Owen Taylor, Editor, 888-327-6329
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OVERVIEW
More plant bugs. We’re hearing that throughout our coverage area this week. Mostly these are adults moving out of other hosts. Some cotton is now on its fourth treatment.
Spider mites are gaining momentum in drier areas.
Aphid fungus has possibly turned up in north Mississippi. On the whole, aphids continue to be light to nonexistent in many areas.
Generous amounts of rain have fallen since last week in fortunate areas. But parts of the region continue to miss significant accumulations. Cooler weather is helping reduce stress.
Bollworm moth flights are taking shape on a broader basis this week.
Roundup-resistant pigweed continues to dog farmers and their crop advisers.
APHID FUNGUS REPORTS
The long-running aphid fungus testing program has been discontinued. The program, operated with checkoff funding and administered by the University of Arkansas, provided sampling kits and lab analysis of aphids collected from fields with potential aphid fungus development.
As a partial substitute for the program, we will post aphid-fungus reports on our web site and distribute them through our regional cotton reports. While aphid analysis isn't possible, enough people in the field have dealt with the fungus long enough to have a pretty good idea about its appearance and the effect on aphids.
To file a report, please email Owen Taylor. Provide a description of what you're seeing, the effect that the fungus is having on aphids and the location of where it's being found. Please include a phone number where you can be reached in case we need to ask any followup questions.
CROP REPORTS
Terry Erwin, Morehouse Parish Extension Agent, Bastrop, La.: "We missed this last rain on Sunday and Monday, and we have only had isolated showers in the last 6 to 7 weeks. In these dry, hot conditions, our cotton is the only crop that still looks fairly decent. It’s fruiting up and has those typical Fourth of July white blooms. Where people can irrigate, cotton looks great. Some plant bugs are around. We don’t have a lot of spider mites in the parish, although I’m hearing about them elsewhere."
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Trent LaMastus, Ind. Consultant, Cleveland, Miss.: "We’re fighting plant bugs pretty much everywhere, and we’re at 2 to 4 applications, depending on the age of the cotton. Spider mites are picking up in the Belzoni and Holly Bluff areas. We’ve mostly trimmed edges and sprayed a couple of small fields. They’re not a big problem yet. We’re finding a lot of worm eggs today (7/6), and moths are flying around. Aphids range from very light to blowing up in spots. It continues to be dry. We got 3 to 4 tenths of an inch of rain in northwest Sunflower County over the last day or so. We had some cotton that hadn’t caught a rain since we knifed in the nitrogen, so it wasn’t taking up the N and had started cutting out. Fortunately, it got 1 to 1.5 inches of rain last Sunday (6/28) and is doing better now. We’ve had highs from 97 to 100 off and on for 3 weeks, and the irrigated, late-planted cotton has really grown off quickly."
Bill Brooks, Mid-South Farmers Cooperative, Alamo, Tenn.: "We got 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rain in this county over the weekend, and it was very welcomed. Cotton ranges from node 10 to the second week of blooming, so we have a pretty wide range of maturities. We sprayed a little last week for plant bugs and anticipate more treatments this week. So far, they’ve been pretty light. The main thing in cotton right now is dealing with Roundup-resistant pigweed. It’s showing up in several spots. We’ve had pretty good luck with some preemergence materials and Ignite. But the problem is trying to keep them from flushing back behind you, which is why you need that preemerge."
Herbert Jones Jr., Ind. Consultant, Leland, Miss.: "Still no rain to amount to anything. One customer over the weekend got three-quarters of an inch. Otherwise, it was a tenth or two. We’re watering everything we can. Plant bugs are having a good time. In places, we’re about to start application number 4, and at one point we closed the interval down to 4 days, although now we’ll probably stretch it out to 6. Nearly all of them are adults and are flying out of corn and soybeans. Spider mites are getting terrible. We sprayed borders 7 to 10 days ago, and some fields are getting blanket applications now (7/6). Eggs are running up to 8%, and we’re flushing bollworm moths in older cotton. I haven’t seen a tobacco budworm moth this year. Cotton ranges from a small amount of late-planted cotton at nodes 5 to 6 to older cotton at full bloom."
Scott Gifford, Gifford Crop Consulting, Manila, Ark.: "We’ve gotten just scattered rain lately, a quarter to a half-inch. Pix is going out, with plant bug materials included in some cases. Plant bug counts that were moderate last week have doubled this week in places, and I suspect that a whole lot more plant bug applications will start up this week as we make it to more fields. Last week we were searching real hard around corn, thinking that was where we would find them, but the numbers weren’t that bad. It’s surprising how many more we’re finding this week. Aphids are building a little, but we haven’t sprayed a field for them this season, so far. We’re not seeing mites due to all the rain and moisture. If it dries up, those numbers could potentially jump. Most of my cotton is around 12 nodes, with some bigger than that. Older cotton is blooming, but 60% of our crop isn’t to that point yet. Pigweed is a challenge this year. It’s worse in cotton, but I’m seeing more of it in rice than I can ever recall."
Grady Coburn, Consultant, Pest Management Enterprises, Cheneyville, La.: "We’ve gotten some rain but need more. All things considered, we’re in pretty good shape compared to what I’m hearing from other areas. We’ve at least gotten enough to keep things going. So far, though, we haven’t received a ‘moisture meeter,’ meaning enough rain for the top soil moisture to meet with the subsoil moisture and ensure a good water supply through the soil profile. This morning (7/6) we got another 1.5 inches in places, although some areas got little or none. We had a tremendous run on bollworms this past week, and they laid a lot of eggs. Consequently, we’ve been spraying a portion of the Bt cotton. Corn has been real drought stressed, and I guess they’re coming out of that as it shuts down. They’re looking for a new host, and cotton is their favorite right now. We’re hoping to take them out with one shot, but that depends on how long moths take to move out of corn. We’re going with a pyrethroid. In a few cases plant bugs are in the cotton, and we’re including a neonic. Most of my cotton is in at least the third week of bloom. Some DPL 555 in clay ground has stressed in dry weather and hit 3 to 4 NAWF."
Ty Edwards, Edwards Ag Consulting, LLC, Water Valley, Miss.: "Some early planted cotton is a good week into bloom, and it badly needs rain. Everything else is mainly in the second and third week of squaring. We’ve been over almost every acre once for plant bugs. They’re not tremendously bad, but enough are in the cotton to require treatment. Even in our Delta cotton next to corn they’re not showing up heavily. On one farm where we always battle aphids we’ve had to spray aphids twice. I think I saw some aphid fungus today (7/6). Aphids were completely wiped out on the leaves, and I was finding that gray, moldy residue that looks like the fungus."
Gus Lorenz, Arkansas Extension IPM Specialist: "Moth counts jumped again over the weekend, with fairly high numbers, 200 to 300 per trap in spots. Most of the state right now has a lot of bollworms, and they’re getting into soybeans, conventional cotton and any cotton that’s blooming. And a lot of cotton is blooming. Watch Bollgard closely. Chances are that any conventional cotton out there either has been treated or should be. Spider mites are popping up in areas where it hasn’t rained. We’re treating a few fields in Phillips and Crittenden Counties and will have a trial in Lincoln County this week. We’re seeing some counts of 30 to 40 per leaf. Rain continues to be real spotty, from none to a few tenths to 2 to 3 inches. It started raining on Friday (7/3) in places, then more fell in some areas through the weekend."
Scott Stewart, Extension Cotton Entomologist, Jackson, Tenn.: "We’ve gotten pretty good rainfall amounts in West Tennessee lately. About 75% of our production area received from 0.5 to 3 inches. So, crop conditions are starting to improve. We’re still finding plant bugs on a spotty basis, nothing widespread. Mites are the same way, maybe spottier. With plant bugs, we may be in the lull before the storm. When cotton starts moving into the second and third week of blooming they begin building on a lot of acres. Several consultants report finding high numbers of corn earworms in corn, and we’ve been seeing that, too. The corn is late, but so is the cotton, so we could be lining up for a heavy corn earworm flight later in the month."
Joey Branch, ProAg Services, LLC, Newport, Ark.: "We did a little Pix work last week and treated just a few plant bugs. Around Augusta several of my clients got rain but it was very localized. A field might get an inch but the field right across the turnrow didn’t get any."
Angus Catchot, Mississippi Extension Entomologist: "We’re still treating some mites. They’re blowing up in certain areas, especially where cotton has missed rain. There are more of these spots than I initially thought, based on the calls we’re receiving. We’re still treating some plant bugs and aphids. Two consultants in north Mississippi – Phil McKibben and Ty Edwards – reported seeing aphids crashing, which could indicate the presense of aphid fungus. That’s positive news. We’re finding more aphids in some places than in the last couple of years. We were flushing hundreds and hundreds of bollworm moths today (7/7) in a Bollgard II field at Cruger. It was in the second week of bloom. So, there’s at least an indication of a pretty big flight in the south Delta."
ALSO AT AGFAX.COM
Closing Cotton: Market Trims Losses To Close Moderately Lower 7-7
California cotton growers dealing with lygus, heat: Owen Taylor's MiteFax report 7-6
Ag Report (E-Central La.), 7-5. Stink bugs still building in soybeans; aphid treatments still outnumber plant bug; mites increasing in cotton; corn harvest nears.
Mississippi Crop Situation, 7-2, Foliar diseases in cotton.
Tennessee IPM Newsletter, 7-2, Glyphosate-Resistant Palmer Amaranth Rescue Treatments in Soybeans and Cotton.
NYBOT Cotton: Futures | Options
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