Mid South Cotton Report
Ag Fax
Blooms are appearing in a few early-planted fields in the mid Delta. But with a significant portion of the crop, any flowering won't commence for another week or more.
With pests, we may be in the calm before the storm as July starts. Populations are developing but on a somewhat delayed basis.
Plant bug applications continue, mainly where cotton adjoins corn. As our contacts continue to observe, rainy conditions through much of June kept wild hosts blooming, and those still-lush plants are holding the insect out of cotton to some degree. In places, a couple of applications have been necessary – again, mostly in cotton next to corn.
Bollworm moths are moving out of corn in the lower Midsouth. Aphids are around, and localized treatments have been made.
Spider mites are becoming more generalized in places, but pressure and damage remain mostly limited. Thunderstorms have helped beat back mites. Plus, Liberty herbicide has been going out, and that chemistry incidentally suppresses mites. All that may help explain these thinner populations.
People in the field continue telling us that more weeds and grasses have been slipping through standard herbicide programs.
Sebe Brown, Louisiana Extension Field Crops Entomologist
"Cotton is moving along. Plant bugs are becoming more evident and widespread. A lot of guys are going out with applications, which is to be expected as we move closer to bloom in more cotton.
"Bollworm trap catches are increasing, as well. We are expecting the annual Fourth of July flight, so the population is at a normal level for this time of the year. This also coincides with the level of worms we found in corn over the past week. Those worms turned into the moths we're now collecting in our traps.
"I'm hearing reports from the far northeastern part of the state that trap catches are getting heavy and that people also are picking up a pretty heavy egg lay in their cotton. That's on the Arkansas line.
"In soybeans, we're finding limited redbanded stink bug (RBSB) numbers. I haven't heard of any large upswings in counts, but RBSB treatments are going out in places.
"The first desiccation application is going out in soybeans this week in St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Those beans were planted early and will be harvested early to allow growers to plant sugarcane. Those beans should be harvested in two weeks."
Ashley Peters, Peters Crop Consulting, Crowville, Louisiana
"A lot of our cotton started blooming over the past couple of weeks, and there is still a lot blooming now (6/30). I would say it looks really good so far, with a nice square set and good retention.
"Plant bugs have been moderate so far. We have treated 25% to 30% of our acres for plant bugs, but some of the oldest cotton is about to get a second treatment. We treated it the first time a couple of weeks ago, and we are preparing to do it again soon.
"We did kill some aphids when we sprayed for plant bugs. There weren't enough aphids to treat by themselves. But combined with the plant bug population, it was a good clean up shot.
"Knock on wood, mites have not been an issue yet. We have had scattered showers, but I think we have dodged that bullet so far by missing mites.
I haven't received any calls about diseases either. Even where we are spraying for plant bugs ,retention and numbers still look really good.
"We saw a very few moths late last week and yesterday (6/29). Judging by the worms in corn I looked at, I think the flight may be a little later this year than we usually see it.
"The bulk of our corn is dented or will be by this time next week. We have sprayed a few spots with fungicides, but nothing widespread. It's been on a field-by-field basis. We're cleaning up anything that has been continuously corn or a similar situation.
"I have soybeans that have just come out of the ground all the way up to way past R5. We have a lot in the blooming stage – R2 or R3. We've also planted a fair amount in June. We hit delays due to too much rain or other priorities took over.
"We're only spraying a couple fields for redbanded stink bugs (RBSB). A lot of my beans just aren't to the stage of seeing a large number of RBSB yet."
Steve Schutz, Ind. Consultant, Coushatta, Louisiana
"We saw our first blooms in cotton on Saturday (6/27). That's ten days later than we would like, but at least blooms are here now. We had a late crop last year, as well, and it did alright.
"We're having issues making applications between showers and need to spray plant bugs. No one can use the plane right now (6/29) because the wind is blowing at 15 mph, and that's in the forecast for least the next 36 hours. The biggest issue with plant bugs is in younger cotton that is just reaching pinhead.
"And if it isn't plant bugs, it's fleahoppers. We don't have a heavy infestation, but the insects are there. We're going with imidacloprid. I really don't want to use it twice in a row, but the acephate has an eight-hour rain fastness, and we have no guarantee right now that it won't rain during any given eight-hour period. With this weather, we're increasing our rates and hoping it holds.
"We aren't finding a lot of black pinhead squares when we examine plants, but those pinheads are in the nets when we sweep. Retention is good on most fields except that younger cotton. We desperately need to get Pix out, but the weather just isn't cooperating.
"We're in a pattern with cloudy and misty weather, and I honestly think that it's making the cotton grow too well, and we're finding a lot of young, tender and fast growth. We can't apply Pix, so we're concerned about losing fruit production. We do have a few shots going out today.
"So far, disease isn't turning up in cotton. We haven't seen anything like last year when bacterial blight and target spot built. But because we can't apply Pix right away, plants will put on more growth, which could increase susceptible to those diseases again this year.
"In soybeans, we have been sweeping up a lot of bollworms. They worry me because they can get past you quickly if you're not careful. We haven't really had the numbers to start treating, but I'm checking pretty often to stay on top of them.
"We are also finding hotspots of redbanded stink bugs (RBSB) in fields that have grassy edges. We're going to spray 100 to 200 acres that are about at R3, which is earlier than I wanted to start treating RBSB. We don't want to prolong spraying them due to all the evidence that they predispose soybeans to green bean syndrome.
"No one really likes to talk about this, but we're only allowed a specific number of applications with a couple of key RBSB chemistries. Reading and understanding the labels is important and keeping good records may come in handy in the future.
"In soybeans, I also found a little aerial blight. As it happens, that producer will spray a fungicide, regardless of the presence or absence of disease, and he'll make that treatment as soon as the weather allows."