It appears that 2014 is going to be the year of the armyworm in rice. I have had numerous calls, texts, and Tweets about armyworms in rice over the last week. If you have not had them in your rice to this point, consider yourself very lucky.
In 2013 a new aphid pest called the White Sugarcane Aphid, Melanaphis sacchari, was detected in grain sorghum in 38 counties in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and one county in Mississippi. This species has apparently been around for years but the hosts switch to grain sorghum appears to be new. This pest can be devastating to grain sorghum if populations reach high densities. In fact, some fields have seen 100% yield loss. Another major factor is this aphid is difficult to control with currently labeled products.
Bollworm trap catches were up in the Delta region this week to levels about normal for this time of year. Most bollworm eggs will be laid in corn at this time when many corn fields are at silk stage. University research
Square retention is a critical component of early season plant bug management. I would strongly encourage you to take square retention counts along with your sweep net counts prior to bloom. Not only does this help in the decision making process of treating plant bugs, but it also helps you to get a better idea of how the products you are applying are working. Numbers alone can be deceiving when adults are steady moving into the field. When large numbers of adults are migrating into a field it is not uncommon to have as many or more plant bugs 4-5 days after a spray than you did before you sprayed and it still would not equate to a control failure.
There are several caterpillar pests that commonly infest field corn in Mississippi. These include corn earworm, fall armyworm, and southwestern corn borer.
Bollworm trap counts were higher in Lowndes county this week, but all other locations were similar to the previous week. Tobacco budworm catches remain at very low levels throughout the state. Southwestern corn borer counts were also very low throughout
I have had numerous calls recently on green stink bugs in beans that are either vegetative or at R1-R2 stage with no pods. Numbers have ranged from 4-5 to 8-12 per 25 sweeps depending on the field. It is not uncommon to have a field or two on occasion to have threshold numbers of stink bugs before soybeans put on pods, but the number of fields this year being reported is certainly unusual.
The tarnished plant bug calls have started to come in on small cotton already. In some cases, consultants and growers are finding nymphs on very young cotton with only 1-2 squares. Similarly, some are reporting plant bug flagged terminals in pre-square cotton. We rarely have to spray pre-square cotton for plant bugs, but our threshold is 1 flagged plant per 10 row feet with bugs present. Although tarnished plant bugs are our most important and most consistent pest of cotton in the Delta, we usually don’t start finding nymphs until closer to first flower.
Over the last few days I have started getting calls about fall armyworms showing up in soybeans. We see some of this every year, and it is primarily related to larvae moving off of a grass host after a Roundup application
Bollworm catches were lower in the Delta this week but steady in Northeast MS. Tobacco budworm catches were negligible in all areas (Table 1). Southwestern corn borer counts were also low throughout the state, so early corn that is now
Every year at some point during the season we seem to hit a rainy spell where it seems to rain at some point every day and we have showers widely scattered across the state. It started raining last Wednesday and we have had some rain everyday since then and it is currently raining in Stoneville right now (Monday morning). With that, the questions start about how long you need to spray before a rain to get acceptable control.
A corn, cotton, peanut, and soybean field day is scheduled for June 17th at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, MS. The general theme of the field day will include pertinent information for mid-season row crop issues.
We have been getting a lot of questions the last 7 to 10 days about potential injury or problems associated with mixing thrips insecticides with POST herbicides over cotton. This will no doubt be controversial, but we are going to lay it out like we would if you called.
Bollworm trap catches were down in the Delta region this week from last week, while tobacco budworm catches were higher in the Delta (Table 1). There was minimal change for catches of either species in Northeastern MS. This is the
Similar to most years when we have armyworms in wheat, there is the threat of having armyworms in seedling rice. We know of at least one rice field in Mississippi that was sprayed earlier this week. In general, damage from armyworms will not impact rice yields at this time of year unless they are beginning to reduce plant stand. This is especially true in hybrid rice planted at low seeding rates.
Bollworm trap catches were average this past week. While most traps caught 10-50 moths during the week, one trap near Indianola had 505 moths this past week. Tobacco budworm catches remain very low in both the Delta and NE Mississippi regions.
I have had several folks asking if there is a time when thrips should be treated in soybeans. Ordinarily thrips are not a problem in soybeans. Cotton and soybeans are completely different when it comes to how the plant can tolerate thrips. Soybeans are not nearly as sensitive to thrips as cotton and therefore can tolerate high numbers of thrips without yield loss.
I have gotten numerous calls about slugs this year in all crops but lately in cotton and soybean. Slug problems usually start on corn then soybeans then cotton in our area. This is only because we typically plant in this order. We have had isolated problems with slugs since 2004, some years worse than others.
As can be seen in the table below, trap counts this week were average in the hills and low in the Delta. This is in contrast to reports of bollworm larvae being abundant. More traps have been deployed this week,
Many of you have heard us talk about the declining efficacy of seed treatments against thrips throughout the winter meeting circuit. We started seeing the first signs of inadequate control about 4 years ago and the problem has seemed to get worse every year. Last year, most of the cotton in Mississippi was sprayed for thrips at least one time and many fields were sprayed multiple times, even behind a seed treatment. Until now, thiamethoxam (Cruiser, Avicta, or Acceleron N) has been impacted more than imidacloprid (Gaucho, Aeris, or Acceleron FI).
A little rice has started to go to flood in Mississippi this week and that means it is time to start thinking about rice water weevil. Overall, the majority of the crop is behind because of all of the rain that we have had across the Delta over the last several weeks. In general, the rice that is currently being flooded was some of the earliest planted. As a result, the early rice has endured a lot of rainfall and adverse conditions.
The dates for the 2014 Scout Schools have now been set. We will be providing detailed information on identification, biology, thresholds, and management of the major insect and disease pest of Mississippi row crops. These trainings can also be used to renew your insect and disease consultants license and CEU’s for Certified Crop Advisors will be provided at each. The meetings will also serve as In-Service training opportunities for MSU-ES agents as well. These trainings are great for the experienced and the inexperienced.
Our pheromone traps were monitored for the first time this week. Bollworm catches were high for this time of year with an average of 46 moths/trap caught in Noxubee county, 40 moths/trap in Lowndes county and 13 moths/trap in Oktibbeha county. Given
We have had several calls in recent days as news gets out about the EPA’s recent label changes for neonicotinoid insecticides. The intent is to offer greater protection for pollinators in and around crops where this class of insecticides may be applied. Basically, the new language forbids the use of these products while bees are foraging and until flowering is complete and all petals have fallen off the plants. There are a few exceptions if certain criteria are met.
Although very little, if any, cotton has been planted in the Delta, it is not too early to start thinking about managing tarnished plant bugs.
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