Soil Testing Principles- Part IV

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This item is adapted from an AgriLife submission to Texas Grain Sorghum Association’s “Sorghum Insider” Calvin Trostle, Ph.D., Professor & Extension Agronomist, TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu December 2023—Part IV (Part 5 in a future Row Crops Newsletter)   Eight Soil Test Pointers for Texas Grain Sorghum: Part I: What is your soil test lab’s philosophy of nutrient provision? Part II: What does your soil test lab base fertilizer recommendations on? Part III: Do you use a soil test lab that is… Read More →

We Shouldn’t Plant Our Grain Sorghum the way we Plant our Cotton

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This item is adapted from an AgriLife submission to Texas Grain Sorghum Association’s “Sorghum Insider” –Don Peterson, Dawson Co., TX (~2000) Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy/TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu December 2023   I was a new Extension agronomist in West Texas when I met Mr. Peterson, who was in his 60s.  He farmed his first grain crop in the 1950s as a teenager.   What do you think Mr. Peterson meant?   I posed Mr. Peterson’s question this past Wednesday in… Read More →

Iron Deficiency & Symptoms in Texas Field Crops

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Distinct iron chlorosis in plant leaves makes diagnosis easier   Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy/TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu December 2023   Culberson Co. ag. agent Zach Schaefer and I visited this sorghum/sudan field in early September (Fig. 1).  From the road it was evident much of this field was heavily iron deficient.  This issue is most common in Texas sorghums, both grain and forages, as all sorghums have poor iron uptake efficiency relative to other crops.   Fig. 1.  Yellow plants… Read More →

The “Bamboo Forest” of Texas Forage Farming

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This common summer annual forage mistake has forage quality implications.   Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy/TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu December  2023   What do you observe in this recent sorghum/sudan field from Terry County, Texas?  If you showed this to a local forage grower or cattle raiser, what would you say? Fig. 1.  Grazing of sorghum/sudan where cattle were turned in to graze much too late or at too-low stocking rate.  Forage is headed out, cattle are eating mostly just leaves,… Read More →

Is there any meaningful value in volunteer wheat?

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 Occasional stands, though “free,” tend to hold false promise.   Calvin Trostle, Ph.D., Professor & Extension Agronomist, TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu       A Floyd Co., Texas farmer sent the pic below of what I regard as the “best” stand of volunteer wheat I have ever seen.  “What will happen to this wheat?” the farmer asked.  “Can I use it?”   Fig. 1.  Volunteer wheat in Floyd Co. that is thick enough to prompt questions about whether a farmer could… Read More →

Certified Seed Only (CSO) and Plant Variety Protection Act:  Wheat Varieties

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What farmers can and cannot do regarding saving grain for planting seed   Calvin Trostle, Ph.D., Professor & Extension Agronomist, TAMU Dept. of Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu David Drake, Ph.D., Integrated Pest Management Extension Agent, Hunt Co., Commerce, (903) 468-3295, david.drake@ag.tamu.edu August 15, 2023   In the past few years, many if not most wheat seed companies have implemented additional protections on many if not most of their wheat varieties.  This includes limiting planting to Certified Seed Only (CSO).  This means a CSO variety… Read More →

BLACKLANDS & NORTHEAST TEXAS WHEAT PICKS LIST FOR 2023-2024

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Dr. David Drake, AgriLife Extension IPM Agent Commerce, TX david.drake@ag.tamu.edu, (903) 468-3295   The AgriLife Extension wheat Picks varieties were selected based on area Uniform Variety Trial (UVT) for grain-only variety trials.  Our ongoing Picks criteria include a minimum of three years of data in Texas A&M AgriLife wheat variety trials across multiple locations.  A “Pick” variety means this:  given the data, these are the varieties we would choose to include and emphasize on our farm for wheat grain production.  Picks are not necessarily the numerical top yielders… Read More →

NORTHERN ROLLING PLAINS WHEAT VARIETY PICKS LIST FOR 2023-2024

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Dr. Emi Kimura, Extension agronomist, Vernon (940) 552-9941, emi.kimura@ag.tamu.edu   The AgriLife Extension wheat Picks varieties were selected based on area Uniform Variety Trial (UVT) for grain-only variety trials.  Our ongoing Picks criteria include a minimum of three years of data in Texas A&M AgriLife wheat variety trials across multiple locations.  A “Pick” variety means this:  given the data, these are the varieties we would choose to include and emphasize on our farm for wheat grain production.  Picks are not necessarily the numerical top yielders as important disease… Read More →

TEXAS SOUTHERN ROLLING PLAINS/Abilene & CONCHO VALLEY REGION WHEAT PICKS LIST FOR 2023-2024

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Dr. Reagan Noland, Assistant Professor & Extension Agronomist Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, San Angelo, TX reagan.noland@ag.tamu.edu (325) 653-4576   Picks and Watch List Varieties for 2023-2024 Growing Season in Southern Rolling Plains/Abilene/Concho Valley region— The AgriLife Extension wheat Picks varieties were selected based on area Uniform Variety Trial (UVT) for grain-only variety trials.  Our ongoing Picks criteria include a minimum of three years of data in Texas A&M AgriLife wheat variety trials across multiple locations.  A “Pick” variety means this:  given the data, these are the varieties… Read More →

Wheat Grain Variety Picks for the Texas High Plains in 2023-2024 & 2022-2023 Texas High Plains Wheat Production Summary

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Dr. Jourdan M. Bell, Associate Professor and Agronomist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Research, Amarillo, jourdan.bell@ag.tamu.edu, (806) 341-8925 Dr. Calvin Trostle, Professor and Agronomist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Lubbock, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu, (806) 746-6101     2022-2023 Wheat Cropping Season in Review   The 2022-2023 wheat season was marked by extreme weather events. Continued drought conditions in fall 2022 resulted in poor planting conditions across most of the Texas High Plains. Timely planted fields benefited from late September and early October 2022 rainfall, but fields quickly dried out. In most… Read More →