It is hard to believe how different this crop looks now compared to the end of July. Although our earliest planted acres and acres planted on ‘thin’ ground have mostly bloomed out of the top, many of our later planted acres and acres on moderate to strong ground have just passed peak bloom. In 2022, the last effective bloom on many of our earliest planted, cutout acres flowered weeks ago. In contrast, the last effective bloom of our later planted acres will likely be determined by the number of heat units remaining in the season. You can easily see these two contrasting scenarios in the above video; the later planted cotton has blooms throughout the canopy and is riding 4-6 NAWF while the earlier planted cotton cutout weeks ago. In this blog, I tackle the concept of last effective bloom, our predicted last effective bloom date and how we must use these concepts in 2022 to maximize our return on investment. Continue reading
Recent Updates
Bollworm/Budworm Moth Trap Catches (8/12)
Weekly Moth Trap Data | ||
Date: 8/12 | ||
Location | Bollworm | Tobacco Budworm |
Hardeman (Bolivar) | 2 | 1 |
Fayette (Whiteville) | 3 | 0 |
Fayette (Somerville) | 0 | 0 |
Shelby (Millington) | 13 | 16 |
Tipton (Covington) | 0 | 0 |
Tipton (North) | 0 | 0 |
Lauderdale (Goldust) | 53 | 14 |
Haywood (West) | 3 | 0 |
Haywood (Brownsville) | 1 | 0 |
Madison (WTREC) | 23 | 0 |
Madison (North) | 1 | 2 |
Crockett (Alamo) | 0 | 1 |
Crockett (Maury City) | 1 | 0 |
Dyer (Kings Rd) | 13 | 3 |
Dyer (Newbern) | 1 | 4 |
Lake (Ridgely) | 3 | 35 |
Gibson (Kenton) | 11 | 2 |
Gibson (Milan REC) | 3 | 1 |
Carroll (Atwood) | 29 | 3 |
Grain Bin Safety Awareness/Rescue Training Aug 20, 2022 in Dyersburg
More and more farmers are looking to use on-farm grain storage to have the ability to produce more corn and take advantage of grain market price variations. While on-farm storage offers the farmer flexibility in the harvest process, there is a need for grain bin safety training to help farmers and rescue squad members learn how they can knowledgeably respond to a potential accident.
The one-day training program is specifically designed for emergency responders who may be called to a person or persons trapped in a grain bin. Upon completion of this course, the responder will possess the specialized knowledge to function as a member of a grain rescue team. Local farmers and extension agents are encouraged to attend to learn how they can assist in the event of a grain bin emergency. Continue reading
Tennessee Market Highlights- 08/05/2022
Corn, soybeans, and wheat were down; cotton was mixed for the week.
Is the harvest low in for corn and soybeans?
December corn futures established a six-month low on July 22nd at $5.61 ¾. Since then, prices have increased nearly 50 cents closing the week at $6.10. Similarly, November soybeans had a six-month low, of $12.88 ½ before subsequently increasing to $14.08 ¾ on August 5th. Recent moves in futures markets and the drier/hot forecast for August in many production regions would tend to support higher prices moving forward. However, this year has been filled with volatility and abrupt changes in direction, so a challenge to current harvest lows cannot be ruled out. To give examples of the volatility, one only needs to look at the last 20 trading days. In 11 of the last 20 trading days the November soybean contract has seen daily moves of greater than 25 cents, including moves of 62 and 62.5 cents down and 37.75 and 38 cents up. For December corn, 9 of the last 20 trading days have had daily changes of greater than 10 cents, including a 42.5 cent decrease and a 19.5 cent increase). Simply stated, markets still have a tremendous amount of uncertainty and daily price swings are reflecting that uncertainty. Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.
EPA Requests Comments on Organophosphate Cancellation Petition
The EPA is soliciting public comment on a petition from several organizations to cancel remaining organophosphate (OP’s) insecticide registrations. OP’s are widely utilized in Tennessee row crop agriculture and are critical components of IPM programs. Cancelling an important crop protection product would place increased pressure on a limited number of control options available to producers. We are encouraging agricultural professionals to comment to the EPA on the impacts OP’s have on your production systems. If you need assistance with comments please contact your UT extension specialist. The link to comment is below. Deadline for comments is August 11, 2022.
Organophosphate registrations Regulations.gov
EPA–HQ–OPP–2022–0490
Bollworm/Budworm Moth Trap Catches (8/5)
Weekly Moth Trap Data | ||
Date: 8/5 | ||
Location | Bollworm | Tobacco Budworm |
Hardeman (Bolivar) | 1 | 1 |
Fayette (Whiteville) | 10 | 0 |
Fayette (Somerville) | 1 | 0 |
Shelby (Millington) | 12 | 15 |
Tipton (Covington) | 2 | 0 |
Tipton (North) | 1 | 0 |
Lauderdale (Goldust) | 40 | 20 |
Haywood (West) | 6 | 0 |
Haywood (Brownsville) | 0 | 0 |
Madison (WTREC) | 50 | 2 |
Madison (North) | 3 | 1 |
Crockett (Alamo) | 0 | 0 |
Crockett (Maury City) | 6 | 10 |
Dyer (Kings Rd) | 35 | 1 |
Dyer (Newbern) | 2 | 0 |
Lake (Ridgely) | 19 | 15 |
Gibson (Kenton) | 30 | 1 |
Gibson (Milan REC) | 0 | 1 |
Carroll (Atwood) | 23 | 2 |
The ‘shed’, the ‘switch’, and PGR management
Rainfall was welcomed during the Milan No-till event last week and has continued since, with decent chances in the forecast over the weeks to come. Questions this week have mainly concerned our first major fruit shed event, the ‘switch’, what to do about it. In this blog, I attempt to tackle plant growth management decisions as we quickly approach our last effective bloom date.
New Data on Controlling XtendFlex Volunteer Soybean in XtendFlex Cotton

What are some options to control volunteer XtendFlex soybeans in XtendFlex cotton fields? As mentioned in an earlier blog both Envoke and Staple look to be potential answers to this new issue but without data it was difficult to say. It was brought to my attention that Dr. Alan York, emeritus Professor at North Carolina State University, actually has some data on this problem. A study was conducted in North Carolina and Georgia in 2000 and 2001 with the objective of examining if Envoke, Staple or MSMA could control Roundup Ready volunteer soybean in Roundup Ready cotton. Continue reading