Announcement of New Field Scout Training Program!!!

Announcement of New Training Program!!!

Plains Pest Management - field scouting trainings and educational ride along with Blayne Reed, EA-IPM Hale & Swisher

               If you are really interested in learning how to properly scout primarily cotton, but also corn and sorghum for pest and agronomic issues, this should be the training for you!

Plains Pest Management and Blayne Reed, EA-IPM Hale & Swisher, will be offering hands on field scout training for agricultural and entomological professionals this year.  This hands-on training will be free for any of our coworkers in Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and AgriLife Research.  For our private industry friends and colleagues, there will be a small fee of $75.00 per training date.  This should be of particular interest for early professional CEA, tech or field reps, and lab technicians. 

               These trainings will be hands on, beneficial trainings for any early career agriculturalist or field applied entomologist that will be making decisions about agricultural pests or agronomic inputs and need to know how to timely gather the information to make the correct, economical decision based on scientifically gathered data.  It is highly recommended that new field scouts or early agricultural professionals attend one of the Field Scouting Schools held on May 30 in Muleshoe, or May 31 in Levelland as an introductory pre-requisite to these trainings. 

Multiple trainings will be held throughout the summer of 2019.  Scouting needs change over the growing season as crops progress and pest populations move to target specific crops or stages.  For this reason, 6 separate field trainings targeting specific field scouting subjects, agronomic stages, and pests will be held.  There will be 5 spots open for each training date where attendees will learn alongside the Plains Pest Management field scouting team directly from Blayne.  Early season dates will focus on early season scouting, mid-season will focus on mid-season issues, and late season will focus on late season issues.  Training dates are targeted to be timely and to train attendees on the species of pests and type of scouting to be most relevant at that time.

Payment for trainings will be due at the time of service.  Checks should be made to TPMA and invoice copies can be made available upon request.  Our business hours are 8-noon and 1-5 weekdays.  Spots will be limited, so please RSVP quickly by phone or email:

blayne.reed@ag.tamu.edu

806-291-5267

Trainings should begin around 9 AM at the Halfway Experiment Station in Hale County and conclude around noon.  Training dates are subject to change, weather and other factors depending, so please leave a preferred contact method with RSVP.

2019 Field Scouting Training Dates

followed by target subject matter for that date

To Sign Up:

Please call 806-291-5267 or email blayne.reed@ag.tamu.edu

June 3

-        Cotton stand counts and calculating PPA, assessing hail damage and field viability

-        thrips scouting

-        cotton true leaf stage monitoring

-        weed identification

-        early season corn & sorghum scouting

-        key beneficial ID

June 24

-        Fleahopper and other plant bug scouting techniques

-        conducting whole plant cotton inspections

-        cotton square ID, mapping, and calculating fruit retention/drop

-        corn and sorghum early season scouting review,

-        corn root worm lookout, and common Lep larva ID, and current events

-        key beneficial ID

July 8

-        Lygus and other plant bug scouting in cotton

-        calculating NAWF in cotton

-        conducting whole plant inspections and calculating fruit loss on blooming cotton plants

-        proper drop cloth use

-        early bollworm and secondary cotton pest scouting

-        herbicide damage ID in cotton/corn/sorghum/weeds,

-        calculating fruit loss on blooming cotton

-        scouting corn for economic pest 

-        corn reproductive stages and spotting details to help in managing corn during pollination

-        early aphid scouting in sorghum

-        key beneficial ID

July 22

-        Lygus and early bollworm scouting updates

-        measuring NAWF in cotton

-        conducting whole plant inspections on blooming cotton

-        managing/scouting for quality cotton

-        scouting for PGR needs, proper drop cloth use

-        estimating irrigation needs in cotton through data collection

-        taking tissue samples

-        scouting corn for economic pests and diseases

-        sorghum reproductive stages

-        scouting sorghum for economic pests

-        key beneficial ID

August 5

-        Bollworm scouting techniques in cotton,

-        cotton aphids and other late season secondary pests

-        measuring NAWF and determining absolute cut-out in cotton, determining

-        realistic late season PGR needs in cotton and measuring for irrigation cut-off dates

-        measuring peak bloom/peak water use in cotton

-        scouting late reproductive stages in corn and sorghum for pests and diseases

-        key beneficial ID

September 16

-        Cotton harvest aid scouting,

-        making cotton yield estimates,

-        late season cotton aphid scouting to prevent sticky cotton

-        determining the last harvestable boll in cotton, its realistic needs and irrigation termination

-        managing cotton regrowth,

-        measuring late sorghum/corn needs,

-        late season SCA scouting in sorghum

-        sorghum harvest aid scouting