GENERAL SITUATION: Cold, nearly freezing weather, left some early planted cotton fields in limbo recently. Cold weather in late February and early March is not unheard of, but generally is not serious enough to prevent cotton from emerging or killing it if it does. However, some cotton and grain sorghum fields showed some signs of cold damage from the weather in February. Growers with fields which were planted prior to March 4, probably need to evaluate the stands (if any) they have. Replanting on some parts of fields may be necessary to keep the stand in a good yield-producing state. Grain sorghum and corn stands appeared to suffer less from the cold weather than did the early cotton.

THURSDAY, April 18: KSARC AGSCIENCE DAY. The USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center (KSARC) will hold an AgScience day at its North Farm, Weslaco (Mile 12 Rd. and FM 88) from 9 AM to 3 PM. There will be exhibits and presentations about USDA-ARS research and impacts on agriculture in the Rio Grande Valley. CEU credits will be offered by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Lunch will be served. For more info call Fred Gomez at (956) 969-4884 or Olivia Pedraza at (956) 447-6301.

Boll weevils continued to be found in traps around the LRGV during the past month or so. Some individual trap counts exceeded 200 weevils per trap just south of San Benito in February. More recently, the cold and sometimes very windy weather kept the number of weevils trapped lower than might otherwise have been the case. But, given the amount of adverse weather during February, the number of weevils caught should keep everyone alert for the need to maintain vigilance around your area farms.

Boll weevils typically peak in traps about the middle of March. However, if the cold weather continues for much longer, then we may have a delayed trapping cycle. If the weather is harsh enough, some weevils may die from exposure to the elements. But, don't hold your breath for that to happen.

Counts of weevils in traps in the last two weeks were low across the LRGV. Even sites just south of San Benito which had in excess of 200 weevils in one week (trap 101 in particular), were down to low levels in the last two weeks. (See weevil graphs attached to this news letter.)

Cotton planting continued this week and likely will be the primary activity through the next couple of weeks. Most stands of cotton observed so far were in pretty good shape. Short soil moisture will not make for good stands in many fields.