I’ve had calls about cutworms and slugs this week. You can see my comments about slugs in last week’s post (link here). However, the most common question has been on armyworms in wheat. Calls have varied from low populations, but some with head clipping, to high populations that have caused severe defoliation. The picture below is that of near complete defoliation, including the beards of wheat, from Crockett County. Continue reading
Two new Cotton Production Fact Sheets are available as web based documents. Continue reading
The environmental conditions that allowed all the early planting are working against us from a weed management stand point. We have many starting to plant soybeans and cotton into soil that is dry. The hit and mostly miss showers of the last couple weeks do not bode well for getting pre applied herbicides activated in these crops. Continue reading
Horseweed (marestail) still present in fields after dicamba and glyphosate applied 2 to 3 weeks ago has been the most common call of the week. Many want to know if the twisted up horseweed will go ahead and die or if it will recover (picture right).
Some of this can be determined by pulling some individual horseweed plants out of these fields and breaking the stem in half. If the stem is beginning to discolor or Continue reading
What started out as a decent chance of rain today (Thursday) is quickly turning into isolated pop-up showers for a lucky few for most of the state except east Tennessee. The good news is our crop is young, water needs are low, and I think our corn and bean crops are in decent shape water-wise. But, as temperatures warm up and plants begin to grow, more water will be needed to support plant growth. Our earliest planted corn is at or near V-6 and some irrigation may be needed where Continue reading
“Planting cotton is the second great urge known to man.” I am not sure who to accurately attribute that quote to, but I have heard it several times from Dr. Will McCarty, former Extension Cotton Specialist at Mississippi State University. Continue reading
There have been a number of reports of pre applied herbicides not becoming activated in corn. In most cases a significant stand of Palmer amaranth is up with the corn. Continue reading
Many, many questions have been received over last week about how to manage the supply of nitrogen in light of more acres of early planted corn, and the need to plant cotton. While all forms nitrogen may not be readily available we need to keep perspective on our options. Continue reading