Crop Scan AgReport – Crop Still Uneven but Progressing Well
August 23, 2021 
Cotton Grower® magazine’s Crop Scan AgReport for late August shows an overall crop that may still be ragged in maturity but continues to progress well (in spite of wind and rain in the Southeast from Hurricane Fred). Growers are still treating insects, primarily stink bugs in the east and aphids in west Texas. Fingers are still crossed for a long, open fall.
Wes Briggs is an independent consultant providing recommendations on weed, disease, insect and fertility management, plus variable rate soil sampling, for growers in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida for more than 30 years. He and his scouting team cover about 10 counties in the tristate area, checking cotton, corn, peanuts, soybeans, and some small grains.
Cotton here ranges from second week of open boll to first full week of bloom on our later double crop fields. Tropical Storm Fred passed over last week dumping 2 to 5 inches of rain. The wind off Fred twisted up a lot of cotton, causing a decent amount of fruit loss in the upper third of the plant. Yields still look promising, but we will need almost perfect weather conditions going forward.
Our older cotton is 2 to 4 NAWF and probably three to three and a half weeks out on defoliation. We have high hopes for a dry September so we can deliver a good cotton crop in 2021.
Target spot has doubled in the last seven days in older cotton since Fred came through. Plant bugs appear to have slowed down some, but stink bugs are a week-to-week battle. We are still seeing pretty high numbers of stink bugs in peanuts, soybeans, and other non-host crops. Spider mites have been spotty so far, but whiteflies are increasing in many areas. The majority of our cotton will escape any treatment of whiteflies, but the verdict is still out on our youngest cotton.
Overall, our cotton crop is really inconsistent in many fields that received too much rain earlier in the season. Cotton in the same field looks like 3 bales, but the same row on the other end of the field may be 700 to 800 pounds. With good weather, I think we can still average out well in the end.
Chad Harrell owns and operates Harrell Agronomic Services in Northeastern North Carolina. He is a member of the North Carolina Agricultural Consultants Association and serves on the board of the North Carolina Cotton Producers Association.
Overall, the crop is looking good. Our earlier planted cotton is starting to cut out and become safe from further insect damage.
We are still making treatments for stink bugs on the later cotton that will need to be protected for a couple more weeks. Stink bug pressure has been somewhat high recently in the cotton that is still susceptible. The moth flight has been moderate-to-light this year with much of the 2-gene cotton only needing one bollworm treatment.
We received about 1 to 3 inches of rain over the weekend. Many areas are still too wet to make applications for a few more days. We are looking forward to some drier weather in the forecast for this week.
Tucker Miller is a Mississippi-based independent private consultant for cotton, soybeans, corn, peanuts, rice, and vegetables. He is a member and past president of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association.
We have caught up a good bit. Cotton planted May 17 has caught up a week compared to the April planted cotton. We got good rains this last week and are done with cotton irrigation. I don’t want any more rain until after harvest. (Photo: Tucker Miller)
Mark Nemec is a Texas independent agricultural consultant, now in his 27th year of checking cotton, wheat, grain sorghum and corn in the Blacklands and Brazos River Bottom area of Central Texas.
It seems like we are sprinting to the finish in Central Texas. It’s been hot the last couple of weeks, and that has put the cotton crop in overdrive to maturity and cutout. Most fields have passed cutout and have thrown off the immature fruit. We are seeing bolls popping open on all the older stuff.
We did have some heavy rains this last week in some areas. Those fields will need to be monitored for re-growth. The rain will help the later and/or replant cotton.
We are pretty much done with worrying about insects except for the later fields. Stink bugs and spider mites are still around and giving us some concern on those areas.
Barring any bad weather between now and harvest, we are looking at a very surprising, good crop for the year we’ve had.
Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran, and Lamb Counties, providing education and applied research for weeds, insects, diseases, nematodes, growth regulators and harvest aids in cotton. He is a member of the High Plains Association of Crop Consultants.
Cotton continues to be all over the board on maturity. Our range of physiological status goes from just starting to bloom with +5 nodes above white flower (NAWF), to well bolled-up plants with only 2 NAWF. Ideally, your cotton crop would be in the 3 or fewer NAWF at this time.
Over the past couple of days, I have suggested some harsh treatment for some irrigated cotton which has been blooming for a while (2-3 weeks) but still has +6 NAWF. My suggestion has been to shut the water off for at least a week – maybe longer with this current weather – and apply 16-24 ounces of mepiquat chloride. Hopefully, that will get the plant’s attention and head it to physiological cut-out of 5 NAWF and less in the next week. Otherwise, it will end up with a bunch of immature, knotty bolls in the top half of the plant.
If you want to discuss your cotton situation and get some ideas if you’re concerned about finishing this one out, give me a call.
Now, the pests. Cotton aphids have continued to spread across most of the area, and I am aware of some applications being made for their control. In the scouting program, we have seen cotton aphids come and go in most every field. Beneficial insects such as lady bugs and green lacewing have cleaned up most all colonies over a period with few exceptions. The current weather pattern may be just what the aphids were waiting for to become much worse. So, scout, apply threshold of 40-70 aphids per leaf on average, and then treat accordingly.
Products to consider for cotton aphids are:
- Sivanto at 7-10.5 oz
- Carbine at 1.4-2.8 oz
- Intruder Max or Strafer Max at 0.6-1.1 oz
- Bidrin at 4-8 oz
- Transform at 0.75-1 oz
- Sefina at 3 oz.
Refer to this online publication on cotton aphid management and their control for more information.
Cotton bollworm activity has also been noted in very limited spots. No damage has been detected yet. Again, weather may change this course, so be scouting carefully in non-Bt and B2 cottons.
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