AgFax MidSouth Cotton - Louisiana
By AgFax Media LLC, AgFax.com
OVERVIEW
Worst ever? Several of our contacts this week said that this has been one of the toughest cotton planting seasons they can remember. Several people made similar comments last week, as well. Too much rain and cool conditions delayed planting and stalled crop development. Sand blasting injured plants and prompted at least some replanting. Seedling disease has taken a toll, too. That doesn't even count losses due to flooding in the upper Midsouth in early May.
Rainy conditions continue through much of the region, with brief periods when field work is possible. Granted, that's a sweeping generalization, but nobody this week mentioned that farmers were watering corn.
Thrips treatments are still being made in some young cotton and/or in fields where plants were set back by the weather, seedling disease or other stress factors.
A bit more cotton has started squaring in the earlier planted fields. Can plant bugs be far behind?
REDBANDED STINK BUGS: HEADED EAST?
Redbanded stink bug (RBSB) have turned up in the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama in a pronounced way. Ron Smith, veteran Extension entomologist, told us on Wednesday that he had just found heavy numbers of RBSB that overwintered in alfalfa at the Wiregrass REC at Headland.
He said they could potentially become a problem this summer in soybeans in south Alabama and the Florida panhandle, based on the numbers he picked up.
RBSB have been vaguely sighted in south Georgia in recent years, according to Extension personnel there, but this population in southeast Alabama sounds more pronounced. Smith first found RBSB in southwest Alabama a few years ago.
However, a string of hard winters likely prevented them from expanding their range in Alabama, Smith said. This year's mild winter evidently went in the insect's favor.
"People here aren't familiar with RBSB, so most don't understand how much damage it might cause," he added.
LOUISIANA CROP REPORTS
Dan Fromme, Louisiana Extension Cotton And Corn Specialist
"Cotton is clicking along. We continue receiving a lot of rain, and some areas definitely have had too much water. It's rained weekly pretty much since people first started planting.
"Cotton planting has stretched out from March to last week, so it's at all sizes, with a lot of those differences due to replanting. Also, parts of central Louisiana received more rain than other areas, so planting there was put on hold quite a bit. No insect or disease issues are turning up. All the cotton that would have been planted is pretty much planted now. Growers finished up the remaining 5% to 10% last week."
Ashley Peters, Peters Crop Consulting, Crowville, Louisiana
"We're finished with planting and a little replanting. In some of our earliest cotton I'm seeing something that's just barely big enough to consider a square. Some of the latest cotton is working on the third leaf.
"We're waiting for fields to dry up again. Rains fell Sunday night. Depending on the area, the totals seemed to range from a quarter-inch to 3 inches, then some areas yesterday (5/29) received another 0.3 to 0.4 of an inch. Strong winds moved through the area, too, and knocked down trees and reportedly caused one death. When possible, we've been concentrating on herbicide work and have been spraying thrips in the last 7 to 10 days.
"The majority of our soybeans are probably blooming, and the earliest are close to R3. Beans look great and corn is tasseled and maybe half pollinated. Nothing is hurting for moisture – that's for sure."
Steve Schutz, Ind. Consultant, Coushatta, Louisiana
"We're very wet right now (5/29), and several tornadoes hit the area with this last storm. Plenty of people are without power and may be for several days – including me.
"The storm didn't hurt our cotton, and I'm only finding a little hail damage. Our cotton is mostly at 3 to 4 leaves, with some maybe at 5. We did spray some thrips and we may recommend more treatments, depending on what I find this week. But most cotton is pretty much past thrips, and with this rain it should move fast.
"Another 2.5 inches of rain fell yesterday, but 2 inches of that came down in less than 30 minutes. Winds hit 60 to 70 mph, aside from any tornadoes. It blew enough that my roof started leaking, and thousands of trees are down between here and Natchitoches. However, I've seen almost no snapped corn, and even what did break over might have been due to wild hogs. Some corn is leaning but hardly any of it appeared to be broken over.
"Preemergence herbicides haven't been working as well or as long as they should in our later-planted soybeans. Right now, I'm inclined to say that's due to all the rain. It didn't matter which herbicide we used, all are doing about the same. Since those fields were planted, we've probably received 6 to 7 inches of rain in southwest Arkansas and maybe 10-plus inches south of Shreveport and around Natchitoches. Where I've pulled up soybean plants, the roots and nodules look good, so drainage must be okay."