Join us this Wednesday for the 2021 Cotton Tour! The remnants of Hurricane Ida and the three doves that were in the area will be gone by Tuesday afternoon. Partly cloudy weather with mild temperatures are forecast for Wednesday- hard to ask for better field day weather! Continue reading
The 2021 Cotton Tour is less than a week away. You can access the agenda by clicking the above banner or here.
This event is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 1st at the WTREC (605 Airways Blvd., Jackson, TN 38301). Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. with the tour departing at 8:30 a.m. The tour will end at noon with lunch. University of Tennessee Extension and Research personnel from across the state will be presenting on a wide range of topics including: variety testing, including updates on ThryvOn; fungicides and target spot; weed and resistance management; defoliation; insect control; market outlook; and drought mitigation, just to mention a few. Pesticide Re-certification and CCA points will be available.
Cajun Express will be catering the event with fried catfish and chicken. Come join us Wednesday morning to pick up some useful information and eat a great meal right before dove season opens!
If I were to ignore the calendar, I’d rate Tennessee’s cotton crop as above average. Another half inch of rain would be nice, but considering, it appears things are progressing nicely. Unfortunately, we are staring at the last effective bloom date with fewer fruiting branches and subsequently fewer bolls on each plant than I’ve observed since I arrived in Tennessee. In this blog, I highlight a few decisions which we will have to make in the coming weeks and reasons why this crop may fail to fall within the same yield ranges we’ve observed in recent years. Continue reading
The West Tennessee Research and Education Center (WTREC) would like to cordially invite you to the 2021 University of Tennessee Cotton Tour. This event is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 1st at the WTREC (605 Airways Blvd., Jackson, TN 38301). Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. with the tour departing at 8:30. The tour will end at noon with lunch. University of Tennessee Extension and Research personnel from across the state will be presenting on a wide range of topics including: variety testing, including updates on ThryvOn; fungicides and target spot; weed and resistance management; defoliation; insect control; market outlook; and drought mitigation, just to mention a few. Pesticide Re-certification and CCA points will be available.
Cajun Express will be catering the event with fried catfish and chicken. Come join us Wednesday morning to pick up some useful information and eat a great meal right before dove season opens!
July rains and a rain on the first of August supported rapid growth in many areas. Over the past few days, two of the most common questions have become, ‘How much mepiquat chloride is needed to slow growth?’ and ‘should I also include Stance in the application?’ In this article, we highlight some interesting results from a preliminary study conducted during 2020. Continue reading
Finally, after 40 some odd days, our crop appears to be growing. Scattered rainfall earlier this week (June 29th and June 30th) helped but most showers were hit-or-miss. Today (July 1st), however, the rainfall across the area has been widespread. The crop has been waiting on this rain and I expect it will begin growing very rapidly by the end of this weekend. With rapid growth and an increase in number and size of squares, expect plant growth regulator (PGR) and insecticide applications targeting plant bugs to be required in the immediate future. In this blog, I cover a few points on PGR application timing and products, as well as provide some insight from Dr. Scott Stewart on our best options for plant bug control prior to bloom and immediately after bloom. Continue reading
In the past 10 days, the TN cotton crop appears to have turned the corner. Still, most all our acres classify as ‘late’, with the majority of the crop planted after the 15th of May. That in itself isn’t too troubling, but the failure of late May and early June to provide any decent growing conditions delayed our crop even more. A long fall would correct most all issues, but I’ve not had much luck slowing time or changing the weather. Fortunately, we can take a few management strategies in the coming weeks to partially mitigate our painfully slow start to this season. In this blog, I highlight management decisions in three areas that can help us emphasize earliness- fertility, plant growth and plant bugs. Continue reading
We kicked off the 2021 Cotton Focus Video Series with two videos from Dr. Scott Stewart. To wrap the event up, we are providing a final video covering plant bugs from Dr. Stewart.
Dr. Stewart’s video can be accessed below or by clicking here. Again, thanks to everyone for tuning in and a special thanks to our speakers!