Justin George, Merigold
8/3/2024 – Rice: began draining early rice July 29th… a lot more will get drained 8/5. This is the
earliest I think we’ve ever drained. About 1/2 of my rice acres will be drained by 8/9.
Stinkbugs haven’t been bad for me. Hard to find, see, or sweep 1 in places. We did treat with some
Tenchu. I wish Endigo had a full label in rice, based on price and how well it did last year.
It looks like there is some Bacterial Panicle Blight in DynaGro 263, and we did have some High
temperatures, so no big surprise. It’s still a curious problem.
Armyworms are on many edges and did hit some very young Ozark. This rice is just passed
midseason. We used Intrepid 2F in some cases.
*Older rice looks strong.
Soybeans: watering some Mid 44A21s for the last time this upcoming week. My first week of April
4.8s and 4.9s are really through using water based on moisture sensors, BUT, growers don’t want to
leave anything to chance. The last irrigation is always fast and seems to bring uniformity, and yield.
Dryland early-April beans, and later planted 3.7s are fading fast… we will use harvest aid about 8/9.
My older irrigated will get harvest aid 8/12-8/15.
Corn: all irrigation is terminated. 10 days from sampling corn.
Overall, Growers don’t seem to have a great plan for marketing this crop. Most are undersold and
numb to the frustration. Making yield is only Half the Equation. We should all hope that the recent big
sale in the north Delta wasn’t the “Canary in the Coal Mine”!
Haley Easley, Greenwood
8/6/2024 – Corn crop has matured and is waiting on moisture to drop. Haven’t heard any yields but
very little has been harvested. Just a few dry corners.
Beans range from R7 to R4. Insects have been very light. Starting to see some looper populations
increase but few acres will be threatened by them. Stinkbugs have been less than usual. Will start
desiccating some beans next week.
Cotton is 5-7 NAWF. It looks fairly good, except for some target spot in rank cotton. Had a pretty big
shed of blooms last week but that’s to be expected. One more irrigation but trying to time it just right
is tricky. Insect pressure in cotton has been minimal. Most insecticides have been piggy backed with
pix applications.
Phillip McKibben, Maben
8/6/2024 – The biggest challenges we have had recently all involve cotton. The question of have we
had enough Pix turned into how much Pix this week and what do we mix with it? Plantbugs have
certainly been manageable this year, but we have a few fields that have required more sprays than all
surrounding fields.
I think our growers all thought that the soybean reports were just progress reports until they saw
spray recommendations on them for once… some not happy. Loopers are heavy in some R5 beans,
podworms in some of the R3 beans, stinkbugs in some earlier planted group 4 beans. A few hundred
acres of Group 3 beans will be sprayed with Gramoxone by the 20th of August. They are decent.
Sweetpotatoes have been quiet until the caterpillar species complex converged. Fall, Beet, Southern
Armyworms and scattered pockets of yellow-stripes, together with Granulate cutworms move us to
spray, but when Loopers overlap, it increases the acres involved. Everything else with this crop
(except salinity issues) has been a cakewalk.
Ty Edwards, Water Valley
8/6/2024 – Cotton- We are slowly coming to an end. NAWF ranges from 6 to none. Have found some
open bolls in the earliest cotton. We’ve cut out a fair amount of cotton and have begun counting
dd60’s for termination. Trying to get back around on irrigation again since all the rain. As hot and dry
as it is, we’ll probably wind up watering again if we don’t get a rain soon. Bugs haven’t been terrible.
Plant bugs picked up 10-12 days ago in the delta and have been steady since. Stink bugs moving in
some fields, mostly browns. We’re applying copious amounts of growth regulator to try to get blooms
out the top. Crop potential looks outstanding.
Soybeans- We’ve applied a fair amount of fungicide this year, most being in response to a visible
disease versus as a “preventative”. I’ve seen more frogeye this year than the last 5 years combined.
Also, a good bit of aerial blight and even some Cercospora that showed up super early. Bugs have
just started picking up. We lined up a fair amount of fields late last week for loopers and stink bugs,
again, mostly browns. Nearly all of my beans are from R5.5-R6.
Corn- All corn except one bottom is done, and we’re watering it for the last time. Wound up spraying it
for rust, but nothing else. Got several fields with crown rot in it, it looks pretty nasty. Irrigated crop
should be good, dryland will be ALL over the board.
