JULY 2020 Prairie County � ROW CROP

PRAIRIE COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE 183 E. PRAIRIE STREET DE VALLS BLUFF, AR 72041 870.998.2614

BRENT GRIFFIN , AMY G . TALLENT , STAFF CHAIR AGRICULTURE AGENT CBGRIFFIN @ UAEX . EDU AGTALLENT @ UAEX . EDU

https://www.facebook.com/AmyGreenwaltCarrollPrarieCoAgent https://www.facebook.com/UAEX.PrairieCounty

https://twitter.com/amygtallent JULY 2 0 2 0 RICE Sheath Blight in Rice By Yeshi Wamishe, Extension Rice Plant Pathologist Time is approaching for April planted rice reaching the need to scout for sheath blight. The earliest rice planted on April 17 at RREC in my research plots is now reaching ½ inch IE (internode elongation). The hot weather in the last couple of weeks helped it to grow like normal and the drier weather in the last couple of weeks did not support any disease development. Based on the prediction provided here nearly 93 percent of Arkansas rice will get to ½ inch IE and beyond by July 12. Currently, there is rain hither and thither across the state. With the warm temperatures, it should be ideal for sheath blight to take off particularly in fields planted with susceptible or very susceptible varieties in dense canopy and excessive pre-flood nitrogen fertilization. We encourage you to plan ahead to start scouting for sheath blight. Determine the threshold before you make decision to apply fungicides as shown in Table 1. Automatic application of fungicides to manage sheath blight in rice is not recommended due to the potential development of fungicide resistance and note that we do not have several options of fungicides for rice. Moreover, it is not profitable to apply fungicides for sheath blight alone more than one time. Making a decision on fungicide application to manage sheath blight should depend on combined factors–treatment threshold, weather conditions, varietal height, varietal susceptibility level, field history and field management practices such as seeding and nitrogen fertilizer rates. If sheath blight is below the threshold, it is wise to delay until boot stage for two important reasons: (1). To pair your fungicide application for sheath blight with fungicides to suppress false and kernel smut. (2). Boot application may keep the disease suppressed until the crop stage advances and there is no threat to the upper three leaves. The optimum fungicide treatment timing if the disease at threshold is often 7-14 days past panicle differentiation. Our research indicated boot application as an acceptable timing as long as the disease progress is slow enough. In situations where pairing fungicides to target more than one disease is possible, combination fungicides can be used at one go and application cost can be reduced by half. Correct diagnosis of sheath blight in rice is always important. Because when the pathogen is active under dense canopy, symptoms of sheath blight can be confused with other rice diseases such as stem rot or foot rot. Sometimes sheath spots are also confused with sheath blight later in the crop development. Since fungicides are not recommended for these diseases, incorrect diagnosis can incur unnecessary cost on producers. You can scout field edges and bottoms. However, your decision for fungicide application should not depend on what you see at field edges or bottoms. You need to walk in a zigzag pattern further from the edge or the bottom of your field to determine the need for fungicide application across the field. Yet, spot application on the edges and field bottoms can be carried out if the disease is bad and disease progress is fast. JUL Y 2 0 2 0 RICE DD50 Program TEXT ALERTS The DD50 Rice Management Program (https://dd50.uaex.edu) has a new update thanks to support from Arkansas rice growers through the Arkansas Rice Check-Off and the Information Technology team at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.Those enrolling fields in DD50 can now choose to receive text message and/or email alerts when fields near critical growth stage timings. When you sign up, you will receive an alert 7 days before a field reaches each of these key timings: End of Optimum Nitrogen Window Final Time to Incorporate Preflood N h Beginning Internode Elongation (Green Ring) h 50% Heading h Near Drain Timing h Approximate Time of 20% Grain Moisture h To sign up for alerts, access the Producer Information Screen after you log in. At the bottom you can h check the box to receive email alerts. You can also check the box to receive SMS (text message) h alerts. If you elect to receive text messages you will be asked to enter your cell phone number. h Weekly Rice Updates Arkansas Rice Updates are published periodically to provide timely information and recommendations for rice production in Arkansas. If you would like to be added to this email list, please send your request to [email protected]. This information will also be posted to the Arkansas Row Crops blog (http://www.arkansascrops.com/) where additional information from Extension specialists can be found. More information on rice production, including access to all publications and reports, can be found at http://www.uaex.edu/rice. UAEX Row Crop Text Message Updates If you are interested in receiving rice production and management information notifications via text message, signing up is easy. You can also sign up to receive messages from other commodities and topic areas. Text the number 69922 with the following word to join that list: ¨ Rice ¨ Weeds ¨ Soil ¨ Soybean ¨ Cotton ¨ Fieldcorn (one word) ¨ Sorghum ¨ Wheat Once you've sent the list word to 69922, you should receive an automatic reply confirming your

JULY 2 0 2 0 CORN & SOYBEAN Manage Fungicide Resistance: Do I need to spray Fungicides?

Fungicide resistance is the loss of efficacy of a particular type of fungicide against a target pathogen. Fungicide resistance is often recognized when the expectations of disease control are not met when the labeled rate of a fungicide is applied. All fungicide products have a specific mode of action (MOA), which is the way in which the fungicide affects (kills) pathogens. All fungicides are classified by MOA, and each MOA is assigned a group code called a FRAC number that will appear somewhere on the product label. FRAC stands for the Fungicide Resistance Action Committee, which is a technical group of specialists that provides fungicide resistance management guidelines to prolong the effectiveness of “at risk” fungicides and to limit crop losses due to fungicide-resistant pathogens. See www.frac.info for the most up-to-date information on fungicide resistance and FRAC codes. The following are some basic guidelines that should be considered in developing a fungicide program to avoid inadvertently selecting fungicide-resistant pathogens.

Fungicide Resistance Management Guidelines 1. Obtain an accurate disease diagnosis. This allows fungicide selection to be made correctly to minimize the chance of applying an ineffective fungicide. 2. DO NOT apply fungicides in the absence of disease. 3. Avoid the exclusive use of a fungicide product with a single MOA or FRAC Code. 4. Rotate different MOA or FRAC Code fungicide applications if more than one application is needed within a season. 5. Use the manufacturer’s recommended rates as indicated on the label. 6. Utilize integrated disease management strategies (including host plant resistance, crop rotation, crop residue management, removal of diseased tissue on perennial crops, etc.).

Corn Earworm and Southwestern Corn Borer Prairie County has 7 SWCB and 2 CEW monitoring locations this year. These traps are check weekly and the reports are posted to https://www.facebook.com/AmyGreenwaltCarrollPrarieCoAgent. All trap catches have been low at all locations across the county to date. The CEW population seems to be increasing but counts are still in the low range. JULY 2 0 2 0 COUNTY UPDATE

2020 Prairie County Row Crop Demonstrations Hybrid Corn Variety Trial Corn Verification Corn Multiplier Row Rice Multiplier Rice IMP Disease Monitoring Field CEW/Bollworm Traps (2 Locations) SWCB Traps (7 Location) Tri-County Pecan Demonstration: Prairie, Lonoke, White Counties Soybean Multiplier Soybean On-Farm Large Block Fungicide Trial

Knowing your flow is important! If you need to get the flow of your wells, let us know. We have a couple of flow meters available for you to use or should you need help we can assist you!