Author Archives: l-francis
2019 Texas Auxin Herbicide Training Update
by Dr. Scott Nolte, Dr. Pete Dotray, & Dr. Gaylon Morgan In late October 2018, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced they will extend the registration of dicamba for two years (until December 20, 2020) for over-the-top (OTT) weed control in dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean. The extended labels include changes to ensure these products continue to be used effectively and to address concerns about off-target movement. Initial label changes state that only certified applicators may apply dicamba OTT, prohibit OTT applications after 60 days after planting for… Read More →
Yellow Foliar Symptoms in Fall 2018 Wheat (West Texas)
by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu ; Dr. Reagan Noland, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, San Angelo, (325) 657-7330, reagan.noland@ag.tamu.edu For wheat producers in the Texas High Plains and lower Rolling Plains/Concho Valley Fall 2018 has brought field symptoms that have baffled some growers. Much of this is likely due to exceptionally large October rains. Essentially all fields south of Lubbock received at least 6” of rain, a few fields received twice that. Rains north of Lubbock were… Read More →
Eight Considerations to Get More Value for Your Soil Test Dollars
by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu Farmers across Texas are familiar with standard soil testing procedures and many make use of soil tests to determine fertilizer applications for a wide range of crops and soil types. You have likely been encouraged to soil test annually and “Don’t Guess—Soil Test” to better pinpoint your soil fertility program. Overall soil testing information from Texas A&M is found at http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/ Included is instructions on how to sample, what types of test you… Read More →
Herbicide Options for Killing Cotton Around Gin Yards
by G.D. Morgan and M.A. Matocha, Teeas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Boll weevils have been found in multiple locations north of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 2018, including the Coastal Bend and Wintergarden regions. To regain complete boll weevil control, everyone must be diligent, again, about destroying volunteer cotton in gin yards, non-commercial fields, equipment yards, and industrial sites. The information below is focused on gin yards, but will be relevant to the non-commercial cotton areas as well. With over 80% of the cotton planted in 2018… Read More →
General Information About Glyphosate
by Scott Nolte-Texas A&M AgriLife Extension; Peter Dotray-Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension; Muthu Bagavathiannan-Texas A&M AgriLife Research What is glyphosate Glyphosate is an herbicide used to control a wide range of undesirable plants in lawns and gardens, row crops, pastures, aquatics, road sides, rights-of-way, and other managed areas. First introduced for use in 1974, glyphosate is now one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. Today, there are over 750 products that contain this active ingredient for agronomic, commercial, and home use. How does… Read More →
Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?—Perspective on Five Common Statements
by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu This week I was in Mitchell County, Texas to talk about cover cropping (see companion article in this month’s RCNL). As cover cropping has become a national topic of interest in agriculture, sometimes I think the interest and enthusiasm gets carried away with some statements about soil and our farming practices that need some perspective. This could very well be purely unintentional. But if a Texas farmer is lectured about any of the… Read More →
Oat Variety Update
by Dr. Clark Neely, Statewide Small Grains Extension Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension In Texas, we talk a lot about wheat, but oats deserves some attention as well. After all, they were planted on 470,000 acres across the state last year. This small grain is particularly well adapted to Central and South Texas and generally tolerates wet soil better than wheat, which is a reoccurring issue in the Blacklands and South Texas. The primary use of oats in Texas is for forage and grazing, with only about 50,000… Read More →
Fall Cover Cropping for Texas—Is it for you? How many species should I plant and what should I pay?
by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu Producers across Texas are becoming more familiar with the concepts of cover cropping. More farmers are asking about it, and some are trying cover cropping in some form. Cover cropping across the U.S. and even in Texas takes many forms (Fig. 1). In the Texas South Plains (general Lubbock region) we have over 1 million acres of cover cropping annually—the use of terminated rye or wheat to protect seedling cotton, mostly on irrigated… Read More →
Wheat Variety Grain Picks for Texas—2018-2019
by Dr. Clark Neely, State Small Grains Extension Specialist, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, College Station, (979) 862-1412, cbneely@tamu.edu; Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu Texas A&M AgriLife staff in College Station, Amarillo, Vernon and Lubbock have designated our annual wheat grain variety “Picks” for the 2018-2019 season for four distinct variety testing regions of Texas. These are the High Plains, Rolling Plains (Chillicothe/Vernon region in the north to south of Abilene), Blacklands & Northeast Texas, and South Texas. Continuing… Read More →
Limiting the Spread of Fusarium Wilt Race 4, a New Disease of Cotton in Texas
by Dr. Tom Isakeit, Extension Plant Pathologist and Dr. Gaylon Morgan, Extension Cotton Agronomist During the summer of 2017, a new race of the Fusarium wilt fungus (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum) infecting cotton was confirmed in many fields in El Paso and Hudspeth counties. This particular variant is known as “race 4” (FOV4). Previously, FOV4 was limited to the San Joaquin Valley of California. With plant pathogens, a race is defined as the ability to cause, or not cause disease, in particular varieties of the host plant. … Read More →