Farm Director, KC Sheperd, spoke with Entomology and Plant Pathology Assistant Extension Specialist at Oklahoma State University, Maxwell Smith, about the current condition of cotton across the state.
He said that areas in Eastern and Northeastern Oklahoma that have good irrigation systems look good. In the Southwestern and Western part of the state, where rainfall wasn’t as prevalent early on and irrigation is a little more limited, the crop is also limited.
“Even so, I think we are still sitting on a crop that we can go make something,” Smith said. “It’s a change from last year where at this point, the rain had shut off and we were just watching the crop burn up, so I’m a little more optimistic about how it all looks this year as compared to last year. Especially with rain in the forecast for the next ten days.”
At this time of the year, producers are applying fertilizer and utilizing irrigation. Smith said that some of the later planted cotton is still having problems with flea hoppers, so Smith is monitoring that situation to reduce squaring losses.
In the Fort Cobb and Carnegie areas, stink bugs have begun to appear in high numbers. “I’ve heard about them in soybeans and sorghum, but now, we are beginning to see them in cotton, and as the cotton starts to put on that fresh, tender boll, it is most susceptible to them, so we really have to keep an eye on it,” Smith said. “Especially in the Northeast part of the cotton growing region and to the east, is where they seem to be more prevalent right now, but we’ve seen them all across Oklahoma.”
Smith said that the bugs have to reach a certain threshold before pesticides will be administered, to ensure that the damage they are causing is worth the expense of spraying them, a concept he referred to as economic threshold.
Smith has been overall impressed with the level of weed control he has seen producers accomplish, this year. He said that between that and staying on top of the pests, the weather will be the only remaining factor in deciding the outcome of this year’s crop.
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