agriculture

Suhas Vyavhare, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Insect pressure remains light in most parts with cotton ranging from 5 nodes above white flower to hard cutout. We are seeing conchuela stink bug population reaching economic threshold in few fields in Crosby County. However, the infestation is much localized and it is unlikely that we will see economic stink bug infestations in cotton in other areas of the High Plains. I often encounter a few lygus adults and nymphs but the numbers remain well below economic threshold. At this point, one insect that is on our radar is the cotton bollworm. Although much of our cotton has cutout hard and is becoming non-attractive to worms, there are still enough suitable cotton fields out there to worry about. Earlier this week, Brad Easterling, IPM-agent in Glasscock, Reagan, and Upton counties reported above threshold levels of bollworms in Bt cotton fields near Garden City. Blayne Reed, IPM-agent in Hale, Swisher, and Floyd counties reports th...

As of this writing on Friday, August 5th, sugarcane aphids have been found over much of the Texas High Plains. Tommy Doederlein, Extension IPM Agent in Dawson and Lynn counties, raised the alarm on Monday. Today we know that fields in Floyd, Crosby, Lubbock, Hale and Hockley counties have required insecticide applications. In the northern Panhandle the aphid has been found as far north as Perryton and as far west as Bushland. We are seeing abundant winged adults, so it goes without saying that sugarcane aphids could be anywhere on the High Plains. Scouting procedures and treatment thresholds are presented in our 2016 sugarcane aphid publication . There are only two good insecticides for sugarcane aphid control; Sivanto and Transform. By "good" I mean high efficacy with little effect on beneficial insects. Sivanto has a full label and Transform can be used through its Section 18 label. This puts some additional restrictions on Transform use, although they are not onerous. Dr. ...

Pheromone trapping at the AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Lubbock indicates an unusually large flight of fall armyworm moths is underway. Fall armyworm and corn earworm comprise the "headworm complex" in grain sorghum. Our research in 2011 and 2012 indicated that fall armyworm larvae cause an average per ear loss of 0.2 lbs of yield in non-Bt corn when they puncture the side of an ear. The losses in corn are both from direct kernel feeding and the introduction of fungi that destroy an approximately equal number of kernels. We normally report trap data on Wednesday but, given the high numbers of moths captured, today's graph (Monday) projects the weekly capture based on 5 of seven nights. Update on 8/4/16: Here is the official chart which represents a week's worth of moths captured.