Congratulations to Virgil King, III of Lexington, current MACA President, on being named “2011 Cotton Consultant of the Year”. Virgil received the prestigious honor, which was presented by Cotton Farming magazine and Syngenta, at the recent Beltwide Cotton Conference in Orlando.
To see the article and photographs go to the following link at Cotton Farming magazine and click on “Winner Cotton Consultant of the Year” on the upper right hand corner of the home page.
http://www.cottonfarming.com
Mr. Trent Irby has been named Extension Soybean Specialist at Mississippi State University beginning January 1, 2012. Trent is a native of Mississippi and was raised on a family owned and operated row crop farm where he gained production experience with soybeans, cotton, corn, and wheat. In 2005, he received his B.S. degree at Mississippi State University. He earned an M.S. degree in 2009 and is currently working to finish his Ph.D. During his time in graduate school, Trent had opportunities to research weed control and crop tolerance in soybeans, cotton, and corn. He has a strong passion for agriculture and is very excited to have the opportunity to serve as the new MSU Extension Soybean Specialist.
Beginning January 1, Trent can be reached at 662-418-7842 or at jti2@pss.msstate.edu.
From Dr. Nathan Buehring, Rice Specialist
On November 15th, Mississippi State University will be hosting a Rice Short Course at the Delta Research and Extension Center, Charlie Capps Entrepreneurial Center in Stoneville, MS. The short course is at no cost. CCA and consulting credits will be available at this meeting. Please see attachment for the agenda.
The Mississippi Entomological Association, Mississippi Weed Science Society, and Mississippi Association of Plant Pathologists and Nematologists will hold its annual conference on October 24-25, 2011 at the Bost building at Mississippi State University. The meeting will start at 1:00 pm on October 24 with the Row Crop and Med/Vet round table discussions. Monday night will be a steak dinner at the MAFES conference center (Bull Barn) followed by student and general talks on Tuesday October 25th. Please plan on attending the round tables to give updates on new products for consideration in the Insect Control Guide for 2012. Below is a link to the advanced registration form.
Due to meeting conflicts that involve many of the MSU Extension Specialists and Researchers we rely on for program presentations, the 2012 MACA Annual Conference date has been changed to February 14 – 15, 2012. MACA Committee meetings and Exhibit Hall Set-up will be on Monday the 13th. All activities will once again be held at Bost Extension Center on the MSU campus.
Conference Agenda and Registration information will be posted in December.
The funeral arrangements for Mrs. Herbert Tucker Miller, Jr. (Dotty), mother of MACA member Tucker Miller are as follows:
Wednesday, September 28th – Visitation – 1:00 P.M. at Drew United Methodist Church, 105 West Shaw Avenue, Drew, Miss.
Wednesday, September 28th – Funeral Services – 2:00 P.M. at Drew United Methodist Church, 105 West Drew Avenue, Drew Miss.
Memorials may be made to Drew United Methodist Church, 105 West Shaw Avenue, Drew, Mississippi 38737
Or to The Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Inc. State Headquarters, C/O Pattie Smith, 542 Northwoods Drive, Grenada, MS 38901
Ray Funeral Home, 206 Bishop Road, Cleveland, MS 38732 662-843-1709 is in charge of arrangements
Reporting from the South Mississippi region is Trey Bullock, Hattiesburg
Cotton is from 6 NAWF to defoliated. Most cotton fields are at least beginning to open but still have lots of young bolls to mature. Dry weather early kind of set this crop back and it is trying to make it up. Had lots of pop up showers in the last few days that have helped some fields; however fields that are a little rank and trying to open are getting lots of boll rot and continuing to try to grow. Storms a couple of weeks ago blew some of these fields around pretty good and these are the fields that are being hurt the most. Insects are very low in cotton fields that I am still looking at, but I have terminated most of my fields for bugs. Need rain in some places that have missed rains for 3 weeks, but most fields need no more. Will be defoliating more fields this week, but will still be 2 weeks for the bulk of it.
Peanuts are 75 to 115 days old and are looking really good. White Mold is in most fields, but dry weather lately has kept it in check for the most part. Foliage feeders are beginning to show up and have treated a few fields with pyrethroid where fungicide was going out. Oldest peanuts are 25 days til digging.
Soybeans are R-4 to R-5.5 and have many afternoon showers in last couple of weeks. They are looking really good with not a lot of problems as of last week. I will look at these fields today.
Corn harvest is still underway in some of my area. Dry land corn planted late is 100 to 120 bushels and irrigated corn is 210 to 250.
Reporting from the North Delta region is Charlie Craig, Friars Point
Winding down for me. Most of my cotton is either through or close to being through with insecticide applications. I’m ready to smell defoliant
This photo is courtesy of Tucker Miller from Drew. Bacterial Blight, affecting about 200 acres of 0912 variety that Tucker consults on in Marks, Miss., first appeared about 3 weeks ago and is getting worse. He expects a severe yield loss. The circular, water-soaked lesion is the characteristic symptom to look for.
Reporting from the East Mississippi region is Bert Falkner, West Point
7-15-11 – Cotton at NAWF 0 – 4, no open bolls yet and insect pressure light. Rain and wind in the last week has cotton twisted and tangled and is causing concerns about re-growth. Soybeans at R4-R5, we’ve finished up fungicide treatments and 3CAH still present. We feel our soybean crop has good potential. Corn being harvested with yields all over the place. Peanuts 75 – 85 days old, all lapped and pegging good. Starting the 2nd white mold treatments this week.
Reporting from the South Mississippi region is Trey Bullock, Hattiesburg
Cotton is from 6 NAWF to being defoliated. Defoliated my first field on Saturday (8/13). Sprayed a few fields for bollworms this past week. Mainly in one variety, may be just coincidence but that is the way it was. Stink bugs are being sprayed in several fields as well. We were really dry and things had really sped up, but we got some pretty good rains on Saturday in isolated places. Dry weather and HEAT has taken its toll on some fields but cotton looks pretty good overall. Lots of bolls starting to open.
Corn harvest has gone pretty well and corn is turning out really good. Harvested a variety trial on 8/13 with 21 varieties. Corn went from 213 to 269 bushels. The corn out from under the pivot cut 0. Irrigation paid out pretty good this year.
White mold has really jumped on peanuts in the past week. So hot and dry for so long, then followed by 3 weeks of rain was the perfect setup for it and it is showing up in most fields. Have seen it pretty bad on some virgin peanut ground that has been in bahaigrass for years. Applications are going out as fast as they can get around. Will be blasting peanuts to determine digging dates in 3 weeks.
Soybeans are from R-3 to R-5 and most fields are in really good shape. Treated most beans in last week for bollworms and TCAH with a few velvetbeans and loopers in the mix. Fungicides were applied on all irrigated beans as well as a few dry land fields.
Reporting from the North Delta region is Tim Sanders, Sarah
Most of Tunica County has not received a decent rain in a while and crops are showing it. A few small showers came last week on the south edge of the county and into Coahoma County. We are still treating plant bugs and worms in later irrigated cotton. Dry land and earlier planted irrigated cotton that wasn’t replanted is beginning to open. Even with adding pyrethroids to several plant bug applications, you can still find a few bolls that were popped by bollworms. Some bacterial blight was seen in the Coahoma county area. Soybeans range from R2 to R7. Many wheat beans have been heavily injured by drought. Bollworms are still being treated. I have seen more tobacco budworm moths in the last week in cotton and soybeans. Several fields treated with pyrethroid/acephate have been retreated but most of the fields treated with Belt are still holding. Corn is done and some may get cut at the end of the week. Older rice is being drained. Stinkbugs have calmed down in later fields that are recently headed.
Reporting from the South Delta region is Brian Hayes, Bainbridge, GA
Cotton has really started to open up fast this week; probably 20% of our fields have started to open and another 50% is at cutout, with hardly any blooms in the field. We had a few plant bugs and stink bugs in the late cotton the end of last week that we were cleaning up but I don’t think we will have much insect spraying left to do this year.
Soybeans range from R3- R7. We still have TCAH showing up that we are trying to keep beat back; starting to see a few loopers but nothing that we have had to spray yet. Worms have not been too bad so far but we do have aerial web blight starting to show up in several places this week.
Corn harvest has started and everyone is still jumping around trying to find corn that is dry enough to cut and what they have cut has been as bad as we expected. The best I’ve heard is 120 bu. with a lot being in the 50-60 bu. range with a lot of aflatoxin in it. Hopefully, as we move into our better, ground yields will increase.
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Consultant Commentary – Up-to-Date Information from Mississippi’s Crop Professionals
Reporting from the South Delta region is Virgil King, III, Lexington
8-29-11 Cotton - Most of the cotton that we check that was planted in early to mid May is winding down at this time. We have made some of our last treatments for plant bugs and spider mites in the last 10 days. Mostly trying to protect top bolls and keep leaves safe until maturity. Our worm pressure is down from where it has been all season with us seeing some late worm damage in tops of plants. We have not defoliated any cotton at this time but will get some going next week. We have fields that are partially ready with green spots all across them. This is where cotton has held up better in these soil types.
Soybeans - Most of our beans are through at this time but we do have some late beans behind the flood and some behind wheat. Will have to carry them into October. Insect pressure is down in beans at this time. We have treated most prior to now to clean up loopers, bollworms and armyworms. We do not have much pressure behind these treatments. We are still seeing a lot of 3CAH and few bean leaf beetles. We see some low numbers of stink bugs with some immatures.
Corn- Corn harvest is over for us. Some dry land yields really low. Some irrigated yields high at around 200 bushels. On average yields will be anywhere from 125-135 bushels.
Milo - All our late planted milo has headed at this time. We had to use pyrethroids in the whorl stage for armyworms on most of it. We used Baythroid for midge, bollworm, and armyworms at pollination with some fields getting two application because heads did not all come out at the same time. Within the last 10 days most has had an application of Belt for Fall Armyworms and a few bollworms. It has been a tough fight in the milo but we have very little damage at this time. Hopefully pressure will ease up this week when we check.
Reporting from the South Delta region is David Hankins, Rolling Fork
8-29-11 – Corn finished cutting dry land beans yields off about 25 percent due to drought. Cotton looks good. About finished spraying most of it. None ready to defoliate yet.
Reporting from the East Mississippi region is Phillip McKibben, Maben
8-29-11 – We’re letting go of about 75-80% of our cotton this week. The rest still has green spots that we’re watching closely for bollworms and plant bugs. We should begin defoliation the end of next week on some of our thinner soils. I’ve told my growers that when the cotton was blooming, we were getting about 8.5 to 9 days worth of heat units every week, so when the cotton starts opening, expect it to open about 10 days worth per week, and so far that looks about right.
Corn harvest is about 60% complete. Yields have been better than we expected, in the 150 bushel range on most of our dry land acres, and we’ve just moved on to our better soils, and our irrigated ground.
Our soybeans look great, the majority are R5.5-R6, with our wheat beans ranging from early to late R4, and catching up quickly.
Reporting from the South Mississippi region is Trey Bullock, Hattiesburg
A little more defoliating going on this week and one grower started picking on Monday. Only cotton I am still looking at is behind wheat and I figure I will look at it for another 10 days. Bugs still very light in cotton. Cotton is opening extremely fast and should be defoliating the majority next week.
Velvetbean caterpillars and bollworms have picked up significantly in soybeans and most acres were treated in last 4 days with Belt and a pyrethroid. Dry weather is starting to take a toll on soybeans, if we don’t get a rain soon they will be fair at best. Irrigated beans look great.
Peanuts yesterday were starting to stress pretty bad and need a little rain pretty quick. Flushing lots of velvetbean moths in all peanut fields, and sprayed several fields end of last week in Claiborne Co. White Mold is still an issue but dry weather is keeping it in check.
Corn harvest will wind up this week and yields are still excellent in irrigated corn and late planted dry land is doing better than expected.
Reporting from the East Mississippi region is Bert Falkner, West Point
8-30-11 – A little cotton has been defoliated but the majority will start next week. This crop is progressing fast. Low insect pressure in cotton planted after wheat which is at 0-4 NAWF. Corn harvest is 50% to complete, depending on grower size. Irrigated corn averaging 175 bu/acre plus and dry land averaging 50 – 125 bu/a. Soybeans are at R 5.5 – R 6 and we’re treating isolated areas for loopers and mixed other insects. Dry land beans have potential but need a rain to fill ‘em out.
Peanuts are 90 – 115 days old. We finished up our 2nd white mold application this week. Insects and diseases pressure are low. This crop has a good root crop now and will be very good if we can get a rain for the limb crop. Most everyone has started digging sweet potatoes. We’ve been on about a 2 week schedule for worm complex and flea beetles (above average numbers this year) with Intrepid plus pyrethroid. Some fields have up to 4 apps. Also ran into some nematode problems in places.