The remaining Soybean Scout School is scheduled for 9:30 AM in Robertson County (see below). Scout Schools are 2-2.5 hour, field-side programs about the nuts and bolts of soybean growth and pest management. They are sponsored in part by the Tennessee Soybean Promotion Board and the USB. Scouting notebooks and sweep nets will be provided to participants while supplies last. Continue reading
Tennessee cotton is finally ‘growing off’. Still, here on the 3rd day of July, it appears few farms will reach the coveted ‘bloom by the 4th’. Although the environment has played a dominate role in maturity up to this point, management decisions emphasizing earliness have been particularly useful in 2015. This marks the third consecutive year in which managing for earliness has a marked effect on crop maturity by early July. 
On the heels of last year’s delayed crop, Dr. Owen Gwathmey and I began discussing potential benefits of managing a cotton crop for earliness and the management practices which encourage timely maturity and harvest with colleagues both within and beyond the University of Tennessee. We have summarized these thoughts in the attached Guide to Earliness Management in Short-season Cotton Production (PB1830). Continue reading
Trying to decide whether or not to spray fungicide on your corn? First, you should scout for diseases which is one of the key factors when considering a fungicide application. Continue reading
The annual UT Cotton Scout School will be held on Friday, May 29th in Room A at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center (605 Airways Blvd, Jackson). Registration will begin at 8:00 AM with the official program starting at 8:30. It will end with a lunch, but those interested can attend a short ‘go to the field’ session after lunch. We hope to increase the hands-on portion of the program this year. Topics will include crop development, insect and weed identification, scouting techniques, and more. No registration fee or preregistration is required.
As the rain in the forecast has diminished so has the risk for Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) in Tennessee wheat. Continue reading
So far little disease has been noted in Tennessee, but with the warmer and continuing wet weather that can change. Such weather can particularly lead to high risk for Fursarium Head Blight (FHB or Head Scab) infection. Continue reading
Once we start to thaw out from winter, wheat as well as diseases will start to grow and develop. In some areas stripe rust has already shown up, which may indicate an increased disease risk in wheat this year. Continue reading
With snow in the forecast, I hope you find some warmth in our hot-off-the-press 2015 Tennessee Cotton Quick Facts Publication (W 319) which is now available online. New this year are digital hyperlinks to all full-length UTIA publications. Simply click on the grey boxes or related QR codes describing the publication in which you are interested and your browser will do the rest. Keep losing your guide or tired of carrying paper guides around? Open this document with the reader on your mobile device (if Apple, your iBooks app) to have a digital copy at your fingertips at all times. Hyperlinks will still work!