Category Archives: July
Industrial Hemp Update
Next Texas A&M AgriLife “First Tuesday” Hemp Zoom Update Our next meeting is Tuesday, July 5, 5:15-6:30 PM. Register in advance for this meeting: https://agrilife.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0td-6rrjsjH9WmoXz4dmBB3zu6-_-mCzLI After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. It has been a hot summer for hemp… Temperatures in much of Texas couple with lack of rainfall in many areas is making hemp production tough. What we are experiencing this year in cannabinoid, fiber, and grain hemp is not unlike conditions in the Yuma, AZ area in 2021. … Read More →
Late Planting of Grain Sorghum Across Texas?
This item was first prepared for Texas Grain Sorghum Association’s “Sorghum Insider” South & Coastal Texas With record high prices on grain sorghum in much of Texas, some have wondered if the prices might stir interest in Central & South Texas of planting a mid-and late summer sorghum crop for fall production. Texas A&M AgriLife does not have data on the potential for these crops if planted in Central Texas, the Coastal Bend, and far South Texas. Historically this has never been a practice. AgriLife Extension agents Vidal… Read More →
Cotton Management Following Inundated or Saturated Conditions
Dr. Benjamin McKnight Extension Cotton Specialist, TAMU Dept. of Soil and Crop Sciences, College Station, (979) 845-0870 After a dry start to the 2021 Texas cotton growing year, most of the production regions around the state have received much needed relief to drought conditions. The Texas drought monitor maps from the month of April puts into perspective how dry conditions were across the state, with approximately 90% of Texas in some form of moisture deficit. Currently in July, approximately 90% of the state is not considered to… Read More →
Cover Crops for Weed Management and Conservation Agriculture in Texas
Texas Row Crops Newsletter – Jodie McVane Reisner – May 2021 Jodie Reisner, Spencer Samuelson and Muthukumar Bagavathiannan Integrated weed management (IWM) is a diverse approach to managing weeds, which combines complementary approaches for desired weed management results (Figure 1). Studying the cultural, mechanical, physical, and biological forms in combination with chemical forms at the farm level can offer producers insights as to what can work effectively on their farms. IWM entails cultural tactics such as crop rotations, adjusting seeding rates, planting cover crops between cropping seasons… Read More →
Southern Plains of Texas: Watch out for Lygus
by Suhas Vyavhare, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Lubbock, TX With the daytime highs over 100 degrees almost each day, cotton is squaring with some fields starting to bloom. Although we have received light and spotty showers, we need more over the next couple of weeks for the cotton to continue to grow. Insect pressure remains very low in most places. I know only of a couple of fields that needed to be treated for cotton fleahoppers (Swisher County) so far. Cotton fleahoppers are generally considered… Read More →
Sunflower (Head) Moth & Bloom Stage of Growth
by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, Lubbock, 806-746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu Dr. Ed Bynum, Extension Entomology, Amarillo, 806-677-5600, ebynum@ag.tamu.edu Wherever sunflowers are grown in Texas (this year mostly in the High Plains), a standard and essential part of managing the crop is controlling sunflower (head) moth. When moth pressure is moderate damage to the sunflower crop from the larval feeding alone has an economic impact, and the subsequent opportunistic Rhizopus head rot infection can devastate yields. Sunflower moth control measures in our opinion rank in the following order: 1) timing,… Read More →
Southern Plains of Texas: Time to Look for Fleahoppers
by Suhas Vyavhare and Blayne Reed, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service The high temperatures, high humidity, and the passing of light cotton showers over the last couple of weeks have been very conducive for rapid crop growth and development. Most cotton fields on the Southern High Plains are past the 5th true leaf stage and are sporting pinhead through ¼ grown squares. This should mean they are no longer vulnerable to economic damage by thrips. There are some late fields and re-planted fields which can still be injured… Read More →