Category Archives: Insects

2017 MidSouth Cotton Defoliation Guide

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The Mid-South’s cotton crop is rapidly maturing and many of our acres will receive a harvest aid application soon after Hurricane Irma moves through the area.  There are many factors to consider in determining timing, products and rates.   In an effort to outline these decisions and provide harvest aid recommendations for the Mid-South, the 2017 Mid-South Cotton Defoliation Guide has just been updated by the MidSouth Cotton Specialists’ Working Group and is now available online.   To access the guide, click the image above or the included link.  Please keep in mind that this was compiled as a regional guide and should be used in conjunction with your previous experiences.

 

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Soybean insect update and identifying redbanded stink bugs

Many of our early soybean fields are turning yellow and came through the season not needing an insecticide application. I’ve had a number of calls about threshold levels of kudzu bugs in some of these fields. The threshold is 1 nymph/sweep, and some fields are running 2-3 times this level. Although this exceeds threshold, I’m Continue reading

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Finishing Cotton Insects … But Not Soybean

COTTON: Most cotton has accumulated enough heat units that the need for scouting and further insecticide applications has passed. Based on last effective bloom date for West Tennessee and the calendar, any insecticide applications in late maturing cotton should wrapped up within the next 4-5 days.

A short and sweet synopsis of the 2017 season is Continue reading

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Heat unit accumulation during 2017

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Heat unit accumulation has been the big question over the past week.  Mild temperatures settled over Tennessee during early August and there is some concern that the crop may not be maturing as quickly as noted in years past.  While I agree the weather has been quite comfortable, we are currently very close to the 30 year average heat unit accumulation trend noted from 1980-2010.

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Deciding to treat late season spider mites in cotton

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Discoloration caused by spider mites

People are often resistant to making applications to control spider mites, particularly later in the season. I understand the reluctance to treat. We’ve all had experiences where populations crash on their own or stay limited to small areas of a field, but the reverse is also true. The threshold of 30-50% of plants showing injury with mites present is the best we’ve been able to do, but we all know that rainfall or irrigation reduces the impactsof spider mites. The truth is that Continue reading

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Bollworm / Corn Earworm Update in Cotton and Soybean

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Good news, bad news.  The good news – I’ve only had a few calls about high infestation levels of bollworm (= corn earworm) in soybean. Most of these reports have been in late maturing soybean fields in or near the Mississippi River Bottoms. Bollworm infestation in cotton appear to be light to moderate. However, Continue reading

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Bollworm moth flight kick off

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The bollworm moth flight is kicking off now in some areas. Of course this has implications for managing bollworm in cotton, soybean, and grain sorghum. Hot spots this week included traps located near Whiteville, Goldust, south Jackson, and Ridgley. Please keep in mind that local populations may vary considerably. You can check out this week catches at the link below. I’ve had another report of 100+ west of Covington in the Hatchie Bottoms in 3 nights.

http://www.utcrops.com/BlogStuff/2017MothTrappingData.pdf

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