Research
Update (March 2, 2026)
Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee
EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:
We have been keeping roads hot in February. We were at the West TN Grain Conference, the
Cotton & Rice Conservation Tillage Meeting, Cotton Focus, and the Mid-south
Farm & Gin Show. Nice to have some
meetings a bit closer to home. It is
always a good meeting if you can attend and still sleep in your own bed. We have a few more on the list, but the list
is getting smaller.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Join us at the meetings listed below in March and April.
- Southern Weed Science Society
March 9-12 | Nashville, TN - CPDA
April 27-29 | Austin, TX
CROPPING SEASONS:
Time to wake up some winter wheat. It is nearing time for fertilizer and spring
pest applications. We have extra winter
wheat planted for spring fungicide and herbicide trials. Just let us know what you need.
March also signals the start of burndown trials. Let us know what weeds you are after
(horseweed, ryegrass, chickweed, henbit) and we will find you a spot.
GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:
Greenhouse activity is at its peak as we scramble to
complete trials before moving back into the field. We still have time to start more, but do not
delay. If you need a greenhouse trial
this season, let us know so we can get it started soon.
UPCOMING TRIAL REMINDERS:
COTTON (YIELDED & INSECTICIDE TRIALS)
We generally target early May
for planting yielded cotton trials.
Being on the northern end of the cotton growing region, we make every
effort to plant cotton as soon as the weather allows to make sure the cotton has
time to reach maturity in the fall.
Insect trials that are not being taken to yield are generally planted
after that.
We are now planting three
different cotton technologies in the field depending on the objective of the
trial. A cotton variety that includes
the ThryvOn technology is planted in trials that are not targeting insect
control to minimize the impact of insects.
These would include trials on fertilizers, biostimulants, PGRs, and
microbials. A cotton variety containing
only the Bt technology is used in trials targeting thrips and plant bugs. Finally, a non-Bt cotton variety is used
where worm pests are the target insects.
Please contact us as soon as
possible if you require cotton variety outside of our normal plantings or if
you require a special site type (no-till, low fertility, etc.) so that we can
make arrangements prior to cotton planting season. It is much easier to line those things up
now.
CORN FUNGICIDE TRIALS
The logistics of our corn
foliar disease trials differ from most of the other corn trials we
conduct. While we try to plant other
yielded corn trials in April, we generally wait until mid-May to plant corn
foliar disease trials. On average, we
have increased disease pressure with this later timing. Also, we do most of our foliar disease work
at the location in Jackson. The Jackson
location historically has much better disease pressure than the site in
Memphis.
Our target disease for most of
our foliar corn trials is gray leaf spot.
We will occasionally get other diseases in the mix such as southern
rust, but these diseases do not occur as consistently as gray leaf spot. To enhance the presence of foliar diseases,
we plant corn hybrids that are not highly resistant to foliar diseases.
If you are looking for a
foliar disease other than gray leaf spot or need to work with a specific corn
hybrid, please let us know as soon as possible.
We will need to make different arrangements for those trials.
YIELDED SOYBEANS
We normally begin planting yielded soybean trials
(fertilizers, biostimulants, microbials) as soon as we finish with cotton
planting. Soybeans require less time to
mature than cotton and can be planted a bit later in the season. We normally grow mid to late maturity group 4
soybeans but we do have some flexibility.
Our soybean varieties are typically resistant to both glyphosate and
glufosinate to aid plot maintenance.
If you are looking for a special cropping situation (low
fertility, etc.) or a special soybean variety, please let us know as early as
possible so we can make arrangements.
SOYBEAN FUNGICIDE TRIALS
Much like our corn fungicide trials, we plant our soybean
fungicide trials later in the season (often late May or early June) to increase
disease pressure. Our most consistent
soybean disease and the one we usually target is frogeye leaf spot. We place these trials in Jackson since
disease pressure there is almost always heavier than at the Memphis
location. They are generally conducted
in a no-till situation which also tends to enhance disease development. Finally, we use soybean varieties that are
known to be susceptible to frogeye leaf spot to get the best evaluations
possible.
We are blessed in that we can typically get several good
visual observations of fungicide activity in the soybeans. Most of these trials are taken to yield and
the degree of yield separation varies with the timing of disease development
and frogeye leaf spot severity in a given season. The earlier the disease arrives and the
greater the disease intensity, the more likely we are to see yield separation
between treatments.
WEATHER INFO:
After we thawed out from the great ice storm of late
January, the weather turned relatively mild.
Occasional rain has kept the ground moist, and we hope that speaks well
for a good start this spring. We have
been able to continue with equipment upgrades and other maintenance items and
still be able to feel our fingers for the most part.
PEST INFO:
Burndown will be in full swing as the weather allows. This is particularly true of those battling
ryegrass. That is a weed that we
generally regret not controlling while it is still small. Large ryegrass can present quite a challenge.
As we gear up for another field season, we invite you to
send us your protocols and ideas. We
look forward to what we hope is another busy year.
Tim, Jackson, Jake, Will, Jim, & JT
Proverbs 12:24
The hand of
the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be put to forced labor.
