Keeping up on all the activities going on nationally in cotton is sometimes difficult. Here is an opportunity to hear from experts in the South and Southeast regarding production issues. Phil Bogdan of Plant Management Network encourages you to listen in to the talks

Photo by D. Munk

In the past, those who did not attend Cotton Incorporated’s bi-annual Crop Management Seminar (CMS) had online access to static PowerPoint slides where they could glean information but not get a full impact of what was discussed. 

 That static offering has been upgraded to a multimedia experience. Growers, consultants, and other industry professionals who missed the CMS, held in Tunica, Mississippi, can now view and listen to the presentations from the comfort of their own homes—at any day and time they like.

 Cotton Incorporated and the Plant Management Network teamed up to record and produce webcasted versions of the 2012 CMS presentations, which include all non-proprietary talks from the Seminar and all talks from the Precision Cotton Irrigation Workshop.

 “In a recent survey conducted by Cotton Incorporated, the vast majority of farmers across the Cotton Belt listed pest control, input costs, water, and variety selection as their top four areas of concern,”  said Dr. Ryan Kurtz, Director of Agricultural and Environmental Research at Cotton Incorporated.

 “The CMS addressed these key grower production-related concerns and shared information about new technologies on the horizon. To extend that knowledge to those who were unable to attend, Cotton Incorporated partnered with the Plant Management Network to create open access webcasts of each presentation.”

 Collectively, 24 webcasts were produced, covering the latest developments and cutting edge management recommendations on variety selection, insect management, weed management and precision irrigation.  Talks include…

•  ”Adaptation and Management of New Cultivars” by Dr. Darrin Dodds, Mississippi      State University
• ”Managing Thrips in Seedling Cotton With Starter Fertilizer and a Single Foliar Application” by Dr. Michael Toews, University of Georgia
• ”Uses and Caveats With Liberty  Herbicide on Liberty Link and WideStrike Cotton Cultivars” by Dr. Larry Steckel, The University of Tennessee
• ”Lessons Learned From Irrigation Pump Monitoring in the Mid-South”      by Dr. Christopher Henry, University of Arkansas

This convenient and time-saving webcast format includes an index and keyword search which lets users save time by jumping to any section of the talk they choose.

These webcasts, all located at www.plantmanagementnetwork.org, are freely available and can be accessed through the Plant Management Network or Cotton Incorporated websites.

Embedded Links:

- 2012 CMS Presentations / Plant Management Network:http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/edcenter/seminars/CottonIncCropManagementSeminar/default.asp

- Cotton Incorporated:

http://www.cottoninc.com/fiber/Agricultural-Research/Agricultural-Meetings-Conferences/Crop-Management-Seminars/2012-Presentations/

Useful resources:

Accuracy of cotton-planting forecasts assessed in the San Joaquin Valley, California Agriculture 2004.

Cotton planting 5-day degree-day forecast

UC ANR Pest Management Guidelines for Cotton

Planting season for cotton is already upon us. A fundamental IPM principle is that a vigorous field can better withstand environmental stresses and pests. 

Planting cotton into the most favorable temperature conditions results in good stands and vigorous plants. The 5-day forecast of degree-days (heat units) is provided to help California's San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley cotton growers determine suitable weather to plant cotton and avoid chilling injury to emerging cotton seedlings.

UC  Cooperative Extension’s ANR IPM Program has been providing cotton planting forecast to cotton growers and PCAs for over 20 years. The system is now available for the 2013 season. This forecast, with the planting guidelines, should be used in conjunction with soil temperatures (at seed depth) above 58°F for timely, vigorous seedling establishment.

The degree-day forecasts are based on the best available weather forecast from National Weather Service. However, local conditions may cause some variation. Use your judgment if your local temperatures are different. If your min/max temperatures are above those reported, then your degree-days will be higher; if your min/max temperatures are below those reported, then your degree-days will be less.

The degree-day accumulations are calculated using the single-triangle method and a lower threshold of 60°F with no upper threshold. Forecast temperatures were accessed from the National Weather Service Web sites for Hanford and Sacramento.

In 2004, an evaluation of the accuracy of UC cotton planting forecasts for 1998 through 2002, for Bakersfield and Fresno was published in California Agriculture and showed:

• In March, planting only on days with ideal category forecasts (which occurred on 25% of March days), can likely avoid the need to replant due to incorrect forecasts predicting favorable planting conditions.
• In April, following the forecast is quite safe, since it failed to predict unfavorable planting conditions (which occurred on 29% of April days) on average only 1 day out of 30 April days.

See the article for details.

Pima (left) and Acala cotton grown side by side at early bloom. Photo by D. Munk

This news release was provided by Plant Management Network which announced an online resource for the cotton industry through the support of Cotton Incorporated. These webcasts are narrated PowerPoints and include a broad range of topics throughout the Cotton Belt. Please note that NOT all information is relevant to California conditions and some suggested actions may involve use of pesticides that may NOT be registered in California.

To refer to Pest Management Guidelines for California cotton, click this link. Mention of any specific product by the presenters does not constitute an endorsement by University of California.

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Growers and crop consultants across the Cotton Belt now have a new and freely accessible resource to “focus on” this year. Focus on Cotton, a crop management resource that features monthly webcasts from noted experts in the cotton industry, is now online and available for viewing at www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/foco.

This new resource is a joint effort of Cotton Incorporated and the Plant Management Network (PMN), a nonprofit publisher of science-based crop management information for growers, consultants, and other applied audiences.

The central feature of Focus on Cotton is its 24/7 on-demand webcasts. Throughout 2013, these audio-visual presentations will offer practical information and guidance in various areas of crop management, including weeds, nutrients, irrigation, diseases, and insects.  Collectively, they will apply to all areas of the U.S. where cotton is grown.

Focus on Cotton’s three inaugural webcasts include:

• ‘Conservation Tillage for Weed Control’ by Dr. Stanley Culpepper,  Associate Professor and Extension Agronomist at the University of Georgia
• ‘Management of Tarnished Plant Bugs’ by Dr. Jeff Gore, Assistant Research Professor at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center
• ‘Fusarium Wilt of Cotton’ by Dr. Mike Davis, Extension Specialist and Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of California-Davis

New webcasts will be launched in the coming months at a rate of one per month, on average. Focus on Cotton also features crop management information from Cotton Incorporated, as well as cotton-inclusive information from the Plant Management Network’s suite of crop management resources.

Also embedded in Focus on Cotton is PMN’s University Partner Extension Search, a keyword-based search that pulls extension information from PMN’s partnering land-grant universities. This search is a one-stop shop that leads directly to participating land-grant university extension sites.

View new year-round IPM program video & year-round IPM program to protect field crops from agricultural pests

Photo by Dan Munk

Got pests and want to use integrated pest management? Use a year-round IPM program. If you’re not familiar with what a year-round IPM program is, think of it as a checklist for the agricultural pest management activities you should be doing throughout the season. Take the new video tour “Using Year-Round IPM Programs” to explore the benefits and uses of IPM in vegetable, field, orchard, and vineyard crops. Managing pests in Cotton, Alfalfa or Dry Beans? View these year-round IPM programs.

Monitoring the most important pests, making management decisions, and planning for the following season are all activities in the year-round IPM programs. Even better are how they connect to the Pest Management Guidelines so you can read about the details…how to monitor, what the treatment thresholds are, or the best pesticide to use.

One of the basic IPM principles is to choose the best pesticide for the situation. The year-round IPM programs help you do this by ensuring you’re applying pesticides only when you need to, and providing you with information so you can choose the most effective pesticide with the least harm to water quality, air quality, natural enemies, and honey bees.

The checklist, photo ID pages, and monitoring forms are easily printable for use in the field. Interested in other crops? We have 25 year-round IPM programs:

Let us know how year-round IPM programs are benefiting you. Thank you.

Tunyalee Martin, tlamartin@ucanr.edu

Jodi Azulai, jlazulai@ucanr.edu

Romy Basler, rbasler@ucanr.edu

www.ipm.ucdavis.edu