There have been several reports of fall armyworms in wheat beans. Fields with weedy grasses or volunteer wheat are especially prone to infestations. The larvae start out on grasses and move to soybean (usually after a herbicide application takes the grass out). However, fall armyworms can sometimes make an appearance even if the fields are not grassy. Continue reading
By request, I am providing a list of active ingredients and trade names (see below). This does not include all examples. Feel free to make comments about other “generic” trade names you may be using. Please keep in mind that formulations may vary considerably, and thus, rates may need to be adjusted accordingly. Also, not all products be labeled for the same crops. It is your responsibility to follow instructions on the insecticide label. The information below is also available in UT’s insect control recommendations for field crops. Continue reading
The next 2-3 weeks is traditionally the most critical window for managing insect pests in cotton. We are setting the bolls that will make or break our crop, and it is harder to recover from significant boll injury than it is to compensate for the loss of early season. This mid-flowering window is the time when immature plant bugs, stink bug, and bollworm infestations may all coincide. Moth traps are beginning to show the onset of our traditional bollworm flight. Continue reading
This week trapping data is not fully reported at this time, but the second generation moth flight of southwestern corn borer is really picking up in some locations (link here for latest moth trap data). Continue reading
As we get further into the year, bugs begin to enter our fields, disease onset starts to occur, and weeds continue to flourish, our chances of making tank-mixed applications increase. This ultimately makes spray nozzle selection more challenging as most products require different droplet sizes. Continue reading
These are a couple of new pests we need to be on the lookout for. Let’s start with the good news. Continue reading
This article really pertains to insect management to all crops, but I’ll highlight a couple of relevant scenarios. A lot of the comments relate to a common theme. Insect management is often reactive. Spraying too early decreases effectiveness, often increase overall control costs, and unnecessarily select for resistance. Many of our most commonly used insecticides offer Continue reading
Blooms are beginning to become easier to find in West TN cotton fields. It appears first bloom (the period in which 50% of plants have begun flowering) has arrived roughly 7-14 days behind schedule. Our plots here and around Jackson have definitely jumped in the past few days with warmer temperatures and moderately clear skies. Still, the 7 day forecast looks more like May. With that in mind, I’ve collected and graphed the growing degree days (no cut-off temp, base 60) in Jackson, TN for the past 14 years. Continue reading