Crop Scan AgReport – Into the Homestretch Toward Harvest

Cotton Grower® magazine’s Crop Scan AgReport for early September shows an overall crop determined to finish strong, despite some borderline hurricane rain and wind – plus some insect clean-up. Fingers remain crossed for a long, open fall.

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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.

Things are wrapping up fast in Central Texas. A little defoliant has gone out this week. With the heat we have had the last few weeks, and more in the forecast, I can see a lot more going out next week on the dryland cotton fields. Irrigated cotton in the Brazos Bottom looks like it will be a couple more weeks.

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Growers here are praying for dry weather so we can finally get a good crop out without it getting wet.

We are also praying for our neighbors to the east after Ida hit some of them hard.

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 has made good progress the last several days with generally 90-degree temperatures and mostly clear skies.

I have received several calls about heat unit accumulation this year. I cannot calculate for every location, but here are some stats on heat units (HU) for Levelland based on my National Weather Service observations that I submit each morning. From May 20 until September 1, we have accumulated 1665 HU (DD 60). In June, we averaged 17.4 HU per day, in July we averaged 16.5 HU, and in August we have averaged only 16 HU per day. Based on historical average daily temperatures from this point on, we should accumulate an additional 350 HU. This will give us a projected total of 2015 HU for the season – about 145 HU less than our historical average of 2160 HU.

As I have stated before, “We make cotton in August.” We continued to be blessed with rains in August. Temperatures have already begun to moderate, and we are losing day length as well. I mention this because of my nervousness as we go into September. Pray for open, sunny weather with an occasional gentle rain.

We all know, though, that we can have some weather events which can undo all the hard work we have applied to our crops. Now I do not mean a hail-out – I’m talking regrowth and delayed maturity. So, this said, and to my point…be careful irrigating into September.

Cotton insects generally have decreased across most area fields. I am not seeing the numbers of cotton aphids I did a few weeks ago. Most of these were cleaned up by ladybird beetles, green lacewings, and parasitic wasps. Cotton bollworms and an occasional armyworm species can be found in cotton, but little damage. The grain in the area has taken much pressure off from worms. The late and/or growthy non-Bt cotton fields with three and more nodes above white flower scattered throughout Hockley, Cochran, and Lamb counties will need to be checked for another 10-15 days. Lygus have become more common this week, so watch for them.

Cotton fields which reached physiological cut-out (5 nodes above white flower) before August 10 should have accumulated 400 heat units by now and will be safe from most insects other than cotton aphids. I plan on continuing to watch scouting program fields through the end of September. (Photo: Kerry Siders)

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.

 

It looks like we dodged a bullet with Hurricane Ida. Two to three inches of rain was the average for my growers. There was never any heavy rain during the day or night.

We have sprayed our last cotton for plant bugs this week. Not much had to be sprayed, but we felt like we had to protect the late cotton a little longer.

Our early planted cotton is about two weeks away from looking at defoliants. We are eight nodes above cracked boll on a lot of it. It looks like the hurricane did not hurt it as bad as it could have. We see a little hard lock in the older cotton, but not bad at all. Boll rot also was minimal. I think we still have a good crop, if weather cooperates the rest of the way out.

Our mid-May planted cotton has caught up a week and should be good. This cotton will be defoliated at the end of September or first week of October. A good hot September will be key to finishing it out. (Photos: Tucker Miller)

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.

Overall, cotton looks pretty good going into September. Currently we are drying out and getting much needed sunshine. Rain was spotty from Hurricane Ida – most of the heavy rain stayed back west in Alabama. Luckily we only received 1.0-2.5 inches, and wind caused a significant amount of lodging and fruit shed.

Cotton is opening up fast with dry conditions this past week. We may defoliate a little cotton in September, but October will be our big month. We are still two weeks off on any defoliation.

Double crop cotton is moving along pretty good and setting a good crop. Currently, target spot, nematodes, and developing pockets of silverleaf whiteflies are issues in younger cotton. Stinkbugs are our main focus right now and will be until defoliation.

We have a long growing season in Southwest Georgia, so September is wide open with irrigation and insect control. Weather can be unpredictable after Labor Day, but hopefully late cotton can get the heat units needed to finish it out.

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 has advanced a lot since the last update. Most of the later planted cotton has become safe from insect damage. The earliest cotton will be ready to defoliate in a couple of weeks. Hard lock has been minimal so far.

Most areas still have good moisture. We could use dry weather as this cotton is opening up.

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