High Plains / South Plains Weekly Audio Updates During The Growing Season
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2021 updates will begin in March.
10/7/2020 (external link) Last scheduled episode of the season. Cotton: Time to harvest to protect the "money bolls" and quality. Little pest activity. Peanut digging underway, late corn and sorghum still at slight risk to pests. Don't wait too late in the season to make the final alfalfa cutting. (8:01)
9/30/2020 (external link) Harvest aids are a field by field decision. Peanuts: have enough digging moisture. Grain sorghum: evaluate now for whether it has time to mature, some still susceptible to sugarcane aphid. Wheat: consider using a seed treatment to kill vectors of diseases that show up later. (7:04)
9/24/2020 (external link) Cotton harvest aids: New and shorter guide available, check additives carefully. Insect activity light in cotton, aphids and stink bugs a possible threat. Sorghum: Sugarcane aphid crashing in some places and rebounding in Hale and Swisher counties. Upcoming cotton field days. (8:04)
9/17/2020 (external link). Special Edition: The Art and Science of Cotton Harvest Aids on the Southern High Plains. Blayne Reed and Kerry Siders discuss timing of harvest aid application, the different types of harvest aids and scenarios for their use. (20:54)
9/16/2020 (external link) Corn and sorghum; mites not out of the picture. Sorghum: sugarcane aphids limping along, headworms not gone. Cotton: aphids and stink bugs still out there. Why has cotton turned? Is it disease or wind, cold, insufficient water? Working with our pathologist to find out. Peanuts: black hull, otherwise looks good. (9:14)
9/9/2020 (external link) Cold will slow cotton down but not too serious unless it freezes. Keep drip irrigation running a while longer unless we get 1/2 - 1" of rain. Sorghum: sugarcane aphids and headworms still a threat in some fields. Wheat: nothing can be done to prevent army cutworm next year, but seed treatments are recommended for fall planting. It is a good time to take stock of plant diseases in the field. (7:14)
9/2/2020 (external link) Guidelines on when to shut off irrigation in cotton. Pests quiet but bollworm threat remains. Isolated stink bug risk. Morning glory weed control. Sorghum: midge, headworms and spotty sugarcane aphids. Corn: mites still a threat to late fields, rain could promote disease. (6:41)
8/26/2020 (external link) Cotton: bollworm populations low, some fields no longer at risk. Keep up with irrigation to fill last bolls. Yellowstriped armyworm very abundant on pigweed in Hockley and Cochran counties, can move to cotton. Corn: mites still a threat to younger crop. Sorghum: sugarcane aphid pressure still increasing, many fields treated, sorghum midge very active in places. Sesame: sesame leafroller is here and some fields have been treated - scout now. Peanuts: leaf spot and caterpillar pressure light. (8:04)
8/19/2020 (external link). This is the critical week for bollworms - but the good news is numbers are not high (yet). Fields that reached 5 NAWF by August 1 are probably safe from worm damage. Continue to scout for Lygus. Sorghum: many fields at threshold for sugarcane aphid, hedgehog aphids in places. Corn: spider mites increasing. Peanuts: diseases still low but might change with rain. (8:32)
8/12/2020 (external link) Bollworm pressure increasing in north, other pests occasional. Sorghum: sugarcane aphid generally increasing, hedgehog aphid found doing damage, fall armyworm ragging up whorl stage plants, spider mites in places. Corn: continue to watch for spider mites. Peanuts look good but watch the weather for changes. (9:17)
8/5/2020 (external link) Cotton at or near 5 Nodes Above White Flower - why this is important and what to do if you are significantly behind. Bollworms present, and a mix of other pests that can bite you if they flare up. Peak water use upon us or just past. Don't let up on scouting. Evaluate verticillium in fields. Corn: spider mites at varying levels. Sorghum: no midge or headworms, fall armyworm numbers rising and damaging whorl stage, sugarcane aphids simmering. (11:04)
7/29/2020 (external link) Cotton: Bollworm trap counts rising, Lygus at treatable levels in places, aphid increasing slowly. Check nodes above white flower and irrigate if you can to hold at 5 NAWF. July 31 is the last Dicamba application date. Herbicides to clean up problems in cotton. Corn: Mites increasing. Sorghum: watch for sugarcane aphid. (7:43)
7/22/2020 (external link) Cotton: Lygus still a threat, and some fleahoppers, be careful about PGR applications. Corn: spider mites low to high. Sorghum: Sugarcane aphid still wimpy. (7:59)
7/15/2020 (external link) Peanuts: time to wrap up fertility programs, irrigate to create the proper environment for flowering, pegging and pod development. Cotton: fleahopper still a threat. Mite pressure increasing in corn, sugarcane aphid in Lubbock, Hale and Crosby county sorghum. (7:41)
7/8/2020 (external link) Fleahopper increasing in cotton, a few lygus, false chinch bug lower, some PGRs going out. Irrigation critical, wheat stubble sucking water out of the ground. A few spider mites in corn, some fall armyworm in sorghum. Sugarcane aphid not here yet, but don't confuse corn leaf aphid with sugarcane aphid. (6:40)
7/2/2020 (external link) Cotton pests relatively light, be careful about controlling border weeds, when to expect first bloom, false chinch bug in cotton. Corn: mite pressure increasing. (7:24)
6/24/2020 (external link) Wind/hail damage to cotton, protect square set from plant bugs and fleahoppers, grasshoppers in margins. Consider cotton PGR application, start fertility program. Corn and sorghum quiet, fall armyworm numbers increase sharply in traps. (8:38)
6/17/2020 (external link) Cotton development behind, pests low except thrips in places, monitor insects as squaring starts. Weeds threatening; use Dicamba while you can. Corn; a few mites, gray leaf spot. (7:27)
6/10/2020 (external link) Helpful rain, several cotton fields lost, check stand counts in cotton, thrips still high in cotton in places. Corn and sorghum looking pretty good. A few oddball pests in cotton like grasshoppers and false chinch bugs. (6:08)
6/3/2020 (external link) Rain critical, dryland in peril, thrips very high in places like Tulia, a few cotton aphids starting, pillbugs and other things in no-till or minimum till with heavy cover. (6:31)
5/27/2020 (external link) Planting and crop growth updates, thrips thick in places but seed treatments holding, pillbugs in cotton, window closing for herbicides in grass crops, assess cotton stands for minimum plant populations. (7:36)
5/20/2020 (external link) Thrips very numerous, scouting needed, cotton coming up, more wireworms in the south (6:54)
5/13/2020 (external link) Rains may have affected herbicide placement, chilling injury and wireworm damage to cotton, fall armyworm far below average (7:12).
5/6/2020 (external link) Dry conditions, planting, heavy thrips but no hosts yet, wireworm concern in cotton, seeding rate, Pima cotton - know the seed source. (7:36)
4/29/20 (external link) Alfalfa weevil still numerous, significant wheat freeze damage - especially dryland, drought building, cotton planting - consider night temperatures - below 55 degrees not good. (7:36)
4/22/2020 (external link) Soil temperatures still too cool for cotton planting. Seeding rates in cold soils. A few aphids in alfalfa. Wheat freeze damage not bad. (8:48)
4/15/2020 (external link) Inspect wheat for freeze damage and make sure you still want to take it to grain, soil temperatures declined; too early to plant cotton. (9:58) Wheat freeze injury publication.
4/8/2020 (external link) Wheat cover getting too tall, decisions to take wheat to grain or not, disease risk in wheat increasing, now is the time for weed control, are cotton seed treatments needed, it is still too early to plant cotton. (13:19)
4/1/2020 (external link) Army cutworms in wheat, alfalfa weevils in alfalfa, planning weed control, start of striped rust and mixed aphids in wheat, lots of beneficial insects. 10 minutes 44 seconds.