Louisiana Corn Planting Almost Finished Some Places, Cotton Planting Getting Geared Up
By Owen Taylor
Ag Fax
Steve Schutz, Independent Consultant, Coushatta, Louisiana:
“We have a little corn planted. Armyworms – not fall armyworms but the true armyworms – are everywhere. With one producer, they were tearing up his Bt corn. While the armyworms ragged it up, they did die.
“These are really easy to control. Like cutworms, use a low rate of a pyrethroid. I was out looking at a client’s corn, and he’d already sprayed it. However, the armyworms were migrating again. The pyrethroid has enough residual, but the road ditches were just covered with them.
“I’ve seen this before where we’ve had a mild winter, and these true armyworms come out and they cover everything. With one field, they stripped the Johnsongrass all around the field but didn’t touch the Bermudagrass.
“I’d say there’s about 2,000 acres of corn planted in my area (as of 4/6). South of here, they made a pretty good hit. North of here, they have nothing in the ground.
“The cotton is going to be slightly down in this area. I think my Arkansas clients’ cotton acres are going to be up a little, but I don’t know about the population up there as a whole.
“We’ve gotten plenty of rain. It was like a flash flood here, and the ground was already saturated. If did not rain, the producers with sandy soils could probably be back in the field in three or four days. Everyone else would probably have to wait five days for it to be dry enough. We need eight days of no rain to get everyone back in the field again.”
Ashley Peters, Peters Crop Consulting, Crowville, Louisiana:
“I’d say most everyone is done planting corn. Weather permitting, they’d all love to finish. Where they’ve finished planting corn, growers are trying to apply fertilizer and herbicides.
“A few beans went in the ground in spots. Depending on the rain, they are planting or will begin when the weather allows.
“At one time we expected cotton acres to either be flat or only slightly down, but now I think they will be way down, with beans and/or rice replacing those cotton acres. Also, some farmers didn’t get all the corn planted they wanted, so those acres may go to beans, as well.
“Some farmers who’ll have rice this year may try more hybrids. That includes farmers who customarily don’t plant hybrids. They may plant more hybrids this year to try to gain yield advantages. Growers who have done row rice may do more, or some farmers who haven’t tried any row rice may plant a little this year.
“Considering commodity prices and the economy, cotton and corn growers probably won’t do anything this year that adds significantly to the budget. They have to put out fertilizer, herbicides and water when needed – but not do anything extra. I have heard that getting financed this year was a challenge for a number of people, and some are still trying to get financed, so it’s a year to pinch all the pennies you can within reason.”