Air July 25 2001

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. It's Geary County Free Fair Week. More on that in a moment. First some thoughts on field crop insects. We are commencing to see a whole hodge podge of insect pests. Following on the heels of the webworms in soybeans, we are also getting reports of webworms in alfalfa. Most of these reports are coming in from producers who were cutting what there was of that third cutting. The good news is that cutting is usually sufficient to remedy the problem. The bad news is that until we get some significant rain there probably isn't going to be much regrowth for a fourth cutting. I was sweeping some soybean fields Saturday looking for the soybean stem borers that are being reported. The bad news is that at this time we don't have any products labeled for this pest that will do a good job of controlling it. The good news is I wasn't finding any borers in my sweeps. I was starting to pick up a cloverworms and saltmarsh caterpillars. These pests can increase as we go through the summer. I'll be keeping an eye on them. What we are starting to see is some spider mite damage in beans. This is one we don't often see, but it can develop into a bad problem. Rule of thumb is that if you are losing more than 50% of the foliage at this time of year to mites you can justify spraying. Dimethoate is about the only product labeled for mites, and even with it, control is marginal. If you think you might have spider mites, bring some plants out to me at the fair today or tomorrow, or to the office on Friday so I can check them for you.

It is fair week and I hope you will all come out to the fair. If you can't make it, keep listening to 1420 for regular updates. There is something magical about a county fair. County fair time used to be that one time during the summer, at least, when the whole county would gather together. That's not nearly the case now, and county fairs occur a whole lot earlier in the summer than they used to, but it is still a great opportunity to gather together to see what the 4-Hers have done and visit with friends and neighbors from across the county. There will be folks we've lost since last year and some new additions to the community. But what it all focuses on is, the community and our future. You still have today and all day tomorrow, ending with the BBQ and the project and livestock auction Thursday evening. It's not quite as hot as it has been, so come on out and spend a little time with us at the fair!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2001.

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