If you are noticing declining square retention even when no or below threshold numbers of plant bugs are detected four-bract squares may be the culprit. Malformed squares (extra bracts and extruding reproductive structures, see picture below) are being found in our planting date trial in Jackson. Continue reading
It was announced last week that a new insecticide containing the active ingredient sulfoxaflor, Transform 50 WG, was granted a Section 18 for use in Tennessee (link to previous article). Transform is made by Continue reading
So far I would have to say we’ve started out normally with tarnished plant bugs in cotton. There are treatment level plant bug populations present in some but not all fields. There have been reports of clouded plant bugs in the mix, and Continue reading
Do you know what this beetle is? I had several questions and was not identifying it correctly myself. This is Collops quadrimaculatus, a predatory beetle that feeds on all sorts of soft-bodied insects including aphids, whiteflies, mites, eggs and caterpillars. It has been seen commonly this year in soybean. Every so often I will try to do a “bug of the week” article.
This is just a heads up that there have been a few reports of cotton fleahoppers in cotton. This insect belongs to the plant bug family and can cause substantial square loss if present in sufficient numbers. Continue reading
We are at the stage of development when questions are coming in about the value of spraying insecticides on field corn at early tassel. This is usually a piggyback application where a pyrethroid insecticide is added to the fungicide. The potential value of this Continue reading
Frank Herry with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture collected kudzu bugs from kudzu in Polk County on 5/30/12 and Hamilton and Bradley Counties on 5/31/12. It was only a matter of time before this invasive insect found its way into our state. Since kudzu bugs were first found in Georgia in 2009, it has spread rapidly to cover most of Georgia and South Carolina. More recently, it has spread into much of North Carolina and several counties in Florida, Alabama, Virginia and now Tennessee. Kudzu bugs can occur in soybean at very high numbers, sometimes several hundred or even thousands per 25 sweeps. This insect has caused documented yield losses in soybean exceeding 30% if Continue reading
Transform, a new insecticide containing the active ingredient sulfoxaflor, has received an emergency use exemption for SOME counties in West Tennessee for the control of tarnished plant bug in cotton. This product Continue reading