Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, was featured in the Red Dirt Agronomy Podcast episode titled “Howdy Neighbors!” The Red Dirt Agronomy Podcast group is currently made up of Brian Arnall, Josh Lofton, Randy Taylor, and Dave Deken. The first part of the latest podcast episode talks about a summer crop update, including issues with chinch bugs, getting ready for wheat planting, and more.
Summer crops are progressing well, Lofton said, as corn is beginning to mature. As much of the corn in the state progresses, Lofton said, on average, it will be about four or five weeks until harvest begins.
“Most of the early planted milo has got heads out, you know, in different maturities,” Lofton said.
Overall, Lofton said summer crops are looking great, but one concern he is hearing from producers is about cotton.
“Some areas are not getting enough heat to push that cotton crop along enough,” Lofton said.
Looking at the high plains, Arnall said that the western cotton crop was a little late getting in the ground. The cotton crop does well in the mid to low 90s, Arnall said, temperature-wise.
A big issue at the moment, Lofton said, is chinch bugs and false chinch bugs. These pests are not only an issue for sorghum, Lofton said, but also corn.
“The problem is this year that some of our sorghum got in so late,” Lofton said.
The sorghum crop may be seeing some standability issues and some late-season stress, Lofton said, but because of the moisture and fast growth rate of the sorghum crop, chinch bugs have not been too much of an issue compared to the part of the crop that was planted earlier.
“I was at a place yesterday, and you are talking about three to four-leaf sorghum- they are completely wiping out fields of that,” Lofton said.
To listen to the full podcast episode conversation that the Red Dirt Agronomy Podcast crew had with Ron- Click here.
