Research Update (December 7, 2020)

 

Research Update (December 7, 2020)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

The harvest season that would not seem to end has finally come to a close.  It took a while to get cotton bolls open and leaves defoliated.  It also took a similarly long time to get all the soybeans dry enough for harvest.  And while the process took longer than we might have wished, all the trials are out of the field, cotton is ginned, and reports have been issued.  Thanks to (and my apologies to) all those who waited patiently while we finished off the year.  Not the latest season we have had by any means, but still longer than anticipated.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Not sure if there will be any real meetings taking place this meeting season.  It appears that most (if not all) our usual gatherings will be done in some sort of virtual format.  We will still be participating as much as the technology allows, but I think we will all feel the loss of not being able to gather in person this winter.

You will be able to find us virtually at the NCWSS, NAICC, and SWSS meetings in December and January (and possibly a few others).

Even as we cannot meet as we normally would, please make every effort to stay in contact.  If you are near west Tennessee, please let us know.  I have no doubt we will be looking for human contact before the cold months are finished.  And always feel free to call if you cannot get down our way.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

We had a good variety of winter weeds emerging this fall.  That allowed us to do some fall burndown work and is good news for the burndown work to be done next spring.

Our winter wheat trials have been fertilized, sprayed, and basically “put to bed” for the winter.  In addition to our ongoing trials, we have quite a bit of extra wheat that can accommodate trials that may arise in the spring.  Please keep us in mind if you find yourself in need of postemergence trials in winter wheat.  We should have a spot for you.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Trials are underway in the warmth of the heated greenhouse.  We are already working with multiple row crops and have even ventured into some turf work this year.  While we have done several turf trials in past seasons, it is always interesting work.  If our current plans are any indication, we will be working with an even greater variety of crops and pests very soon.

For those of you who have visited the greenhouse in recent years, you may notice a few improvements.  Most notably, we replaced the front wall of the greenhouse this year.  I believe that the crew and I (mostly the crew) did an excellent job.  Feel free to drop by and tell us what you think.

 

WEATHER INFO:

I am very thankful that we were blessed with a long, mostly dry harvest season this fall.  With our crops being slow to mature, a lot of rain in November could have spelled big trouble.  But the mild, dry weather allowed us to get the crops out of the field when they finally got ready.  It was a long year, but it could easily have been a lot longer.

 

PEST INFO:

The only pests we are really seeing now are the winter annual weeds.  It does look like we have plenty, so keep us in mind come spring burndown season.

We have not seen many aphids in wheat so far, but that is not too unusual.  It seems we generally have more aphids in the spring in most years.

 

As the year 2020 comes to a close, I want to thank all of you that continued to support Diligence Technologies this past season.  Even though it has been an unconventional and sometimes challenging year, we were greatly blessed by your continued support.  We wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas season and a blessed 2021.

 

ONE LAST NOTE:

Many of you know that Diligence Technologies employs a talented young artist named Kevin (Mick) Spaulding.  On December 1st Kevin released his new 5 song album.  You can find it on iTunes or most any of the other music services.  Check it out.

Proverbs 22:29

Seest thou a man diligent in his business?  He shall stand before kings…

Research Update (November 2, 2020)

 

Research Update (November 2, 2020)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Corn harvest is in the books and everyone should have their corn data at this point.  Soybeans and cotton have continued to mature slowly with the cool temperatures in September and October but we are making progress on both.  We hope to have harvest season finished up and the last reports for this summer out soon.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Wheat trials were planted in October and the wheat is off to a good start.  We have a little maintenance to do before winter, but we should be putting these trials to bed soon and then get back to work on them next spring.

Cotton defoliation trials are finishing up at present.  With the cooler weather this fall, cotton defoliation was more challenging than in some years and the numbers are reflecting that challenge.  All things considered, it was still a pretty good year to separate one defoliation treatment from another.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

The greenhouse is open and the transition to winter activities is underway.  While we are really just getting started on greenhouse season, it appears that the projects for this winter will cover a wide range of pests and crops (which helps keep things interesting).  Now is great time to call and discuss any potential projects you are considering.  We would love to have you visit the warm greenhouse during the cold of winter.

 

WEATHER INFO:

The weather has been cool this fall and crop progress has been slow.  However, once the crops finally reached maturity, we have had relatively dry weather for harvest.  Harvest has went quite well once the crops let us get started.

 

PEST INFO:

All our insect trials are completed in the field and insect pressure varied depending on which insect you were looking for.  Cotton bollworms were hard to come by in our cotton plots.  We did get a bollworm flight in west Tennessee, but this year they chose not to land in our plots.  We had better luck with our soybean trials.  Soybean looper pressure was good earlier in the season and stinkbug pressure continued to build well into the fall.  I think those that ran soybean insecticide trials with us this year are pleased with the results.

 

As always, we are thankful for your support and look forward to working with each of you again in the future.  Don’t forget that we will have the greenhouse open for several months and can help you generate data even when it is too cold to do much field work.  Just let us know how we can help.

 

Proverbs 21:5

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness.

Research Update (October 5, 2020)

 

Research Update (October 5, 2020)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

 

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

As we transition from summer to fall, progress on finishing up trials has been slow.  Cool, cloudy weather has slowed crop progress and frequent showers have hampered harvest efforts.  Corn harvest is proceeding as the weather allows.  Cotton and soybeans are finishing off slowly and we hope to be getting yield data before too long.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Harvest is big job at hand this time of year, but we still have other research projects to tend to.  Cotton defoliation trials are being established as the cotton matures.  Later this month we will begin to establish winter wheat trials.  If you are considering any wheat work this fall, now is the time to let us know.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

As the field work for this season begins to slow down, it is time to open up the greenhouse for winter trials.  We plan to have the greenhouse in operation in October and keep it open all winter.  Now is a great time to start thinking about those winter projects that we can do to help you be ready for spring of 2021.

 

WEATHER INFO:

This fall has been a bit cooler and wetter than normal and it is taking more time for cotton and soybeans to reach full maturity.  While the temperatures have been quite pleasant for us personally, the crops would have been better off with more sun and heat in September.  They will get there, but progress has been slow.

 

PEST INFO:

Weeds have been plentiful and we had only one brief period in late summer where it was really difficult to get good weed emergence.  Otherwise, it has been a pretty “good” weed year (if you want weeds).

Insect populations have been variable depending on which species you are looking for.  We got our normal infestations of stinkbugs and loopers in soybeans and those trials seem to be doing quite well.  We also got good infestations of fall armyworms in corn.  On the bad side, cotton bollworm infestations have been spotty in west Tennessee this year and it looks like we were in the wrong spot.  Those trials are lacking the pressure we normally expect when we plant late cotton designed to draw them in.

On the disease front, we had good gray leaf spot pressure in corn and those evaluations should do a pretty good job of measuring the efficacy of the fungicides.  Frogeye leaf spot pressure in soybeans has been consistent but not heavy.  We did not see the late surge in pressure that we often get.  This is somewhat surprising considering that we had generally good moisture conditions for disease development.

 

As always, we are blessed to be working with so many of our old (and new) friends this season.  Please let us know what we can do this fall and winter to further your research program.

 

Proverbs 12:27

… the substance of the diligent man is precious.