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 Upcoming Events
 Private Pesticide
Applicator
Recertification
 Soybean Rust and
Other Diseases
 Wheat Following
Sorghum Not Advised
 Cotton Defoliation
 Tidbits of Information
The use of brand names and any mention or listing of commercial products or services in this publication does not imply endorsement by the NC
Cooperative Extension Service nor discrimination against similar products or services not mentioned. Individuals who use agricultural chemicals are responsible for ensuring that the intended use complies with current regulations and conform to the product label. Be sure to examine a current product label before applying any product.
Distributed in furtherance of the acts of Congress of May 8 and
June 30, 1914. NCSU & NCA&T commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status or disability. In addition, the two universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation.
North Carolina State University,
North Carolina A&T State
University, US Department of
Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.
Craven County Center
North Carolina Cooperative Extension
300 Industrial Drive
New Bern, North Carolina 28562
252-633-1477 Phone
252-633-2120 Fax
Sweet Potato Field Day – On Thursday, September 27 th , beginning at 2 pm at the
Burch Farm in Sampson County, this event will provide information on commercial storage, breeding programs, wick application for weeds, weed management and a mechanical harvester demonstration (mechanical harvester, vine picker, and hopper and box filler). To download information and directions, visit the web site: www.ncagr.gov/research/documents/sweetpotato_field_day.pdf
Sorghum Field Day – On Thursday, October 4 th , NCSU will host a sorghum field day to review research plots conducted in 2012. Scheduled to speak are Drs. Everman,
Weisz, Riar, and Heiniger. The event will be held at the Fountain Farm near Rocky
Mount, NC beginning with registration at 4:30 and the tour starting at 5:00 p.m. The event will conclude with a meal sponsored by the National Sorghum Producers. The directions provided are to travel to the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Cool Spring
Road (east side of Rocky Mount). From this intersection go east on NC Hwy 97 for
3/4 mile and you will find the field entrance. The GPS coordinates are 35.977173 latitude by 77.769127 longitude.
Farm-City Celebration – On Saturday, November 3, 2012 from 10 am – 2 pm,
Craven County will celebrate the interdependence of urban and rural citizens. The event will be held at the Craven County fairgrounds. We are still planning events. We are seeking displays of antique equipment or other farm novelty items. And, as always, we are eager to accept volunteers or ideas. If you can help with any of this, please email me directly at: mike_carroll@ncsu.edu or call our office at 633-1477.
Coastal Carolina Ag Fair – This year’s fair will be held from Thursday, October 11 th through Sunday, October 21 st . Information concerning events, exhibits, registration and other details can be found at http://cravencountyfairgrounds.com/. Individuals with livestock should pre-register by Monday, October 1 st . Forms are available at the web site. Livestock participants should also note that poultry will be accepted only on
Tuesday, October 9, 2012.
Household Hazardous Waste & Electronics Collection – On Saturday, October
13 th from 8am - 1pm at the Craven Community College, the Coastal Environmental
Partnership will provide free disposal of paints, motor oil, farm pesticides, batteries, computers, gasoline, etc. No gas cylinders, commercial waste, explosive material, or
“mystery containers” will be accepted. (All products MUST have a label). For more information, email Bobbi Waters at: bobbi@crswma.com.

Individuals whose license expires in December 2012 wishing to maintain this license should obtain the 2.0 hours of Category V, Private Applicator Safety Training as well as the 2.0 hours of Category X, Specialty Training by the end of September. Available classes found within our area are listed below. Individuals wishing to check their credit status can do so at the NCDA & CS Pesticide Section web site: http://www.ncagr.gov/SPCAP/pesticides/license.htm.
Category V & X - September 25th at the Lenoir County Extension office (1791 Hwy 11/55, Kinston, NC). Category V will be offered from 1-3 pm and Category X from 3-5 pm. Register by contacting Mark Keene at (252) 527-2191 or email: mark_keene@ncsu.edu
Category V & X - September 28th at the Beaufort County Extension office (155-A Airport Road, Washington, NC).
Category V will be offered from 8-10 am and Category X from 10 am – 12 pm. To attend, contact Jacob Searcy at (252)
946-0111 or email: jacob_searcy@ncsu.edu
According NCSU Plant Pathologist, Dr. Steve Koenning, soybean rust was recently confirmed in Johnston
County. Additionally, other weather fronts may have moved spores into NC. Thus, it is possible that fields in this area may have been exposed to this disease. Furthermore, over the past weeks, other diseases such as target spot and aerial blight have been confirmed in this area. Given our delayed soybean planting season and subsequent later maturity, excessively wet soils, humid conditions and warm temperatures, many potential fungal diseases may become evident over the next few weeks. Most of these will not be easily seen from the field edge and in fact, may first appear on bottom leaves (as with soybean rust). Thus scouting fields is warranted. If positive identification is not easily determined, review the images of soybean diseases at: http://cipm.ncsu.edu/ent/ssdw/fleafatlas.html.
For growers that applied higher rates of fungicides correctly, protection for these potential disease problems should be provided. However, this will depend entirely upon product chosen, rate applied, pressure used, and timing of application. As example, one should not assume that aerial applications, especially those with low volumes of water
(less than 5 GPA), provided adequate coverage of a fungicide to penetrate deep into the crop canopy to provide protection against soybean rust. Also, fungicides applied at the lowest rate may only offer a limited number of weeks control. The point is that one should not assume that just because a fungicide was applied that the crop is protected.
Assuming that protection from soybean rust is a consideration, product choice will be critical. Triazole type fungicides have curative activity while strobulurin fungicides and chorothalonil are only preventative. Thus, strobulurin type fungicides will not be effective for soybean fields already exposed to the rust fungus. A triazole type fungicide is preferred in this scenario. Furthermore, the effectiveness of combination type fungicides (contain triazole and strobulurin materials) will depend upon: 1) whether the soybean field has been exposed to soybean rust; and, 2) the amount of triazole material within the mixture. Take some time to examine products. A complete list of products and the type of fungicide is available at the NCSU Crop Science web page, http://www.soybeans.ncsu.edu/SoybeanRustFungicides.pdf.
Whether or not a particular soybean field warrants protection will depend upon factors such as the weather, soybean stage, planting date, etc. No one recommendation will fit all. We have posted more information on our home web page under the “Field Crop” section. Tracking information as well as some other management information is also available at the USDA website, http://sbr.ipmpipe.org/cgi-bin/sbr/public.cgi
Due to the extreme rainfall, later than desired planting dates and management styles, cotton stage of growth varies. Generally speaking, cotton planted in late April or the first week in May tends to have higher yield potential and
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is at a stage of growth expected for this time of year. If this scenario fits your fields, it is likely that cotton defoliation could, and should begin. Defoliating as soon as possible may discourage additional boll rot.
Cotton planted later appears to have a greater degree of variability. Even within fields variability may be evident due to soil type and soil drainage. Most fields are very near time to defoliate but upper bolls simply need about a week or so more to mature. As such, these fields may be a bit more of a challenge. Complicating the matter even more, some of these fields still have very green leaves and blooms. Thus, some fields may require more than one trip to accomplish the defoliation task. Regrettably, there is no means to alter defoliation product choice or rates to eliminate this situation.
Generally, cotton is ready for defoliation when Nodes Above Cracked Boll (NACB) is 4 or less. If you use this method, remember that only first position fruiting positions are used in this determination. For a more precise method, cut the boll open and examine the lint and seed color. Lint should be difficult to cut, the seed coat dark and the center of the seed firm. Some thought for selection of materials and other tips are listed below:
 Herbicidal materials generally tend to dry/stick young green leaves or blooms. Hormonal products (Prep,
Finish, FreeFall, Klean-Pik, CottonQuik, Dropp) seem to provide better defoliation of this growth.
 Regrowth may be a potential problem for very late-planted cotton or cotton with excess nitrogen (N). Products such as Finish, Ginstar, FreeFall and Dropp aid in regrowth control.
 Tank mixes of products generally perform better than stand alone applications.
 Gramoxone at normal rates should be used as a salvage treatment when bolls are open 80% or more and weather conditions are very cool. If used in this manner, do not delay harvest. Even low rates may kill the cotton plant and may lead to loss of open bolls during harvest. Conversely, very low rates (3-6 oz/ac) added to other defoliant products often enhance removal of juvenile growth. The downside of this low rate application is that leaves may stick, development of immature bolls will be inhibited and any unopened boll may or may not open.
 Controlling weeds during defoliation is not normally advised unless the weeds are vine type weeds such as morningglory or cowpea. Generally, “potential” lint stain from green weeds is overstated. In fact, desiccating weeds, especially those with woody stems, often degrades lint by increasing the amount of trash. Thus, weed control, unless used as a salvage treatment or vine control, should not really be a concern for selection of defoliation products. If weed control for perennial weeds or for herbicide resistant weeds is a concern, application of products after defoliation is preferred to improve spray coverage to the target weed. (For more information, refer to the 2012 Cotton Information publication, pages 81-82).
 Commonly tested defoliation products and combination under various temperature ranges are provided in the
2012 Cotton Information publication on pages 158-161. It is advised to follow these suggestions.
 Tank contamination can be an issue for many defoliation materials. Growers relate easier clean up as well as better defoliation by adding surfactants. While there may be a specific case for the use of a more expensive surfactant, generally basic surfactants perform well and are much less expensive.
Planting wheat following sorghum is not advised due to the potential damage to wheat from toxic compounds that sorghum exudes from roots and decomposing plant tissue. Research shows that these toxic compounds can reduce wheat yields 10-25%. It is often more extreme in no-till production. We have posted more information on our web site at: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/sorghum-wheat-rotation-not-advised/ (visit our home web page, select “Field
Crops” and scroll down to “Links”. Select “Sorghum-Wheat Rotation Not Advised”
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 Midwest corn drought may limit corn seed for select varieties. Additionally, some companies provide discounts for early orders. Review your corn yield results, refer to the NCSU Official Variety Test results
(http://www.ncovt.com/) and consider placing corn seed orders early.
 Recent research shows that we cannot accept 85-90% control of herbicide resistant pigweed. We must aim higher to 95-100% control. Simply put, if one plant produces 100,000 seeds and we control 90% of them, we still have 10,000 seeds! Thus, it is strongly advised to examine fields after harvest. If it appears that pigweed is present AND it is beginning to seed, a herbicide application or disking of the fields is advised.
 Problem soil samples taken this season often showed low potassium and sulfur indexes. This is not surprising given the excessive rainfall. Even if you took a soil sample last season, it is strong recommended to take a soil sample again this season. Excessive rainfall and saturated soils can dramatically alter soil fertility.
 Consider setting prices for the 2013 season for grains. Grain prices will still support profit. If the Midwest has a normal to good year, prices are likely to fall.
If we an offer any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our office!
Mike Carroll
Extension Agent
Agriculture
Accommodations for individuals with disabilities or special needs: Individuals with disabilities or special needs desiring accommodations to participate in these activities should contact Tom Glasgow at 633-1477 at least two weeks prior the event. NC
Cooperative Extension takes seriously its obligation to accommodate the known disabilities of its facu lty, staff and guests
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