Recent Updates

Thoughts on terminating irrigation and defoliating our early acres

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I’ve spent the better part of the past three days walking cotton throughout West Tennessee, and while I’m pleasantly surprised by our earliest planted acres, I’m concerned the crop in many areas may fall well-short of what we might have expected at the end of July. In this blog, I briefly share my thoughts on how I would approach terminating irrigation in 2024 and what I believe may be our best first-shot blend for defoliating our earliest acres. Continue reading


Bollworm/Budworm Trap Catches (8/15)

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Location CEW TBW
Hardeman (Bolivar) 4 0
Fayette (Whiteville) 1 0
Fayette (Somerville) 0 0
Shelby (Millington) 5 0
Tipton (Covington) 2 0
Tipton (North) 1 0
Lauderdale (Golddust) 2 0
Haywood(West) 0 0
Haywood (Brownsville) 0 0
Madison (WTREC) 125 5
Madison (North) 1 0
Crockett (Alamo) 0 0
Crockett (Friendship) 0 0
Dyer (King Rd) 7 0
Dyer (Dyersburg) 8 2
Lake (Ridgely) 7 0
Gibson (Trenton) 0 0
Gibson (Milan Rec) 0 0
Carroll (Coleman Farm) 7 0

Bollworm Egg Lay Increasing In Cotton

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Bollworm egg lay across West TN is rapidly increasing. Our trap catches across the survey area are steadily increasing and I’ve started receiving several calls about large numbers of eggs . Fortunately, the vast majority of our cotton is Widestrike 3 (WS3) or Bollgard 3 (BG3). To date, I’ve had no reports of slippage through any three gene cotton in Tennessee. Going forward, our threshold for foliar applications targeting bollworms occurs when a combination of square and boll sampling shows 6 percent or more injury (e.g., 3 percent square injury and 3 percent boll injury, 4 percent square injury and 2 percent boll injury, etc.) and/or 4 or more larvae are present per 100 plants. Treatments based on egg lay is not recommended in 3 gene cottons. My colleague at Mississippi State, Dr. Tyler Towles, summarized our regional data (Fig. 1) demonstrating no economic benefit to making a diamide application to 3 gene cottons. Unless you’re at threshold, save the money on the diamide spray in 3 gene cotton.

Fig 1. Diamide Sprays by Bt Technology
Fig 1. Diamide Sprays by Bt Technology

One final note, as we are nearing the end of the 2024 growing season below are insect termination timings based on DD60s.

  • Tarnished Plant Bugs: NAWF 5 + 300 DD60s
  • Bollworms: NAWF 5 + 350-400 DD60s
  • Spider Mites: NAWF 5 + 350 DD60s
  • Stinkbugs: NAWF 5 + 400-450 DD60s
  • Fall Armyworms: NAWF 5 + 400-450 DD60s

Bollworm/Budworm Trap Catches 8/7

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Location CEW TBW
Hardeman (Bolivar) 4 0
Fayette (Whiteville) 0 0
Fayette (Somerville) 2 0
Shelby (Millington) 16 2
Tipton (Covington) 3 0
Tipton (North) 2 0
Lauderdale (Golddust) 6 0
Haywood(West) 0 0
Haywood (Brownsville) 0 0
Madison (WTREC) 126 1
Madison (North) 0 0
Crockett (Alamo) 0 0
Crockett (Friendship) 1 0
Dyer (King Rd) 13 1
Dyer (Dyersburg) 10 11
Lake (Ridgely) 20 1
Gibson (Trenton) 13 0
Gibson (Milan Rec) 0 0
Carroll (Coleman Farm) 3 0