As of Tuesday, October 28th, the drought monitor report indicates some overall improvement for Eastern Kansas from last week for us. The rest of the state is still totally out of dry conditions. The six-to ten-day outlook (November 4 to 8) indicates a 60 to 80% chance of above normal temperatures and a 40 to 50% chance of leaning below normal precipitation. The eight to fourteen-day outlook (November 6 to 12) indicates a 60 to 80% chance of leaning above normal for temperatures and 33 to 40% chance of leaning below normal for precipitation. Not terrible but we could always use precipitation.
Last week we briefly discussed Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and weed control. Practices to employ short of herbicides but realizing judicious use of herbicides is often necessary. This week, a brief discussion of insect control with IPM. There are more options short of insecticides.
· Cultural practices – Interrupting insect life cycles and disrupting habitat can play a major role in control. Crop rotations with dissimilar crops help a great deal. The rotations available varying across the state dramatically. Something as simple as a corn-soybean rotation is still effective in minimizing corn rootworm problems. Rotations are especially important when trying to leave surface residue. For a monoculture, eliminating surface residue is important, ranging from tillage to bury the residue, baling, or burning. However, there are downsides to this. Good weed control, not just in the field but waterways and roadways help eliminate alternate hosts. Depending on the pest, appropriate row spacing and plant density. Timing of operations from planting to harvesting helps.
· Sanitation – Cleaning up spills from grain storage areas in a timely fashion helps. Keeping road and water ways mowed or baled helps eliminate habitat. Eliminating standing water after rains helps with mosquitoes.
· Cultivar selection – Selecting varieties or hybrids bred for tolerance or hopefully resistance. Hessian fly tolerant wheat for example. Also, GMO crops such as Bt corn and cotton. Bt corn controls corn borer species effectively and is overall effective against corn rootworm. It’s extremely effective against cotton bollworm. More GMO control is likely coming.
· Beneficials – these are disease, vertebrates, invertebrates, and other insects the prey on, cause diseases, or parasitize insects. Many occur naturally and producers can work to protect them and increase numbers. Examples: ladybugs, amphibians, opossums, bats birds, etc.
· For, for endemic problems such as wire worm and others, where permitted, an insecticidal seed treatment which is absorbed by the plant and provides systemic pest control for certain insects for a fair amount of time.
· Finally, new generations of insecticides targeted specifically to a particular group of insects and having no nontarget effects and slowly coming.