by Robert Bowling, Stephen Biles, Danielle Sekula-Ortiz, and Kate Harrell Sugarcane Aphid Update: As February was fading into the sunset abundant sugarcane aphid (SCA) populations were observed on volunteer and ratoon sorghum in south Texas. Their early population increase was attributed to unseasonably warm and dry conditions in January and February. There was concern around the possibility of early season SCA outbreaks on south TX sorghum if unseasonably warm conditions persisted. Fortunately, a change in weather patterns brought rain and cooler conditions in March. Recent surveys of SCA… Read More →

by Emi Kimura and Gaylon Morgan, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Effective and season-long weed control in cotton starts with preplant weed management, starting clean to stay clean. The following herbicides are some viable options of burndown herbicides to start the 2016 cotton season with clean field. • EPSP herbicides (Group 9) Glyphosate (e.g., Roundup PowerMax, Touchdown Total, Touchdown Hi-Tech, and WeatherMax) controls most winter annual grass and broadleaf weeds such as henbit (Photo 1) and perennial grass such as johnsongrass (Photo 8), bindweeds, Texas blueweed, and silverleaf… Read More →

by Thomas Isakeit, Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist I have prepared two factsheets on bacterial blight of cotton and cotton root rot. They can be accessed at Cotton.tamu.edu. The bacterial blight factsheet has photographs that will be useful in diagnosing this disease. There has been a resurgence in this disease in Texas in recent years, with some yield losses documented in other states such as Mississippi. Since the severity of this disease is driven by rainy weather, I have no prognosis for the 2016 season. The cotton root… Read More →

by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Professor & Extension Agronomist, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu Over the past several weeks light freezing conditions have occurred in north Texas, the northern Rolling Plains, and more pronounced freezes at the top of the Texas Panhandle. No reports yet have indicated strong injury other than a few fields in Lipscomb Co. Those fields were injured March 21, so injurious temperatures likely needed to be in the mid-20s or lower. As of March 29 some wheat was at second joint, and Lipscomb Co. ag. extension… Read More →

by Suhas Vyavhare and Blayne Reed; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension With the growing season just around the corner, farmers are busy preparing fields and making tough decisions for 2016. Cotton, the crop often known as “white gold,” looks to have some difficulty bringing major economic incentives to the farmers this year. Commodity prices have been below production costs for the last couple of years and future market moves, or lack thereof, are suggesting prices will be about the same this year. This means 2016 is going to be… Read More →

by Jourdan M. Bell, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research Agronomist, Amarillo Corn hybrid selection can be an overwhelming decision; however, knowledge of hybrid characteristics can help producers correctly position hybrids to their production environment as well as minimize some in-season production risks. When selecting a hybrid, a few key characteristics producers need to consider are maturity class, drought tolerance, heat tolerance, ear flex, and staygreen expression. Selection of the correct hybrid maturity class allows the producer to match the hybrid to the available water; however, it is… Read More →

by Jourdan Bell, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Amarillo In water limited regions, forage sorghums provide producers an alternative to higher water demanding forages for both hay and silage production. The Texas Panhandle Forage Sorghum Silage Trial is a comprehensive evaluation of different forage sorghum and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids including brown midrib, photoperiod sensitive and brachytic hybrids specifically targeting silage production of which is highly demanded by Texas’ dairy and beef cattle industries. The 2015 trial consisted of 100 forage sorghum entries (replicated 3 times) that were evaluated for… Read More →

by Josh McGinty, Paul Baumann, and Pete Dotray With continuing El Nino conditions this year, the moisture outlook for the 2016 crop is still favorable. Keep in mind that good growing conditions also favor the growth and development of our weed species as well. Our primary concern this season, as it has been for the past few years, is with glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth and common waterhemp (you may know these as pigweed or carelessweed). Currently, resistant Palmer amaranth has nearly become a statewide issue, while significant populations of… Read More →

by Robert Bowling, Stephen Biles, Danielle Sekula-Ortiz, and Kate Harrell Another season is upon us as farmers have begun seeding sorghum in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Bend of Texas. Sorghum has emerged in the Valley and in some areas around Corpus Christi. Warm and dry conditions have made possible the early start to the season, especially when compared with the 2015 cropping year. How might these conditions influence sugarcane aphid infestations in sorghum? Sugarcane aphid reproduction is favored by hot and dry conditions. Currently, sugarcane… Read More →