Greg Williams, Eads, Tennessee
8/1/2024 – Early cotton ranges from 17-22 nodes and 3-5 NAWF. The later planted and replants
range 13-16 nodes. Still a ways to go! Insect pressure has been on the light side this year. Plant bugs
and stink bugs have increased over the past 2 weeks. Little aphid pressure in areas not covered.
Light mites in the dryer areas. The early cotton looks really good.
Soybeans range from R1-R6 and will start drying early beans down this week. Starting picking up a
little frog eye in some areas. Some fungicides going out in problem areas. Insect pressure, pod
feeders and stink bugs, picking up in the R3-R5 beans in the last 2 weeks. Treatments going out on
the later planted beans.
I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Boys and Girls. I’m ready for a vacation. ‘Bout time to pull
on that Bow.
Charlie Craig, Friars Point
8/2/2024 – Plant bug pressure has been light for me all year. Have some areas of aphids but the
addition of Transform cleaned them up. Have had a more general spider mite infestation than usual
and have had to treat for them more than usual. Nothing earth shaking to report. Had a good rain last
week and will need another one soon with some cooler temps.
Tim Sanders, Sarah
8/1/2024 – Cotton is all blooming to NAWF 0. We have some old cotton finishing but a long way to go
on some. Plant bug numbers have really picked up over the last 7-10 days with some being hard to
control. Mites continue to be an issue in any cotton not already treated. Trying to keep young cotton
squatted after all the rains we just had.
Soybeans are from R2 to R7. Pod worms have really picked up this week in R2-R3 beans. We have
had a few old fields needing stink bug treatments.
Corn is about 1/3 -3/4 starch line.
Rice is from early boot to drained. Stink bugs are slower in headed rice now but this later rice usually
gets a load of them. Maybe this year will be different.
We were blessed with good rain but now we need the sunshine and heat to finish.
Ashton Outzs, Cleveland
8/2/2024 – Soybeans range anywhere from R3 to R6.5, with the bulk of those being at R6. This has
not been a bollworm year on my end although we did have to spray a decent amount of May 5 th -15 th
planted beans, per usual. Stink bug numbers have been low as well as loopers. I have run across a
few red banded stink bugs but they are extremely scattered.
Corn ranging anywhere from dent stage to finding some at black layer. There was very low disease
pressure in the earlier planted corn with the later planted mainly having Curvularia leaf spot. Most of
the corn had a really food pollination.
Rice – started draining some of the late March/early April rice at the beginning of this week. A lot of
the mid to late April planted rice did not waste any time catching up with it. Sheath blight was the
most present disease and mainly in the DG263, especially in the areas that have been rice behind
rice. Rice stink bug numbers have been high in certain areas and extremely low in others. Tenchu has
done a great job VS Karate.
Adam Boyd, Cleveland
8/2/2024 – Early April planted rice. Rice looks promising. Draining some now and setting more up for
the middle of next week. Later planted towards the end of April. Stink bug applications were applied
last week. Probably 12 to 14 days out from draining.
Billy Bryant, Greenwood
8/1/2024 – Cotton: Most sprays have been more to keep Pix going out than anything else. I have been
applying Acephate and Diamond every couple of weeks along with the Mepichlor. Plant bugs have
been very manageable with overall low numbers. We had a light bollworm moth flight around July 10
but not much egg lay materialized from it. Bollworm survival has been unusually low in our BG III
fields to the point that I will go days and never see a true surviving bollworm. Spider mites have been
lighter than I have experienced in years. Despite the shed that came with the long stretch of cloudy
days we all went through I believe we have a good crop overall. Will have a lot of cotton irrigated next
week for the last time.
Soybeans: Lower canopy disease is very active since our week of clouds and rain. Many of our
soybean acres got too tall this year and Target Spot is having its day. All of my younger soybeans
have been treated with fungicide. I used products that ranked good or better on Target Spot control
and I do think the fungicide has helped somewhat. Some was applied to some R5.0 beans that was
planned to be passed over for a fungicide treatment earlier but the presence of disease changed our
minds. Spraying some older beans for stinkbugs and some younger beans south of Greenwood for
loopers. A few fields required bollworm spray. My first fields to receive desiccant were sprayed this
week. Have seen a mixture of soybean loopers, cabbage loopers, and cloverworms reach high
numbers on very limited acreage. The big flight of soybean loopers is still ahead I expect.
Donny Adams, Greenville
8/1/2024 – Cotton: Cutout to 7 NAWF. There hasn't been a lot of egg/worm pressure this season.
Fungus has taken out aphids. I add Bifenthrin to my plant bug material and that has kept my mites
under control and enhances my plant bug control. Plant bugs have not been present in high numbers
but consistent enough to treat. Had a big shed due to last week's weather. May have a bit of a skip in
the crop maturity. Jury still out on this crop. I think it's going to be a good crop but not one of our best;
it's all about the weather!
Soybeans: R4-R6 Insect pressure has been low so far; we have a good beneficial population. I had
a very low number of podworms in younger beans but well below threshold. Beginning to pick up on
stink bugs (greens and browns) so far, no red bands . This crop this year will be made on irrigation!
Note: something I’ve never seen before; was doing drops in cotton and 1-2 day old plant bug nymph
was scurrying across cloth and a small spider came racing across and caught him, tried to get a
picture but it happened so fast! These beneficials help us probably more than we know!
Virgil King, Lexington
8/2/2024 – Cotton- Our cotton is anywhere from 0-7 Nodes Above White Flower and our oldest cotton
has a few open bolls. We continue to treat plant bugs where we have them. Some farms have had
them consistent while on some they are much lighter. We have had an egg lay but still do not find
any real issues with worms coming through. We have had to treat mites in some fields but over all
our mite pressure up to this point has been lower than usual.
Soybeans- Our insect pressure is up some in the beans this week. We are finding loopers that are
on the increase and more stink bugs showing up in our older beans. Some treatments are being
made at this time. We have had some bollworms in the beans and have made treatments depending
on age of beans and the number of worms.
Corn- We are through checking all our corn at this time.
John Clark Cook, Vaiden
8/1/2024 – Corn: All corn at black layer, none has been harvested as of today. Early planted corn
looks to be well above average.
Soybeans: Started desiccating March planted group 4 and April planted group 3 beans this week. All
early planted beans look phenomenal, just got to get them in the combine. Picking up a good bit of
web blight in the late planted beans after last week's rains. Foliage feeding worms also picking up in
late beans. Finding a few red bands but numbers are still very low.
Cotton: Ranges from bloomed out to 10 nodes above white flower. Applying PGRs where needed
after last week's rain. Plant bug numbers remaining steady to low in most fields. All my cotton is
looking very good this year.
Overall, this has been very light insect year on the acres I check. Yields look like they could be above
average, just have to get everything harvested.
Ethan Willers, Mantee
8/2/2024 – It’s been a lite summer for the most part as far as insect pests go. That all changed over
the last week or so.
Cotton is looking ok. A lot of fields are not uniform and have been challenging to manage height.
Stink bugs are starting to show up and are still spraying some plant bugs in a few fields. Hoping this
will be the last trip on some.
Beans are mostly around R5.5 but range from R3 to almost R6. Spraying a lot of group 5s for pod
worms in the last 2-3 days and might have more to add to the list since a lot of the pod worms are 1-2
days old. We’ll be watching some fields close for them. Brown stink bugs have really picked up this
week, and some fields are on the spray list now. I’ve seen a lot more frogeye showing up than in the
last 2-3 years. Also finding more root knot nematode spots this year. I think the stress has made the
spots more obvious this year, rather than the RKN actually being worse. Also, once you key in on an
issue you start seeing it everywhere (or is that just me?).
Sweet potatoes have really jumped after the rains. They are starting to look really good. Worms are
picking up and most fields will likely need sprayed over the next week or two depending on when they
hatch out. It’s a mix of all different kind of worms, loopers, bollworms, cut worms, and every flavor of
armyworm in the book. Going with Intrepid Edge with loopers and beets in the mix.
For thought: What’s the most valuable asset on the farm? It’s the land, the soil. Without it we can’t
farm. Yet how much of our focus is on improving soil health? Soil can be brought to life and become
extremely productive, but it doesn’t happen by accident.
Trey Bullock, Seminary
8/2/2024 – Cotton is from 15 to 23 nodes. Found 1st open boll last Monday on some cotton in
Claiborne co. Insects are extremely light. Picking up a few stink bugs in older cotton but nothing too
alarming. Cotton looks much better after last week’s rains. Some farms had 11 straight days of rainfall
that we really didn’t need but it went from about to burn up to chunking a lot of fruit so we’ll take the
moisture and manage from there. Growth regulators are going out now as some fields are just now
dry enough to get back into.
Peanuts are from 70 to 110 dap. Some green peanuts are being dug today. Insects are light in
peanuts as well. Southern armyworms are occasionally found in high numbers along with a few
scattered VBC and loopers. Finding a little early leaf spot in southern counties along with late leaf
spot in a few fields with bad rotations. I expect to see southern blight as fields dry up. Peanut crop,
as a whole, looks really good with oldest peanuts a month away from digging.
Soybeans are from R2 to some being desiccated today. Dryland beans got hurt but late rains helped
fill out what was left. Insects are light. Few stink bugs in older beans but still fairly low. VBC and
loopers can be found but not close to threshold. Really thought aerial web blight would blow up
behind rains for a week but hasn’t been the case so far.
