With no reports of southern rust in Tennessee or to the south, it is a relatively quiet disease season in corn, with the exception of grey leaf spot and physioderm brown spot in Tennessee corn. Continue reading
A reminder that weekly moth tap catches for corn earworm (bollworm), tobacco budworm, and southwestern corn borer can be found under the quick links menu under Moth Trapping Data.
With the exception of southwestern corn borers (SWCB) in some locations , we’ve not been catching many moths. Now would be a good time to scout the whorls of any non-Bt corn for the presence of corn borers. Remember that the treatment threshold during the whorl stage is when 5% of plants are infested with SWCB.
Also remember that UT Pest Guides are available at http://guide.utcrops.com/. They provide the latest information of pest identification, sampling, and management in a mobile-friendly, app-like format.
Although most of Tennessee was blessed with an overabundance of rain this spring, warmer than average temperatures have increased water use by the corn crop and fields should be monitored now if irrigation is an option. Continue reading
This weather pattern has Palmer amaranth management in a terrible fix for many fields in West Tennessee. The rain that has occurred on an almost daily basis for over a week in many areas has delayed early POST herbicide applications. The forecast for rain into June looks to be a similar pattern. There will likely be a very small window to spray until the first week of June for numerous fields. Palmer amaranth is growing quickly and now is often in the 1 to 3” range where a PRE was used and 10 to 14” range in fields where no PRE was used. Continue reading
Judging by our research here as well as field visits and phone calls from folks walking corn fields it is very apparent that pretty much any PRE applied herbicide in corn has given out. Even some of the PRE applied herbicides that traditionally have provided consistently long weed control like Acuron or Bicep have given out about 25 days after application. In a few fields I visited today clearly no PRE was applied to the corn and Palmer amaranth jungles were very evident in the fields. After visiting these fields I will take a PRE that has given out any day. Continue reading
Clearly the most frequent call the last few days of April and the first half of May has concerned corn replant. All through early May the calls have been on how to destroy a partial stand of corn and replant back to corn. In just the last few days the question has been on how to remove a poor stand of corn and then plant back to soybeans or cotton. Continue reading
Be alert for true armyworm infestations in wheat, and these larvae may also migrate into soybean, corn or other crops from adjacent wheat fields of grassy ditch banks. They might even be on weedy grasses or wheat or other grasses used in cover crops, and this could cause a problem if Continue reading
Much of our corn took a long while to emerge, and there has been opportunity for cutworms to infest fields since planting. Hence, make sure to scout for cutworm injury while checking stands. UT recommends treating for cutworms in corn when 5% or more of plants are injured or when you find 2 or more larvae per 100 plants. Synthetic pyrethroids are generally used to control infestations. Recommended insecticides and rates are listed here.