Rolling Plains / West Texas Audio Updates
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4/15/2021 (audio file) Lack of rain may force reduced acres. Corn and sorghum planted, sorghum waiting on rain, pecans and watermelon on track. Change herbicide modes of action to slow resistance. Wheat is at boot/heading: Time to decide if it should be terminated. (5:47)
4/6/2021 (audio file) Cotton planted, sorghum pending. Early season weed control; watch out for application window and plant back consequences. Cotton variety data available. Check last year's grain fields for wireworms if going to cotton. Wheat being terminated. (6:33)
2020 Episodes
Counties: Runnels, Tom Green, Glasscock, Upton, Reagan
Counties: Runnels, Tom Green, Glasscock, Upton, Reagan
10/6/2020 (external link) Cotton worse than expected, some fields being shredded. Harvest aid summary. Wheat planting decisions depend on rain, start clean, worms in wheat are mostly fall armyworm. (5:14)
9/15/2020 (external link) Rain too late for cotton but will help wheat. Cotton: investigating the "blight", balance filling top bolls with keeping quality in lower bolls. Wheat: keep clean fields to avoid fall armyworm. (7:21)
8/27/2020 (external link) Most cotton finished for the year, more and more dryland might not be harvested, struggling to keep up with irrigation demand, insect pressure light. Corn yields down dramatically. Much sorghum won't be harvested. (3:34)
8/11/2020 (external link) Fast heat unit accumulation in cotton, low level of flea hoppers and other pests plus environment causing reduced square set, but might be too late to treat. Mites and stinkbugs low in cotton. Corn harvest underway, yields low. Much sorghum might not be harvested. (7:08)
7/28/2020 (external link) Cotton: bloom near start to cutout. Pest pressure low; mites and fleahoppers. Rain essential. (7:40)
7/14/2020 (external link) Cotton: pest pressure low, spider mites may increase, dryland trying to stay alive. Corn harvest pending, yields lower. Sorghum: some is ok, other too far gone, check fields for stink bugs, a few sugarcane aphids. Western leaf-footed bug prevalent in cotton, sorghum and perhaps pecans. (7:33)
6/30/2020 (external link) Cotton: even irrigated fields need rain, salty water limiting growth. Fleahoppers and aphids below cotton threshold, PGRs being applied. Corn; heat and hail hurt pollination. Sorghum: 60% of fields heading, some stuck in boot stage, sugarcane aphid building, some fields near threshold. Going to a 2-week schedule for this audio until things pick up in the field. (7:30)
6/23/2020 (external link) Wildlife damaging crops; cotton terminals being eaten, crop pests light to moderate. Sugarcane aphid arrives in Tom Green/Runnels. More hail damage to corn than thought. Water short in all crops. (8:14)
6/16/2020 (external link) Irrigated cotton ok, dryland not going to emerge, or if emerged is growing slowly. Corn pollination better than expected, sorghum nearing boot. Insects light. (4:03)
6/9/2020 (external link) Dryland plantings not emerging, water demand critical, decisions about watering cotton or corn, punishing winds, crops going downhill. Insect pressure very light. (6:42)
6/2/2020 (external link) Rain in places, still too dry in others. Dry planting cotton. Wheat about done, sorghum recovering, much corn still too dry, pest pressure light except for thrips on cotton in places. Cotton aphids still in low numbers. (7:40)
5/26/2020 (external link) Warm and dry, cotton planting - some in dry ground. Corn and sorghum hanging on, hail damage to corn and sorghum. Pillbugs in cotton with no seed treatment. (5:45)
5/19/2020 (external link) Spotty rain, earliest cotton emerged, thrips need watching, corn and sorghum perking up, keep up with weeds (7:02)
5/12/2020 (external link) Wheat drying, corn and sorghum rough start; fertilize now if needed, cultivate carefully. Watermelons improving, cotton starting (7:19)
5/5/2020 (external link) Wheat fairly good or bad, little in the middle. Cotton about to roll. Corn and sorghum progressing. (6:34)
4/28/20 (external link) A little hail, plant dryland cotton first, pecans a bust from October freeze - negligible production, wheat under drought stress, yields being reduced. (6:16)
4/21/2020 (external link) Leaf diseases minor, fungicide window closing, wheat nitrogen still short, chilling injury to corn and sorghum, cotton preparations in full swing. (6:11)
4/14/2020 (external link) Disease uptick in wheat, nitrogen fertilizer running out, soil still too cool for cotton planting, act now for clean fields, check for wireworms, very few aphids in wheat. (6:36)
4/7/2020 (external link) Tan spot and striped rust in Runnels and Tom Green counties, think twice about applying an auxin-type herbicide to wheat now, aphid pressure still light. (8:55)