agriculture

We have been closely monitoring sugarcane aphid numbers at the Lubbock Experiment Station and hoping the rain would knock them down. Unfortunately this has not happened, and our untreated plants in bloom now have 500 - 2,000 aphids per leaf and the lower half of the canopy has severe leaf damage. There are plenty of winged adults, too, and these will be flying off to infest other fields. With all of the late sorghum planting after failed cotton, there is now a very wide range of sorghum maturities out there and the younger plants are still subject to the full force of the aphid. High Plains insecticide action thresholds for each growth stage are presented on page 5 of our SCA Management Publication . There is also a statement about re-treatment thresholds. However, we now have a 2-3-axis threat  because cotton bollworm/corn earworm egg laying has really picked up and is now at a level of concern in both cotton and sorghum, and sorghum midge can still injure crops yet to complete bl...

Suhas Vyavhare, Extension Cotton Entomologist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Cotton will benefit from some of the timely rainfall we have been receiving recently. However, it is going to make conditions better for survival and multiplication of several pest species as well. In general, the hot and dry weather of West Texas helps to keep bollworm numbers in check (through desiccation of eggs). Humid and cloudy conditions over the last couple of weeks, however, may increase egg hatch rate and worm survival in cotton. In addition, added new growth on plant terminals will help both bollworms and aphids thrive better. Over the last 10 days, we have spotted many fields with cotton aphid infestations. Aphid colonies are mainly concentrated to plant terminals but as the numbers build-up, they may move on to the leaves. Overall, beneficial numbers seem to be lower compared to the previous year, but they are present. Isolated showers will also help wash out honeydew and some of the ap...

Sorghum Headworms Abundant Sugarcane aphid is just beginning to build in fields in select counties on the Southern High Plains, and as of this writing I know of no fields that have required treatment. The sugarcane aphid  distribution map can be found here . So far the aphids are building fairly slowly. The less than good news is that fairly high numbers of headworms (corn earworm + fall armyworm) are being found in panicles. I was in a field in northeastern Crosby county last week that had 1-3 medium to large worms per head, and this field was later treated. Katelyn Kesheimer, IPM Agent in Lubbock and Crosby counties, just reported a field near Shallowater in Lubbock County that had a large number of worms. Stan Carroll, the Research Technician who runs the cotton bollworm/corn earworm traps at the Lubbock Center, told me this morning that he emptied the traps Tuesday night and had a high number of moths in them when he checked them Wednesday morning. We are therefore experiencing...

Suhas Vyavhare, Extension Cotton Entomologist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service We have a wide range of cotton out in the field. Early planted fields are in bloom while some of the late or replanted cotton is a little behind. Overall, insect pest pressure remains light. Cotton fleahopper wouldn�t be an issue post bloom, however, the younger cotton should continue to be monitored for fleahoppers. I haven�t come across any significant worm activity in the region yet. However, with the cotton blooming and the recent rain putting on some new extra growth, bollworm moths can be attracted to it. With so much talk going around with bollworms breaking Bt shields in south Texas and other parts of country, we need to be more vigilant. Treatable levels of headworms (bollworms) have been spotted in some of the sorghum fields around, which also warns of a potential threat in cotton. I wouldn�t rush with insecticide application just seeing egg lay or the smaller (<1/4 inch) worms in Bt co...

As we hit mid-season, things are relatively quiet in area grain crops. The three intense storms that passed through recently brought both blessings and challenges, but one very positive aspect is that they decimated the large fall armyworm flight that was underway. Daily trap counts dropped from 100 or so per night to almost zero immediately after the storms. Intense rain and high winds likely knocked a lot of moths to the ground where mortality factors could act, and they also washed most of the egg masses off of plants. This week's fall armyworm graph is presented below. However, for those who do not get his newsletter, Tyler Mays, IPM Agent in Gaines, Terry and Yoakum counties, last week reported fall armyworm trap captures in excess of 500 and 600. Sugarcane aphid is still hard to find in area sorghum, and once again relatively early planting seems to have paid dividends. Most early planted fields are now in bloom, and if the aphid comes it will be relatively late in the develo...

Suhas Vyavhare, Extension Cotton Entomologist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Showers over the last week should help cotton that was struggling earlier to stay alive and catch up with the progress. Most fields should fairly be safe from thrips at this stage. Many fields have already started squaring and becoming more attractive to flower feeding plant bugs such as the cotton fleahopper. Cotton fleahoppers prefer to feed on small squares (pinhead size) and can drastically reduce the fruiting sites in no time when in large numbers. When scouting for fleahoppers one should pay attention to both number of insects in field and the percent square retention especially during the first three weeks of squaring. I haven�t seen any major cotton fleahopper activity yet as numbers still remain scarce. This may be due to earlier hot and dry spell and the unavailability of alternate host plants to buildup fleahopper populations. However, fleahopper populations are unpredictable and can rise...

After a very quiet spring, fall armyworm trap captures shot up this week to twice the 6-year average. The average trap capture this week was 228, but significantly, 106 of these were caught in the last two nights. This indicates that a possible very rapid population increase might be underway. I was taking data this morning in a corn trial near Ralls. The corn was at V8 growth stage, and the non-Bt corn in the trial ranged from 20 - 50% of the plants per plot with fall armyworm damage. In the plots with the most damage, the average damage rating was 5 on a 1-9 scale. This is still below the level of concern, but if we are indeed in a time of rapid fall armyworm increase then noticeable damage in sorghum and non-Bt corn will be appearing soon.