The ‘turn’ this year wasn’t much of a turn at all- it was more like a crash. In this blog, I give a few last minute thoughts on the crop, provide the preferred concoction that I would use on our earliest planted acres that will receive harvest aids, and highlight content we will cover in depth at the upcoming Cotton Tour Sept. 9 (next Wednesday). Continue reading
Wondering what’s been making your soybeans sickly? Come to The University of Tennessee Soybean Disease & Insect Field Day, held Thursday, Sept. 10th, at the Milan AgResearch and Education Center. Continue reading
The tentative agenda for the 2026 Cotton Tour has been set! Content this year will cover information on cultivar water use efficiency, seedling diseases, defoliation recommendations for 2026, new findings from the weed control team, and updates on insect control, just to mention a few. We will have Cajun Cookers close the event with lunch. Come join us at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center (605 Airways Blvd Jackson, TN 38301) Sept. 9th from 8AM-12PM.
These are last weeks bollworm/budworm trap catches. Trap catch numbers are continuing to decrease and we have suspended monitoring for 2026.
| Location | CEW | TBW |
| Hardeman (Bolivar) | 3 | 0 |
| Fayette (Whiteville) | 0 | 1 |
| Fayette (Somerville) | 0 | 1 |
| Shelby (Millington) | 16 | 1 |
| Tipton (Covington) | 0 | 0 |
| Tipton (North) | 3 | 0 |
| Lauderdale (Golddust) | 6 | 0 |
| Haywood(West) | 11 | 0 |
| Haywood (Brownsville) | 2 | 0 |
| Madison (WTREC) | 35 | 0 |
| Madison (North) | 1 | 0 |
| Crockett (Alamo) | 0 | 0 |
| Crockett (Friendship) | 0 | 0 |
| Dyer (King Rd) | 3 | 0 |
| Dyer (Dyersburg) | 8 | 0 |
| Lake (Ridgely) | 17 | 3 |
| Gibson (Trenton) | 0 | 0 |
| Gibson (Milan Rec) | 0 | 0 |
| Carroll (Coleman Farm) | 1 | 0 |
| Location | CEW | TBW |
| Hardeman (Bolivar) | 8 | 0 |
| Fayette (Whiteville) | 0 | 0 |
| Fayette (Somerville) | 3 | 0 |
| Shelby (Millington) | 9 | 1 |
| Tipton (Covington) | 0 | 0 |
| Tipton (North) | 8 | 0 |
| Lauderdale (Golddust) | 10 | 1 |
| Haywood(West) | 0 | 0 |
| Haywood (Brownsville) | 0 | 0 |
| Madison (WTREC) | 40 | 0 |
| Madison (North) | 9 | 0 |
| Crockett (Alamo) | 0 | 0 |
| Crockett (Friendship) | 6 | 1 |
| Dyer (King Rd) | 8 | 0 |
| Dyer (Dyersburg) | 7 | 0 |
| Lake (Ridgely) | 18 | 0 |
| Gibson (Trenton) | 5 | 0 |
| Gibson (Milan Rec) | 0 | 0 |
| Carroll (Coleman Farm) | 6 | 0 |
The typical trial data release post on this blog contains little narrative. This post is not a typical one. In addition to providing the links to the 2025-2026 Tennessee Wheat Official Variety Trial Publication, I also recognize the efforts of both Dr. Dennis West and Mr. David R. Kincer for their combined 90+ years of service to Tennessee growers. Additionally, I briefly share the future plans for the program. Continue reading
Finding a cover crop variety that is adapted to both your region and growing system is critical to maximizing benefits like weed suppression, nitrogen credits, and more. This past year, we evaluated 21 cover crop varieties across 6 states (AL, KY, FL, GA, LA, & TN). Preliminary data tables showing how these varieties performed both early season and at termination can be found here 25-26 Southern Cover Crop Variety Trial Tables – Prelim. Not seeing the variety you want info on? Check out our archives with previous year’s cover crop variety trial results at https://search.utcrops.com/cover-crops#
With many of our cotton acres at or past cutout, wrapping up insect control is coming quickly. We’re beginning to see a general decline in plant bug populations but stink bugs continue to linger with numbers increasing.
Keep in mind that the average last effective bloom date is right around the corner (August 15-20th). This is the average date that a white flower has a 50% chance of making a harvestable boll. It is a roll of the dice whether bolls set after this date have time to mature before a frost. For late maturing fields that are just now or have not reached NAWF5, it is still advisable to continue to good insect management practices for 2-3 weeks to allow these last bolls to accumulate enough heat units to be relatively safe from insect attack.
Once cotton reaches NAWF 5, accumulated heat units (DD60s) determine when individual insect pests no longer pose an economic threat. Recommended termination thresholds are: