On September 18th, we applied a defoliation strip trial in Gift, TN. The field was 85% open with juvenile and mature leaves present. As you likely recall, this was immediately before a cold snap. Night temperatures for the next five days were 54, 55, 55, 59 and 57. In this blog, I describe the concoctions applied, share a brief video of the results 13 days after the initial application, and highlight a few important take-homes from the video. Continue reading
Are you thinking about putting in a cover crop this fall? While cover crops can provide many benefits, picking the right species and varieties for your system is critical to maximizing those benefits. Check out our 2020 cover crop variety trial results for a head-to-head comparison of 60 cover crop varieties at three TN locations.
Cover crops were planted in fall 2019 and evaluated for a number of important traits, including fall and winter canopy cover, biomass at termination (April and May), and estimated nitrogen release.
More information can be found in the full publication or excel tables. A virtual tour of the plots was also presented at the virtual Milan no-till field day and is available here.
If you trust the forecast, volatile temperatures should increase over the weekend before again falling into the upper 40s by the middle of next week. Thanks, 2020. Unfortunately, we do not have great options after Sunday and fields in West Tennessee are wet. This blog covers the mixes I’m running prior to Saturday afternoon, Sunday through mid-week and thoughts on whether or not that green, soft boll will mature before a freeze. Continue reading
Defoliation became a little more complicated this week. While we were lucky enough to miss the mid-week rain, the next few nights are going to be quite cold (upper 40s to low 50s) and it looks like it may be next weekend before lows reach the 60s again. Changing conditions justify a change in rate and often a change in product. In this blog, I highlight a few thoughts on building concoctions as we move through a pretty substantial shift in temperatures. Continue reading
Some have been concerned about losing dicamba due to court or EPA rulings. Everyone should be more concerned about losing dicamba and 2,4-D to Charles Darwin’s theory. Weeds developing herbicide resistance has caused the loss of many more herbicides than anything a court or the EPA has ever done. It’s not even a close race.
This is particularly true for Palmer amaranth. The newest development is that Palmer amaranth has evolved dicamba resistance here in Tennessee. We are in the beginning stages of Palmer amaranth, yet again, becoming a major problem due to the loss of a herbicides’ utility on that weed. Continue reading
In order to get points for participating in the 2020 Cotton Tour, you will need to click this link, enter your information and complete the quiz. The password to enter the quiz is ‘Cotton2020’.
The 2020 Cotton Tour Videos are now available. Presentations covering variety performance, weed, pest and disease management, irrigation and other topics have been recorded and posted on the UT Crops YouTube channel. You can access the entire Cotton Tour by following this link. We will be highlighting individual videos in the coming weeks on this blog. Continue reading
The annual Cotton Tour Field Day is going virtual in 2020. The event, which is typically held at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center, will be offered to the public online. Presentations covering Continue reading