What percentage of my crop should I plant in B.t.?
This depends on a number of factors centered around a producer's assessment of the threat of potential insect pest damage, especially by tobacco budworm, and the agronomic performance of selected B.t. varieties. The average has been between one-third and one-half of cotton acres on Mississippi farms to be B.t. acres. Unfortunately, tobacco budworm populations can not be predicted in advance, and many growers in Mississippi remember the devastation caused by this pest in 1995. Also, remember that other products for controlling tobacco budworm are available, such as Tracer.
Publications
News
Harvest for two of the state’s most significant row crops is well underway, with soybeans and cotton both ahead of schedule.
As of Oct. 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that cotton was 43% harvested, ahead of the five-year average of 31% complete by this date. Soybeans were 76% harvested, where typically the crop is just 60% harvested.
This summer has not just felt hot and dry; close to half the state is in moderate to severe drought, and temperatures have been mostly in the 90s through all of August.
Mike Brown is the state climatologist and Mississippi State University professor of meteorology. He said much of the northern two-thirds of the state has been fluctuating between drought and being OK.
