Ag Fax: Midsouth Cotton
By Laykyn Rainbolt and Owen Taylor
AgFax
Tropical Storm Cristobal delivered rain early in the week. Heavy amounts fell in places, but in many areas the totals were mostly low to moderate. It all depended on how the rain bands moved over the region. The farther west, the lower the amounts tended to be.
The weather will now turn dry and hot for a week or more if current forecasts hold. In places, dryland acres might stress a bit. The trend also could push up pest numbers.
The "dicamba disruption" – as we've come to call it – has thrown a monkey wrench into weed control plans for many growers who went with dicamba-tolerant technology. A federal court decision late last week voided registrations on three key dicamba formulations tied to the traited varieties
Richard Griffing, Griffing Consulting, LLC, Monterey, Louisiana
"In cotton, I've found my earliest bloom in 34 years of working in the crop. I saw it on Friday (6/5). Until now, the earliest bloom I ever found was on June 12.
"I'd say half of my cotton is at first bloom and the other half is up to six nodes. It all looks really good, but we'll soon start spraying for plant bugs. We've already found a few adults. We sprayed part of it at pinhead-square and the other half will receive a second shot as soon as it dries up, which should be soon. We have already hit it with dicamba, so it's not in bad shape in terms of weeds.
"So far, spider mites are nonexistent, but I'm sure that will change. Aphids have been very light. Things have actually been running smoothly, which I can't say very often at this point in the year.
"When I got up this morning (6/8) there was seven tenths of an inch of rain in my gauge, but several rain bands came through since then. When I checked this afternoon, we had an inch and three tenths. We're hoping to get 2 inches of rain out of this storm (Cristobal) because things were getting pretty dry. The way our luck usually runs with tropical systems, it'll rain 6 inches or nothing. We have been irrigating soybeans and corn like crazy.
"A lot of our soybeans are between R3 and R4, and fungicides were applied. We started planting beans around March 18, and those are moving quickly now. I'd say 80% of the beans were planted by April 10.
"We applied 90% of the dicamba we expected to use on soybeans. Even with that remaining 10%, our soybean fields are in pretty good shape.
"Corn looks excellent, and this rain was perfectly timed for it. We are just past pollination.
"We have been very fortunate this year. We missed rains this spring that held up field work and planting to the north of us. I can't think of another year when we planted so much this early."
Sebe Brown, Louisiana Extension Field Crops Entomologist
"Rainfall amounts from tropical storm Cristobal varied, depending on location and how the rain bands moved over the state. Totals ran from a tenth to about 3 tenths of an inch in some areas but increased to a half-inch to 1.5 inches on the eastern side of Louisiana. On the western side, hardly any rain fell. A cold front came through last night (6/9) and actually dropped more rain than the storm.
"We needed rain and still do. It turned dry, and we're now heading into 10 to 12 days of hot, dry weather.
"Aphids are still out there, and we're seeing large numbers building in a lot of cotton. Guys are either making applications or considering it. The rain at least gave us a brief reprieve from the aphids.
"We saw a late blowup of thrips in certain areas, so they're still present. Cotton, though, is mostly moving past the point of susceptibility, and even the late-planted cotton is mostly out of the thrips window. Thrips might still be an issue in really late cotton or in replanted acres.
"Cotton is blooming in places. A number of people have sent me photos of their first blooms, and cotton in my plots will be blooming next week. Scattered plant bug treatments have gone out in squaring cotton. The plant bug numbers I'm finding are about normal for this time of the year. They aren't carrying us away, but plant bugs definitely are around.
"Boll worms will be coming in a few weeks, based on the number of worms we're finding in Intrasect and Double PRO corn. Most of our corn this year was planted within a two-week window, which could set us up for a normal boll worm year.
"By normal, I mean we will see a clearly defined start to egg laying in cotton. With weather delays last spring, farmers planted corn over a stretched-out period, which created a trickle effect in terms of egg laying.
"That makes it difficult to know when to treat. You never see enough eggs at any given time to know whether to make an application in dual-gene cotton. Also, you only see small amounts of damage over time and can't always gauge whether it adds up to enough to justify treating.
"If the boll worm numbers we're finding in corn are any indication, we can expect a definite start to egg laying, and we should know when to treat in dual-gene fields. Keep in mind, though, that we don't recommend spraying on egg counts in triple-gene cotton.
"With this hot and dry weather, spider mites are showing up. Some treatments were made, but mite activity very much depends right now on location. It's not a general situation."