Cotton Seed Distributors - Web on Wednesday

Simon Struss, discusses the crop progress and prospects for the Dawson/Callide and Amanda Noone, provides an update for the Central Highlands.

Simon what proportion of Bollgard® II are you looking at in the Dawson/Callide?

We were very fortunate this year where we had a very high uptake of the Bollgard® II technology and Roundup® Ready technology. With greater than 90%, probably about 95% of the area being Bollgard® II and then again 90% of that being the Roundup Ready technology stack with it.

And, what sort of growing season have we had in this 2004/2005 year?

Up to this point in time David, I would have to say it has been almost perfect. We had good rain, just around that first irrigation timing which certainly insured that all crops got away to a very good start and have had quite a deal of rain since then at fairly good intervals and very mild conditions for us – we have only had sort of one hot period, very humid period the rest of it has been ideal cotton growing conditions.

And insect wise?

Probably very fortunate we have got Bollgard® II this year because it’s certainly the highest heliothis pressure that I have ever encountered in this area. We have had continual heavy heliothis pressure right from day one with only one very small area where it abated there a couple of weeks ago and we are back up to that 5 eggs per plant continuing on a daily basis now.

How about whitefly, mirids and aphids?

Certainly we started off with a lot of problems with thrips and mirids at the start and very tricky beasts unless they were controlled, we did lose squares, but unfortunately the square loss occurs quite some time after the infestation of those, certainly the thrips in any case. We have had mirids right throughout the season but they have not imposed any great problems, they have been easy to control and quite cheaply controlled. White fly, we thought up to about two weeks ago that we might escape without having to bring in any control measures for our whitefly, but unfortunately those last two weeks have certainly changed the picture dramatically and I think it will only be about another 5 – 7 days and we will be treating our first blocks when they reach threshold and I will be very surprised if we don’t end up treating the vast majority of the cotton in the Callide/Dawson for whitefly in the next two to three weeks.

How has the Bollgard® II gone with the heliothis pressure?

It has been quite exceptional David. We lost a little bit of fruit during the early stages where we were just losing a couple of pin squares but I mean that there is no movement of those grubs through to any later stages and it is only just now where we have got some crops that are very mature, just about to have first boll cracked where if they had been challenged for nitrogen we have got a couple of grubs just starting to come through but they are fairly sporadic and their not going to pose any economic threat. It is the first sign of any survival certainly all season.

You have got a bit of conventional you are looking after, what sort of spray program had it had?

We are up to about 7, no sorry 8 heliothis sprays for those particular blocks now. We have been fairly fortunate I think, although the early pressure was very heavy and consistent it was primarily punctigera so we could control them fairly cheaply and we were getting complete control, we weren’t getting any survivors in the crop and it is only now that we are certainly getting some armigera there and we are starting to have the old problems we encounter every year. We don’t get a complete cleanup and I think in about another 4 weeks time we are going to have a lot more pressure out there. But by in large it has been pretty good and those conventional crops would be on a par with regard to their fruit retention and their maturation as the Bollgard crops.

We are at the second week of January, what stage are most of your crops up to considering different planting dates?

Certainly the earlier planted crops are just coming up to the first cracked boll now. There have been sort of shut down about four nodes above white flower for a couple of weeks and I suppose it ranges from there right through to crops which they have still got about another four weeks to go to reach that point. So, there has been some condensing of the actual planting or the plant development over that time frame up till now but by in large most, even the late crops are up around the 20 nodes and are quickly maturing.

We have probably another month and a half to go this season. What are your thoughts?

Bring it on I say. No, the way the crops are looking at the moment, they are the strongest that I have seen them at this point in time, I think ever. There are some very, very good prospects out there at the moment. I suppose we are all waiting to see whether or not we are going to encounter any boll rot later on and I suppose it’s the quality issues. I mean how do these different varieties stack up with quality, but certainly we would think that at this point in time our yield looks very, very strong.

Amanda what proportion of the different technology have you got this year?

In the general area it is probably 70% Bollgard® II on my area, I have got about 90% Bollgard® II.

How has the growing season been climatically?

It’s been pretty good. We haven’t had a lot of extreme heat so it has probably been fairly gentle on the crops and we had a period in early December where we got some rain but plenty of sunny weather and humidity and that really pushed the crops along. Just after Christmas or around New Year we had a few overcast days and that made a lot of crops drop a fair bit of fruit but in general the weather has been pretty kind this year.

Insect wise?

Heliothis on the conventional has been fairly constant. Probably the older fields have had 8 or 9 sprays. Some of the younger fields might only have 4. Probably not huge egg lays in the immediate area but generally constant. In the Bollgard® II, it has been holding up very well and starting to find grubs in the cutout crops but I haven’t heard of any spraying needed to be done for heliothis as yet.

How about your mirids, whitefly and aphids?

Mirids have been quite constant in the Bollgard® II. I would say most Bollgard® II crops have had at least 2 mirid sprays. There have been mirids in the conventional but obviously there has been suppression with other chemistry. Aphids have been starting to build up in the last 10 days – 2 weeks and probably just starting to find some aphid sprays going on now. Whitefly same thing. We have had really, really low numbers until the last 10 days – 2 weeks and they have been building up quite rapidly in some crops in the last week. The first IGR’s going on today and I think that there will be more in the next week or so. Jassids have definitely been around and there have been some sprays that have been put on to knock them out in combination with other pests. Probably not quite as many as last year I would say.

The Bollgard has been holding up pretty well. What sort of spray programs have you had on conventional cotton?

The conventional, mainly it has been the softer chemistry, Affirm, Steward, started with some Prodigy, Dipel and it’s the 12th of January now, probably just some farms with the older cotton if cotton just opening as starting on the hardest sprays to chase the combination of heliothis and aphids.

You have got a broad range of planting dates, what sort of crop stages are we up to now on the 12th January?

Well we have got everything from crops with just a few open bolls to crops that were planted sort of at the end of October that are really probably only half way through the season, they are probably 2 or 3 weeks from cutting out.

In a nutshell, what are your prospects for this years’ crop?

The crop at this stage is looking pretty good. It’s a bit hard to put an estimate on it being the first year that we have had such big areas of Bollgard® II, in general I would say they are good but the crops are dropping a bit of fruit at the minute so we will just have to wait and see what the pickers say.


Further Information:  John Marshall or David Kelly