Another Surge Valve Experience! Updated

🕔10:47, 1.Aug 2014

This week we encountered another issue with a surge valve. After irrigating with a surge valve the producer noted that neither the 6” nor 12” sensors responded to the irrigation. When investigating the problem it appeared that the grower had

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Late Season Potash Deficiency in Cotton Updated

🕔08:34, 1.Aug 2014

The evolution of cotton cultivars has led to higher yield potentials and shorter growing seasons compared to the historical full season cultivars favored in the Mid-South.  These newer, faster fruiting cultivars may require more nutrients than older outdated cultivars.  Recently,

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Managing Cotton Aphids in 2014 Updated

🕔16:11, 25.Jul 2014

We had a few calls over the last week about poor control of cotton aphid with Transform. In all of those cases, the field was actually sprayed for plant bugs with a 1.5 oz rate of Transform. That rate should be very effective on cotton aphid based on previous experience. As a result, we collected aphids from three different fields this week to test their susceptibility to Transform.

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North Mississippi Research and Extension Center’s Agronomic Row Crops Field Day on Thursday, August 7 Updated

🕔08:39, 25.Jul 2014

The North Mississippi Research and Extension Center’s Agronomic Row Crops Field Day on Thursday, August 7 will present the latest research to the area’s row-crop farmers and consultants. The field day will be from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Lee County Agri-Center Magnolia Conference Center on Highway 145 South in Verona.

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Cotton Bacterial Blight Update: July 18, 2014 (UPDATED 7/28/2014)

Cotton Bacterial Blight Update: July 18, 2014 (UPDATED 7/28/2014) Updated

🕔16:06, 18.Jul 2014

Additional bacterial blight has been observed in the MS cotton production system. At present, 12 counties have been reported to contain infected cotton.

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Random Yellow Spots in Cotton Fields Updated

🕔13:45, 18.Jul 2014

Several calls have come in this week regarding random yellow spots in cotton fields.  While there are a multitude of things that may cause this, there seems to be an underlying theme in many cases.  Everyone is aware of the

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Surge Valve Issues and Gleanings.

Surge Valve Issues and Gleanings. Updated

🕔07:31, 11.Jul 2014

This past week we encountered the following situation. A Grower irrigated a silt loam field utilizing a surge valve. When he checked his moisture probes neither the 6” nor the 12” Watermark™ sensor had moved. What’s going on? After careful

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Scouting Cotton for Bacterial Blight in 2014

Scouting Cotton for Bacterial Blight in 2014 Updated

🕔06:56, 8.Jul 2014

Once again, bacterial blight has been observed in the MS cotton crop. At present, several fields in the south and north Delta as well as a single field in east MS have been observed to contain bacterial blight infected cotton leaves. To date (July 8, 2014), a single cotton variety has been reported to be infected in all fields.

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Cotton Acres Bloomed, Price Shriveled Updated

🕔16:46, 3.Jul 2014

This past Monday (June 30), USDA released their annual Acreage report. The report is preceded by the March Prospective Plantings report with the difference being a more solid, confirmed acreage number in the acreage report compared to an expected, planned

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Insect Trap Catches, July 3, 2014

Insect Trap Catches, July 3, 2014 Updated

🕔16:21, 3.Jul 2014

Bollworm catches were similar to the previous week while tobacco budworm counts continue to slowly rise. Neither is particularly high for this time of year. Southwestern corn borer counts were up sharply this week, with a few traps in the

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Monitoring Cotton Growth and Development Updated

🕔15:07, 3.Jul 2014

Tomorrow is July 4th which usually coincides with the arrival of blooms in cotton fields.  Although the crop is somewhat later than “normal” this year, blooms are arriving daily.  Monitoring nodes above white flower is a useful tool for determining

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Reminder: MSU/Monsanto Company Field Day – Robinsonville, MS – July 10, 2014 Updated

🕔14:09, 3.Jul 2014

Mississippi State University and Monsanto Company will be conducting a field day in Robinsonville, MS on Thursday, July 10, 2014.  The field day will focus on the Roundup Ready(R) Xtend Crop System in cotton and soybeans.  Field demonstrations will include cotton and soybean germplasm

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Assessing Control of Tarnished Plant Bug in Prebloom Cotton

Assessing Control of Tarnished Plant Bug in Prebloom Cotton Updated

🕔12:41, 27.Jun 2014

Tarnished plant bug numbers have actually started off at low to moderate levels this year in the Delta region but just in the last few days numbers seem to be picking up pretty good in a few locations and square

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Reminder: MSU/Dow AgroSciences Field Day – Dundee, MS – July 2, 2014 Updated

🕔12:22, 26.Jun 2014

Mississippi State University and Dow AgroSciences will be conducting a field day at the farm of Douglas and Chris Hood on Wednesday, July 2, 2014.  The field day will begin at 9 a.m. and will focus on Enlist(TM) Weed Control System in

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Plant Growth Regulator Use in Cotton Production Updated

🕔12:20, 26.Jun 2014

Several folks throughout the state have began applying plant growth regulators to their cotton crop and many more will likely start over the next couple of weeks.  Although plant growth regulators have gotten exponentially cheaper over the past 25 years,

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Programing a Surge Valve Updated

🕔10:30, 26.Jun 2014

We are having lots of questions concerning the proper set up of surge valves. First,   please consider some of the basic terminology associated with furrow irrigation. We encourage you to visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46sSLFBUrh8       and view the video before continuing. Phases

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Is My Soil Moisture Sensor Broke?

Is My Soil Moisture Sensor Broke? Updated

🕔07:43, 26.Jun 2014

The importance of soil moisture sensors is becoming more evident as we continue forward this growing season. Today (Monday, June 16th), we received a call regarding sensor readings that were assessed early this morning. The following are the data discussed in this scenario.

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Trap Counts, June 20, 2014

Trap Counts, June 20, 2014 Updated

🕔15:51, 20.Jun 2014

Bollworm trap catches were up in the Delta region this week to levels about normal for this time of year. Most bollworm eggs will be laid in corn at this time when many corn fields are at silk stage. University research

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Importance of Monitoring Square Retention in Young Cotton Updated

🕔14:23, 19.Jun 2014

Square retention is a critical component of early season plant bug management. I would strongly encourage you to take square retention counts along with your sweep net counts prior to bloom. Not only does this help in the decision making process of treating plant bugs, but it also helps you to get a better idea of how the products you are applying are working. Numbers alone can be deceiving when adults are steady moving into the field. When large numbers of adults are migrating into a field it is not uncommon to have as many or more plant bugs 4-5 days after a spray than you did before you sprayed and it still would not equate to a control failure.

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Mississippi State University/Monsanto Company Field Day – July 10, 2014 – Robinsonville, MS Updated

🕔16:17, 13.Jun 2014

Mississippi State University and Monsanto Company will be conducting a field day in Robinsonville, MS on Thursday, July 10, 2014.  The field day will focus on the Roundup Ready(R) Xtend Crop System in cotton and soybeans.  Field demonstrations will include cotton and soybean germplasm

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Mississippi State University/Dow AgroSciences Field Day – Dundee, MS – July 2, 2014 Updated

🕔15:38, 13.Jun 2014

Mississippi State University and Dow AgroSciences will be conducting a field day at the farm of Douglas and Chris Hood on Wednesday, July 2, 2014.  The field day will begin at 9 a.m. and will focus on Enlist(TM) Weed Control System in

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Delta Area “Turn Row Talks” on Water Conservation Announced Updated

🕔07:58, 13.Jun 2014

On June 9, leaders from the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, key personnel from the Mississippi State University Extension Service, and stakeholder organizations a part of the Delta Sustainable Water Resources Task Force formally announced a series of summer irrigation “Turn Row Talks” to be held across the Delta during the month of July for producers to attend local, on-farm demonstrations of water conservation efforts being implemented and utilized by growers in their respective areas.

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Delayed Weed Control Options in Cotton Updated

🕔16:38, 12.Jun 2014

Rainfall throughout the state has delayed weed control applications resulting in weeds that have become larger than desired and more difficult to control.  Several calls have come in regarding sequential application options for management of glyphosate-resistant pigweeds and other species.

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Tarnished Plant Bug Nymphs Showing Up in Pre-Bloom Cotton

Tarnished Plant Bug Nymphs Showing Up in Pre-Bloom Cotton Updated

🕔08:29, 11.Jun 2014

The tarnished plant bug calls have started to come in on small cotton already. In some cases, consultants and growers are finding nymphs on very young cotton with only 1-2 squares. Similarly, some are reporting plant bug flagged terminals in pre-square cotton. We rarely have to spray pre-square cotton for plant bugs, but our threshold is 1 flagged plant per 10 row feet with bugs present. Although tarnished plant bugs are our most important and most consistent pest of cotton in the Delta, we usually don’t start finding nymphs until closer to first flower.

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Influence of Rainfall on Insecticide Efficacy Updated

🕔13:29, 2.Jun 2014

Every year at some point during the season we seem to hit a rainy spell where it seems to rain at some point every day and we have showers widely scattered across the state. It started raining last Wednesday and we have had some rain everyday since then and it is currently raining in Stoneville right now (Monday morning). With that, the questions start about how long you need to spray before a rain to get acceptable control.

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