In looking at fields this morning (6/15/15) I did notice more instances of Rapid Growth Syndrome (RGS) which is also known as buggy whipping or onion leafing, affected plants have tightly rolled leaves at the whorl that do not unfurl right away, and may be wrapped so tightly that the plant will bend in some case almost perpendicular to the ground. The leaves of affected plants normally unfurl in a day or two, but can take as long as a week. Once these leaves unfurl you will notice a light green or yellow leaf, this is normal occurrence and is caused by the lack of photosynthesis of those leaves while they were wrapped up. These leaves will green up in a day or two and the only evidence of having been wrapped up will be a crinkled type of appearance on some of the leaves.
This phenomenon normally happens when we have cooler temperatures and cloudy days or slower growing conditions followed by very rapid growth conditions. I almost always see rainfall during those days preceding the buggy whipping. It has been my experience that plants that have had sandblasting earlier in the growing season and have had dirt in the whorl will are more prone to show buggy whipping symptoms.
During a growing season you may also see something similar symptoms if you have had a hail damage on plants. Those of us who while growing up were more prone to getting our weather forecast from a radio, television or newspaper and not our phones, are more likely to remember seeing these type of symptoms after an application of Growth Regulator Herbicide (Dicamba, or 2,4-D) especially if those types of products were applied closer to V5 or later.
In most instances plants affected by Rapid Growth Syndrome do not have a yield reduction.
