Author Archives: l-francis
How to Address Uneven Emergence in Cotton
by Seth Byrd, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Lubbock, TX. Many fields are just seeing some cotton emerge after rains moved across the Texas High Plains in late June. This is most often the case in dryland fields where cotton was dry planted, or planted into soil with insufficient moisture to result in germination, or in a lot of cases, no moisture at all. While this was done in hopes that rain would soon follow, for many fields it was over a month before a significant rain was received… Read More →
Insect Pest Management Update
by David Kerns, Professor & IPM Coordinator In cotton we have been seeing a great deal of bollworms activity in Bt cotton and there have been quite a few insecticide applications going out. A lot of these reports have been coming out of the Wharton and Corpus Christi areas, but it is not confined to just those locations. In the Brazos River Bottom, we had a field of WideStrike cotton that virtually had a worm in every terminal and as much as 40% fruit loss in the upper… Read More →
How will the Recent Rain Effect the Sugarcane Aphid on South Texas Sorghum?
by Robert Bowling, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist IPM; Robert.Bowling@ag.tamu.edu How will the recent rain effect the sugarcane aphid on south Texas sorghum? That remains to be seen but, in the past three years it seems that the sugarcane aphid populations have collapsed about 10 to 14 days following major rain events. For most, the recent rain was less than an inch although some folks had over 3 inches of rain. Higher relative humidity coupled with lower temperatures certainly mean the environmental conditions are favorable for an epizootic…. Read More →
Texas Guar Production for 2017
by Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu Guar production in Texas has fluctuated from only a few thousand acres to over 100,000 acres in recent years. Currently world guar gum prices are quite low due to the downturn in crude oil prices which has led to a major reduction in oilfield drilling/fracking of new wells or reduced renovation/fracking of existing wells. When guar prices have been in their historical price range (e.g., gum at $2-3/lb), the value of guar imports through the Port of Houston has… Read More →
Hybrid Pearl Millet as an Alternative to Sugarcane Aphid Susceptible Sorghums—Updated
by Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu In the May 4, 2015 edition of Texas Row Crops Newsletter I outlined how hybrid pearl millet (HPM) might be an alternative to sorghum/sudan (haygrazer) for forage production in Texas. The general consensus is that HPM is a “poor host” of sugarcane aphids. Since then more documentation has occurred to demonstrate that HPM is indeed forage that SCA does not prefer, and we continue to view HPM as a poor host. Counts of SCA on adjacent rows of HPM… Read More →
Varying Tolerances to Liberty Applications in Cotton Varieties
by Gaylon Morgan and and Josh McGinty. There are more herbicide tolerant (HT) traits on the market than ever before and with more to come in the future. These HT traits provide new opportunities for weed management, but growers are going to have to remain diligent on the various HT traits and in which varieties these traits are included. The previous article (http://agrilife.org/texasrowcrops/2017/02/22/best-management-practices-for-auxin-tolerant-cotton-technologies-current-12017/) discussed the differences and similarities in the various dicamba products (XtendiMax®, Engenia™, and FeXapan™) and Enlist Duo®. One factor that was discussed in this article is… Read More →
Foliar Injury Symptoms from Auxin Herbicides are NOT a Good Indicator of Cotton Yield Loss
by Seth Byrd – Extension Cotton Specialist – Lubbock, TX; Peter Dotray – Extension Weed Scientist – Lubbock, TX; Wayne Keeling – Research Cropping Systems and Weed Science – Lubbock, TX; Misha Manuchehri – Extension Weed Scientist (OSU) – Stillwater, OK; Josh McGinty – Extension Agronomist – Corpus Christi, TX; Gaylon Morgan – State Extension Cotton Specialist – College Station, TX Cotton injury from herbicide drift and potential yield loss has been a hot topic recently, both among producers and in the popular press. It is important to… Read More →
Have you noticed any flowering pigweed recently?
by Muthu Bagavathiannan, Josh McGinty, Vijay Singh, Peter Dotray and Gaylon Morgan Palmer amaranth and waterhemp are two pigweed species that have become problematic in row crop production fields in Texas. Palmer amaranth is widespread in the High Plains, Rio Grande Valley, Coastal Bend and Central Texas regions, whereas waterhemp is predominantly found in the Upper Gulf Coast as well as the Blacklands regions. Herbicide resistance in these two species is an emerging issue and extension specialists have emphasized the need for diversifying weed management tactics to prevent/delay resistance…. Read More →
What is wrong with my wheat?: Multiple issues perplexing growers in Central and South Texas
by Dr. Clark Neely, Statewide Small Grains Extension Specialist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension 2017 has been another interesting year once again for wheat growers in the Texas Blacklands and South Texas. Chances are you or someone you know who grows wheat has asked at some point, “What is wrong with my wheat?!” There appears to be a number of factors at play this spring causing wheat to look abnormal, poor, or “raggedy”. I will attempt to cover the most likely culprits and some less likely ones too in… Read More →
Sugarcane Aphid Update
by Robert Bowling, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist –Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Sugarcane aphid on sorghum in Hildalgo County was detected on March 21, 2017 by Danielle Sekula-Ortiz. Sugarcane aphid colonies were small and the field had not reached an economic population but there are several important considerations with this detection. Winged aphids were found in some of the colonies. This means the aphid is mobile and strong southerly winds will carry the aphid into other areas of the Rio Grande Valley and eventually to the Upper Gulf… Read More →