Richard L. Petcher                                                                               
Regional Extension Agronomist for SWAL.                                          
Baldwin County Extension Office
302A Byrne Street, Bay Minette, AL  36507
(251) 937-7176, cell (251) 202-1009, SL 7*145
E-mail petchrl@auburn.edu                                           

June 6, 2007

                               UPCOMING PRODUCTION MEETINGS

Cotton, Peanut and Soybean Pest Management Meeting

Date:  June 28, 2007

Place:  Charley and John Grant Farm near Uriah.  Take County Road 8, off of Highway 21 and two miles North of Uriah.  Go West on County Road 8.  Go approximately 2 miles and their barn is on the left.   

Time:  11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Purpose: To gain timely information on cotton insects, and diseases and insects on soybeans and peanuts.

Speakers: Dr. Ron Smith, Auburn University Cotton Entomologist, Cotton Insect Pest.

Dr. Ed Sikora, AU, Soybean Plant Pathologist, Asian Rust and Insects on Soybeans.

Dr. Austin Hagan, Auburn University Peanut Pathologist.

Richard Petcher, Burrower Bug and other insects on peanuts.

Cotton, Peanut and Soybean Pest Management Meeting

Date: June 28, 2007

Place:  The ALFA Building in Robertsdale. 

Time:  6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Purpose: To gain timely information on cotton insects, and diseases and insects on soybeans and peanuts.

Speakers: Dr. Ron Smith, Auburn University Cotton Entomologist, Cotton Insect Pests.

Dr. Ed Sikora, AU Soybean Plant Pathologist, Asian Rust and Insects on Soybeans.

Dr. Austin Hagan, AU Peanut Specialist, Diseases on Peanuts.

Richard Petcher, Burrower Bug and other insects on peanuts.

 Mississippi: George County Peanut and Cotton Scouting Meeting

Place: George County Extension Office in Lucedale, MS

Date: Friday July 6, 2007

Time:  8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Speakers: Angus L. Catchot, MSU Cotton Entomologist

Contacts:  Mike Howell (601-795-1425) and Mike Steed (601-947-4223) MSU Extension

APRES The American Peanut Research and Education Society Annual Meeting

Place:  Wynfrey Hotel in Birminghan, AL.

Date:  July 10-13, 2007

Contact:  Irene Nickels, P.O. Box 613 Perkins, OK 74059, Telephone: 405-372-3052, E-mail: après_nickeli@att.net

Southern Conservation Agricultural Systems Conference – June 25-27, 2007 University of Florida, NFREC, Quincy, FL

Highlighting the sod based rotation/livestock integration into row crop systems “the next step after conservation tillage”

June 25- 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 low country boil,

    7:00 p.m. steering committee meeting (by invitation only)

June 26- 7:00- 8:15 a.m. registration and put up posters

Dr. Gale Buchanan- USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics- keynote speaker

Oral presentations 8:15- 5:30 p.m. and breaks for poster sessions

12:15 Barbecue lunch

6:00- 8:00 p.m.  Fish fry

June 27- 8:00 a.m. to noon- Bus to Marianna NFREC for field tours highlighting sod based rotation (cattle with cotton/peanuts and winter grazing).  Speakers and demonstrations in field by faculty from National Peanut Laboratory, Dawson, GA: NESPAL, Tifton, GA; National Soil Dynamics Laboratory Auburn; University of Florida, Auburn University, University of Georgia and tour of state of the art feed efficiency facilities.

12:00-1:00 box lunch and return to Quincy

1:00- return home

It is possible to have rides to and from the airport if we know your flight schedules.

More information can be found out about the program at the following web site: http://www.conservationinformation.org/?action=events_sctscconf_scascagenda 

Other information about past meetings can be found at : http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aux/nsdl/sctcsa/meetings.html

Southern Peanut Growers Conference

Place: Edgewater Beach Resort in Panama City Beach, Florida

Date:  July 15-17, 2007

For more information contact the Alabama Peanut Producers Association (334) 792-6482.

                                                        Insect Update

Thrips are giving our cotton, peanuts and soybeans heavy pressure.  Dry weather is causing poor systemic insecticide uptake by the plants.  The thrips are constantly moving into our fields in high numbers.  Cotton needs to be sprayed in the cotyledon to 2 leaf stage.  Spraying at or after the 4 to 5 leaf stage has shown no yield increase, but may speed the plant growth keeping it on time to prevent a later harvest.  Some cotton growers are using the higher rate of foliar insecticides in order to give them longer coverage on the cotton plants. 

Peanut research has shown no benefit to spraying foliar for thrips on seedling peanuts.  In fact spraying for thrips seems to aggravate the thrips making the situation worse and typically invites red necked peanut worms and spider mites to those same fields. 

Soybeans are also under heavy thrips pressure.  Under good moisture and growing conditions the beans outgrow the thrip’s damage even if the thrips are severe.  However, during dry weather or the soybeans are severely stressed thrips can take the soybeans down and spraying then would be a benifit.  Orthene is now labeled for soybeans.  See label for rates.  A good rain is the best thrips control.

Plant bugs

In talking with Dr. Ron Smith, Auburn University Cotton Entomologist, his prediction at this point is that plant bug numbers will be low this year.  This is based on the fact that the wild hosts for plant bugs prior to moving into cotton have been so dry this spring that there will be a reduced number of plant bugs in the cotton this summer.   

Stink bugs on Corn

As of today May 29, 2007, the stink bug numbers seem to be fairly low.  As wheat and oats are harvested the stink bugs often move into the corn crop.  Stink bug scouting on corn should begin when corn is in the seedling stage.  On young plants stink bugs feed on the base of the plant and injure the growing point.  Extreme feeding results in death of the plant.  If the growing point is badly damaged, the plant may develop multiple stems.    Moderate feeding results in a buggy whip symptom, where one side of the plant grows

faster than the other and the tips of the leaves are entangled in the whorl.  Stink bugs do

the most damage to corn when corn is in the early ear formation stage.  Most growers are not aware that this stage occurs two weeks before silking.  The little ear shoot is only ¾ inch long, and cannot be seen unless you pull back the leaf sheath.  Stink bug damage at this time will cause the ears to be aborted or severely deformed.  The ears will be C shaped or cow horned and are called banana ears.  Scout again during grain fill.  During silking and grain fill the stink bugs are affecting individual kernals.  If you want to protect the whole ear scouting must begin at early ear formation.  That is the time stink bugs do the most damage to corn.  The recommended threshold for treatment is when 1 out of 20 plants have stink bugs.  Pyrethroids work well on the green species, while organophospates work best on the brown.  Scouting for stink bugs can be difficult as they may be in one part of the field and not the other.  Fields bordering small grains or bordering pine plantations would be the most likely to have stink bugs.         

 Soybeans

Soybean growers in Alabama are estimated to plant close to 200,000 acres of soybeans.  Southwest Al growers are estimated to plant from 10,000 to 12,000 acres of soybeans.  Soybeans yielded from 30 bushels up to 75 bushels in this area with around a 40 bushel average.  With the price up and hopes up of making better yields than last year the acres have also gone up.  Some acres that were intended for cotton and peanuts, but not planted because of the drought may also go into soybeans.  No Asian rust has been found in Alabama so far this year.  However it has already been found in Louisiana and Florida.  The presence of Asian Rust in the United States has started up a little earlier this year than it did last year.  Be alert. 

Fungicides on Corn

This is a good opportunity for a good crop consultant.  There were nearly 300,000 acres of corn planted in Alabama this year.  Fungicide use on corn is becoming more popular as corn acres are going up, corn prices are going up and the industry is providing more information on the use of fungicides on corn.  Anyone who has used fungicides on fruits, vegetables or peanuts and seen the results it only stands to reason that fungicides should work well on corn also.  Before making the decision to spray there are several important factors to consider. 

Know your corn hybrid and its disease resistance package.  Some hybrids have a very good disease package and others do not.  Knowing your hybrid is very helpful in this decision.  Some of the top yielding hybrids are weak on disease resistance and may benefit by a fungicide. 

Know your corn diseases.  There are many diseases on corn, but only three that typically affect us in South Alabama.  The first is Southern Corn Leaf Blight.  This disease is present almost every year.  The symptom is tannish brown lesions on the leaf.  This disease does not usually cause significant yield loss.  Occasionally in wetter years we also have the Northern Corn Leaf Blight.  The lesions of NCLB are more chocolate

colored than tan.  The second disease is Common Rust.  This disease is found where ever corn is grown.  Cinnamon brown rust pustules can be found on both the top and bottom side of the corn leaf.  The disease even though common does not cause significant yield loss.  The third disease is Southern Rust.  It can be a very serious problem.  Corn hybrids without resistance will take losses from 10 to 20 bushels and greater.    Fortunately Southern Rust is not as common here as Common Rust.  It usually occurs about 2 out of 10 years in South Alabama.  Southern rust is more common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.  It likes warm humid weather.  Symptoms of Southern Rust are very similar to those of Common Rust.  At the early stages it is very difficult to tell the difference.  As the disease progresses it becomes more identifiable.  It can be distinguished by the pustules.  Southern Rust pustules are light cinnamon brown to orange (much more orange than Common Rust) and occur more on the upper side of the leaf and seldom on the lower surface.  Southern Rust usually does not come into our area until later in the season.  If Southern Rust does come early, it would most definitely pay to spray a fungicide.  University specialists, based on research conducted in Georgia and Mississippi, are saying that in the absence of Southern Rust there would be very little benefit to spraying.     

There is some data that indicates that there is a plant health yield enhancement from the Strobilurin chemistry in some fungicides.  This data is showing a 5 % yield increase in yield even in the absence of Southern Rust.  This is very likely to be the case, however, UGA and MSU are conducting further research before making their University statement. 

Fungicides labeled:  To my knowledge the fungicides labeled for corn are the same fungicides as for wheat.  They include Headline, Quadris, Quilt, Stratego, Tilt and Propimax.  See the labels for use and rate. 

The application timing is another factor.  From early tassel through physiological maturity is around 60 days.  For these fungicides, the label allows for the first application to be made at tasseling.  If your first spray is at tassel and it protects the corn for 20 days there are 40 days left when the corn is unprotected.  It would take three sprays to keep your crop totally protected.   Growers need to know if the disease is already present or not.  They should also base their application on the weather prediction and probability of the Southern Rust coming.

In summary the factors to consider are:  Know your corn hybrid. Know your corn diseases and whether they are present in your field or the area.  Know your fungicides and time of application.  Know your corn crop potential.  Corn with a good yield potential is more likely to pay to spray.  Corn planted behind corn typically is more prone to disease and may benefit by spraying.  When diseases are present spraying enhances corn stalk strength and helps prevent lodging.  Know your stink bug levels in your field and consider if you need to tank mix an insecticide also.  

Fertilize Cotton By Bloom Time: Research has shown that regardless of how much N you apply after early bloom there is no increase in yield. 

Grain Sorghum

Grain sorghum is an excellent rotation crop for peanuts or cotton.  It is a good source of organic matter and is a good crop to plant to help control weeds for the next crop.  Grain sorghum is sensitive to acid soils.  Soils below a pH of 5.8 will greatly reduce yields.  Planting date is up until July 15th.  Seeding rate should be around 80,000 seed per acre.  That is somewhere between 4 to 7 lb. per acre depending on the seed size.  The tendency is to plant too thick, causing lodging and not as much grain because of over crowding.  The two varieties that I recommend for South Alabama for grain are Pioneer 83G66 and Dekalb 5400. DeKalb 53-03 is good for grazing and grain.  There are many other varieties to choose from.  Do not skimp on Nitrogen and expect to make a grain crop.  The Nitrogen rate is 80 to 100 lbs. per acre dry land.  Apply thirty to fifty per cent at planting and sidedress the rest prior to head initiation.  This is usually thirty days after emergence.  Look closely for insects especially at grain fill time.  

New Peanut Fungicides for 2007

Provost is a new fungicide by Bayer Crop Science.  Provost is a combination of tebuconazole (Folicur) and prothioconazole (Proline).  The use rates range from 8.0 to 10.7 oz/A.  This new fungicide provides excellent control of leaf spot, white mold, limb rot, and suppression of Cylindrocaladium Black Rot (CBR).

Evito 480SC  (fluoxastrobin) is a new strobilurin fungicide in the same class as Headline and Abound.   It is labeled at the 5.7 fl. oz/A rate.  And is on a similar 2 application timing to Abound (60-90 days after planting).  It may be applied only 2 times consecutively and 3 times during the season.  It is to control leaf spot, rust, limb rot and white mold. 

Generic Formulations of Folicur.  In 2007 several generic formulations of Folicur will be on the market.  Some of these are Muscle and  EchoMuscle Co-Pak (Sipcam), Tri$um (CerexagriNisso), Integral (Luxembourg), Tebustar (Albaugh), Orius (Mana) and Tebuzol (UPI).  These formulations should be used like Folicur in a fungicide program. 

EchoMuscle Fungicide Co-Pak is a product of Sipcam Agro USA, Inc.  This is not new chemistry.  However, it is in a new packaging.  Muscle 3.6F is a generic Folicur 3.6F that has the same range of activity and efficacy as the original formulation of the fungicide tebuconazole.  The Echo is chlorothalonil.  This comes in a 10 acre co-pack which contains 160 fl. oz. of Echo 720 chlorothalonil and 72 fl oz. of Muscle 3.6F tebuconazole.  This product controls leaf spot, limb rot, rust and web blotch and white mold.  The

soil borne diseases is the primary activity of the Muscle.  The package together helps to reduce leaf spot resistance to tebuconazole fungicides.  If priced right this could be a good product.      

Peanut Weed Management During Drought: by Dr. Eric Prostko, University of Georgia Weed Specialist

1. Dryland peanut fields should not be treated with a soil-applied herbicide if there is no chance for rain within 7 days after application.
2. Growers who must now rely exclusively on postemergence weed control programs need to pay close attention to what is going on in the field.  Timely herbicide applications to small weeds will be more effective than waiting until more weeds have emerged and the drought lengthens. 
3. Weeds growing under drought stress will be more difficult to control due to thicker cuticles and a reduction in various metabolic processes. 
4. When applying postemergence herbicides, use the full labeled rate, apply in at least 15 GPA, and make sure that proper adjuvants are used.  If labeled, use a crop oil concentrate instead of a non-ionic surfactant. 

Crown Rot and Collar Ron on Peanuts During Drought:  by Dr. Bob Kemerait, Dr. Albert Culbreath and Dr. Tim Brenneman, University of Georgia Peanut Pathologist.

Aspergillus crown rot and Diplodia collar rot are peanut diseases that typically kill peanut plants that are in the seedling or early vegetative growth stages.  Both of these diseases are most severe in hot and dry soils.  Loss of plants early in the season helps to predispose the crop to increased damage from tomato spotted wilt.  In the case of Aspergillus crown rot, hot and dry soil injures the tender seedling near the soil line, thus creating a wound easily exploited by the Aspergillus fungus.  Best management tools for Aspergillus crown rot and Diploedia collar rot include the use of good crop rotation, a good fungicide seed treatment, management of lesser cornstalk borers, and judicious irrigation of dry soils, if possible.  Additionally, UGA research has demonstrated that use of Abound fungicide as an in-furrow application can help to reduce losses associated with both diseases when outbreaks are severe. 

AU-pnut leaf spot advisory ( www.AWIS.com ).  Peanut growers may find this helpful in determining the timing of their fungicide applications. 

Again, I hope this information is helpful to you.