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OVERVIEW

Hotter, for sure

Late-week highs in the triple-digits have poured more heat units into the crop. With first irrigation in progress and/or completed on a wide basis, fields are responding with fresh growth and putting on a little more height.

Lygus bumping up a bit

We’re hearing again this week about a few lygus applications in the south valley. The heat may push the schedule forward on some spider mite applications.

Mite management in almonds

UC personnel will hold 2 meetings on Tuesday, June 17, to discuss mite management in almonds. The Kern County meeting is 9 to 11 a.m. at Paramount Farms, three-quarters of a mile west of Santa Fe on Seventh Standard Road. The Kings County meeting runs from 1 to 3 p.m. at Gold Top Ranch (Verboon Farms) at the northwest corner of Flint and 12th Avenue. For more info, call David Haviland at 661-868-6200.

LYGUS PRESENTATION

What role does changing crop patterns play in managing lygus in cotton?

That's the title of a 15-minute presentation developed by Pete Goodell, Extension IPM Advisor and Interim State IPM Coordinator. The information stems for on-going research on lygus movement and the way surrounding crops and native vegetation influence population movement into cotton.

Click here to access the presentation,

CROP REPORTS

Steve Lenander, Technicare, Bakersfield

“A few lygus started showing up this week, and we initiated treatments south of Bakersfield. Counts got up to 8 to 10. The first irrigation is either fully underway or completed, and we’re contemplating second irrigation on some of the most mature cotton on the sand we have. We’re mostly at 10 to 13 nodes. The node number for the first fruiting branch is 7 to 8, which is abnormally high. And we’re seeing cases where it’s not sticking on that first fruiting position or maybe not on numbers 2 or 3. This doesn’t seem to be entomologically related, nothing to do with lygus or mites. It’s probably due to all the wind and these up-and-down temperatures.

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“Even with that, the cotton looks beautiful and still has good potential. We’ll start plant mapping next week. I believe we’ll find plants slightly below par on the height-to-node ratio. Instead of 90% to 100%, we’ll probably see something like 65% to 70%.

“Many people cleaned up spider mites ahead of first irrigation, even though populations were pretty low at that point. Others elected not to spray before first irrigation, so we encouraged them to irrigate a little earlier just so we can get back with the spray rigs afterwards.”

Bill Weir, PCA, Merced

“The cotton I’m working with is about 7 to 8 nodes high. It hasn’t been growing much up until now, but the weather has changed, so we should see it stretch out some. We’re finding squares on 6 and 7, depending on whether it’s Acala or Pima. Pests are quiet. We’re watching for mites, but none of my growers are putting out Zephyr yet.”

Rick Sandberg, PCA, Agri-Consultants, Cantua Creek

“The wind has done a real number on the cotton here. After that big heat spell in May, it really picked up, with 20 to 30 mph winds and gusts up to 40. Where cotton was protected from the wind – near a levee or bushes, for example – it’s 1.5 times the height of windblown cotton in the field, even though it has the same number of nodes.

“We’re at 8 to 12 nodes. A little square loss is evident, probably unrelated to lygus. I think this is due simply to the wind and the fluctuating temperatures. I don’t know what kind of crop we’ll finally have, but I hope it starts to grow past all of this soon.

“This week we were finding a lot of yellow-striped armyworms in alfalfa and tomatoes. We’re not finding many mites in the cotton. Growers will put on a miticide before we go to layby, as things look right now. We’re finished with first irrigation on our first fields. On some cotton, we’ll probably start on the second irrigation fairly soon.”

Bob Hutmacher, Extension Cotton Specialist

“Toward the end of the week it really heated up, and the high today (Friday) was suppose to be 103 to 104. So, our weather swings continue. This week, I’ve been in Kern County, in both research plots and in growers’ fields, along with stops in Kings and Fresno Counties, including the West Side REC. Overall, the cotton I’ve seen looks significantly better. In a lot of these locations, plants don’t look as scary as they did 7 to 10 days ago. Fields that had a really rough appearance seem to have caught hold and responded well to irrigation.

“It’s not widespread, but I am coming across small hot spots of mite. I’m finding them in fields that we were evaluating after earlier thrips activity. I didn’t see anything too bad. But these are situations that need to be watched if the heat persists, with the idea of making decisions about treating. I saw one of these situations in Kern County and 2 in Fresno County.

“Overall, we’re seeing more fields growing past the effects of thrips, wind and temperature fluctuations. It’s encouraging to dry past fields and see green instead of that gray-green appearance.”

DD60 TABLE

ALSO AT AGFAX.COM

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DOANE: Cotton Commentary

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