Monthly Archives: May 2020

Sugarcane Aphids Found in Sorghum

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Grain sorghum fields in the Mid-Coast vary in maturity from soft/hard dough to pre-bloom. These fields should be scouted weekly for insect pests. Today, we found sugarcane aphids in fields near Bayside. While these fields are not at a level needing treatment, the population should be monitored twice weekly to ensure they don’t get out of hand. Sugarcane aphids can cause grain yield losses until a few weeks prior to harvest, but the crop is more sensitive to the aphids earlier in the season. As the sorghum grain… Read More →

Grain Sorghum Across the Board

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Sorghum fields range in maturity from 4-5 leaf to bloom. This is the result of planting across 5-6 weeks. As a result of this we need to be on the lookout for a wide variety of insect pests. Headed sorghum should be checked for stink bugs and headworms. Scout for these pests using a small bucket, beating the heads into the bucket and count what remains. Follow this link for a brief video demonstrating how to scout sorghum after bloom. LINK My economic threshold for headworms is 1… Read More →

Thrips and Fleahoppers in Some Cotton Fields

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This week while scouting cotton fields in Calhoun, Refugio, and Victoria Counties, we have found thrips, cotton fleahopper, and aphids. A few young cotton fields have thrips above economic levels of 1-2 per true leaf. This is not a comment I am fond of making because, I rarely think of thrips as an economic pest in cotton fields of the Mid-Coast. The problem we are seeing is more of a factor of lack of rainfall than the presence of thrips. In most years, our cotton fields are growing… Read More →