AgFax Southern Grain - Louisiana
by AgFax Media LLC, AgFax.com
OVERVIEW
Bollworm moth counts have taken a big pop in Arkansas and parts of Alabama. Tobacco budworm moth numbers are high in portions of Alabama, as well.
Southern rust made an early showing in Georgia corn and has turned up to a limited degree in other areas. But most of our contacts over the last couple of weeks are finding little of it, if any.
Fall armyworms are turning up in grain sorghum in parts of the Midsouth, although entomologists continue to steer people away from treating. Limited applications for sugarcane aphids in grain sorghum are being reported into northeast Arkansas.
Stink bugs have picked up in places in both corn and soybeans. No widespread battles are underway but the insects are apparent and some treatments have been made.
CROP REPORTS
Gary Wolfe, La-Ark Agricultural Consulting, Ida, Louisiana: "I picked up some worms today (6/20) in soybeans, but just in a corner. Even so, we could end up with a lot of corn earworm problems this year in both cotton and soybeans. Plenty of corn over here had to be replanted due to all the rain and flooding, and in places it was replanted within fields. To cut corners, a portion of that also was planted in non-Bt hybrids. So, we've got a bunch of late-planted corn and then some non-Bt corn. We could be in for a long worm season.
"Soybeans also were planted in some fields where corn was drowned out but part of that corn is still there, and some of it is tasseling now. So, just about everyone will be raising some worms this year. We've run a fungicide across the soybeans and have included something in places to take out three-cornered alfalfa hoppers."
David Kerns, Entomologist, Louisiana State University, Macon Ridge Research Station "Soybeans look good. We've got all stages up to R3 in northeast Louisiana, although some fields in south Louisiana are probably well past that. Stink bugs are an issue in south Louisiana and numbers are picking up here in those R3 beans. In our southern parishes the mix is heavily weighted toward redbanded stink bugs. In north Louisiana it's more of a hodge-podge – greens, southern greens and a few redbanded.
"We can't find a lot of worms in soybeans, although it's still a little early to see worm activity here. Our late-planted corn has had issues with grape colaspis feeding on silk in late corn, and a few people treated. It's really an anomaly when we have to spray them in corn. Still no sign of corn borers in non-Bt corn.
"Sugarcane aphids (SCA) are around but I can't say that they've really taken off. Treatments are being made, mainly in south and central Louisiana, and growers and crop advisors are addressing SCA as they need to. We can find a few here and there in north Louisiana.
"People are asking about fall armyworms in grain sorghum whorls. We're advising against treating. It's difficult to reach them with a spray and even the best material is only moderately effective. That also would be a fairly expensive application, and even with severe infestations, you don't suffer much yield loss. So, any kind of economic return with a treatment is questionable at best."