Ed Whatley, Clarksdale
6/20/2024 – Cotton – Plants bugs have gone from 0-60 in 10 seconds in some areas. The season started off slow for plant bugs. Plant bugs have drastically changed in the areas with no rain and have cotton mixed with grain crops. We just have to keep something on the cotton until the insect pressure slows down. Aphids are building in some fields. The theory about flaring certain insects with certain insecticides is kinda hard to understand sometimes. I’m sure y’all know what I mean. I started picking up mites today, I’m sure they will increase with this weather. Need a cotton shower!
Soybeans – Insect pressure is light in soybeans at this time, but I did sweep up 2 red banded stink bugs the other day. I’m sure the guys down south will keep me informed on the progression of the RBS. Approximately 75% of my soybeans were planted by the 20th of April. Growers are making fungicide applications on April planted soybeans as they reach R3/R4 growth stage. I feel and hope these soybeans will outrun any insect problems.
Corn- My corn is brown silk, milk stage. Disease pressure light at this time.
Overall, the crops look good. Half of my acres got 2 inches of rain Monday. The other half is irrigating to full capacity.
Jim Arrington, Senatobia
6/21/2024 – I have Cotton that ranges from 3rd true leaf to first bloom. I think the last time I sent a report I was complaining about being too wet. Things can change fast! After being so wet and crops having shallow roots a dry spell with hot temps sure shows up quickly. Luckily on 6/17 we got a good rain in Tunica and Desoto counties.
Plant bugs have been light to normal. We have seen good control with all insecticides. With older cotton we’ve put out Diamond @6oz with acephate or imidacloprid. We haven’t had aphids or spider mites yet. I found blooms on 3 different farms in 2 different counties this week so we will definitely see some early picking this year.
Soybeans range from being planted to R4. All the older beans really needed a rain to keep them growing. The ones that missed out are going to go backwards soon. We have had little to no insect pressure at all in beans. Just an occasional green stinkbug.
Dee Boykin, Yazoo City
6/19/2024 – Corn is in the home stretch now. It’s from milk to dough stage and moisture has been plentiful until now. The water had started flowing last week but was halted by the rains earlier this week. The wells will be cranking again by the week’s end. We’ve been watching the various disease symptoms for a few weeks now but there’s been very little progress. We treated one field of a “new” variety with fungicide for NCLB. We experienced the worst green snap I’ve ever seen around May 21st on about 300 acres of corn that was V11-12. Probably 50% of the plants were snapped. The wind was strong enough to destroy a metal building next to the field.
Our soybeans are from V3 to R5. Thankfully about 85% are R3 or farther along in maturity. The majority of them are “layed by” as far as weeds are concerned. It’s been a challenge as always, but we really have a clean soybean crop so far. Insect pressure has been nonexistent to this point. Irrigation is kicking in now.
Our cotton crop is from pinhead square to about a week from first bloom. Fruit retention has been really good compared to the last few seasons. We’ve made up to three PGR applications on some fields but are still wrestling with some of my generation to make them understand the importance of early applications. We’ve noticed that the cotton plants have tremendous tap roots in virtually every field especially considering the wet conditions earlier. Hopefully this will pay off later. Plant bug pressure has been very light so far, but we have some very densely populated cotton that we’re already finding nymphs in. Unfortunately, we have too much help setting planters, if you know what I mean.
In summary, the corn crop has great potential; soybeans and cotton have a long way to go but a good start.
Virgil King, III, Lexington
6/20/2024 – Our cotton ranges from 8 to 15 nodes. We are getting out some plant bug treatments and adding some pix where needed. Cotton looks good at this time with a good square set and we are seeing some blooms this week in our oldest. We have started to see some aphid populations building up but nothing that needs any treatment yet. Growers have been on a mission to get weeds cleaned up. Overall, we have been able to keep weeds cleaned up but pigweeds have given up problems in areas of fields where they got too big during all the rain.
Our soybeans are from 5 nodes to 18 at this time. We are starting some water this week. Sweep net mostly still empty but we do sweep a few green clover worms, stink bugs, loopers and some salt marsh caterpillars. We have just had our first fungicide application go out this week.
Most all our corn is at R3. Keeping the water going on it. We have not found any significant disease in the corn this week. Pollination looks good on it also.
Lauren Green, Greenwood
6/20/2024 – Cotton is from 8th node to 14th node. Plant big pressure has been overall light up to date. Starting to pick up a few more up around edges and corn fields that border. Began watering this week as well.
Corn has pollinated and looks good. Trying to keep fields with plenty of moisture where we can.
Soybeans range from R2 to R5. Insect pressure has also been light in beans. Fungicides have started going out and most will get one next week. Some fields we are adding an insecticide while most have not. Watering all we can as well.
Wheat harvest has finished and ended up with an average crop. Soybeans will not be planted behind it.
Trent LaMastus, Cleveland
6/21/2024 – Corn ranges from early R1 to early R3. Disease pressure has been light with the exception of Curvularia, that is just about everywhere. I have a number of non-Bt corn acres and there have been a modest number of fall armyworms in it. It’s all later planted so I’m concerned about the next armyworm moth flight. My SW corn borer traps have been out for three weeks and remain empty as of 6-21-24.
I’m seeing more aphids in corn every year and this year they aren’t hard to find. The corn crop looks really good right now in large part to begin one of the most uniform stands I’ve ever seen.
Irrigation is wide open!
Soybeans: as uniform as the corn crop is, the soybeans are just the opposite. I checked some beans today that had emerged earlier this week. The rest are anywhere from V3-V18/R5. Insects have been very light to this point and disease likewise. Weeds and grass are being cleaned up on the middle-aged beans and irrigation started last week on the older ones.
Cotton: like soybeans, cotton is in a wide range of growth stages as well. I have cotton less than a week old to V14 about to bloom. Insect pressure has been steady, but light compared to previous years with the exception of aphids. I haven’t seen them this bad this early in a long time. Aphids aren’t everywhere, but where they are they are a problem. Interestingly, they are the worst where we applied Intrepid Edge for thrips.
Plant bugs are light and spotty but are starting to migrate out of other crops and native host plants.
Some lay-by is going out now and the poly pipe will follow close behind.
Billy Bryant, Greenwood
6/17/2024 – Cotton: Plant bug round 1 has gone out where needed. Pressure has been very light and
not all acreage has required treatment, but several farms received either Imidacloprid or Transform
where Plant Bug populations justified doing so. The oldest cotton at node 12 and I expect to see
irrigation pipe rolling out on it early next week. Square retention is very high in the absence of Plant
bugs. I began seeing a slight increase in Plant bug numbers next to my older corn late last week so
will begin trimming corn fields adjacent to cotton where necessary. The majority of the acreage is 8-
12 nodes. Dicamba is not as effective as it has been against pigweeds and teaweeds and have come
behind some with Liberty to get some burn on them. Laying by some fields now. Some to get Zidua
and some may get some Valor underneath depending on the situation and what they have to apply it
with.
Corn: Most acreage is tasseling and silking now. Fungicide has been applied to all 2 yr. corn.
Applications went out at V15. I’ve been seeing some Curvalaria Leaf Spot starting up in several fields
of 2 yr. corn along with a trace of Physoderma Brown Spot. I have some 2-gene sweet corn that is
highly infected with Curvalaria.
Soybeans: Fungicide has begun to go out on oldest fields. Adding some foliar K on some and will add
insecticide to most, I expect. Everyone is hustling to get water on our soybean crop. Many acres in
the R3 stage need a few more nodes and we don't need them to quit. Not much disease activity. Just
the usual Septoria on the bottom nodes.
Clay Horton, Leland
6/17/2024 – Soybeans range from emergence to R5. In the Lake Washington to Delta City area, we
have some low lying, heavy ground that has not been dry enough to plant until this past week; finally
finished the last block last Friday. Soybeans have been pretty quiet for the most part. We got the first
round of fungicides out last week and we will have lots of acres lined up this week and next. Insect
pressure has been low in most areas.
Corn ranges from VT to milk stage. Pollination looks good in all the older corn and disease pressure
is light for the most part, other than a few corn-behind-corn acres.
Jeff North, Madison
These photos were submitted by Jeff North for the June 7 th posting but were omitted. Each photo is
identified and titled with symptoms Jeff is seeing in the field.
Phillip McKibben, Mathison
6/20/2024 – Cascading and compounding effects – every decision made on a farm has consequences, good or bad, and many times both. Working a few extra 18-hour days during land prep or during planting made the difference between some sweetpotato growers being finished transplanting, and some trying to finish during this past weekend’s 97–98-degree days.
Soil surface temperatures between 140 and 160 degrees on sandy soils do not bode well for plant life. Thankfully, most of our clients were and are out of the woods this go-around.
Cotton is blowing and going, with even the laggard fields gaining ground and catching the earlier planted. ThryvOn was a boss on thrips this year, and even with reduced thrips pressure, it still shined like Temik cotton on its best year. We’ll be watching for blooms by the 1st of July. We’ve been generously distributing mepiquat chloride across fields thus far.
Other crops are boring and beautiful for the most part. Dryland corn with damp middles at R2 growth stage, showing no signs of stress is a blessing we don’t often get to participate in.
Other than AWB in soybean, which we’ve been tracking for a couple weeks or more along tree lines, and in field corners, soybeans are quiet. We have picked up some single RBSB in some areas where they have not typically been a problem (in R2 beans). Hoping that is an issue that does not develop.
Bert Falkner, West Point
6/24/2024 – Cotton is 8th-13th node, most cleaned up with herbicides, and the majority of acres are side dressed – just lack a few acres finishing side dressing. Fruit retention is ok; plant bugs overall have been light this week. We’ve treated areas and added pix where needed. ThryvOn not holding plant bugs. Aphids starting to build and treated a low % of acreage this week. This dry weather is making our root system go down. We might see a scattered bloom next week.
All beans are V6 to R2-R3 growth stage. We’re still doing herbicide work in beans but overall, they are fairly clean. Where we can, we’ve been watering beans hard the last 7-10 days. Insects have not been an issue so far in beans.
All corn is in reproductive growth stage early tassel to milky ripe kernels. So far, I think we have pollinated ok; we’ll know for sure next check. We’ve been watering corn heavily where we can last 14+ days. Dry land corn starting to twist in the afternoon in areas. I’m very concerned about dry land corn with the moisture we have; we’ll have to have moisture very soon for all corn going into grain fill. Disease pressure has been light so far; seeing a very low level of Curvularia.
Peanuts range from 28-55 days old this week. Finishing lay-by herbicide on all peanuts. I would like to get a rain to get herbicide activated as we may be missing a few pigweeds. We’ll try to spot spray these areas. Getting the first soil fungicide out on all older peanuts and trying to start at day 45. We’re seeing a low level of leaf spot in areas which is a little early for us. We need a rain to get our soil fungicides activated. We had more thrip pressure this year in peanuts; treated 30% of peanuts for thrips-
We need a Fourth of July rain early this year!! We starting watering earlier than normal and our water reservoirs are getting to be a concern.
Trey Bullock, Seminary
6/21/2024 – Cotton is from just emerged to blooming. Plant bugs have picked up this week as well as aphids. Finding a few eggs in most older fields Cotton for the most part has turned the corner from all the rain early. A good general shower would be welcomed in all areas. Deer are still the biggest problem.
Peanuts are from 35 to 65 days old. Most herbicide work has been completed. Still quiet from insects. Growth regulators will go out next week on oldest peanuts. Gypsum is being applied to most this week.
Soybeans, I believe, are finally all planted. Beans from cracking to R5. Insects are still pretty quiet. Beginning to pick up a few leps but nothing close to treatable levels. Early beans still look really good but are needing a rain soon.
