HEAT UNIT ACCUMULATION UPDATE

As of May 23, 2002:

As you can see, we are slightly behind last year with the cool mornings of late being the culprit. There has been a warmer tendency over the last couple of nights, however, which should help.

Cotton is in need of some warmer nights with less wind stress. Dryland acres need moisture to enable the planting process to continue. Replanting of Floyd County acres that were hailed-out two weeks ago is in full swing.

FIELD RESEARCH is officially underway as cotton variety trials are up and growing. Planting of pumpkin trials is underway at this time. Hopefully, we will gain some valuable information regarding diseases in pumpkins this year.

Bollworm, budworm and beet armyworm traps have been placed in both counties. South Texas has been plagued with beet armyworms already and southern counties of the High Plains are reporting heavy bollworm trap catches.

General insect problems are not newsworthy at this time. Some thrips damage has been noted but at a mild level so far. These insects were believed to have helped our beneficial insects get a leg up last year, so maybe they can help again. Beneficial numbers are fairly high in field margins at this time.

The 2002 Scout School is scheduled for Friday, May 31st at 8:00 a.m. at the Ollie Liner Center in Plainview. The agenda is impressive with the amount of information offered. Contact Greg Cronholm at (806) 291-5273 for more information.

Boll Weevil trapping by the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (TBWEF) remains low with only 0.003 weevils per trap in our High Plains zone. This is very encouraging in this early stage of eradication. This is a large undertaking by these trappers and requires a large amount of cooperation from all of us in this effort.

Trigger numbers for application on boll weevils in cotton has been lowered to one per field according to Jim Leser, area Entomologist in Lubbock.

Steve Davis
Extension Agent-IPM
Crosby/Floyd Counties

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