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Posts From Don Cook, Entomologist

Insecticide Seed Treatments in Soybeans Updated

🕔14:53, 13.Mar 2013

What is the importance of a neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatment in soybeans? Basically it is a risk management tool. Soybean seedlings have a tremendous amount of vigor and can tolerate a substantial amount of insect injury. However, early planted soybeans can encounter less than optimal environmental conditions which can stress plants and reduce vigor. Insect injury under these conditions is an additional stress. During 2010, it is estimated that the use of insecticide seed treatments in soybeans resulted in a value of $28.8 million to Mississippi soybean growers.

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Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition Updated

🕔12:38, 8.Feb 2013

On February 7th 2013, Mississippi State University hosted the first annual “Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition”. The goals of this event were to provide students an opportunity to present their research findings to a diverse audience that included growers, consultants and industry personnel and interact with people from different segments of the agricultural community.

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Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition Updated

🕔14:26, 25.Jan 2013

On February 7th 2013, Mississippi State University will host the first annual “Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition”. The competition will be open to M.S. and PhD. level graduate students that are working in production agriculture.

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Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition Updated

🕔09:08, 19.Dec 2012

On February 7th 2013, Mississippi State University will host the first annual “Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition”.

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Delta Crop Summit – November 13, 2012, Stoneville, MS Updated

🕔13:16, 26.Oct 2012

The 2012 Delta Crop Summit will be held on Tuesday, November 13, in Stoneville, MS. Please see the attached schedule.

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Fall Armyworms in Mississippi Crops Updated

🕔19:17, 3.Aug 2012

Fall armyworm can be a challenging pest to find and an even more challenging pest to manage in some crops. The damage that they cause and their management varies greatly from crop to crop. The reason for this is due to their preferred feeding sites on different crops and the presence of host strains.

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Bollworm Update Cotton/Soybean Updated

🕔10:19, 21.Jul 2012

This year started out with most folks expecting higher than usual bollworm numbers due to the mild winter. Couple that with increased corn acres and the perfect storm was thought to be brewing. This is why entomologists get “shifty” when

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How Soon Did It Rain After You Sprayed?

How Soon Did It Rain After You Sprayed? Updated

🕔16:32, 13.Jul 2012

Over the past week we have been getting a significant amount of rain across most of Mississippi. Unfortunately, most insects don’t mind the rain. Other than spider mites and aphids, we will likely have to continue managing insects in all crops despite the rain.

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Ditch Bank Survey 6/27/2012 Updated

🕔10:46, 29.Jun 2012

Overall, tarnished plant bug numbers appear to be decreasing across the Delta.  Several things are contributing to this decline.  The biggest factor is that the hot, dry weather is starting to take it’s toll on a lot of the wild

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Fall Armyworms in Soybeans and Peanuts Updated

🕔05:28, 29.Jun 2012

We have gotten multiple calls over the last week about fall armyworms in soybeans and peanuts. In every case, it has been a situation where people got behind on grass control when we were getting a lot of rain a couple weeks ago. In those situations, they have sprayed the grass during the last two weeks with products such as Select or Roundup that are relatively slow acting. A lot of the grass is infested with grass-strain fall armyworm and big worms start moving over into the crop about a week to ten days after the application when the grass starts to die.

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Rice Stink Bug Update Updated

🕔11:16, 14.Jun 2012

As some of the rice in Mississippi is starting to approach head emergence within the next few weeks, I wanted to give a brief update on rice stink bug populations that we are seeing across the Delta.

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Thrips in Peanuts and Their Impact on Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) Updated

🕔11:14, 4.May 2012

There have been a lot of questions recently about thrips control in peanuts. In general, thrips will not hurt peanut yields except in EXTREME situations. Peanut seedlings are relatively vigorous compared to most of the crops grown in Mississippi. Foliar insecticide applications, though rarely needed, should be based on plant injury rather than thrips numbers.

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Southwestern Corn Borers Showing up Early in Non-Bt Corn Updated

🕔12:03, 1.May 2012

Yesterday (4/30), I had a call from a consultant who found about 20% infestation of 3-4 day old SWCB in Non-Bt, V6 stage corn in the Minter City area. There were places in the field that averaged 40-50% infestation, but overall was about 20%.

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