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…

Research Update (December 8, 2014)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

WINTER MEETINGS

I look forward to catching up with many of you at the regional meetings this winter.  Our January meeting calendar looks like this:

Beltwide Cotton Conf. (San Antonio, TX, Jan. 5-7)
NAICC (Reno, NV, Jan. 21-24)
SWSS (Savannah, GA, Jan. 26-28)

Please let me know if you will be attending any of these meetings and would like to set up a time to discuss whatever is on your mind.

CURRENT RESEARCH

The past season is all but "in the books" with regard to harvest and data reporting.

We do have some winter wheat trials underway from our fall planting, but progress on those has been very slow.  We were hit by cold weather in November that just slowed everything down.  Some of the counts and ratings we would normally take at 7 or 14 days after planting have been delayed to about a month after planting due to very slow germination and emergence.  On the positive side, everything seems to have survived and all our trials are moving forward.

We do have some extra wheat planted for use with wheat fungicide trials and similar trials this spring.  Let me know if have any of those coming and we will save you a spot.

Greenhouse work is also getting underway so we will have a warm place to hide on those cold winter days.  Let me know if you have any screens or testing that you might want done this winter in the greenhouse.

THANK YOU

Thanks so much to each of you that sent trials our way over the past season.  We are very blessed that you allowed us to be part of your research program.  We wish you all a great Christmas and a wonderful 2015.

Proverbs 21:5

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness.

Research Update (October 30, 2014)

Research Update (October 30, 2014)

As we bring this research season to a close, I just wanted to make everyone aware that Diligence Technologies, Inc. will be conducting greenhouse research trials over the winter.

Please let us know if we can be of service.

Thanks,
Tim

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

Research Update (March 11, 2014)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

This past week was the official end of winter meeting season with the Southeastern Branch ESA meeting in Greenville, SC.  While we always enjoy seeing old friends and catching up on the latest information, I must say I look forward to getting out of the meeting rooms and back out into the sunshine.

Speaking of sunshine, we have had a nice break in the weather the past few days that has allowed us to get out and start working on the coming research season.

Winter wheat is starting to green up nicely from the fertilizer we applied last month.  The cold weather had limited wheat growth through the winter, so between the fertilizer and a few warm, sunny days things are beginning to turn around.  We continued our wheat fertility work this week and would anticipate a good crop this spring (but we still have a long way to go).

Winter weeds are also starting to show signs of life.  While the rest of world is more than happy to see the cold weather knock back the winter annuals, we need them for testing.  While I think the development of our burndown weeds will be delayed this spring, I am seeing good populations of horseweed, henbit, chickweed, annual bluegrass, and cutleaf eveningprimrose.

We have started the process of calibrating sprayers and setting up planters.  Corn planting will be here before long and we want to be ready.

Please continue to pass along your protocols as you finish your plans for the upcoming season and we look forward to seeing you around the farm in 2014.

Proverbs 12:27

… the substance of the diligent man is precious.

Research Update (February 12, 2014)

Diligence Technologies Inc., West Tennessee

Winter meetings continue to take up a good bit of our time as we travel around to learn what is new and catch up with old friends.  Look for us at the following meetings in the coming month:

- Cotton Focus (Feb. 13), Jackson, TN
- Rice Technical Working Group (Feb. 18-21), New Orleans, LA
- Memphis Ag Club (Feb. 24), Memphis, TN
- Midsouth Farm & Gin Show (Feb. 28-Mar. 1), Memphis, TN
- Southeastern Brach ESA Meeting (Mar. 2-4), Greenville, SC

Although it may not seem like it, burndown season is not far away.  A few warm days and we will out in the field kicking off another research season.  We have had good populations of annual bluegrass and henbit so far this winter.  We usually see the most emergence of glyphosate resistant horseweed in late winter and early spring, so I look for this weed to make its annual appearance soon.

Wheat is holding up well considering the cold temperatures.  We certainly have not seen the growth and pretty green color we get under milder conditions, but a few warm days and a shot of nitrogen should have wheat in pretty good shape.  We do have some extra wheat planted for spring fungicide and herbicide trials, so let us know if you have some spring wheat work to go out.

A special acknowledgement to James Whitehead for being our "toughest" cooperator of the season so far.  You don't get many folks who want to tour plots when it is 20 degrees outside.

The cold weather continues to hold on in this part of the world with below normal temperatures becoming a daily occurrence.  On the bright side, maybe we will have a few less fireants to deal with this summer.

Hope you are all having a good winter and look forward to working with you again this season.

Proverbs 12:24

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

Research Update (December 12, 2013)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

One more season is almost in the books.  With a few exceptions (such as the wheat, follow-crop, and weed control trials we have scheduled to run through the winter), all the trials are out of the field and the reports have been sent to their rightful owners.

In general, 2013 was wet, cool, and late.  Planting was delayed in many cases (we almost seem to have lost the month of May) due to frequent rains.  Much of the cotton that we did manage to plant had to be replanted (sometimes more than once).  The summer was generally mild (which was good for the corn, soybeans, and researchers), but the cotton could have used a few more heat units to push it along (particularly the later planted cotton).  Corn, soybeans, and early-planted cotton (that lived) all yielded very well.  Our biggest issues at the end of the season were getting the beans to dry down and getting the late-planted cotton open and defoliated before frost.  Quite a change from 2012 when the finished the season about a month and a half earlier.

We have put our wheat to bed for the winter and don't anticipate much activity there until early spring.  As usual, we have planted extra wheat for those fungicide trials we don't know about yet.  Let us know if you have some of those in hand.  We have also started marking out areas for early burndown trials next spring so let us know if we need to save you a nice, weedy spot.

Weed pressure this past season was dominated by resistant pigweeds (no big surprise there).  While we had plenty of moisture to activate herbicides, the frequent rains shortened the residual of our soil products substantially.  Insect pressure from some of our more consistent pests (stink bugs, plant bugs, soybean loopers) was pretty light this season.  The pests were there, but the populations did not build as I have seen them in some years.  The one big exception was thrip pressure in cotton.  We had more early thrips this past season than I can ever remember.  One new arrival this year was kudzu bug.  We had the "honor" of making the first "official" find of kudzu bugs in Shelby county this past season.  While the kudzu bug populations were pretty light this year, I am told by other researchers that we should have plenty to test on next year.  Disease pressure was fairly typical.  Both corn and soybean diseases were a bit late this year (you would think they would have come sooner with all the rain), but we had plenty of pressure in the end to get some good ratings.

Meeting season is just around the corner.  Our January calendar looks like this:

Beltwide Cotton Conference (Jan. 6-8, New Orleans, LA)
Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference (Jan. 15-16, Tunica, MS)
Southern Weed Science Society (Jan. 27-29, Birmingham, AL)
National Association of Independent Crop Consultants (Jan. 29-Feb.1, New Orleans, LA)

Please let us know if you plan to make any of these meetings.  I would love to have the chance to catch up with our old friends.

Allow me to take this opportunity to thank those of you that let us be a part of your research program this past season.  We were truly blessed.

Proverbs 10:4

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

Research Update (November 9, 2013)

Diligence Technologies, Inc., West Tennessee

Frequent, small showers have made harvest season operate in spurts.  However, we have made a little progress between the rains.  Our latest corn trials are finally out and with a bit more paperwork, we can put those to rest.  We also have the cotton trials out of the field, but we are really just getting started good on the ginning.  Cotton yields have been quite variable ranging from one bale cotton on some very late planted trials up to almost 3 bales in some of the more highly managed trials.  For the most part, we were just happy to get the bolls open and the leaves off before we were hit with a hard frost.

Soybean harvest is underway at present.  We made some good progress this past week, but we are still a bit short of half way on the beans.  Yields appear to be above average based on the raw weights, but we need to do the serious math to know where we really stand.

We have established a few winter wheat trials and are in the process of putting them to bed for the winter.  Fertilizer is out and with a few more maintenance sprays, they should be good till February.  We also have some extra wheat planted for those trials that normally show up in the spring.  Let me know anyone needs me save them a spot.

Good to have our friends from Nichino and Winfield Solutions in recently to look over some late trials.  Hope they enjoyed the visit.

As we try to bring another research season to a close, we just want to say thanks to those that have entrusted us with their research projects over the past season.  We have been truly blessed.  For those waiting on final yield numbers, they should be to you pretty soon.

 

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.