Considered by many in the industry as the area's cotton production bible, the 2005 Lower Rio Grande Valley Cotton, Grain Sorghum, and Corn Blue Book is now available. Free copies are available at local cotton gins or at any area Texas Cooperative Extension office.

The Blue Book is a comprehensive report on cotton, grain sorghum and corn production in the Rio Grande Valley in 2005. Included are historical data, variety tests, demonstration results, results of insecticide, defoliant and fertility tests, and a crop budget.

The report has been compiled annually since 1989 by the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Weslaco.

This year's 89-page report was compiled by Manda Cattaneo, a cotton integrated pest management entomologist.

"The Blue Book covers both dryland and irrigated farming," Cattaneo said. "In addition to providing results of research conducted so that growers can make informed production decisions, this report describes how the various crops performed in 2005."

Last year's cotton crop was unique because the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation began weekly diapause sprays of Malathion in June and continued them through the fall, and Hurricane Emily brought wind and rain to the Valley in July, Cattaneo said.

According to the report, total acres of cotton planted in the four-county Valley area were approximately 183,816, down from the 207,000 acres planted in 2004. The total number of 500-pound bales harvested were 154,369, compared to 328,500 in 2004. Overall yields averaged 425 pounds per acre, based on acres planted in 2005.
"A lack of rainfall was a major factor in all three crops last year,"

Cattaneo said, "but the good news in cotton production is the stalk destruction effort growers made. They did a very good job of plowing down old 2005 cotton fields and keeping them clean throughout the fall.

Hopefully, they will continue to keep them clean so that boll weevils don't have a source on which to feed and reproduce."

Cattaneo noted that boll weevil eradication sprays will begin earlier in the season, then stop temporarily in May to allow for populations of beneficial pests to build.

"Allowing beneficial populations to build in May will lower the likelihood of secondary pests building up, such as bollworms, beet armyworms and whiteflies," she said.

For more information, contact Cattaneo at (956) 968-5581.