Trailers ferried AgCenter field day participants to research plots.
Participants in the recent LSU AgCenter Expo and Field Day saw ongoing research in corn, cotton and soybeans across multiple disciplines, heard updates on cotton seeding configurations, soybean seeding rates, herbicide injury symptoms, resistant bollworm management, disease management and policy changes that may affect cover crop termination.
An Expo offered participants an opportunity to see the latest in equipment, technology and services.
LSU Extension specialists on hand offered updates on crop conditions and ongoing challenges with insect pests, diseases and weed control.
Across the state, specialists said, a cool, wet planting season limited early growth for corn and soybeans. That cool, wet period was followed by hot and dry conditions that further delayed crop growth.
Cotton, said Extension agronomist Dan Fromme, experienced an almost ideal planting season but suffered from "abnormally dry” conditions after emergence.
Sebe Brown, Extension entomologist, said drought and nonuniform cotton stands were making insect control more difficult, with plant bugs and thrips requiring control at the same time.
Soybean specialist Todd Spivey added that soybeans were delayed early, hampered by drought, and will need timely rainfall to make decent yields.
Pathologists Boyd Padgett and Trey Price noted that early disease pressure has been light, thanks to dry conditions, but warned that rainfall could spike infections.
Weed scientists Daniel Stephenson, Donnie Miller, and Josh Copes demonstrated symptoms of misapplied herbicide injury, pointing out that damage from some herbicides is hard to distinguish.
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