Research Update (April 3, 2023)

Research Update (April 3, 2023)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

Spring must be here for real.  Meeting season is past, wheat is growing, and burndown trials are being sprayed.  We even managed to plant the first soybeans of the year last week.  As we get deeper into the month of April, we hope to plant our yielded corn trials and get the year going in earnest.  Mostly, it just feels good to be back in the field.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

If the weather allows, we hope to start marking out yielded corn trials this week and beginning the majority of our corn planting the second week of April.  From there we will roll into cotton planting as the weather warms up.

We are currently spraying burndown trials as weeds (largely ryegrass and horseweed) reach the desired growth stages.  We still have a few burndown sites available if you need to slide something in at the last minute.

Wheat growth is accelerating as we have more warm days and it will not be long before we will be preparing for flag leaf and heading fungicide applications.  We did have some freezing weather within the last few weeks, but our wheat was small enough that it appears to have escaped any damage.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Greenhouse activity is beginning to slow as we finish off trials started over the winter.  We still have a few more sprays to make and ratings to take, but we should have most things wrapped up by the end of the month.  Many thanks to all those that sent greenhouse trials our way to help keep us going through the cold months.

 

WEATHER INFO:

The rain has been fairly consistent, and the temperatures have been quite variable.  For several weeks now we have been getting a day or two of rain each week.  While we will be begging for that in July, it has made it difficult to conduct pre-season spraying and tillage operations.  As usual, it will be a bit of a scramble to get all the fields in shape prior to planting.  We have had several warm and sunny days along with several others where we needed to dig out the coats.  If history is a good teacher, April will be just as variable on the temperature side.

 

PEST INFO:

The usual suspects are in the field for burndown trials (horseweed, ryegrass, chickweed, poa, etc.) right now.  Horseweed emergence appeared to be on the late side this spring but the populations were strong when they showed up.  Aphids have been light in our wheat plots so far.  Most other things will not get fired up until we get a little deeper into the season.

 

We want to welcome William McGuire to the family.  Will is a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin and joined us earlier in the month.  Please make sure to meet him on your visits to the farm this season.

Many thanks to those who have sent us protocols for the upcoming season.  If you still have trials to place or have something pop up at the last minute, please let us know.  We will be glad to help.

Tim, John Louis, Jake, Will, & Jim

 

Proverbs 12:27

… the substance of the diligent man is precious.

Research Update (March 6, 2023)

 

Research Update (March 6, 2023)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

We finished off meeting season for the winter with Cotton Focus in Jackson, TN and the Gin Show in Memphis, TN.  With the end of meeting season, we know it will not be long before things get serious again.  We now begin to put winter behind us and start to focus on the year ahead.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Field activity is beginning to increase as we get closer to spring.  Wheat trial maintenance (fertilizing, spraying) is underway as the weather allows (which has not been all that often to this point).  It has been a bit wet in a lot of our fields since the middle of February.

Burndown trials are beginning to be sprayed depending on weed species.  Trials targeted at ryegrass are out while those that focus on horseweed will come a bit later.  Horseweed emergence tends to occur at various times depending on the year, and it looks like this season the horseweed is coming in on the late side.  We are holding off on most of our horseweed applications until the weeds reach the desired size.

One benefit to small horseweed this time of year is that you still have time to run a burndown trial if you need one.  Give us a call if you have burndown products you would like to test.

We are also cutting out new wheat trials from our existing fields to evaluate spring-applied chemistry (fungicides, fertilizers, etc.).  We still have some wheat left if you are looking for a location.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Greenhouse activity seems to be reaching its high point for the season.  While we are finishing off some of the early work, we are just getting started on a wide variety of new projects.  Good to have some honest (i.e. not office) work to do while we wait for spring to arrive.

We probably still have time to slide in a few quick projects if you need a greenhouse trial this season.  Give us a call if we can help.

 

WEATHER INFO:

Progress on wheat maintenance and burndown trials has been slowed by a weekly rainy period over the past few weeks.  We have made a little progress here and there, but could use a nice warm and sunny week to make things go a bit smoother.  However, we are still well within our normal trial windows and should be fine in the end.

 

PEST INFO:

As discussed earlier, we are still waiting to find some larger horseweed for burndown trials.  However, we seem to have plenty of everything else (chickweed, cutleaf eveningprimrose, ryegrass, poa, etc.).  In the end, I expect this to be a good year for burndown trials.

Most of wheat does not have a lot of weeds since we got it sprayed last fall and we have not encountered a lot of aphid problems to this point.

 

Thanks again for you continued support of Diligence Technologies.  We look forward to working with you all in the coming season.  Please let us know if there is anything we can do to support your research program in 2023.

Tim, John Louis, Jake & Jim

 

Proverbs 12:24

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

Research Update (February 6, 2023)

  Research Update (February 6, 2023)

 

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

We have been keeping the roads hot lately as late January and early February tend to be the heart of meeting season for us.  We made a stop in Baton Rouge for the SWSS meeting.  This one is always a bit like homecoming for me since the SWSS was my first professional meeting.  We also attended a very successful NAICC meeting in Nashville.  Rumor has it that this was the largest NAICC meeting yet with around 850 in attendance.  The Tennessee Ag Production association meeting had to be changed to an on-line format due to icy weather.  The presentations were good, but you miss the interaction of an in-person gathering.  Fortunately, the weather cleared up enough that the West Tennessee Grain Conference was held as planned the following day.

While the travel can be a bit tiring, this is still one of my favorite times of the year.  There is no substitute for seeing old friends and making new ones.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

We still have a few meetings left on the calendar:

Cotton Focus, Feb. 8, Jackson, TN

Gin Show, Feb 24-25, Memphis, TN

Let me know if you plan to attend any meetings in our area this winter.  I would enjoy the opportunity to catch up before we return our attention to the field.

 

CROPPING SEASONS:

Our biggest field activity right now is watching wheat grow (or, more accurately, watching wheat sit there and get ready to grow this spring).  In any case, we should be doing wheat maintenance in late February or early March as the weather allows.

We also begin to think about burndown trials in February and March.  We traditionally have fields with horseweed, cutleaf eveningprimrose, henbit, chickweed, poa, and more.  If you are in need of some burndown work this spring, we should be able to handle it.

 

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

Greenhouse activities are in full swing with a wide variety of crops currently being tested.  We have trials on corn, cotton, soybean, wheat, beet, carrot, dry beans, peanut, and tomato in there right now.  We also have lysimeter trials getting underway in the near future.

Fortunately, the greenhouse is big and we have lots of room for more.  Let me know if you still need a greenhouse project conducted this winter.  We will try to make it happen.

 

WEATHER INFO:

The weather word for the month is “wet”.  That is not a bad thing in January as we look to start the season with good moisture.  Just hope it will moderate a bit as we get closer to planting time.  We will see.

 

PEST INFO:

We most always have the normal list of suspects as it relates to winter annual weeds in the field right now (see the burndown discussion under Cropping Seasons).  The one big newcomer impacting our area is ryegrass.  In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to control with our standard burndown herbicides (glyphosate, paraquat).  Failures in control have led to issues in crops such as wheat and corn.  If you happen to have a good ryegrass product, you could become very popular around west Tennessee (and beyond).

 

Thank you to all our friends that have already contacted us about setting up trials in the greenhouse and 2023 field season.  We look forward to working with you again this year.  If we can be of service, just let us know.

Tim, John Louis, Jake & Jim

 

Proverbs 10:4

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

Research Update (May 4, 2020)

Research Update (May 4, 2020)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

EVENTS FROM THE PAST MONTH:

The season is underway for real.  While we have spent a lot of time dodging rain showers so far this spring, we have managed to spray burndown plots and plant yielded corn trials.  The year is beginning to take shape.  Virus concerns are still impacting a lot of things, but if you can get us a protocol and some product, we can still run you a trial.

CROPPING SEASONS:

While yielded corn trials are in the ground, we still have several corn weed control trials to establish and yielded cotton trials to plant.  Later this month, we plan to plant our corn and soybean fungicide plots.  We intentionally plant those a little later in the season to encourage good disease pressure.  May is usually a busy month and this one appears to be no exception.

GREENHOUSE ACTIVITIES:

As field activities increase and the temperatures begin to warm, we move out of the greenhouse.  We recently finished off our last greenhouse trials and have closed up shop until fall.  Thanks so much to all those who sent trials our way this winter.  We are very appreciative of the opportunity to serve you during the “off season”.

WEATHER INFO:

The song remains the same on the weather front this spring.  We are searching hard to find times when it is dry enough to plant crops and do field work.  It seems that every short period of dry weather is quickly followed by another rain shower.  So far, we have not had any sustained periods of dry weather where we can make significant progress.  We have just been working between the rain storms when and where we can.  Temperatures have been relatively cool which just means it takes that much longer to get dry.

PEST INFO:

Nothing too far out of ordinary so far this season in the pest front.  We have noted that there are significantly fewer horseweed in our burndown areas this season.  Some folks attribute this to the increased use of dicamba while others point out that horseweed are known for being unpredictable and that emergence is often dictated by the weather.  Whichever theory you subscribe to, horseweed populations are much less dense than in recent years in our area.

We are very thankful for those that have sent us protocols this season and look forward to receiving several more before the year is out.  Please contact us with your research needs and we will be glad to help.

Proverbs 10:4

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