Research Update (December 16, 2015)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

Since this will be our final update of 2015, we would like to offer a sincere thanks to all those we worked with in past season.  We are truly blessed to have you as customers and friends.  We wish you all a Merry Christmas and much success in the coming year.

Upcoming Events:

Meeting season is underway and here are some of the events we will be attending over the next couple of months.  Please let us know if you will be in attendance.  It would be a great opportunity to catch up with old (and new) friends.

Beltwide Cotton Conferences (Jan. 5-7, New Orleans)
Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference (Jan. 12-14, Memphis)
NAICC (Jan. 27-30, Orlando)
Dyersburg Grain Conference (Feb. 4, Dyersburg Fair Grounds)
SWSS (Feb. 8-11, Puerto Rico)
TAPA (Feb. 17, Jackson)
Cotton Focus (Feb. 18, Jackson)
Mid-South Farm & Gin Show (Feb. 26-27, Memphis)

Also, it was good to visit with many of you at the Mississippi State Row Crop Short Course and the North Central Weed Science Society meetings in early December.  These signal the unofficial start to meeting season.

Cropping Seasons & Weather Conditions:

Winter wheat and fall burndown trials are pretty much taken care of until ratings resume in the spring.  An unusually long and warm fall has left the wheat crop in good shape heading into colder weather.  We are already anticipating late February and early March when we typically get a few days warm and dry enough to allow us back in the field.

Also note that we have planted quite a bit of extra wheat for use in postemergence trials next spring.  We should have plenty of good locations if you have wheat trials coming up.

The greenhouse is open and operational.  While the heating system is up and running, we have had little need for it yet.  I expect that will change soon as we get into the heart of winter.  Greenhouse projects are currently in progress, but we still have additional space available if you need a little testing done in the colder months.

Pest Information:

The long, warm fall has provided us with an exceptional crop of winter annual weeds with which to work.  These should make for good spring burndown trails as well as excellent sites for postemergence weed control trials in wheat.  Keep us in mind if you have any of these on the horizon.

Once again, thanks for another great year and we look forward to having you out in the field in 2016.

Proverbs 12:27
… the substance of the diligent man is precious.

Research Update (November 17, 2015)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

Upcoming Events:

Congratulations to Rebecca Wehrmann and Zac Carpenter on their upcoming wedding.  Zac worked for Diligence Technologies for three summers while attending Mississippi State University (where he is now working on his Master's degree in Weed Science).  We wish all the best to Rebecca and Zac.

Also, we plan to be at a couple meetings in December (see below).  If you will be attending, let me know.  I would love the chance to catch up.

Mississippi State Row Crop Short Course (Starkville, November 30-December 2)
North Central Weed Science Society (Indianapolis, December 7-10)

Cropping Seasons:

The greenhouse is now operational and open for business this winter.  Work is already underway, but we still have space available.  Give me a call if you have projects you need a hand with this winter.

We just completed harvest for the season and all the yielded cotton, soybean, and corn trials are safely out of the field.  All final reports should be completed soon as we put last summer to bed.

Fall wheat trials are underway and we are currently finishing up fall ratings and trial maintenance in preparation for the winter.  We also planted quite a bit of "extra" wheat for use in trials next spring.  Let me know if your plans include spring applications in winter wheat.  We should be able to handle it.

Fall burndown trials are also in progress.  We have a few more ratings this fall before we let the trials "rest" over the winter.

Weather Conditions:

Harvest season went generally well.  We had a lot of warm, dry weather that allowed us to get the majority of our plots harvested in a timely manner.  A few rainy periods later in the fall did delay harvest on some of our later-planted soybean trials.  Still, overall we made pretty good time with harvest and finished ahead of last season.

We have yet to have a killing frost, so our fall weed crop is still in good shape.  We might still be able to work in a good fall burndown trial if the need arises.

Pest Information:

Wheat aphid populations have increased over the past couple of weeks.  We are beginning to get some good numbers from some of our fall aphid trials.

We have seen strong emergence from some of winter annuals.  The most striking weed populations have been of cutleaf eveningprimrose and henbit.  With the addition of some horseweed, we should have some excellent burndown sites for next spring.

As always, thank you for letting Diligence Technologies be part of your research program.  Please let us know if you need anything.

Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be put to forced labor.

 

Research Update (October 28, 2015)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

Greenhouse

As we bring much of the field work for the year to a close, we are again setting up to do greenhouse research trials this winter.  Please let us know if we can help you keep your research program going through the colder months.

Crop Reports

Harvest season is bring much of our field work to an end at this time.  We still have a few scattered late trials to harvest and several of the post-harvest jobs to complete (cotton ginning, grain moistures and test weights, etc.).  That said, those still looking for yield data should be seeing it soon.  A very dry October (until the past weekend) has harvest progressing well and we hope to finish on the early side this year (closer to Halloween than Thanksgiving).

The rain this past weekend did have the benefit of helping get our wheat trials out of the ground.  However, we still have some time left in our wheat planting window if there are any trials that still do not have a home.  We have also planted some wheat designated for fungicide trials next spring.  Keep us in mind as you plan for those over the winter.

We are also working on fall burndown trials.  The recent rain should help promote the emergence of henbit and other winter annuals.  We have at least another month to establish fall burndown trials if you have the need.

Pest Information

In our soybean fungicide trials this year, we noted a substantial increase in frogeye leaf spot infestations resistant to the strobilurin fungicides.  Partial resistance was confirmed last season, however, the strobilurin fungicides were still providing a significant level of disease control.  This season appears to be the first year where the resistant strain of frogeye leaf spot was our primary foliar disease.  Resistance has been confirmed in Tennessee for quite a while, but it is just now becoming dominant in our part of the state.

In our insecticide trials this season, we noted a marked increase in the kudzu bug populations.  Kudzu bugs were first seen in our plots about two years ago, but this is the first season where we have observed them at significantly damaging population levels.

As always, thanks to those who have dropped by to visit over the past summer.  We look forward to having you back next season.

Proverbs 10:4
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand, but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

Research Update (March 19, 2015)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

Greenhouse

While we have had more than enough cold weather outside, it is always warm and sunny in the greenhouse.  We continue to run various row crop, vegetable, and turf projects.  The greenhouse has turned out to be everyone's favorite place to "hide" this winter as we wait for spring.

We still have room if anyone has some late-winter trials that they are looking to get in before field season.

Cropping Information

Wheat progress has been slow until the past week.  With the arrival of some warmer temperatures and a little sunshine, wheat is finally showing signs of life.  It also gave us the chance to spread some spring nitrogen and do some overdue maintenance sprays.  Wheat is just greening up now, so let us know if you have any remaining wheat work for the spring.

We still have several areas that should be good for burndown trials.  If you have not sent those protocols already, I would do so pretty soon. I anticipate that weed growth in these burndown areas will be pretty rapid from this point on. 

One good note for those running behind finishing up burndown protocols is that horseweed is a bit behind where we have seen it in some previous years.  It appears that most of our horseweed germination is occurring in the spring, so it did not get the early start it has in years with heavy fall germination.

Corn is mostly in the "planning" phase right now.  While we can plant in west Tennessee in late May if the weather permits, it tends to be at risk from a late freeze.  We generally try to target April as our main time for corn planting (particularly for any trial that is going to yield).

Corn protocols, as well as cotton, soybean, and wheat protocols, continue to arrive (and we are thankful for them).  We still have space available and several eager young folks looking for something to work on this summer.

As always, we consider ourselves very blessed that you allow us to be part of your research program.  Please let us know if we can be of service.

Proverbs 27:23-24

Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds; for riches are not forever.

Research Update (February 13, 2015)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

We would like to welcome Heath Scott to the Diligence Technologies family (shown above).  Look for Heath around the trials and plot tours this summer.

We would also like to thank Paul Kennedy and Ben Wiggins (Helena) for dropping by to tour the greenhouse facilities last week.

Upcoming Events

Gin Show (Feb. 27-28) - Look for us at the Gin Show in Memphis on Friday, Feb. 27.

West TN Sportsmen's Night (March 12, 5:00 p.m.) - For those of you who live around west Tennessee, let me invite you to the West TN Sportsmen's Night at Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson.  The event will include a wide variety of interactive events, seminars, and food for the outdoors enthusiast.  The featured speaker will be Jimmy Sites.

Cropping News

Greenhouse work continues through the winter months.  Right now we have trials running with such varied crops as tomato, soybean, and turf.  Our heating, lighting, and irrigation systems seem to performing well now that most of the "bugs" are out of the system.

Winter wheat progress remains slow but steady.  The cold weather we received right after wheat planting did not allow much wheat growth prior to winter.  Wheat continues to progress with a solid stand, but some warm weather and a little nitrogen will likely do it a world of good.

As usual, we do have extra wheat planted for those wishing to run fungicide trials in the spring.

With winter weeds spread across the fields, we are reminded that burndown trials will be coming up soon.  Please let us know if you have burndown trials that need a home this spring.

Pest News

Target spot (Corynesporna cassiicola) in cotton continues to make some news in west Tennessee.  A relatively new pest for this area (past couple of summers), target spot appears to have the potential for significant cotton damage.  The presence of only a few "spots" will often cause a cotton leaf to drop and substantial defoliation of the crop has been observed.  Some fungicides do appear effective on the disease, but exact rates and timings are still being studied.

Thrip resistance to some of the seed treatment insecticides in cotton has reached the point that only imidacloprid is being recommended for the coming season in Tennessee.  Testing is underway for alternative treatments and methods of cotton thrip control.

As always, we are thankful to all you who have sent us your business in the past and blessed to be able to serve you.  Let us know if there is anything we can do to help out in the coming season.

Proverbs 22:29
Seest thou a man diligent in his business?  He shall stand before kings…