A new blog administrator…

Jason and I have enjoyed sharing cool and exciting aspects of pest management here in the Missouri bootheel. It has been a privilege to explore integrated pest management with you. It is through phone calls, field visits, and conversations with you that my understanding of pest management and local needs has been influenced – Thank you. 

 This is my final posting for this blog. Dr. Kelly Tindall will be taking over as blog administrator. I have accepted a research position with Conservation Seeding and Restoration, Inc. in Idaho. Dr. Jason Weirich will be the director of agronomy for MFA and is moving to Columbia, MO.

 Being as the focus of this blog has been integrated pest management, I am leaving you with some definitions of IPM below.

Keep scouting.

 IPM definitions:

 1. POTENTIALLY HARMFUL SPECIES WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST AT TOLERABLE LEVELS OF ABUNDANCE. The objective of IPM is to lower pest populations below economically important levels; eradication is not the objective.

2. THE ECOSYSTEM IS THE MANAGEMENT UNIT. The boundaries of and the couplings among components of the system must be identified before design and implementation of an IPM program.

3. THE USE OF NATURAL ENEMIES IS MAXIMIZED. An understanding of how natural enemies work in the system must be acquired so that optimal use can be made of their impact on target pest populations.

4. ANY CONTROL PROCEDURE MAY PRODUCE UNEXPECTED AND UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES. An ecologically based management strategy is less likely to result in “negative effects” within the system being managed.

5. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SYSTEMS APPROACH IS ESSENTIAL. The assumption is that information collected by various scientists can and will be integrated.

- Botterel 1979

 

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of commonsense practices. IPM programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information, in combination with available pest control methods, is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.  –US EPA

 “The intelligent selection and use of pest control actions that will ensure favorable economic, ecological, and social consequences” – R.L. Rabb

 “The balanced use of such measures like, biological, cultural, and chemical control, as are most appropriate to a particular situation in light of a careful study of all factors involved” – M. Way

 “Sustainable approach to managing pests combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health and environmental risks”               – National Coalition on IPM

SPCC Deadlines to be Extended for Farm Operations…

I am not sure how many of you are aware that there was a rapid deadline approaching that mandated new laws for farmers in regards to containing oil spills on farms. The new laws are part of the Oil Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Program. The SPCC was developed to prevent oil spills into waters of the US and adjoining shorelines due to harmful effects on the environment.  

I received word today that EPA has extended the deadline for farmers until May 10, 2013. There were a couple of reasons that the extension was granted – 1) EPA did not give training materials to University Extension Agents in a timely manner, so many farmers did not know about this; 2) the recent floods hindered the farmers from meeting these deadlines; 3) there seems to be a shortage of materials and/or people in some areas that are qualified to develop the “plans”.  That said, it is unlikely that a second extension will be granted so you need to make plans to get your farm up to code by May 10, 2013.

For more information about SPCC relative to farm operations, click here. There should be a Direct Final Rule released by EPA tomorrow.

Recent Avipel activity

Hey, we are still working hard to obtain a section 18 for Avipel . Please help us gather some of the data EPA wants so that we can get a Section 18 for Avipel for the 2012 season. All you have to do is contact Kelly answering these 3 questions:

1) How many acres of corn or rice were damaged by birds?

2) What impact do you think they had on your yield?

3) Did you replant?

These data will be helpful in fulfilling the EPA’s requirements for additional data so that we have the product available for 2012. We also submitted the information below to help the EPA understand the need we have for protecting our germinating corn and rice:

A Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is conducted on a 15 mile diameter circle, or an area of 176.7 square miles. Below you will find CBC data for Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles in Missouri. If we assume that the Missouri CBC are representative of the entire state we can estimate populations at the time of the CBC. During the 111^th CBC 29 count circles were performed that were had at least some portion of the count circle in Missouri, or slightly less than 5124 square miles of Missouri were sampled. Being as Missouri has an area of 69,704 square miles, a multiplier of 13.6 (69,704/5124 = multiplier) yeilds a rough estimate of statewide population.  

 The estimates derived from this rough approach do not cause us to reject Dolbeer (1978).  Dolbeer (1978) demonstrated via band returns that Red-winged Blackbirds are migratory and large populations overwinter in the southern US. In the table excerpted below Missouri is in regions 9 and 10. The larger overwintering populations to the south of Missouri migrate north through Missouri.

 

TABLE 7
Ranking of 13 regions in North America as to banding and recovery effort for Red- winged Blackbirds during winter-roost period, 10 December-20 February. Only regions containing at least 200,000 winter-roosting Red-wings are included in the analysis.
		Banding effort				Recovery effort
Estimated				No.
Region	roosting p.opula-uon of Red-wings1 ( x 10 6) [A]	No. birds banded in region that have been recovered [B]	Bandingeffort index [B/A]	Rank	banded birds re- covered in re- gion [C]		Recoveryeffort index [C/A]	Rank
2	3.87	117	30.23	1	195		50.39	1
3	12.49	17	1.36	7	35		2.80	8
4	41.93	129	3.07	5	159		3.79	7
5	54.38	12	0.22	12	46		0.85	12
6	1.15	8	6.98	4	8		6.96	6
7	10.05	3	0.30	11	116		11.54	4
8	1.37	1	0.73	9	15		10.96	5
9	19.97	0	0.00	13	17		0.85	11
10	20.95	29	1.38	6	13		0.62	13
11	13.28	6	0.45	10	13		0.98	10
12	5.25	93	17.71	3	98		18.67	2
13	0.24	5	20.83	2	4		16.67	3
14	4.32	5	1.16	8	12		2.78	9
1 Meanley, B. 1976. Unpubl. Prog. Rep., Work Units P-F-25.1, 25.2. Patuxent Wildl. Res. Center, Laurel, MD. 82p.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red-winged Blackbird spring migration occurs from mid-Feb through mid-May (Dolbeer 1982). Spring migration of Common Grackles is usually over by mid-Apr throughout most of its range (Dolbeer 1982, Robbins 1992). Common Grackles are also the most important species involved in damaging sprouting corn, a multimillion dollar problem annually (Stone and Mott 1973). Our observations in Missouri are that large, migrating blackbird flocks coincide with optimal sprouting times for rice and corn and can create situations where stand is reduced to the point that replanting is necessary.

 REFERENCES

 Dolbeer, R. A. 1978. Movement and migration patterns of Red-winged Blackbirds: a continental overview. 49:17-34.

 Dolbeer, R. A. 1982. Migration patterns for sex and age classes of blackbirds and starlings. J. Field Ornithol. 53:28-46.

 National Audubon Society (2010). The Christmas Bird Count Historical Results [Online]. Available http://www.christmasbirdcount.org [7 October 2011]

 Robbins, M. B. 1992. Birds of Missouri: their distribution and abundance. Univ. of Missouri Press, Columbia.

 Stone, C. P. and D. F. Mott. 1973. Bird damage to sprouting corn in the United States. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. Spec. Sci. Rep. Wildl. 173

Observation data for Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, blackbird sp., in US-MO, Count Years: 93 – 110

 

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Count Number	Number	Number / Party Hr.	Number of Counts Reporting Species	Number of Observers on Reporting Counts

 

110 ( 2009-10)	82087	69.7463	25	455
109 ( 2008-9)	47416	47.7408	23	427
108 ( 2007-8)	33814	28.1671	24	416
107 ( 2006-7)	63522	56.1408	25	470
106 ( 2005-6)	23188	23.2153	23	431
105 ( 2004-5)	508994	425.7036	24	381
104 ( 2003-4)	244332	230.4695	26	452
103 ( 2002-3)	33512	28.7842	26	423
102 ( 2001-2)	243392	240.2906	23	393
101 ( 2000-1)	26995	27.536	22	330
100 ( 1999-2000)	27451	17.6742	21	294
99 ( 1998-9)	238478	143.8239	20	299
98 ( 1997-8)	61592	79.2802	21	318
97 ( 1996-7)	14543	12.3301	22	364
96 ( 1995-6)	16561	19.1941	20	317
95 ( 1994-5)	24552	18.9696	22	356
94 ( 1993-4)	19760	19.5601	21	273
93 ( 1992-3)	11059	9.9098	20	290

 

Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
Count Number	Number	Number / Party Hr.	Number of Counts Reporting Species	Number of Observers on Reporting Counts

 

110 ( 2009-10)	88207	77.3101	25	444
109 ( 2008-9)	159853	141.2482	23	424
108 ( 2007-8)	17140	15.2686	20	345
107 ( 2006-7)	13595	7.1012	24	449
106 ( 2005-6)	1096723	1169.206	23	445
105 ( 2004-5)	164121	129.4332	19	328
104 ( 2003-4)	478765	445.1405	22	417
103 ( 2002-3)	9691	3.8325	18	318
102 ( 2001-2)	113739	106.5214	22	389
101 ( 2000-1)	4323	4.4132	21	322
100 ( 1999-2000)	6855	5.2757	22	375
99 ( 1998-9)	171313	76.1784	17	269
98 ( 1997-8)	68557	56.6986	20	280
97 ( 1996-7)	1562	1.4778	16	269
96 ( 1995-6)	30192	37.0637	18	278
95 ( 1994-5)	12820	6.7803	18	311
94 ( 1993-4)	304056	248.0401	20	308
93 ( 1992-3)	32441	22.7294	21	295

Source: National Audubon Society (2010). The Christmas Bird Count Historical Results [Online]. Available http://www.christmasbirdcount.org [7 October 2011]

Weeds in the news

Today a non-ag friend placed a SUPER WEED news article on Facebook. Even though Reuters is a good news source, this is distrubing. A quick Google search for super weeds will yield numerous hits and reading them will make it clear hysteria sells. One blog claims that Monsanto’s GM crops had spawned equipment busting super weeds  and another claims that his wild greens are now genetically modified.

Tell your truth.

 

Harvesting your field does not mean pigweeds quit growing

As we near harvest, many of you might be thinking the pigweed (Palmer amaranth) war is over, nothing could be further from the truth. While economic thresholds exist for some weeds, the threshold for resistant pigweed should be zero – do not tolerate this weed in your fields.

 Jha & Norsworthy (2009) found two to three consistent emergence periods occurring from early May through mid-July in soybeans and that cohorts during the peak emergence periods from early May to mid-July need greater attention in weed management. However, an older paper by Keeley et al. (1987) examined the influence of planting date on growth of Palmer amaranth. They found pigweeds germinate from March through October. Seeds planted from March to June initiated flowering 5-9 weeks after sowing, and 3-4 weeks for those sown from July to October. This is important, because after you harvest your crop and think you are done for the year, the pigweeds in your field can begin a seed increase project. This is important because Sauer (1988) states that pigweed seeds (no species named) germinate gradually over decades following soil disturbance.  Keeley et al. (1987) showed that pigweed seeds sowed at depths up to 1” germinated very well, and seeds buried deeper than 2” do not germinate. They aren’t dead, they are just waiting to be in the right spot, pigweeds need light to germinate. This is why Jha & Norsworthy (2009) only found two to three emergence periods – after the soybeans canopied, the pigweed didn’t have enough light to germinate. Jha & Norsworthy (2009) did not monitor emergence periods post harvest.

 I hope you are inspired to at least monitor your fields post harvest. Winning against pigweed requires that we take things personal and remain vigilant and ready for action.

 References

 Jha, P., & Norsworthy, J. K. (2009). Soybean Canopy and Tillage Effects on Emergence of AMAPA (Amaranthus palmeri) from a Natural Seed Bank. Weed Science, 57(6), 644-651.

 Keeley, P.E., C.H. Carter, and R.J. Thullen. 1987. Influence of planting date on growth of AMAPA (Amaranthus palmeri). Weed Science 35:199-204.

 Sauer, J.D. 1988. Plant migration: The dynamics of geographic patterning in seed plantspecies. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 282 pp

That new herbicide coming down the pike…

Yesterday, at Andrea’s CCA training I was asked about “that new herbicide” described for waterhemp in our field day brochure.  Well, I had absolutely no idea and hadn’t read the field day materials, so I had to play catch-up.  

 The chemical is Pyroxasulfone which will be available, pending EPA registration, as Anthem, Fierce, and Zidua in 2012. This is a soil residual herbicide, not a silver bullet. We have used the products with good results at the Delta Center, but they are not silver bullets. As we are screening pigweeds for PPO (e.g. Reflex, Flexstar) resistance, we may be very grateful for the new residual herbicide tools if we lose the PPO chemistries.

 Which brings this posting back to what Dr. Weirich has been saying since he arrived at the Delta Center:

                1) Start Clean

                2) use multiple modes of action and residual herbicides

                3) use overlapping preermgent herbicides

                4) manage your seed bank

A new issue of the IPCM Newsletter

A new issue of the IPCM Newsletter has been posted at:

http://ppp.missouri.edu/newsletters/ipcmindex.htm

In this issue:

• Weed of the Month: Fall Panicum
• Prep Now For Planting Wheat This Fall
• Ear and Kernel Rots of Corn
• Soybean Podworm Continue to Cause Damage to Soybean
• Frogeye leaf spot pathogen resistant to strobilurin fungicide found in southeast Missouri
• Recommendation for Control of Stored Grain Insects

Weather Data for the Week Ending September 5, 2011