This week I thought I would share with you the progress of our rice irrigation studies. This summer we have three producer “on farm” irrigation trials. Each producer agreed to irrigate his field conventionally through levee gates, via side inlet,
Over the last 7 days we have had numerous reports of high bollworm numbers in some BollGard II, TwinLink, and WideStrike fields in the Mississippi Delta. We have seen fields in the past that reach treatable levels but some reports are much higher than we have seen in recent years. At this time there does not appear to be any specific varieties that are adversely affected more than others. It appears to be a function of high pressure in isolated areas at this time.
White sugarcane aphid continues to be a serious problem in grain sorghum fields across Mississippi and the Mid-South. Because this is a brand new pest, there are many questions still unanswered. The Mid-South Entomology Working Group is frantically working on
Many growers in the Mid-South apply a herbicide shortly prior to sorghum harvest to facilitate combine efficiency and suitable grain moisture. This season, this issue is even more critically important because of severe harvest problems potentially created by White Sugarcane aphid infestation. This article will discuss appropriate timing and potential outcome of such harvest aid applications.
The last effective bloom date is the last date that a white flower will accumulate enough heat units to mature into a harvestable boll. Generally speaking it takes 850 heat units for a white flower to mature into a harvestable
The Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) crop insurance endorsement will be available to winter wheat producers in Bolivar, Coahoma, Sunflower, Tallahatchie and Washington counties for 2015. SCO was authorized in the Agricultural Act of 2014 and will provide an indemnity payment
Preliminary yield data from the 2014 MSU Wheat Variety Trials are now available. This article provides suggestions for analyzing and making variety selection decisions using this data.
Soybean diseases continue to be observed throughout MS. Brown spot, aerial web blight, frogeye leaf spot, Cercospora blight are the predominant foliar diseases observed at present. In addition, several root diseases are becoming apparent from fields across the state.
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
Southern corn rust continues to be observed throughout MS. We continue to receive calls regarding late fungicide applications (> R4/R5) to reduce yield losses attributed to southern rust. Numerous myths regarding the disease have been widely spread throughout the MS corn production area including death of a corn plant in as fast as 7 days following southern rust infection and lodging as a result of heavy southern rust infection.
White sugarcane aphid infestations are increasing across the state and more applications are going out to manage this pest. Over the last week to 10 days we have heard about numerous fields that have received a second application. Remember, that the Section 18 label for Transform states that no more than 2 applications can be made in a field.
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,
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.
Over the past week we have had numerous opportunities to further observe spread and control of fields infested with white sugarcane aphids. We also have managed to get a couple of replicated small plot test out. Below are a couple bullet points based on recent experiences from walking numerous fields and talking to numerous folks around the state and Mid-South.
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.
Described below are the most common nutrient related issues that occur in Mississippi rice production and a few distinctive characteristics to key on when trying to properly identify each issue in the field. Nutrient issues in rice can take on
As more and more of the rice crop starts to head, it is time to start thinking about rice stink bug. We have been sweeping some grass around the Delta for the last few weeks, and the one general comment I will make is that populations have been fairly low in most areas. We have seen fairly high numbers in a couple places, but it was small patches of heading grass in isolated locations.
Last week’s weather pattern in the Delta provided near perfect conditions for rice blast (Pyricularia grisea) to occur. Rice blast is generally categorized by the plant part infected (e.g., leaf, neck, panicle). Blast favors mild humid weather, frequent rainfall, and
Yesterday we found our first southern blight* damage to peanuts for 2014. The timing is not unusual, we generally start finding the disease when the crop canopy closes. What is unusual is where on the plants the disease was found.
“It ain’t over till it’s over!” Amazing as it seems, several producers have not laid poly pipe. After the five plus inches of rainfall we received last week, some producers are questioning the need to lay pipe this late in
Foliar diseases of soybean continue to be observed throughout the state. At present, no soybean rust has been detected in Mississippi. However, aerial web blight, downy mildew, frogeye leaf spot, and target spot have all been observed in light to severe situations depending on field location.
Corn is not immune to yield loss until physiological maturity occurs. However, it is not nearly as vulnerable during late reproductive stages. This article includes a chart which should substantially help assess the risk of potential corn yield reduction during late reproductive stages.
Additional bacterial blight has been observed in the MS cotton production system. At present, 12 counties have been reported to contain infected cotton.
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
Bollworm moth counts were up sharply across the state this week, so higher bollworm larval pressure should be expected over the next 1-2 weeks. Southwestern corn borer counts were high in Quitman, Tallahatchie and Leflore counties, but low elsewhere. Most corn
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