Planters have been rolling over the past 7 to 10 days, when popup showers haven’t chased them out. We have talked to a couple of folks this week that have had to dodge rains trying to get the crop in. Overall, I think we are in pretty good shape right now.
The biggest question we have gotten this week: What’s thrips
pressure looking like? This tells me most folks are in the same shape we are
in, most of the cotton we have looked at is still in the cotyledon stage. It
can be hard to tell until you start putting on a true leaf and getting some
immature thrips hatching out to know what is going on. My best advice is to either
consider the rainfall over the past 3 or so weeks and use the Thrips Model to try
to predict what is going to happen. Of course, there is no substitute for
actually getting out and scouting your cotton to see what is going on.
On that note, I will plug the 64th Cotton
Scouting Schools. We have 4 programs planned across the state this year. You can
click the link on Agenda for details on each location. We published a story on the longest consecutive running program in Alabama Extension here.
Southeast Alabama — Cotton and
Peanut
June 6
Wiregrass Research and Extension Center
Headland, Alabama
Central and West Alabama —
Cotton and Soybean
June 8
Autauga County Agricultural Center
Autaugaville, Alabama
Tennessee Valley — Cotton and
Soybean
June 14
Tennessee Valley Research and Extension Center
Belle Mina, Alabama
Northeast Alabama — Cotton
June 22
McCord’s Fire Station #1
1150 County Road 157
Centre, Alabama
For more information on thresholds and insecticide recommendations, visit the Alabama Cotton IPM Guide (IPM-0415). To stay up-to-date on the Alabama cotton insect situation, subscribe to the Alabama Cotton Shorts Newsletter, Alabama Crops Report Newsletter and Podcast, and the Syngenta Pest Patrol Hotline.
