Crop Scan AgReport – Mid/Late June
June 15, 2020 
Taking a Field Level Look at the 2020 Growing Season
Chad Harrell owns and operates Harrell Agronomic Services in Northeastern North Carolina. The NC State graduate is a member of the North Carolina Agricultural Consultants Association and serves on the board of the North Carolina Cotton Producers Association.
“I would say our cotton crop is running about two weeks behind because we had a really cool and wet start to the season. We had a good bit of replanting and some growers were even finishing up replanting last week. The cotton that we did get planted early is growing well and close to being ready for layby.
“In terms of the dicamba situation, some of my growers had supplies on hand to continue their weed control programs. For those growers that didn’t have it on hand, we are planning Roundup and Liberty tank mixes. Our pigweed problem is probably not as bad as it is south of here, but there are pockets where it is severe and farms where it is not as bad because growers have done a good job with things like pre-emerge residual herbicides.
“We also have had some pretty heavy thrips pressure in this cotton that struggled to get a stand. Pretty much all the cotton with seed treatments has had a spray – even some that also had an in-furrow treatment in addition to the seed treatment.
“After that wet start, we were beginning to get a little dry here, but we have rain in the forecast pretty much all this week.”
Tucker Miller is a Mississippi-based independent private consultant for cotton, soybeans, corn, peanuts, rice and vegetables. He earned a BS in Agronomy and MS in Pest Management from Mississippi State University and is a member and past president of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association.
“The past week has been one for the books. We had three storm systems pass through our area. One came from the north with high winds and heavy rain. We then had the normal pop-up showers and 2 inches of rain with blowing sand. Lastly, we had the tropical storm that resulted in rain and wind. Needless to say, our cotton has been banged up from the weather.
“Most of our cotton is squaring or about to start. We sprayed some of our late cotton for thrips this last week due to the stress from the weather to get it back on its feet.
“We have started weed control applications with dicamba and Roundup. With the dicamba registration being vacated, there is a lot of uncertainty going forward. We have been spraying grass with airplanes to try to keep it down until we can get back in the field. There are a lot of escaped pigweeds that will need attention soon. Farmers have their dicamba on hand and will resume spraying as soon as it dries up.
“We are sweeping our cotton for plant bugs and are starting to find low levels on them. Our oldest cotton is around 8 to 9 nodes, and we will start PGR applications next week and add insecticides if needed.”
Mark Nemec is a Texas independent agricultural consultant who covers the Blacklands and Brazos River Bottom area of Central Texas. He primarily checks cotton, wheat, grain sorghum and corn, as he has for the last 26 years.
“Someone flipped the switch on us here in Central Texas. We went from wet and cool to HOT and dry in what seems like overnight. We’ve had highs in the mid to upper 90’s and topped 100 degrees last Tuesday with no rain for the last 2 weeks.
“This has been good for fruit set on the cotton, but it may be too much of a good thing. Our root system isn’t as deep as it should be, and the plants are wilting down in the hot, sunny afternoons. Those growers that can are getting ready to start watering. Or at least they should be.
“On a good note, insect pressure has been relatively light in most places. Fleahoppers are still popping up in a few places. I think as our corn is drying down fast, the stink bugs are lining up on the fence rows waiting for the fruit to get bigger. I’ve already seen a few “scouts” in my counts.”
Kerry Siders is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Agent-IPM for Hockley, Cochran and Lamb Counties. A Texas Tech graduate, he has been with Texas AgriLife Extension since 1990, 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 really struggled the second week of June with plus 100-degree temperatures and relentless +40 mph winds. Most emerged acres of cotton (cotyledon to 4 leaf stage) here on the west portion of the Southern High Plains of Texas has severely damaged leaves or none. Fortunately, most terminals were protected by these older leaves and will recover by forming new leaf material in a few days.
“Unfortunately, there are many stem/stalks which were blasted by moving sand at the ground surface, and this may be mortal injury. Needless to say, we are in need of a good general rain across a very large area to relieve these early irrigation demands, build back some soil structure to this sandy soil and allow a majority of dryland acres to come to a stand.
“Irrigation has brought on some weed pressure, causing the need to apply planned dicamba applications on our XtendFlex cotton varieties, which is the predominate technology. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sure put us in a tailspin last week, but EPA and TDA have worked things out where producers can spray their prior-to June 3 purchased stocks of XtendiMax, Engenia and FeXapan until July 31. Stay tuned, as this issue is still in flux.
“Thrips have been extremely low locally until you go north of the Sandhills in Lamb County. There have been more wheat acres present and harboring thrips. An occasional plant bug can be seen on weeds but so far not on this small cotton. In areas with Southern root-knot nematode, Fusarium has been noted, causing some stand concerns.”
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