Research Update (April 1, 2024)

 

Research Update (April 1, 2024)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Ready or not, the season is upon us.  We spent the past month easing back out into the field as weather allowed.  Wheat is being sprayed, burndown trials are going out, and preparations for corn planting are underway.  Things should get real busy over the next month.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Wheat trials are marked out in preparation for fungicide trials later this month.  Some burndown trials have been sprayed with others going out in the near future.

Row crop planting season is upon us as we have the second week of April targeted to begin corn planting.  Later in April we hope to be establishing several weed trials before moving on to cotton in early May.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

The greenhouse is still surprisingly busy as we enter what is normally the last month of greenhouse season.  We have a few more soybean, cotton, and vegetable trials to wrap up before we shut the greenhouse down for the season and move back to spending all our time in the field.  Many thanks to all that brought us greenhouse trials over the winter.  We are very grateful to be able to stay busy through the cold months.

 

WEATHER INFO:

The weather has been quite nice so far this spring.  We have had several warm days scattered in among the normal cool spells.  Rain has been fairly consistent so far and we are entering planting season with good soil moisture.  Now we just hope the trend will hold as we start to put seed in the ground.

 

PEST INFO:

With the warm weather, we are beginning to see some summer annuals in the fields a bit earlier than normal.  Otherwise, we still have a collection of winter annuals until we get them all burned down.  Aphid pressure in wheat has been light this year and we have not had much to talk about on the insect front for a while.

We are looking forward to another safe and productive research season.  Let us know how we can be of service to you in the coming year.

Tim, Jake, Will, & Jim

 

Proverbs 12:24

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be put to forced labor.

 

Research Update (April 3, 2023)

Research Update (April 3, 2023)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Spring must be here for real.  Meeting season is past, wheat is growing, and burndown trials are being sprayed.  We even managed to plant the first soybeans of the year last week.  As we get deeper into the month of April, we hope to plant our yielded corn trials and get the year going in earnest.  Mostly, it just feels good to be back in the field.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

If the weather allows, we hope to start marking out yielded corn trials this week and beginning the majority of our corn planting the second week of April.  From there we will roll into cotton planting as the weather warms up.

We are currently spraying burndown trials as weeds (largely ryegrass and horseweed) reach the desired growth stages.  We still have a few burndown sites available if you need to slide something in at the last minute.

Wheat growth is accelerating as we have more warm days and it will not be long before we will be preparing for flag leaf and heading fungicide applications.  We did have some freezing weather within the last few weeks, but our wheat was small enough that it appears to have escaped any damage.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Greenhouse activity is beginning to slow as we finish off trials started over the winter.  We still have a few more sprays to make and ratings to take, but we should have most things wrapped up by the end of the month.  Many thanks to all those that sent greenhouse trials our way to help keep us going through the cold months.

 

WEATHER INFO:

The rain has been fairly consistent, and the temperatures have been quite variable.  For several weeks now we have been getting a day or two of rain each week.  While we will be begging for that in July, it has made it difficult to conduct pre-season spraying and tillage operations.  As usual, it will be a bit of a scramble to get all the fields in shape prior to planting.  We have had several warm and sunny days along with several others where we needed to dig out the coats.  If history is a good teacher, April will be just as variable on the temperature side.

 

PEST INFO:

The usual suspects are in the field for burndown trials (horseweed, ryegrass, chickweed, poa, etc.) right now.  Horseweed emergence appeared to be on the late side this spring but the populations were strong when they showed up.  Aphids have been light in our wheat plots so far.  Most other things will not get fired up until we get a little deeper into the season.

 

We want to welcome William McGuire to the family.  Will is a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin and joined us earlier in the month.  Please make sure to meet him on your visits to the farm this season.

Many thanks to those who have sent us protocols for the upcoming season.  If you still have trials to place or have something pop up at the last minute, please let us know.  We will be glad to help.

Tim, John Louis, Jake, Will, & Jim

 

Proverbs 12:27

… the substance of the diligent man is precious.

Research Update (February 6, 2023)

  Research Update (February 6, 2023)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

We have been keeping the roads hot lately as late January and early February tend to be the heart of meeting season for us.  We made a stop in Baton Rouge for the SWSS meeting.  This one is always a bit like homecoming for me since the SWSS was my first professional meeting.  We also attended a very successful NAICC meeting in Nashville.  Rumor has it that this was the largest NAICC meeting yet with around 850 in attendance.  The Tennessee Ag Production association meeting had to be changed to an on-line format due to icy weather.  The presentations were good, but you miss the interaction of an in-person gathering.  Fortunately, the weather cleared up enough that the West Tennessee Grain Conference was held as planned the following day.

While the travel can be a bit tiring, this is still one of my favorite times of the year.  There is no substitute for seeing old friends and making new ones.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

We still have a few meetings left on the calendar:

Cotton Focus, Feb. 8, Jackson, TN

Gin Show, Feb 24-25, Memphis, TN

Let me know if you plan to attend any meetings in our area this winter.  I would enjoy the opportunity to catch up before we return our attention to the field.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Our biggest field activity right now is watching wheat grow (or, more accurately, watching wheat sit there and get ready to grow this spring).  In any case, we should be doing wheat maintenance in late February or early March as the weather allows.

We also begin to think about burndown trials in February and March.  We traditionally have fields with horseweed, cutleaf eveningprimrose, henbit, chickweed, poa, and more.  If you are in need of some burndown work this spring, we should be able to handle it.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Greenhouse activities are in full swing with a wide variety of crops currently being tested.  We have trials on corn, cotton, soybean, wheat, beet, carrot, dry beans, peanut, and tomato in there right now.  We also have lysimeter trials getting underway in the near future.

Fortunately, the greenhouse is big and we have lots of room for more.  Let me know if you still need a greenhouse project conducted this winter.  We will try to make it happen.

 

WEATHER INFO:

The weather word for the month is “wet”.  That is not a bad thing in January as we look to start the season with good moisture.  Just hope it will moderate a bit as we get closer to planting time.  We will see.

 

PEST INFO:

We most always have the normal list of suspects as it relates to winter annual weeds in the field right now (see the burndown discussion under Cropping Seasons).  The one big newcomer impacting our area is ryegrass.  In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to control with our standard burndown herbicides (glyphosate, paraquat).  Failures in control have led to issues in crops such as wheat and corn.  If you happen to have a good ryegrass product, you could become very popular around west Tennessee (and beyond).

 

Thank you to all our friends that have already contacted us about setting up trials in the greenhouse and 2023 field season.  We look forward to working with you again this year.  If we can be of service, just let us know.

Tim, John Louis, Jake & Jim

 

Proverbs 10:4

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

Research Update (June 1, 2020)

Research Update (June 1, 2020)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

May is traditionally a busy month and this one was no exception.  The bulk of our yielded trials were established, and we got many of our other trials underway also.  Weed control trials continue to go in the ground now along with some of our other later studies.  We still have quite a way to go before the “establishment” phase of the season slows down.

CROPPING SEASONS:

Trials on winter wheat should be finished in the coming month.  Spring burndown trials are complete or are getting close.  Almost all our yielded corn trials were established in April and continue to grow.  Corn growth was slowed by cool temperatures in early May but increased rapidly with the warmer weather in late May.  Our corn fungicide trials were planted in mid-May.  We traditionally plant those a little later to encourage disease development.

Our yielded cotton trials have been planted, but crop progress has been slow during the cool, wet period we had through mid-May.  Much of the Tennessee cotton crop did not get planted until late May, so we are all counting on a long fall this year.  Yielded soybean trials were planted in late May and are just now beginning to take off.

WEATHER INFO:

We have continued to get plenty of rainfall to this point in the season.  So far this spring, I cannot recall a single week that has not been impacted by rainfall.  The week either started off wet or we have received a shower at some point during the week.  It is never good to complain about the rain, but I wish we could save a few of these showers for July and August.  Temperatures for most of May were on the cool side.  However, we did see a warming trend at the end of May and things are feeling more seasonably warm at this point.

In early May, we did see a rare May frost that damaged some of the wheat in the area.  However, we are thankful that our plots do not appear to have been injured.

PEST INFO:

If you needed a trial on rhizoctonia, this was the year for you.  With the cool temperatures and wet soils, rhizoctonia pressure was heavy this spring.  In fact, many of the plots where we used inoculum saw plant populations dramatically reduced.  Even plots without inoculum were under substantial pressure.  This was the kind of year that reminds you why you use fungicides at planting.

The season continues to heat up as we add more trials each week.  We look forward to seeing you around the farm as your trials get ready to view.  Also, we still have room for those additional trials that come up during the season.  Just let us know what you need and we will make a plan.  

Proverbs 12:24

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be put to forced labor.