Spring time is finally here and it is time to consider terminating winter-annual cover crops. Many people have been questioning the timing of cover crop termination. Much of West Tennessee has encountered a cool and wet spring, which has limited the biomass accumulated by the cover crops when compared to the last several warmer winter/springs. So do we delay cover crop termination to get more growth or wait? Continue reading
There has been some reports from various sources suggesting that insecticide seed treatments (IST) have limited value and don’t affect yield. Some of this is related to the anti-neonicotinoid craze that has become a very political issue. It is dangerous Continue reading
Soil temperatures are still running below 50 degrees and while there is a little corn planted in a few places, most folks are waiting for slightly warmer weather to begin planting corn. Corn sits still below 50 degrees and germination and emergence will take several days at current soil temps. Tennessee March weather is finicky and even though we can make decent corn by planting in March, every year is going to be different. This year is just not allowing us to get a very early start. Fortunately, our weekend and next week’s forecast look decent to start getting seed in the ground where it is dry enough, and this will allow us to have some early planted corn in 2014.
What are some good options to control ryegrass with a short turn around to plant back to corn? Continue reading
Apparently there has been a little corn planted in West Tennessee this week. I for one believe in early planted corn and am hoping the weather next week cooperates to where we can plant the bulk of the corn in early April. With corn planting in mind, I keep seeing an advertisement on TV about one-pass programs providing season-long weed control. This advertisement might be true in some places but not in our neck of the woods. Continue reading
It’s now old news that tobacco thrips in much of the Mid South have apparently developed resistance to thiamethoxam, the insecticide component used in several cotton seed treatments including Cruiser, Avicta Complete, and Acceleron N. Control failures with thiamethoxam were documented in several experiments throughout the Mid South this past season So what does this mean for thrips management in 2014? Continue reading
It finally looks like this long winter is coming to a close. We will likely start putting out burndown applications this week. We are well behind the burndown pace of most Tennessee springs where at least some would have burndown applications applied by this time. However, this was not a typical winter and as such we are not behind with respect to weed maturity. Continue reading
You may want to take time out to attend the Mid-South Ag Forum while at the Farm and Gin Show. The program is Friday, February 28, 1:30 – 3:30 PM. It will be held on the Mezzanine Level of the Cook Convention Center. Topics will include … Continue reading