Cotton farmers updated on equipment and insect battle

By MANDY JOHN | Central Texas Edition

February 6, 2003 -- Farmers and ranchers from all over Texas, as well as other states, were given the opportunity to learn more about cotton production at the 32nd Mid-Tex Farm and Ranch Show, held Jan. 23-25 at the Waco Convention Center in Waco. At the cotton session Dr. Billy Warrick, Extension agronomist, explained different equipment options for cotton producers and Dr. Chris Sansone, Extension entomologist, discussed the management of bollworm and budworm in an active boll weevil eradication zone.

"Conservation tillage fits a wide range of cases including no till, strip till, ridge till, some till, and reduced till," Warrick stated. "Reduced till is doing a number of tillage practices on one trip. This means you are doing less trips because you are doing more practices at one time or dropping practices at one trip.

"If you think you are going to be able to change to reduced till in one year, you are not going to be happy. It usually takes four to five years to make this happen."

He said that learning to farm a different way means more management, not less management. "It's not a thing you do real quick, it's something a farmer must think about," he said.

"There are problems you must think about including the soil being too firm at planting and lack of surface residue. "

Warrick gave many benefits of conservation reduced tillage including:

• Improves the soil tilt and water infiltration,
• Reduces erosion,
• Improves soil moisture,
• Lowers operating costs,
• Reduces machinery investment,
• Equipment lasts longer, and
• Less fuel, labor, and maintenance

He also discussed residue management.

"With this type of management you must make a choice after you harvest the previous crop. The choices are - Do you leave the stalks just standing? Do you pull the stalks with a stalk puller? Or, do you shred them? For those of you that choose the shredding option, be aware that you will also have material that picks up certain herbicides.

"Trying to leave residue on the top of the soil is more of what today's farmers are trying to do. You can apply just about anything with the equipment that is around today, including cotton. Time has progressed and tractors gradually have more horsepower to them."

He stated that the amount of residue affects the amount of water and wind that can be allowed with a crop.

"Another decision that must be made is using firm soil versus using soil conservation. Plants don't have to have loose soil in which to grow. They grow better in a firm or settled soil, which allows for moisture movement. You must determine the extent of compaction that you will use."

Warrick also talked about spray equipment. "You must have good spray equipment that is equipped with low drift nozzles. You should have the broadcast shielded or a covered sprayer. A knowledge of weeds and herbicides is very important. Equipment that shifts from tillage to herbicides is good and you must keep your field clean."

He ended by saying that the best tillage system to use is the one that works for the farmer. "Everyone will do it a little differently."

"We just finished our first full year of eradication in the Blackland area," began Sansone. "We are now going into our second year. We took a pretty aggressive approach to the program here and we think it's a good thing. The eradication program is going well in other places too. "

He stated that with the program, they now have the opportunity to reduce the application for insects.

"With the bollworm and budworm, one individual aphid does not do much harm, but take the number of aphids that are around crops and that is when you begin to have a problem.

"Typically, aphids have a certain pattern. They overwinter in the pupal stage. During the early generations stage, they spend time hosting on wild plants. They prefer blooming plants, and will spend one or two generations in cotton."

He gave the seven stages to all bollworms and budworms.

"In the egg stage, the aphids hatch within two to three days. The first instar is two to three days later and that is when they do five percent of their feeding. They are usually difficult to find on the plants.

"The second instar is two to three days later. Good scouts will find these. They usually do seven percent of their feeding. The third instar lasts two or three days. This is the stage that they are found the most. During this time they do 16 percent of their feeding.

"The fourth instar is two to three days later. At this point they are difficult to control and do 25 percent of their feeding. The fifth and sixth instar lasts seven to eight days and they do 47 percent of their feeding. At this point it's too late to control them."