GENERAL SITUATION: Good soil moisture and warm-enough soil temperatures were seen as good planting conditions. Planting was well under way for cotton this week. Sprouting and growing grain sorghum and corn were observed across the LRGV this week. Moisture is more than adequate in many fields with mud just a scant few inches below the tops of the seed drill. Some planting was slowed in a few scattered spots in fields due to very wet conditions. Overall, crop planting is proceeding rapidly with numerous growers indicating that they would be nearly completed with cotton planting by the end of next week (March 21). Most cotton planting should be completed by the end of March this year, subject to any significant rainfall events.

Cotton that is growing was as advanced as the 3rd to 4th true leaf this week. Soil temperatures averaged about 70 oF. Temperature predictions for the rest of this week into the weekend were for mid to upper 80's with a few spots hitting 90. The high temperatures will keep plants emerging rapidly.

Boll weevil traps continued to capture weevils this week. Counts showed that weevils still were in abundance, but down from the higher counts earlier this year. Weevil traps being operated by producers from various LRGV locations in cooperation with Rio Farms have been attached to this newsletter. Trap counts are shown as number of weevils caught per trap per day. Trap counts are an average of 6 traps on a field from the various locations shown in the attachment.

More soil moisture, more insects

Cotton aphids were found in a couple of cotton fields in the Valley this week, but only an aphid or two out of 20 to 30 plants were observed. Watch for the numbers to increase over the next couple of weeks.

Watch for increased boll weevil, cotton fleahopper and bollworms this year. All of these pests depend on field conditions being just right for them to be successful in reproduction. Cotton fleahopper populations that are the largest in the spring are based on good rainfall which occurs during September and October. September, October and November saw good amounts of rain fall which should have made wild host plants which support fleahoppers in good quantity and quality.

Good rainfall, especially deep moisture which is available for now, should be enough to allow cotton plants to gain good size and provide plenty of shade under which boll weevil grubs in fallen squares can survive. The last couple of years has seen short cotton plants with little or no shade and relatively low to no boll weevils. Thus, the good moisture which is so essential to good cotton growth could lead to major increases in boll weevils.