“We’re not seeing any thrips or other insects yet. It’s still too early. Seed treatments are likely active in the plants, but we could see something in the next week to 10 days. I just want this crop to take off and get to the true-leaf stage.
“We had some marestail escape early herbicide applications after all of the rain. But we hit it with paraquat and dicamba and received good control. So, we’re still starting clean.
“One of my customer’s peanuts are coming up nicely after being planted in a cover crop. But some conventional tilled peanuts washed out after a big rain.
“To make it worse, we’re also seeing some feral hog pressure. They’re digging up peanuts. It’s all part of a standard spring for this part of the country. But I wasn’t counting on replacing three hail-damaged windshields in our work trucks.”
Haley Kennedy, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension IPM Agent, Runnels, Tom Green & Concho Counties:
“We’re starting to plant cotton in the Concho Valley, but some people still have some pretty saturated fields. The weather has been crazy with all this moisture. More rain is forecast for the next few days.
“We had some issues with strong winds, which prevented some spray applications of preemerge herbicides. But for the most part, we are rolling. We have some of the best soil moisture we’ve seen in a while. That will be great for irrigated and dryland crops.
“Wheat harvest will start soon. Farmers need to be wary of thrips where wheat fields are close to cotton. Thrips will be waiting for cotton to come up. Sorghum and corn look good. They’re catching up from the extra soil moisture.”
Murilo Maeda, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Cotton Specialist, Lubbock:
“Many in the South Plains region have received 2-plus inches of rain since last week. It may be another day or two before most growers can get in the field. But some planters are rolling today (5/27) in areas south of Lubbock, where fields missed the big rains.
“Those who can, have been running sand fighters already to prevent blowing. Wind isn’t too bad but may pick up some by mid-week. There is some rain in the forecast late in the week, but we’ll have to wait and see what that does.
“I’ve been hearing about hail damage reports from last week’s storms and some fields may need replanting. Most of our trials that were up suffered from hail but may not need replanting.”
Kyle Aljoe, Crop Quest Consulting, Dimmitt, Texas :
“We had some tornado damage here Sunday (5/26). I have 3 quarter-mile sprinklers that were damaged. My cotton was out of that path, but I need to look at some corn to see how it managed.
“Most cotton is up or coming up. I’ll have to replant one field after a packing rain.
“Fortunately, we are getting some decent to good stands coming up after all the bad weather we’ve had. I’m not seeing any insect or weed problems.
“Our bigger corn is finally taking off after some small hail damage. But I just saw an alfalfa field that had 50 to 60% defoliation caused by hail. And I’m still having trouble getting wheatlage cut after all of the rain.”