Chris Locke, CSL Consulting Inc., Sudan, Texas/Eastern New Mexico:
“Because of weather extremes at both ends, we don’t have much going on.
“A lot of cotton won’t get planted. Some guys replanted irrigated right up to the insurance planting deadline. For those who couldn’t get into the field, they are done planting cotton for this year. A little bit of irrigated is up, but it’s spotty. We hope to get more up with better weather. Overall, it’s going to be a late start for everyone on the cotton side.
“A lot of growers who won’t get cotton planted are wondering what to do. Guys with irrigation water will go to corn. We could also see growers with good soil moisture go with dryland corn.
“Planting milo is a tough decision because they don’t want to spend a lot of money spraying for sugarcane aphid. SCA populations have exploded on some acres that were in haygrazer and not watched closely last year.
“Our wheat looks fairly decent. Not much irrigated wheat is being cut and will go to hay, while some dryland cut for seed is making 20 to 25 bushels per acre.”
Mike McHugh, Southwest Texas Ag Consultants, Uvalde, Texas:
“We’re finally getting good growing weather after a cool spring. We’re catching up. We haven’t had that much rain recently, just scattered showers the last 10 days.
“Cotton looks good. The early crop is getting its first bloom. Most of it is at the third grown square. Pix is going out on earlier planted corn.
“Insect-wise, fleahoppers have been heavier than usual. We’ve sprayed with either Centric or Transform. Aphids are building up. We’re running Transform to control them. Weed control is good. We have most everything laid by with Dual and some Prowl.
“Corn looks good and is starting to dry down. We’re maybe a month out from our first harvest. Growers will probably shut off irrigation water in 2 weeks.”
Robert Flynn, New Mexico State University Extension Soils/Agronomist, Artesia:
“We finally received a good rain, so late planted cotton is going in. Earlier planted cotton is about 3 nodes in height. The mild weather is good for the crop, but we’re forecast for 100 degrees this weekend.
“I haven’t seen any insect situations. High winds may have whipped them around. Weeds aren’t much of a concern in later planted cotton. But there are still a few weed problems in the early planted crop.”
Cody Noggler, Crop Quest Consulting, Northwestern Texas Panhandle:
“I’m looking at cotton in the Dumas to Vega area and it’s pretty dang muddy. Cotton is slow, but it’s going. Most of it was planted during breaks from storms. Plants that are up are in the 1- to 2-leaf stage.
“We’ve had a big problem with crusting. It just keeps raining, so you can’t do anything about it. We couldn’t get in there to break it up with a rotary hoe.
“We saw thrips damage today (6/3) so we’re starting to spray. So far weeds are under control, but we’re putting down another residual to kill the weeds that are out there. If we wait any longer, we could have a mess if can’t get into the fields fast enough.”
Rex Friesen, Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Co-op, Winfield:
“We’ve finally had a few good planting days and lots of seed is going in the ground. It’s 84 degrees today (6/3) and the heat is intense. The June 1 planting deadline for full insurance coverage hasn’t stopped a lot of people.
“It’s too soon to know how much has been planted, but it’s a lot more than last week. We had expected a huge increase in acres, but with this weather, it’s anyone’s guess. I would say we’re having a pretty major reduction from what we were expecting.
“There is a fair amount of cotton up. Quite a bit was planted the week of May 13 when we had warm dry weather. Replanting will be needed where storms came in late May. Burndowns have just been applied in the last few days. There are guys who will plant into weeds and try to kill them after planting.
“For those who can’t get cotton in, they will probably switch to soybeans. Others are taking prevented planting in the farm program. It’s a broad mix. A lot of people were going to plant cotton for the first time. This weather has spoiled those efforts.”
Murilo Maeda, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Cotton Specialist, Lubbock:
“We got another round of showers in Lubbock last night (6/2). Planters ran for several days and guys made good progress until it started raining again. A lot of areas got good moisture.
“Last week there was plenty of replanting. Plenty of cotton was up, but either was hailed out or hurt by blowing sand. I know there was hail damage in Hockley County.
“Overall, fields are pretty clean. But guys need to watch out for weeds, which are very small at this point. We need to be on top of those acres.”
This weekly report is distributed during the cotton production season. It is available to United States residents engaged in cotton farming, field scouting and other qualifying ag professions. Mailing address: 142 Westlake Drive, Brandon, MS 39047. Office: 601-992-9488.
