Ag Fax: MidSouth Cotton
By Laykyn Rainbolt & Owen Taylor
AgFax
Late crop, late insects. That’s how the season is shaping up, based on comments over the last couple of weeks. Pest pressure is developing on a delayed basis, from 7 to 14 days later than usual, depending on the pest and the area. With corn and cotton, spread-out planting periods are likely influencing bollworm trends.
Plant bugs remain a factor in places and treatments continue.
More bollworm treatments have gone out over the last week in dual-gene cotton. Moths and eggs are more apparent on a wider basis.
Spider mite pressure has increased in places following a prolonged stretch of hot, dry conditions.
Aphid populations are crashing in more areas as the fungus develops, but enough remain active in places to prompt some response.
Keith Collins, Extension Agent, Richland, Ouachita and Franklin Parishes, Rayville, Louisiana
“Much of cotton is in the second to fourth week of bloom. Plant bugs are being treated in some fields with heavy pressure and others have lighter pressure.
“So far, cotton looks good, but we have a long time between now and when it goes through the picker. I’m happy with the progress so far, and we haven’t really had any major problems.
“My bollworm trap numbers peaked the week of June 22 and bottomed out the week of July 13, and we may be between cycles right now. It doesn’t always signify another flight, but the corn is also drying down, so I expect another round of moths and worms.
“March-planted corn looks really good. I’m a little concerned to see how the remaining corn comes out since we didn’t finish planting in this area until the middle of April, which is out of our optimal window. Time will tell.
“About 200-plus acres of early-maturing corn has been harvested on one large farming operation, and that’s the only harvest I’ve heard of. One guy said he will cut a little corn at the end of this week, but it will be the first week of August or later before we will really be in full harvest.
“A big part of our soybean crop is at R4 to R5.5 or later, and beans look pretty good. We haven’t had redbanded stink bug (RBSB) pressure yet, but we are just hitting growth stage when numbers start building.”
Gary Wolfe, La-Ark Agricultural Consulting, Ida, Louisiana
“The cotton looks good so far. Most of our cotton started blooming in early July, so we’re at least in the third week of bloom now (7/20). Everyone is focusing on irrigation right now. Pipe is getting laid and water is running in many areas.
“We have had a little plant bug and moth activity, and a few treatments are going out. I’ve seen some worms and a little damage in older DP 1646.
“We’re spraying a few soybeans with a fungicide right now, and an insecticide will soon follow. Plenty of moths are in the soybeans.”
Sebe Brown, Louisiana Extension Field Crops Entomologist
“Total bollworm egg lay in the cotton is definitely increasing this week at the Dean Lee station. People in other parts of the state also are finding more egg lay in cotton, so bollworm activity is up this week for sure.
“Bollworm moth trap catches are picking up, too. We went through a lull in counts last week, but numbers are shooting up this week.
“Several people have complained that dual-gene cotton is falling apart all over the state. In certain cases, guys might have been a couple of days late finding the egg lay, so a few worms made it through, and the Bt technology is just not killing the worms.
“The three-gene cotton is showing some terminal damage around the state, but I have not heard of any outright failures like in the dual-gene. The triple-gene cotton isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s at least working to a degree.
“I did see some spider mites in cotton earlier this week, but no one has called about any mite issues. As hot and dry as it’s been, spider mites are certainty out there. Overall, mites have been fairly light. But we can expect them to build as more acephate and pyrethroid tank mixes go out for plant bugs.
“Plant bugs are really bad in certain areas but light in other places. Several consultants tell me they’re at their wits’ end trying to control plant bugs. They’ve thrown everything at them but the kitchen sink, but waves of plant bugs are still migrating from corn into cotton. This year, plenty of our cotton fields are surrounded by corn, so consultants are really fighting hard to maintain square retention.
“Redbanded stink bugs (RBSB) are picking up in soybeans that are at R5 to R6, and applications are going out.
“Several people are reporting corn earworms (CEW) in bean fields that surround corn, and some treatment mixes are going out to control CEW and RBSBs. We have more CEW issues in beans this year than usual.
“We found some green cloverworms, and velvetbean caterpillars are showing up in beans, as well. This is really early for them to be moving in. Soybean looper moths have also been flying around, so the worms seem to all be really early this year.”