reduce scald damage. Keowee and Volbar are the only recommended varieties that have good resistance to scald.
Spot blotch can be a serious problem of all growth stages of barley.
Small round to oblong brown lesions with yellow halos develop on the leaves. These lesions often merge to form blotches which may cover a large part of a leaf. Severely damaged leaves usually wither and die. Head and kernel infections may occur if weather conditions are favorable. The fungus is often introduced into fields on infested seed and survives between grass crops as spores or mycelium in the soil or in crop debris.