Slugs. There have been a few calls about slug feeding in corn, and I would expect some similar calls in other crops as they emerge. Slugs, unlike snails, lack shells and commonly feed on plants. They feed on leaves and sometimes cut the stems of cotton or soybean seedlings similar to cutworms. Snails rarely cause economic damage to field crops, and the ones typically encountered do not even feed on the plants. There are no Continue reading
The call of the last 10 days continues to be concerns on fomesafen carryover in corn. I had an opportunity to walk a number of these fields this week. The corn was showing the characteristic corn leaf vein chlorosis (picture right) caused by fomesafen carryover. It is not a real surprise as it is well known that fomesafen applied within 10 months of corn planting can carry over into corn. This has not happened often over the last several years because the summers/falls were wet compared to 2011. Wet soils will readily break down fomesafen. Another reason this has not happened in the last several years is due to Continue reading
As reported by NASS on April 17, 2012
FIELDWORK AND CROP DEVELOPMENT AT RECORD PROGRESS LEVELS. Corn planting continued at a blistering pace last week and early hay and strawberry harvests began. The wheat crop was in the heading stage. These development events at week’s end were at a record rate that is a full three weeks ahead of the five-year average tempo. Many corn growers reported that they were completely finished planting. Tennessee’s wheat crop and pastures continued in good-to-excellent condition. Continue reading
Armyworms in Wheat – Unlike some areas to our south, there have been very few calls on armyworms. Granted, many people included an insecticide with their fungicide, but the few reports of those that didn’t indicate that armyworms are not an issue. I have not found armyworms in the wheat at the Jackson experiment station. Dr. Angus Catchot did an excellent podcast about the treatment threshold for armyworms in Mississippi, which is essentially the same as ours (link here). Cereal leaf beetles also Continue reading
With corn out of the ground, one of our next steps is to get layby nitrogen on the crop. Nitrogen seems to be in good supply but price has gone up on urea, and delivery for some sources has been a little slow due to heavy demand around the U.S. Some things to consider with nitrogen are rate and timing of material and the value of a stabilizer material. Continue reading
What an unusual spring- but in a good way this time! Several growers are reporting being 100% completed with corn planting (and gearing up to plant a few soybeans) or much farther along than is typical for us by mid-April. As of April 9 we were about 46% planted for the state compared to a 5-year average of 15%. Corn planted in mid to late March was out of the ground in one week. Corn planted a week later is emerging more slowly due to more cloudy and cool weather but stands generally look good and color is pretty good. If you have checked any fields today (friday) we can see some leaf damage to small corn from light frosts reported 2 nights this week around the state. Injury is sporadic (low spots, exposed hills) and some fields have no visible injury at all. I think with temperatures close to freezing but not really much below freezing, we missed the worst effects of a hard freeze. The growing point for corn is still below ground and light frost injury should not cause any effect on yields.
There have been a number of calls on corn that is showing some stunting and interveinal chlorosis (Picture right). In some cases the injury is more substantial with some leaves showing some burn. The reason for some of this injury is fomesafen (Flexstar, Prefix, Reflex, Dawn, Rhythm) carryover from last year. Continue reading
Corn planting is winding down. The post application timing for corn has now started. There have been a number of calls from folks who are concerned they will get poor weed control spraying this week with the cooler night time temperatures. Continue reading