Posted on May 24, 2018 by rhallberg
by Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife
While sugarcane aphids have been difficult to suppress in past years due to their natural traits and limited insecticide options, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study shows resistant sorghum varieties and beneficial predators could provide a solution.
Dr. Ada Szczepaniec, AgriLife Research entomologist at Amarillo, recently authored “Interactive effects of crop variety, insecticide seed treatment, and planting date on population dynamics of sugarcane aphid and their predators in late-colonized sorghum” in the Crop Protection journal. The full article can be found at https://bit.ly/2IknvD4. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: Ada Szczepaniec, invasive species, sorghum pest, sugarcane aphid, Texas AgrLife | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 22, 2018 by rhallberg
by Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife
Producers might hear a term from the past when they begin looking for solutions to treat the sugarcane aphid in sorghum, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist.
“We are revisiting chemigation for insect pest management,” said Dr. Ed Bynum, AgriLife Extension entomologist in Amarillo, while speaking at the High Plains Irrigation Conference in Amarillo recently. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: chemigation, greenbugs, sugarcane aphid, Texas A&M | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 25, 2018 by rhallberg
In Southwest Farm Press
Over the last several years entomologists in Texas and across other southern states have been fighting a war against the sugarcane aphid, a menacing and persistent pest that threatens grain sorghum production. Though some success has been reported from development of specific types of pesticides, entomologists and integrated pest management specialists have been searching for more cost effective methods of control.
Thanks to a visiting Master’s student from Mexico, researchers in south Texas are now focusing on a new control method that may prove the most beneficial in the on-going war against the aphids. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: entomopathogenic fungi, sorghum pest, sugarcane aphid, Texas AgriLife | Leave a comment »
Posted on August 16, 2017 by rhallberg
by Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife
While sugarcane aphid populations are still low in grain sorghum fields across the Texas High Plains, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist in Amarillo said they are beginning to establish and could reach treatable numbers.
Dr. Ed Bynum, AgriLife Extension entomologist, said sugarcane aphid populations in the South Plains only recently reached economic levels in some fields that justified treatment with insecticides. Infestations in the field can be just a few aphids per plant to a thousand or more aphids per plant. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: AgriLife Extension, Ed Bynum, invasive insects, invasive species, sorghum pests, sugarcane aphid, Texas AgriLife | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 5, 2017 by rhallberg
by Steve Byrnes, AgriLife Extension
A minuscule pest few Texas farmers had ever heard of three years ago has quickly gained notoriety as the most important insect pest of grain and forage sorghum in Texas, said an expert entomologist.
The pest is the sugarcane aphid, and it’s already been found infesting sorghum in the lower Rio Grande Valley and lower Gulf Coast this year, said Dr. Allen Knutson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service entomologist at Dallas. As in past years, the sugarcane aphid is expected to move into Central Texas and eventually the Texas High Plains, potentially infesting all of Texas’ sorghum-producing regions by late summer. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: AgriLife Extension, Allen Knutson, Lower Rio Grande Valley, mapping system, sorghum, sugarcane aphid | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 5, 2017 by rhallberg
in Southwest Farm Press
“Be careful what you wish for.” We have heard that phrase many times, in songs and poems, books and old adages, and probably from parents and teachers and a sibling or two. Its exact origin is unknown, but some credit an early 1800’s Goethe poem, others claim the old common saying is much older, some say younger.
Regardless its origin, however, nothing could be more true or fitting considering this year’s early spring in Deep South Texas. Farmers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) are finding the phrase particularly appropriate as they consider the good, the bad and the ugly of an early planting season this year. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: invasive species, sorghum, sugarcane aphid, Texas A&M | Leave a comment »
Posted on March 31, 2017 by rhallberg
by Kay Ledbetter, Texas A&M AgriLife
Producers may be concerned about planting sorghum this season, but several Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists said there are ways to prepare for upcoming issues and be profitable.
During the Interstate 40 Sorghum Luncheon recently in Amarillo, producers heard the latest on managing sugarcane aphids, weed control and how it all figures into the bottom line as producers manage crop budgets and pricing strategies. Continue reading →
Filed under: news | Tagged: herbicides, high plains, insect control, sorghum, sugarcane aphid | Leave a comment »
