EARLY CORN HARVEST UNDERWAY ON LIMITED BASIS
Corn for grain harvest has begun and roughly a third of the corn crop is physiologically mature. Except for corn, all crops remain in fair-to-good condition. A few parts of the state, especially West Tennessee still need a soaking rain. Soybeans have begun to drop leaves but most of the crop is blooming and setting pods. Even though dry conditions have persevered in some areas of the state, pastures continued to green-up and rebound. Continue reading
TOBACCO HARVEST BEGINS
A relatively short dry spell came to a relieving end as scattered showers hit the state at weeks’ end. Pasture conditions continued to slowly improve, and all crops except corn remain mostly in the good category. Cattle are rated exceptionally good as only 9 percent are rated in the very poor-to-poor range. Tobacco harvest is underway as two-thirds of Tennessee’s tobacco has now been topped. Continue reading
As reported by NASS on July 30, 2012
HAY HARVEST A MAIN FARM ACTIVITY LAST WEEK. Tennessee farmers last week devoted a great deal of time to harvesting warm season grasses for hay. July rainfall sparked unusually good growth, allowing warm season grasses to flourish. With the exception of corn, crops improved slightly in condition and are rated in mostly fair-to-good condition. Soybeans are blooming, and cotton is setting fruit. Pastures are greening-up and range from fair to good. Tobacco topping is in progress. The corn crop was rated mostly in very poor to poor condition with some very early harvest in the Southern section of Middle Tennessee. Continue reading
As reported by NASS on July 23, 2012
WARM WEATHER AND MODERATE RAINS AID GROWTH. High temperatures and moderate rains stimulated crop growth last week. Crops continued to develop at a faster rate than usual. All crops remained in fair-to-good condition, with the exception of corn. Pastures were rated in poor-to-fair condition, but have improved Continue reading
Reports of Southern rust in corn have come in this week. Southern rust in large amounts coming into corn prior to dent can have an effect on yield. It typically shows up very late in our growing season, making a late fungicide spray generally unnecessary. Continue reading
As reported by NASS on July 16, 2012
DROUGHT NOT OVER BUT WIDESPREAD, PLENTIFUL PRECIPATATION RECEIVED! Soaking rainfall and lower temperatures characterized the conditions which greeted farmers last week. The drought is not broken as some areas of the state experienced only light-to-moderate precipitation. Overall, state crop condition ratings improved, especially for soybeans. However, the corn condition rating, although improved, continued to point to a season with over half the acreage in a heavy or extreme loss of yield situation. Some renewed optimism now exists for soybeans, cotton and tobacco which are rated in mostly fair or good condition. Continue reading
Soybean – There have been few calls on soybean. Stink bug populations are low with a few exceptions. However, I’ve definitely seen an upturn of green stink bug adults in early maturing soybean. No significant infestations of corn earworm or other caterpillar pests have been reported. With some of the recent rains, insect pressure may pick up. I’ve had a few calls on blister beetles, primarily the striped blister beetle. Seeing a few small spots of blister beetles Continue reading
Still haven’t had a rain? I can’t spin this. If you are not irrigating or had a good rain, drought is seriously hurting yield potential. So what does this mean in terms of insect control? There is talk about abandoning the crop or discontinuing insect management. In some cases, it makes sense to relax treatment thresholds, but we need to maintain Continue reading