AgFax Southern Grain - Louisiana
by AgFax Media LLC, AgFax.com
OVERVIEW
Bollworm/corn earworm moth flights continue to develop in the Southeast. In places the moth counts in pheromone traps have been notably high. It also appears that this activity has started earlier than usual in parts of the region.
Worms in general are active in parts of the Midsouth and Southeast. The list includes fall armyworms, loopers and corn earworms in soybeans and various head worms in grain sorghum. Sugarcane borer applications were necessary in some Louisiana corn. Southwestern corn borer moth counts have varied widely.
Stink bugs are being treated in soybeans on a wider scale this week in the lower South.
Sugarcane aphids remain relatively light in parts of the Midsouth and lower Southeast, although treatments have continued in Louisiana and numbers have started building in the state's northeastern parishes.
Kudzu bugs continue to migrate into soybeans in both the Midsouth and Southeast. Arkansas has seen its first field with heavy numbers of adults and the insect has made a big showing in upper portions of West Tennessee. Extension entomologists continue to urge growers and crop advisors to hold off until fields reach the widely accepted threshold of one immature per sweep.
CROP REPORTS
David Kerns, Entomologist, Louisiana State University, Macon Ridge Research Station: "Stink bugs are in soybeans, although mostly in low numbers. I'm receiving more calls about fall armyworms (FAW) than anything else. These appear to be the FAW grass strain, which are easier to control with a pyrethroid than the corn strain FAW.
"A few bollworms are in soybeans, as well. I haven't heard of any cases where beans at R2 or greater had to be sprayed only for bollworms. In some cases bollworms are present with a lot of FAW, so the treatment covers both. Some guys in central Louisiana are spraying for sugarcane borers (SCB) in corn. You can't trap SCB, so it's harder to make a determination about them. We're not picking up any southwestern corn borers in traps.
"Sugarcane aphids (SCA) are really taking off in grain sorghum in this part of the state. Last week in our research plots we were spotting just a few SCA here and there. This week, those plots are loaded, and that's being reported in commercial fields, too. Also, a lot of headworms have developed in grain sorghum in the milk stage."
Travis Vallee, CenLa Ag Services, Pineville, Louisiana: "We had to treat 300 acres of corn 2 weeks ago for sugarcane borer. That was around Bunkie. I've found a little southern rust. We have some corn at black layer and other fields that are 3 weeks from it. Less than half of our corn is irrigated this year.
"Our youngest beans are at R2, with the oldest probably at R5.3. We've treated many of the early beans for stink bugs, primarily redbanded. Applications were mostly needed around R5, although we had to spray a few fields earlier than that. We found corn earworms in a few soybeans fields early in the week.
"The only disease we've found at treatable levels has been frogeye and that was in one variety. We'll probably apply a fungicide on some of the irrigated beans that look like they'll do well enough to justify the expense.
"In grain sorghum, we've treated for headworms over the last couple of weeks. Sugarcane aphids (SCA) have been surprisingly low, and we've only treated half of the milo for SCA this year. We'll apply our first harvest aids in about 10 days (from 7/4) on a couple of patches of our oldest milo."