COTTON HARVEST AID FIELD DAY

You are invited to come out to the 2001 Cotton Harvest Aid Field Day on Thursday, August 9. The Williamson/Milam Co. Pest Management Program and allied industry are sponsoring the field day. The program will begin at 8:30 am at the Hutto COOP parking lot From there we will travel to the plots which are located just a few miles East of Hutto on CR 132.

Dr. Robert Lemon, Statewide Cotton Specialist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service as well as industry representatives will be on hand to discuss harvest aid plots and strategies. The program will be informative and to the point.

I want to thank Michael Krueger for allowing us to put out these test plots on one of his farms.

GENERAL SITUATION

Hot and dry weather continues to persist across the area. Some isolated showers have fell over the past week, but have not produced enough rain to help the crops. The showers are coming up from the southeast.

Grain harvest is well underway with good yields being reported. Several fields of cotton are approaching the stage where harvest aids will soon need to be applied. Fields range from 1 week into bloom to 60% open with the majority of fields having at least a few open bolls. There are fields in the various areas that have not reached the open boll stage because of being planted late. These fields could still benefit from a rain.

Insect pressure is relatively light. Boll weevil punctures remain light in fields that still have no hostable fruit. In addition worm pressure is nearly impossible to find in most fields. On the other hand, aphids are still holding their own in some fields. Remember, the boll weevil eradication foundation spraying continues so it is important to continue monitoring for aphids.

Boll Weevil Eradication Trap Catch averages are listed on the table on the following page. The Williamson-Milam Co. Pest Management Program trap line caught only one weevil during the past week from a total of 20 traps.

COTTON HARVEST AND NOTES

Preparing cotton for harvest is not an exact science. Although there is much information on how and when to apply harvest aid chemicals, producers recognize that seasonal and crop conditions affect crop responses to harvest aid treatments in ways that are unpredictable.

Good moisture early on in the season has led to cotton that ranges from 24" to over 60" in height. However, because of the low market price, growers will be forced to go with the cheapest route possible to set the crop up for harvest. This will probably mean that a lot of Cyclone Max will be used. As long as we do not get any fain, the crop should be easy to prepare for harvest. However, if we get some rain, then regrowth concerns will come into play.

As a result, growers should make a concerted effort to do everything possible to get their crop harvested before any rainfall occurs. Growers who plan on dropping leaves should apply defoliants at 40-60% open. Desiccants should be applied at 80% open boll Do not wait until all the bolls have opened before desiccating the field. However, do not apply these products to soon to reduce freezing the bolls shut.

Individuals whose strategy is to use products that provide regrowth suppression, can use the defoliants Dropp and/or Ginstar. Specifically, Dropp @ 0.1 lb/ac plus Ginstar @ 6 oz/ac applied at 80% open boll has been a once over treatment for growers and has provided real good regrowth suppression over the past two seasons. Reports indicate the the rates for these two products can be reduced even further when the crop is in full senescence. In addition, Roundup Ultra Max can be applied to non Roundup-ready cotton either as a separate treatment about 1 week before defoliation or in a tank mix with a defoliant which provides excellent regrowth suppression.

COTTON STALK DESTRUCTION CRITICAL DURING FIRST SEASON OF BOLL WEEVIL ERADICATION

Removing unwanted cotton stalks may be accomplished by different techniques. Plows, stalk pullers, and chemicals all are useful tools. Which one or combination of these to use is the producer's choice. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

It will be important to destroy cotton stalks as soon as possible after harvest. Because the boll weevil eradication program will be treating area fields each week once spraying begins until all the cotton stalks in a field are destroyed. Each application that they make cost you (the grower) more money in the long run. With timely, wide spread stalk destruction across the Southern Blacklands, growers can help put a dent in the boll weevil population and will save themself money in return. So be sure to get the stalks destroyed as soon as possible after harvest.

STALK DESTRUCTION VIA CHEMICALS

This season, growers have more options from a herbicide standpoint. Recently, EPA and TDA have approved certain herbicides for use on cotton as a crop destruct tool. These products include, Barrage, D-638, Five Star, Salvo, and Savage. These products can only be applied to cotton that has been harvested and after the stalks have been harvested. Optimal timing of these products would be at the time when cotton starts to regrow after the stalks have been shredded down.