On February 5th 2015, Mississippi State University will host the third annual Future of Agriculture Graduate Student Competition. The competition will be open to M.S. and Ph.D. students working in production agriculture. Over the last several years, there has been a
Find attached the agenda for the 42nd Annual Delta Ag Expo to be held in Cleveland, MS on Wednesday, January 21 and Thursday, January 22, 2015. We hope to see you in attendance at the Bolivar County Ag Expo Center.
There has been a tremendous amount of scrutiny put on the neonicotinoid class of chemistry in recent years because of the potential link to declines in bee numbers. Researchers are working feverishly across the nation and the globe to determine the exact causes of bee decline. No doubt pesticides can and likely play a role to some degree, but there are many factors that also influence bee health such as habitat loss, Varroa mites, and diseases.
Soybean loopers are starting to show up in high numbers in many areas of the state. In many cases, soybeans are past the point where yield loss can occur, but there are many later planted soybeans that need to be protected for a while longer. Below are a few tips on when to treat and what to treat with.
We have had numerous calls over the last couple weeks about small, 2-5 day old larvae, under bloom tags in Bt cotton that is near, at, or beyond cutout. All of the research done to this point suggests that cotton is safe from bollworm damage when it reaches node above white flower 5 plus 300 heat units.
Bean leaf beetle numbers have been increasing steadily over the last couple weeks. We have actually made bean leaf beetle targeted sprays on a number of acres in recent days. Yield loss is caused by defoliation and less frequently by
We are quickly approaching that time of year where some of the earlier planted fields are turning color and others are approaching R6 vey quickly. Often times many of the insect pest we deal with “pile in” about this time and growers face the tough decision to treat when it may not pay back or try and race them to the end. We have devoted a lot of time and effort in recent years to evaluate and validate thresholds in soybeans under the current growing practices in Mississippi. Through these research efforts we have made several changes to insect thresholds and termination points for insect pest of soybeans in MS.
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
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.
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.
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.
White sugarcane aphids (WSCA) have been blowing up quickly to treatable levels in several counties in Mississippi. Over the last few days here have been several field requiring treatments likely with more coming. Because this is a new pests for Mississippi, we have been following the lead of our colleagues in Texas and Louisiana who dealt with this in 2013. Below are some criteria that we put together based on what we know to date that will help in making a decision to treat WSCA.
Populations of the white sugarcane aphid are expanding and increasing across the state. We have confirmed the presence of white sugarcane aphid in grain sorghum in 7 counties in Mississippi (Fig 1) and there are likely more. The counties where white sugarcane aphids have been found include Bolivar, Washington, Humphreys, Quitman, Panola, Tunica and Oktibbeha.
By now most folks have heard of Kudzu bugs. In fact, we have now confirmed them in 52 counties in Mississippi. Kudzu bugs, Megacopta cribraria, was first found in Georgia in 2009. Since that time it has spread rapidly across the southeast kudzu bug map 7_8and is now moving west in to Mid-southern states. It was first found in Mississippi in 2012 and now covers most of the state.
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
It appears that 2014 is going to be the year of the armyworm in rice. I have had numerous calls, texts, and Tweets about armyworms in rice over the last week. If you have not had them in your rice to this point, consider yourself very lucky.
In 2013 a new aphid pest called the White Sugarcane Aphid, Melanaphis sacchari, was detected in grain sorghum in 38 counties in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and one county in Mississippi. This species has apparently been around for years but the hosts switch to grain sorghum appears to be new. This pest can be devastating to grain sorghum if populations reach high densities. In fact, some fields have seen 100% yield loss. Another major factor is this aphid is difficult to control with currently labeled products.
There are several caterpillar pests that commonly infest field corn in Mississippi. These include corn earworm, fall armyworm, and southwestern corn borer.
I have had numerous calls recently on green stink bugs in beans that are either vegetative or at R1-R2 stage with no pods. Numbers have ranged from 4-5 to 8-12 per 25 sweeps depending on the field. It is not uncommon to have a field or two on occasion to have threshold numbers of stink bugs before soybeans put on pods, but the number of fields this year being reported is certainly unusual.
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.
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.
A corn, cotton, peanut, and soybean field day is scheduled for June 17th at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, MS. The general theme of the field day will include pertinent information for mid-season row crop issues.
Similar to most years when we have armyworms in wheat, there is the threat of having armyworms in seedling rice. We know of at least one rice field in Mississippi that was sprayed earlier this week. In general, damage from armyworms will not impact rice yields at this time of year unless they are beginning to reduce plant stand. This is especially true in hybrid rice planted at low seeding rates.
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