Grain sorghum – crop update for Virginia

Posted on by

Even though the first FSA crop acreage report for 2014 will be posted on August 15 (at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=newsroom&subject=landing&topic=foi-er-fri-cad), I know that several farmers in SE Virginia planted grain sorghum this year. For those and beyond,

Grain sorghum planted at Tidewater AREC on June 10, 2014

Grain sorghum planted at Tidewater AREC on June 10, 2014

here there are a couple updates to consider:

Depending on maturity, May planted hybrids are getting close to heading. Scouting for worms at this time and until hard dough is important. We recently found a relatively heavy corn earworm pressure in our “Official Variety Test” (OVT). Japanese beetle pressure also needs to be observed at this time as it may cause leaf damage for young plants. For both, Dr. Herbert recommended a mixture of Baythroid (2.8 oz) and Lannate (1.5 pt) in at least 15 gal of water for good penetration inside the whorls.

Double crop sorghum planted after wheat is probably no taller than 8 inches; still a good height for several herbicide options for broad leaf control. Grass and wheat volunteers can also be controlled but sorghum needs to be at least 15 inches tall. Details on herbicide options are at http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/AREC/AREC-29/AREC-29NP.html.

Sorghum is a crop and it should be treated as such. This includes knowledgeable soil sampling for pH and nutrient content, and treatment accordingly. Nutrient recommendations for sorghum can be found at http://www.soiltest.vt.edu/PDF/recommendation-guidebook.pdf.

My research group has been quite successful growing sorghum, full and double cropping, across SE Virginia. You can tour the 41 OVT hybrids we grow this year on September 11 during the Tidewater AREC Pre-harvest Field Tour. For details on this event ask Gail White at guwhite@exchange.vt.edu.

Has your peanut sufficient manganese?

Posted on by

It appears that different peanut fields may have different needs for manganese fertilization this year. We made this observation while scouting several peanut fields last week: here at the Tidewater AREC and also in farmers’ fields in Southampton County. Even though we applied 1 qt of 9% liquid manganese almost three weeks ago, some fields appear to need more. If manganese deficiency symptoms occur, applying more manganese with the next fungicide treatment would be a good approach.

'Bailey' peanut showing manganese deficiency

‘Bailey’ peanut showing manganese deficiency

We have seen manganese deficiency late in the season in 2012. This year, rainfall was less than in 2012. However Bailey has excessive vine growth and precipitation was enough for most fields to exacerbate this characteristic.

Black light trap in field

Black light trap catches for the week ending July 24, 2014

Posted on by

Nightly average catches of corn earworm moths in local black light traps were:  Charles City=18.5; New Kent=8.0; Warsaw=1.0; Essex=zero; Petersburg=1.1; Eastern Shore AREC/Painter=zero; Hampton Roads AREC/Virginia Beach=zero; Southampton=3.0; Sussex = 1.9; Suffolk=2.5.

Means per night for brown marmorated stink bug were:  Charles City=1.3; New Kent=zero; Warsaw=0.7; Essex=zero; Petersburg=26.9; Eastern Shore AREC/Painter=zero; Hampton Roads AREC/Virginia Beach=zero; Southampton=zero; Suffolk=zero.  Thank you to our trap operators for their reports this week:  John Allison, Mary Beahm, Keith Balderson, Mark Kraemer, Helene Doughty, Chris Drake, Kelvin Wells, and Ames Herbert and his entomology crew.

IMPORTANT—New Name and Transitioning to an Updated Delivery System

Posted on by

After 12+ years, the Virginia Ag Pest Advisory has been ‘modernized’. As of this week, it will be transitioned to a new format, powered by WordPress and MailChimp software. We are also adding new authors to cover crop updates so are changing our name to the Virginia Ag Pest and Crop Advisory.

As with the old system, you will still receive weekly emails containing important advisories on your mobile or desktop device, and as before, you can scroll the titles and select only those that are important to you. Normal advisories will be delivered each Friday at 1 am and available for reading first thing on Friday mornings. And as before, there is an ‘Urgent’ option that will be used to provide any advisories that need immediate attention.

In addition, all advisories will be posted to the new Blog site: http://blogs.ext.vt.edu/ag-pest-advisory. You may want to ‘bookmark’ this url. If you are not currently on the old Virginia Ag Pest Advisory email recipient list and want to be added, the Blog site provides an easy way for you to do that.

We hope you will be pleased with our new advisory system.

Thanks,
Ames Herbert

Late blight found on Tomato in Leesburg, VA

Posted on by

Unfortunately, late blight has been confirmed in Leesburg, VA by the Plant Disease Clinic in Blacksburg. Potato and tomato growers (especially in the northern part of the Commonwealth) should take precautionary actions and increase scouting. For more information on late blight please refer to the extension publication link about this potentially devastating disease. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/ANR/ANR-6/ANR-6_pdf.pdf

Southern Rust on Corn in North Carolina – Update

Posted on by

Southern rust was confirmed on a sample from Camden County, NC on July 21. At this time, southern rust has NOT been reported in Virginia. Yield of corn at or near the dent stage is unlikely to be impacted by the disease, but less mature corn may need to be protected with a fungicide application. Contact your local extension office for recommendations if you suspect southern rust is in your area. Samples of corn plants with symptoms of southern rust should be submitted to your local extension office or the disease clinic at the Virginia Tech Tidewater AREC (contact Dr. Hillary Mehl, hlmehl@vt.edu). Typically the disease has little impact on Virginia corn since it arrives too late in the season to affect yield, but if southern rust is confirmed in Virginia prior to corn reaching the dent stage (R5), fungicide applications may be warranted. Updates will be provided as more information is obtained.

Where are the kudzu bugs–soybean update

Posted on by

The big question today is—where are the kudzu bugs we expected to see in our soybean crop? As of this week, we have not seen any adults or nymphs in the early planted full season crop. In fact, the same situation is being reported for much of the eastern US. Dominic Reisig at NCSU says that even in NC, the only reported infestations are from southernmost counties.

Last summer by this time we were seeing many full season early planted files with infestations of adults that have moved from adjacent overwintering sites. The only bugs we have found so far have been in kudzu patches. So, what’s the difference in years and why the delayed movement of adults? All we can say is that it must be related to the colder than normal temperatures we experienced during the winter. We know that in the Suffolk area there were at least two nights when temperatures dropped below zero (æF), and of course it was even colder north and west of us. Could those cold temperatures have killed some of the overwintering adults reducing the overall population levels?

We do know from our adult overwintering emergence traps that were placed throughout much of the state that adults survived and emerged this April and May in about 12 counties in the southern part of the state. Why they did not move into early planted soybean fields is another unanswered question.

From what I can gather from reading and talking with other entomologists in the southeast, 2014 is shaping up to be similar to 2011 when the first generation of kudzu bugs developed in kudzu (mostly) and other alternate hosts and only the second generation moved into soybean fields. This certainly seems to be what is happening this year. In some ways this scenario, if it plays out, will simplify the field scouting and threshold determination. The ‘original’ kudzu bug threshold developed in the southeast was based on this second generation that moved into reproductive stage (flowering—early pod) soybean fields—and it is based on number of nymphs (see below). We have initiated our 2014 soybean insect pest survey so will be reporting updates as they come in so stay tuned.

Treatment Thresholds for 2nd Generation Kudzu Bugs, Nymphs Present

Sweep Net
” An average of 1 nymph/sweep, 15/15 sweeps
” Take at least ten 15-sweep samples to represent the entire field
” Sampling should not be biased by sampling close to field edges where populations may by congregated
Canopy Observation
” At least 10 observation spots representing the entire field
” Nymphs easily found on main stems, leaf petioles or leaves

Black light trap counts for the week ending July 17, 2014

Posted on by

Low numbers of corn earworm in black light traps this week (July 11-17). Nightly averages were: Southampton=0.5; Petersburg=0.4; Prince George-Templeton=0.3; Prince George-Disputanta=zero; Warsaw=0.4; Isle of Wight=zero; Suffolk=zero. We had some high brown marmorated stink bug catches in Petersburg’s black light trap (average of 6.6 BMSB per night). Other locations had either zero BMSB (Southampton, Prince George, Isle of Wight, and Suffolk) or 0.1 BMSB per night (Warsaw). Thanks to the following for their report: Chris Drake (Southampton), Mark Kraemer (Petersburg), Scott Reiter (Prince George), Mary Beahm (Warsaw), Janet Spencer (Isle of Wight), and Ames Herbert and crew (Suffolk).

Where are the kudzu bugs? — soybean update

Posted on by

The big question today is where are the kudzu bugs we expected to see in our soybean crop? As of this week, we have not seen any adults or nymphs in the early planted full season crop. In fact, the same situation is being reported for much of the eastern US. Dominic Reisig at NCSU says that even in NC, the only reported infestations are from southernmost counties. Last summer by this time we were seeing many full season early planted files with infestations of adults that have moved from adjacent overwintering sites. The only bugs we have found so far have been in kudzu patches. So, what’s the difference in years and why the delayed movement of adults? All we can say is that it must be related to the colder than normal temperatures we experienced during the winter. We know that in the Suffolk area there were at least two nights when temperatures dropped below zero (æF), and of course it was even colder north and west of us. Could those cold temperatures have killed some of the overwintering adults reducing the overall population levels? We do know from our adult overwintering emergence traps that were placed throughout much of the state that adults survived and emerged this April and May in about 12 counties in the southern part of the state. Why they did not move into early planted soybean fields is another unanswered question. From what I can gather from reading and talking with other entomologists in the southeast, 2014 is shaping up to be similar to 2011 when the first generation of kudzu bugs developed in kudzu (mostly) and other alternate hosts and only the second generation moved into soybean fields. This certainly seems to be what is happening this year. In some ways this scenario, if it plays out, will simplify the field scouting and threshold determination. The original kudzu bug threshold developed in the southeast was based on this second generation that moved into reproductive stage (flowering early pod) soybean fields and it is based on number of nymphs (see below). We have initiated our 2014 soybean insect pest survey so will be reporting updates as they come in so stay tuned. Treatment Thresholds for 2nd Generation Kudzu Bugs, Nymphs Present Sweep Net ” An average of 1 nymph/sweep, 15/15 sweeps ” Take at least ten 15-sweep samples to represent the entire field ” Sampling should not be biased by sampling close to field edges where populations may by congregated Canopy Observation ” At least 10 observation spots representing the entire field ” Nymphs easily found on main stems, leaf petioles or leaves.

Black light trap counts for the week ending July 17, 2014

Posted on by

Low numbers of corn earworm in black light traps this week (July 11-17). Nightly averages were: Southampton=0.5; Petersburg=0.4; Prince George-Templeton=0.3; Prince George-Disputanta=zero; Warsaw=0.4; Isle of Wight=zero; Suffolk=zero. We had some high brown marmorated stink bug catches in Petersburg’s black light trap (average of 6.6 BMSB per night). Other locations had either zero BMSB (Southampton, Prince George, Isle of Wight, and Suffolk) or 0.1 BMSB per night (Warsaw). Thanks to the following for their report: Chris Drake (Southampton), Mark Kraemer (Petersburg), Scott Reiter (Prince George), Mary Beahm (Warsaw), Janet Spencer (Isle of Wight), and Ames Herbert and crew (Suffolk).