Louisiana Cotton Report 7-22-21

By Steve Schutz

AgFax

Since planting, we've had a lot of rain in southwest Arkansas and northwest Louisiana. I think we might have got one third of our cotton planted this year. Corn has been hurt pretty bad by the wet weather, but it's coming on now. We're still a few weeks away from anyone trying to harvest any corn.

Pests have been light so far. Plant bugs have been a pretty consistent issue in what little cotton we do have, but they have been light this week (July 21). It was an uphill battle early in the season. We have sprayed a couple fields for spider mites. We are finding worm eggs and moths, but we haven't made any applications so far.

Most of the cotton around here is two to three weeks late. Some of it is just now blooming, and I wouldn't say any of it is in peak bloom right now.

We have had to spray for armyworms in soybeans planted into weedy fields. Stink bugs haven't required an application yet. Although I've found a couple redbanded stink bugs, most of what I'm finding is the red-shouldered stink bug. Southern green stink bugs, which we used to have, seem to be prevalent. I'm just finding juveniles right now, but we might have to spray for those next week if they start moving across the field.

We have been seeing signs of potash deficiency, but it is really early for that. Foliar applications are going out for that.

It's July 21, but it looks like June 21 based on the crops. Things are starting to pick up now, but we're worried about how we'll come out this year. From April 1 to June 15, it rained 29 days. Rain has been the biggest challenge this entire year. We're not complaining about it but farming around that much rain is a challenge. It has also played a big part in chemical choice. It has been critical to choose something with good rainfastness this year.

We have two pests we just can't get rid of it: hogs and deer. We have them by the hundreds. Three nights ago, a grower set up a camera on a 200-acre soybean field and caught 70 deer grazing across it. They'll tear up 30% or more of a field easily. Little 50-acre soybean fields get to the point it's not worth it to harvest because deer keep it eat down.