It’s once again time to kick off another season of cotton as our scouts are back in the field checking plants and taking notes. We have tweaked a couple of things again this year, hopefully to make looking at this map and reading this review more useful as we have now attached the actual report to it. You will probably notice a few changes to the report itself over the next couple of weeks as this is based off of the old printed reports and there is some irrelevant information and some information that I would like to move around.
Now for this week’s report, just like most years, everything for the most part is fairly calm. Most cotton around the area is anywhere from still in the ground to about 2nd true-leaf, although there are a few earlier planted fields that are around 4-5 true-leaves. Beneficials are very low as they generally are this time of year and like always, the spiders and a few lady beetles are the first to show up. A few cotton fleahoppers can be found feeding on weeds in the ditches and margins of the fields, so keep that in mind as this crop begins to square. The greatest pest threat we have right now are the Jumbo’s that are on the eastern side of Glasscock, and Reagan Counties. Fortunately they appear to be on the downhill slide at the moment, but I would not get complacent about them. Several growers have treated more than once for them already. The winged grasshoppers do not feed a great deal, but as you know, the jumbos can wipe out a stand in a day.
Over all, stands look fairly good for the most part. A little replanting has gone on, a few folks found they planted a little deep, seed quality on a variety or two was not what we wanted, especially when it was cooler, but over all not too bad. Especially compared to the dry years. Our biggest concern now should be getting and keeping fields weed free.