Crop Scan AgReport – Weed Control Catch Up, Plant Bug Battles and Plant Management

Cotton Grower® magazine’s Crop Scan AgReport for early July shows growers playing catch up on weed control following showers, battles with plant bugs and stink bugs, and looking for timely PGR applications. But overall, reports suggest the cotton crop looks pretty good.

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 ranges from 3-4 leaf stage to entering the second week of bloom. Most all locations we work have received rain the last 10 days. Scattered thundershowers and cloudy weather have put us behind on weed control. Applications are getting washed off, and we are also experiencing more burn this year than normal from our over-top sprays. We are playing catch up, and Mother Nature is winning. The week before July 4, we normally set up 15-18 layby rigs. This year, we’ve set up two so far.

Insect pressure has switched from thrip and aphid to plant bugs, stink bugs and plant growth regulators. We have sprayed all of our squaring cotton once, and some older cotton twice for plant bugs. Plant bug numbers are the highest I’ve seen in several years, and we are still finding high numbers behind treatments. Square retention counts have continued to drop in some locations behind two sprays. We have more Diamond tank mix application going out than ever to hopefully pick up nymph hatchouts behind sprays.

Where we’ve been able to stay on time with fertilizer and weed control, cotton looks really good to date.

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.

Our cotton crop is moving along. The earliest planted cotton is beginning to bloom, while the later planted will still be a couple of weeks. This week we are continuing to clean up weeds and apply PGRs where we have not received too much rain.

Plant bugs have picked up this week with more fields reaching treatment levels. A handful of fields have needed a second application.

We have had adequate rainfall in the last week with a few areas receiving too much, making it difficult to get in the field. We are expected to get a couple more inches from the tropical storm moving up our coast later 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.

Our cotton ranges from 10 nodes to second week of bloom. Plant bug sprays have been fairly low, but the bugs are really pouring out of the corn now. We are starting on our second round of sprays on the older cotton and only the first spray on a lot of the younger cotton. Aphids and spider mites have been low, but it is hot and dry now and we will probably flare them up with this plant bug spray.

We really need a rain now or we will have to furrow irrigate some cotton to activate fertilizer and herbicides.

We have replanted some soybeans in some of the bottoms but will take what we have left on most areas.

Weed control has been good, and we’ll start layby rigs this next week.

 

Mark Nemec is a Texas independent agricultural consultant, now in his 27^th year of checking cotton, wheat, grain sorghum and corn in the Blacklands and Brazos River Bottom area of Central Texas.

The heat is on here in Central Texas. We’ve been having spotty rains all over this last week, but the temperature has been warm as well. The cotton is responding to it by really putting on the fruit. We are still generally behind but catching up fast. Most cotton is starting to bloom now.

We’ve been picking up some bollworm eggs in spots, but we are not seeing a major egg lay as of right before July 4. Other insects have also slowed down. I have noticed several stink bugs just here or there snooping around.

Looks like growers have been doing a good job on controlling most weeds now that we have dried up enough get across the fields. PGRs have also been added to the mix to help keep this crop from running away from us.

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.

The West Plains of Texas has finally received some good general rains to end the month of June. As we look at the impact these rains have had on our lingering drought, we can take a 6’ soil probe and, on average, push it to a depth of +45”. So, we generally have a full profile now. This makes the prospects for the cotton acres we do have left, both dryland and irrigated, much better.

Weeds, though, have been a real challenge to stay on top of. Producers need to get back in the field, and soon, to continue their efforts to manage weeds. Another challenge is getting fertilizer placed. I would encourage producers to have their fertility in place in the next three weeks. Combine this moisture with some good sunlight and heat units in July and some of this cotton is really going to take off growing. Monitor the length of the top four nodes. We are currently averaging 5/8-1” in internode length. As it exceeds 1.5”, you will want to apply a mepiquat chloride product. I might suggest an 8-to-16-ounce application as soon as you can get into the field, and then be ready in another 10-14 days to do it again.

Insects continue to be relatively quiet. Since we are squaring, fleahoppers are our primary concern for 2-3 more weeks. We can find an occasional cotton aphid, but no established colonies. Grasshoppers have also been present where fields are adjacent to pastures and rangeland. Scouting fields on a weekly basis is critical. We cannot afford the loss of young fruit. Keep an eye out for Lygus and other plant bugs, as well as any larva pests.

So, priorities over the next few weeks are weed control, get fertilizer out, manage cotton plant growth, scout insects, and maintain good square set.