Research Update (July 6, 2026)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Once again Larry Steckle and crew put on an excellent weed tour at the experiment station in Jackson.  His is one of a few tours that continues to have good attendance in an era where tour attendance is declining overall.  As such, it is a great opportunity for us to catch up with old friends and learn what is on the horizon in the world of weed control.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Milan No-till Field Day (July 23, 2026)

Agricenter Feast on the Farm, Memphis, TN (August 1, 2026)

SWSS Weed Contest, Knoxville, TN (August 5-6, 2026) 

UT Cotton Tour, Jackson, TN (September, TBD)

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Except for possibly a few late soybean trials, all our yielded trials are finally in the ground.  Both May and June were filled with scattered and frequent rain showers that made planting progress sporadic.  We have managed to start a few weed control and insect trials along the way, but there are still several that remain to be established.  We even have a few cucumbers to plant for some late-season fungicide work.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Most of our greenhouse work is wrapping up now and barring some unexpected requests, we may be largely out of the greenhouse until this fall.  We appreciate all the greenhouse trial work this past season, but the logistics of conducting greenhouse trials in the heat of field season are quite challenging.  Maybe we can slow down in the greenhouse for a while and pick things back up in the fall.

  

UPCOMING TRIAL REMINDERS:

COTTON DEFOLIATION

Depending on the speed of cotton maturation and our original planting dates, we generally spray defoliation trials in late September and early October.  Therefore, if you are looking to get in a cotton defoliation trial this season, please let us know as soon as possible.

Also, do not hesitate to contact us even if you were not aware of the trial when we were planting cotton.  We have access to some large blocks of cotton that can be cut into research trials.  Just let us know before defoliation season so we can save you a spot.

 

WEATHER INFO:

As mentioned earlier, frequent showers have been a major challenge this spring.  While it certainly beats the alternative, it has also made us later getting some of our trials established.  Many thanks to those who have waited patiently for their trials to get established.

 

PEST INFO:

Weeds have been a challenge this season.  Many of the sites that were tilled early in the season require additional burndown and tillage to get new trials established.  This just makes everything go that much slower.

Insect populations seem to be building in cotton much better than last season.  Last year we had difficulty finding research grade populations of plant bugs.  At least for now, things are looking much better on the insect front for this season.

 

Let us know if you have any late trials that we help with.  It seems there is always room for one more.

Tim, Jackson, Jake, Will, Jim, & JT

 

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 (October 7, 2019)

Research Update (October 7, 2019)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

CROPPING SEASONS:

For the first time this season, we have had a real dry spell.  The past few weeks have been unusually warm for September and rainfall has been hard to come by.  Corn was pretty much done before the dry weather hit, so I do not believe we will see much impact there.  However, it has made cotton move along a bit faster than anticipated and we are well into defoliation at this point.  Our biggest concern has been our soybean disease plots.  Due to replanting, our soybeans are later than normal and the dry weather has not helped the development of frogeye leaf spot.  We did get some relief from the dry weather in Jackson, but let’s hope it was not too late.

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

With all the warm weather, it is hard to convince ourselves that we need to be getting the greenhouse ready for winter.  However, we have braved the heat and have things in pretty good shape for another season.  We will be running trials in October, so let us know if you have any projects in the works.

 

WEATHER INFO:

A hot, dry September has been the latest weather challenge this season.  Frequent rains slowed trial establishment early in the year, but those same rains have produced some nice trials so we really do not have much to grip about.  If the fall continues to be warm and dry, I would anticipate an earlier harvest season than last year (when it started raining and would not stop).

 PEST INFO:

Weed pressure has been excellent for the most part this season as the rain showers have resulted in constant flushes of new weeds.  We, of course, are probably the only ones happy about that.

Insect pressure has been variable depending on the species.  We had some excellent fall armyworm pressure in our late-planted corn. Plant bug pressure in cotton has been moderate but steady.  Not the outstanding populations that are seen at times, but enough to get some work done.  Soybeans have had plenty of insects except stinkbugs.  However, the stinkbug populations have picked up in our latest soybeans and I think those trials will be fine.

Gray leaf spot in corn was very good this year.  It did start a bit later in the season, but the pressure was more than adequate for fungicide evaluations.  The jury is still out on frogeye leaf spot in soybeans.  Pressure has been lighter than normal and slow to develop.  The degree of separation we will see in yields is still up in the air.

 

Hope all is well with our friends as they finish off the 2019 cropping season.  Let us know what you need in the way of wheat trials and greenhouse work as those are next on our list.

 

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 (October 19, 2013)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

Compared to the last few seasons, harvest is proceeding slowly in west Tennessee.  Recent cool and damp weather is keeping soybeans from drying down as rapidly as they should.  If fact, we saw soybean moistures rise in some cases this week as the beans absorbed moisture during an extended period of damp weather.  A little sun would go a long way towards getting our soybeans out of the field.

Speaking of sun, we could use a little on our cotton also.  We made our second defoliation applications late this week, and are hoping that will be enough (although I'm not quite sure yet).  Last season we had cotton that required three defoliation applications before harvest and we're hoping that does not become a trend.

We are finishing up our corn research now.  With the exception of a few "specialty" trials still in the field, corn harvest is complete.  We are in the process of crunching the numbers and getting out the reports on corn trials.

We planted our first wheat of the season last week and hope to plant more soon as the fields dry down from the recent showers.  We still have time to start wheat trials if you have any fall work to get done.

We are also preparing for winter weed controls trials.  We normally start spraying those in November.

Like many others in the area have discovered this season, we now have kudzu bugs.  While this is not exactly great news for soybean growers, we should be able to include this pest in our insecticide trials next season.

Thanks to those that have dropped by for a visit recently.  Always good to see our friends from Winfield Solutions, Helena, Adjuvants Unlimited, and Helm Agro.

As always, let us know if there is anything we do to help out.

Proverbs 22:29

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

Research Update (August 10, 2013)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

Overall, the weather continues to be wet and cool for early August.  While that sure makes life easier for those doing research, we could probably use a bit more heat to move our cotton crop along.  Considering that we were late in getting the cotton crop planted and the slow progress we have seen since then, this would not be the year for an early frost.  On the positive side, the corn and soybean plots are in great shape with plenty of moisture since planting.

Grey leaf spot pressure in corn continues to intensify and we should be able to get some excellent ratings in the coming weeks.  While we have had some "low level" frogeye leaf spot pressure for a while, the disease has really taken off over the past week and we appear to be in good shape for soybean fungicide evaluations.

Since the frequent rains this spring and summer have significantly reduced the residual of our soil-applied herbicides, hoeing pigweeds has become a frequent pastime this season.  I can assure you the crew will be happy to get that part of the season behind them.

We have had a lot of visitors over the last couple of weeks including MANA, Valent, Brandt, the University of Tennessee, SePro, FMC, Americot, and Syngenta.  Some days we feel like we are running a guide service, but I will admit that it gives me the chance to catch up with a lot of friends that I don't get see often enough.

This past week was the last one for Zac Carpenter.  Zac is an agronomy student at Mississippi State University and has helped us out over the past three summers.  While we are sad to see him done for the summer, we wish him the best in his studies.  I guess Jeff, Jesse, and Kevin will have to pick up the slack.

Cotton defoliation season is closer than it seems, so let us know if you have defoliation protocols that need a home.

Proverbs 12:27

… the substance of the diligent man is precious.