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Posts From Tom Allen, Extension Plant Pathologist

MSU-DREC Rice Field Day – July 30, 2015 Updated

🕔15:36, 27.May 2015

The MSU-DREC Rice Producer Field Day will be held in conjunction with the annual Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Summer Rice Grower Meeting this year on the afternoon of July 30 at the Capps Center in Stoneville..  The Farm Bureau meeting

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Reminder: Scout Schools Start Next Week Updated

🕔07:32, 23.May 2015

Mississippi State University will be hosting 5 scout schools this year. We have transitioned over the years to make these trainings much more diverse than insect pest alone. This year we will be including insects, disease, fertility, weed identification, and

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Wheat Disease Update: April 24, 2015

Wheat Disease Update: April 24, 2015 Updated

🕔10:35, 24.Apr 2015

For the most part the Mississippi wheat crop is clean with regards to foliar diseases. However, some important issues are occurring that need to be addressed with regards to Fusarium head blight, stem maggot feeding, and general herbicide injury as these three issues can easily be confused with one another at the field level.

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Off-target Herbicide Movement to Rice

Off-target Herbicide Movement to Rice Updated

🕔10:57, 23.Apr 2015

As rice approaches reproductive growth stages, it is less likely to recover from injury due to off-target herbicide movement.

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2015 Scout Schools Set for Mississippi

2015 Scout Schools Set for Mississippi Updated

🕔11:02, 8.Apr 2015

Mississippi State University will be hosting 5 scout schools this year. We have transitioned over the years to make these trainings much more diverse than insect pest alone. This year we will be including insects, disease, fertility, weed identification, and herbicide systems. There will be numerous hands on displays of insects, weeds, nutrient deficiencies in all major row crops, and fertilizer characteristics. CEU’s Provided: Nutrient Management = 1.5, Integrated Pest Management = 3, Crop Management = 1

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Wheat Diseases to be Mindful of During 2015

Wheat Diseases to be Mindful of During 2015 Updated

🕔15:18, 29.Mar 2015

Wheat diseases can be observed in almost any wheat field throughout the season. However, when wheat moves beyond the tillering growth stages scouting for the presence of foliar diseases should be conducted. Many, but not all of the foliar disease encountered in MS can result in a yield loss. But, additional issues encountered in wheat fields can oftentimes be easily confused for foliar diseases.

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Early-season Weed Control in Mississippi Rice

Early-season Weed Control in Mississippi Rice Updated

🕔15:32, 16.Mar 2015

Barnyardgrass is resistant to five herbicide modes of action in rice.

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Soybean Management Symposium Series: February 25 and 26, 2015 Dates CANCELED Updated

🕔14:41, 24.Feb 2015

The previously scheduled Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board seminar dates in Tunica, Verona, and Macon for Wednesday (2/25) and Thursday (2/26) have been CANCELED due to the potential for inclement weather over the next 36 hours. Future dates will be listed on the Mississippi Crop Situation Blog and locations will likely not change. Please stay tuned for further announcements.

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Soybean Management Symposium Series: Future Dates (2/25 Tunica, MS; 2/26 Verona (morning); 2/26 Macon, MS (afternoon)) Updated

🕔15:40, 18.Feb 2015

Three more opportunities exist for ag-related personnel to attend the Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board sponsored seminar series on nutrition management, nematode sampling and management, and irrigation practices. Meetings are scheduled next week in Tunica (2/25; 9 am), Verona (2/26; 9 am), and Macon (2/26; 2:30 pm).

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Scouting and Managing Wheat Stripe Rust Infection at Tillering Stages

Scouting and Managing Wheat Stripe Rust Infection at Tillering Stages Updated

🕔11:57, 12.Feb 2015

Stripe rust was detected in wheat in Washington County, MS in the wheat variety trial plots. Wheat fields in MS should be scouted at this time for the presence of stripe rust. Fungicide applications with products in the triazole (DMI) class of fungicides will prevent spread of the disease and in some cases where the disease has occurred and been observed in a wheat field may protect yield.

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2015 Delta Ag Expo, Cleveland, MS – January 21 and 22, 2015 Updated

🕔11:27, 16.Jan 2015

Find attached the agenda for the 42nd Annual Delta Ag Expo to be held in Cleveland, MS on Wednesday, January 21 and Thursday, January 22, 2015. We hope to see you in attendance at the Bolivar County Ag Expo Center.

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Soybean Green Stem Disorder: Brief Survey Updated

🕔17:47, 29.Dec 2014

Green stem disorder can be a sporadic issue from year-to-year and field-to-field. In the current blog post a survey is attached whereby individuals can answer five basic questions on their thoughts and opinions regarding the presence of green stem.

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2014 Soybean Variety Trial Disease Ratings, Part III: Maturity Group V Varieties Updated

🕔17:18, 29.Dec 2014

Disease severity was rated for each of the OVT soybean entries at all locations planted during 2014. Varieties were rated using a 0-9 scale where 0=no disease and 9=severe disease symptoms. The attachments on this blog post contain the Maturity Group V early and late entries.

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2014 Soybean Variety Trial Disease Ratings, Part II: Maturity Group IV Varieties Updated

🕔23:12, 2.Dec 2014

Disease severity was rated for each of the OVT soybean entries at all locations planted during 2014. Varieties were rated using a 0-9 scale where 0=no disease and 9=severe disease symptoms. The attachments on this blog post contain the Maturity Group IV and early and late entries. The MG V entries will be along shortly.

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2014 Soybean Variety Trial Disease Ratings, Part I: Conventional and LibertyLink Varieties Updated

🕔21:45, 25.Nov 2014

Disease severity was rated for each of the OVT soybean entries at all locations planted during 2014. Varieties were rated using a 0-9 scale where 0=no disease and 9=severe disease symptoms. The attachments on this blog post contain the Maturity Group IV and V Conventional and LibertyLink entries. The MG IV and V RR entries will be along shortly.

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2014 Delta Area Rice Meeting Updated

🕔11:45, 7.Nov 2014

The 2014 Delta area/Bolivar Co. Rice Meeting will be held at the Bolivar Co. Extension office on December 4, 2014. Mississippi rice producers, industry professionals, and other interested parties are invited to listen to presentations from MSU research and Extension

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Not all Boll Rots are caused by Bacterial Blight Updated

🕔06:42, 31.Oct 2014

Boll rot appeared to be a common occurrence in numerous cotton fields at the end of the 2014 season. However, not all boll rot can be attributed to bacterial blight, especially in situations where the disease was not observed prior to harvest. Secondary fungal infection can ultimately obscure the observable boll symptoms associated with bacterial blight. Keep this in mind when scouting fields at the end of the season as bacterial blight boll lesions can oftentimes be obscured by secondary fungal invaders.

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2014 North MS Research and Extension Center Soybean Disease Ratings UPDATED 11/17/2014 Updated

🕔22:16, 27.Oct 2014

Variety trials were rated at the NMREC to determine the sensitivity of MG IV and V soybean varieties to frogeye leaf spot as well as Cercospora blight. Varieties were using a 0-9 scale where 0=no disease and 9=severe disease symptoms. Yield data will be available in a few weeks as this post only contains the analyzed rating values for the varieties contained in the trial at Verona.

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Foliar Soybean Disease Update: September 3, 2014 Updated

🕔22:04, 3.Sep 2014

Foliar diseases of soybean continue to be observed throughout the MS soybean production area. At present, no soybean rust has been detected in MS; however, Cercospora blight and frogeye leaf spot as well as several pod diseases (topic of the next blog post) are being observed in numerous soybean fields.

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Fungicide Phytotoxicity: Check the Fungicide Applied Prior to Blaming SDS

Fungicide Phytotoxicity: Check the Fungicide Applied Prior to Blaming SDS Updated

🕔18:28, 31.Aug 2014

Phytotoxicity, associated with the application of some specific foliar fungicide products, has been observed in numerous commercial soybean fields again this season. Keep in mind that the symptoms associated with fungicide phytotoxicity will appear quite similar to sudden death syndrome (SDS). However, SDS only occurs in light soil classes. When scouting fields, keep in mind that an entire field with SDS-like symptoms might be the result of fungicide phytotoxicity, thus not a disease after all.

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Soybean Disease Update: August 16, 2014 (UPDATED) Updated

🕔15:22, 16.Aug 2014

Diseases of soybean continue to be observed throughout the MS production system. At present, soybean rust has not been detected within MS; however, we continue to scout for the presence of rust, as well as additional diseases of economic importance throughout sentinel plots as well as commercial soybean fields. Frogeye leaf spot, sudden death syndrome, stem canker, and aerial blight continue to be hot topics for most soybean farmers.

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Soybean Disease Update: August 1, 2014 Updated

🕔11:10, 1.Aug 2014

Soybean diseases continue to be observed throughout MS. Brown spot, aerial web blight, frogeye leaf spot, Cercospora blight are the predominant foliar diseases observed at present. In addition, several root diseases are becoming apparent from fields across the state.

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What Should You do about Late Southern Corn Rust? Updated

🕔09:54, 1.Aug 2014

Southern corn rust continues to be observed throughout MS. We continue to receive calls regarding late fungicide applications (> R4/R5) to reduce yield losses attributed to southern rust. Numerous myths regarding the disease have been widely spread throughout the MS corn production area including death of a corn plant in as fast as 7 days following southern rust infection and lodging as a result of heavy southern rust infection.

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North Mississippi Research and Extension Center’s Agronomic Row Crops Field Day on Thursday, August 7 Updated

🕔08:39, 25.Jul 2014

The North Mississippi Research and Extension Center’s Agronomic Row Crops Field Day on Thursday, August 7 will present the latest research to the area’s row-crop farmers and consultants. The field day will be from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Lee County Agri-Center Magnolia Conference Center on Highway 145 South in Verona.

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Keys to Diagnosing Common Nutrient Deficiencies in Rice Updated

🕔23:03, 24.Jul 2014

Described below are the most common nutrient related issues that occur in Mississippi rice production and a few distinctive characteristics to key on when trying to properly identify each issue in the field.  Nutrient issues in rice can take on

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