Research Update (December 6, 2021)

  

Research Update (December 6, 2021)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Everything is finally out of the field (mostly)!  We finished off the soybeans (although they were still none too dry when we took them out in November).  The cotton is picked (with the exception of one trial) but we still have some ginning and quality data to take care of for the final reports.  It feels good just to have it all out of the weather and begin to turn our attention to winter activities (winter wheat, maintenance, greenhouse trials, and meetings).  Still waiting for a “normal” year, but I’m pretty sure 2021 was not it.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Be sure to look for us at the meetings this winter.  We plan to be at the following events over the next couple of months:

North Central Weed Science Society (Grand Rapid, MI, Dec. 13-16)

Southern Weed Science Society (Austin, TX, Jan. 24-27)

NAICC (Orlando, FL, Jan. 24-28)

We will be doing a bit of fancy footwork to make both the SWSS and NAICC, but I think we can pull it off.

We will be adding additional meetings as we finalize our plans.  Will keep you posted.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

The only crop remaining in the field at this point is winter wheat.  We have a few trials that were treated near planting that are already underway.  We also have a large block of wheat planted for those trials that come up over the winter and need to be treated in the spring.  Keep us in mind when those postemergence fungicide and herbicide trials materialize this winter.

 

 GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

When the world outside turns cold, at least we can hide in the heated greenhouse.  Assorted plants are growing in there now, but we still have room for plenty more (it’s a pretty big greenhouse).  Now is a great time to start planning your winter projects and collect some data ahead of next season.  Give us a call and we will get started.

 

WEATHER INFO:

A couple of weeks ago, we had what appears to be our last 70 degree days for a while.  Winter has arrived and we are preparing to be largely inside.  The harvest season was wetter than normal which delayed harvest both by making the fields muddy and by preventing the crops from drying down at a normal pace.  Just glad to be largely on the other side of harvest at this point.

 

PEST INFO:

The generally mild and moist fall has caused to an abundance of winter annual weeds.  We should have good populations for any late fall burndown studies and also next spring for the traditional burndown trial timing.  Let us know your needs.

 

As we near the end of 2021, we would like to say that we again have been truly blessed to be able to serve you this past season.  We wish you a wonderful season as you celebrate the birth of Christ with your family and friends, and look forward to working with you again in the years to come.

            Tim, Kevin, & John Louis

 

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 (November 1, 2021)

 

Research Update (November 1, 2021)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Yielded corn trials are completed and everyone should have their corn data at this point.  Soybean harvest is just starting.  Some of our soybeans finished off nicely and are coming out pretty much on schedule.  Other soybean trials have tended to defy the calendar and remain green well past their normal harvest date.  We should have the last of them out shortly, but it has been something of a struggle to get them dry enough to harvest.  Cotton defoliation is wrapping up and we should begin picking cotton within the week.  Depending on the trial (and planting date, variety, etc.), it appears we will harvest some cotton that has a top crop that never opened up.  With our relatively low heat units this summer, we were just not able to finish off some of the crop the way we normally would.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Meeting season is fast approaching and it appears that most of our winter gatherings are still planning to meet “in-person”.  This will be a welcome relief from last winter if we can actually pull it off.  We are in the process of planning our winter calendar at present, so check back in December for a list of the events we plan to be at in the next few months.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

As you can tell from our above discussion, finishing off the harvest season is our major focus right now.  We have also started planting wheat trials as well as some wheat areas to use next spring for trials that come up over the winter.  We still have a small window left to plant wheat if you need something started this fall, but let us know quickly as wheat planting will come to an end fairly soon.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Our annual greenhouse maintenance is pretty much complete and we are open for business this winter.  Now is a great time to start discussing your greenhouse projects since we still have several months to get things done.  We can conduct a wide variety of trials on various crops, weeds, and insects.  Let us know how we can help.

 

WEATHER INFO:

October was relatively mild with warmer temperatures lasting into the later half of the month.  The warm weather has since given way to more seasonally cooler temperatures.  We have had the occasional shower to work around during harvest, but nothing too bad in terms of rain.  Our biggest weather challenge in October was the abundance of days with heavy dew that would not dissipate until the afternoon.  This left us with very short harvest windows on occasion.  We are hoping for a dry November that lets us finish up harvest in good shape.

 

PEST INFO:

The warm fall we experienced this year has left us with an excellent crop of winter annuals already covering the ground in many places.  Let us know if you are looking to place any additional fall burndown trials.  We should have a place for them.

 

We hope to have our remaining trials out of the field and data on the way soon.  Thanks again to all the folks that sent us work to do this season.  We are truly grateful.

 

Proverbs 22:29

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

  

Research Update (October 4, 2021)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

You all know it but in case you have forgotten I will say it again: a cool, wet summer makes for late crops.  If you throw in a wet spring that delayed planting to begin with, you have a recipe for a mad scramble at the end to get everything out of the field.  That is a pretty good summary of where we find ourselves this fall.  In the best case, we will have a long, warm, dry fall that allows everything to finish up nicely.  Anything short of that will be a challenge.

Corn and soybeans are behind schedule, but they should be fine.  They will just be harvested a bit later than normal.  The real challenge for this season may turn out to be cotton.  We have not had enough heat this year to mature the crop at a normal pace.  As we get deeper into fall, we begin to face issues of how many of the cotton bolls we can expect to get open prior to picking.  With the arrival of October, these decisions become less about the stage of crop and more about the amount of time we have before the first frost.  Once frost occurs, there is little chance that boll openers and defoliants will be effective.  Unless we get some unusually warm weather in October, look for most folks to start shutting the cotton down and getting what they can.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

As we begin to finish off our summer projects, we start to think about the winter meetings.  If the world holds together this year, we have a full slate of meetings on the schedule including the NCWSS, NAICC, SWSS and others.  Zoom meetings were about the best we could do last season, but I could stand a little more of the personal interaction that we have taken for granted in previous years.  More details on the winter schedule as meeting season gets closer.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Timing our defoliation trials may be a challenge this season (see above), but we should be able to pull it off.  We will find the most mature cotton we can get and start early enough to finish it off before a frost brings the trials to a premature end (or at least that is the plan).  Stay tuned to see how well we pull of the balancing act this year.

As we move into October, we will also be starting our winter wheat trials later in the month.  We have a few already on the books and room for more if you have the need.  Let us know if we can help.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

We spent a good deal of time in September getting ready for the opening of the greenhouse.  We made general repairs, worked on the irrigation and lighting, and generally just did all those things that need to happen before we open up for the winter.  We plan to start running greenhouse trials this month, so if you have a project in the works let us know and we will get it going.

 

WEATHER INFO:

As we already noted, this summer was generally mild with adequate rainfall.  In general, crops did not suffer much stress and we would expect corn and soybean yields to be good.  The cotton crop has the potential to be good with plenty of bolls on the plants.  It remains to be seen how much of that potential will make it into the picker.

 

PEST INFO:

With the exception of an early armyworm flight, pest pressure has been anywhere from average to light in most of our crops.  Stinkbug pressure is building in our late soybeans and we should have some good numbers in those trials.  Our most difficult insect trials this season have been getting good bollworm numbers in cotton.  It has been hard to find a good population in our cotton this year.

We have had excellent foliar disease pressure this year.  The frequent rains made this a good year to test gray leaf spot control in corn and frogeye leaf spot control in soybeans.  Those are the two diseases that we can normally “hang our hat on” and we were pleased with the trials again this year.

 

NEW EMPLOYEE:

Those that have visited lately have noticed our newest addition to the Diligence Technologies family.  John Louis Bland joined us in June of this season following his graduation from East Tennessee State University and will be working full time for the company.  Please take a few moments to get to know John Louis on your next visit to the farm or greenhouse.

 

As always, we are thankful for those that brought us trials this summer.  We hope to have the remaining data out soon and turn our attentions to winter wheat, fall burndown, and greenhouse trials.  Please let us know you have any projects where we can be of service this fall and winter.

 

Proverbs 21:5

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness.