We are winding down our scouting program right now. Today (8/3)
will be Shay’s last day and Andrea will finish up next Wednesday. Scott will
stay on until 8/22 and will spend his time primarily looking for stinkbugs
and worms. Continue to keep in mind that even though we are winding
down the season and basically only concerned with stinkbugs and possibly
bollworms an errant CYA application now could not only cost you money
but also flare aphids or mites which in turn will cost you even more.
As I said before, this crop is progressing nicely. Square sets and total
fruit load have dropped over the past two weeks but still remain at over 86%
of all squares that are still on the plant are now bolls. Nodes above white
flower (NAWF) made a significant leap forward over the past two weeks, with
many fields racing past the critical NAWF = 5 cutout point. For these fields it
is time to start managing your water and nitrogen as you prepare to shut
down for the season. Work that Warren did for years with Doug Schaefer
found that you could terminate your water 400-500 heat units after cutout.
This of course assumes that we have adequate soil moisture to finish on. We
may want to water a little longer this year unless sufficient rain comes. Re-
member, watering too long will make it harder to kill, costs more, and can
actually lower your grade!