• SPONSORED CONTENT • January 2020 – Wade Atkinson Evaluate Fields for Silent Yield Robbers PhytoGen® brand varieties contain PhytoGen Breeding Traits™ that offer built-in protection against some of the most common yield-robbing pests and diseases found in cotton. All PhytoGen® W3FE varieties are resistant to bacterial blight. Additional protection from root-knot nematodes and verticillium wilt […]
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• SPONSORED CONTENT •
January 2020 – Wade Atkinson
Evaluate Fields for Silent Yield Robbers
PhytoGen® brand varieties contain PhytoGen Breeding Traits™ that offer built-in protection against some of the most common yield-robbing pests and diseases found in cotton.
All PhytoGen® W3FE varieties are resistant to bacterial blight.
Additional protection from root-knot nematodes and verticillium wilt is available in select Upland varieties.
All PhytoGen Pima varieties provide tolerance to Fusarium (FOV) Race 4.
In the near future, protection from reniform nematodes also will be available in select Upland varieties.
Clemson University nematologist Dr. John Mueller, who has studied nematodes for years, says you can drive by a field where nematodes are present and not notice anything unusual until the damage translates into a yield loss at the end of the season.
“Yield losses of 10% within a field are common and often go unnoticed,” he says. “And yield losses in an individual field can exceed 50%.”
South Carolina cotton farmer Wade Atkinson says, “If you have nematodes, planting a PhytoGen brand variety with nematode resistance is the way to go.”
Maximize Yield Advantage
Jason Woodward, Ph.D., PhytoGen cotton development specialist for the Mid-Atlantic region, says, “In fields where producers have identified a root-knot nematode problem, we are maximizing yield advantage by planting varieties with the PhytoGen Breeding Trait for root-knot resistance. Nematode populations are being reduced in the soil for subsequent years as well.”
Cotton producer Wade Atkinson farms with his nephew, Ricky Atkinson, in Lee County, South Carolina. He says root-knot nematode is present over most of the farm, especially where they grow cotton behind cotton. To combat this pest, Wade plants root-knot nematode resistant varieties, such as PHY 350 W3FE, which is a two-gene root-knot nematode resistant variety. In addition, recent nematode samples indicated high populations of reniform nematode throughout his farm as well.
He has used crop rotation to help break the nematode cycle. Wade also plants wheat cover crops and uses conventional tillage to promote soil moisture retention.
“We are trying several approaches to help increase cotton yields, especially in dryer years,” he says.
In 2018, Wade had a couple fields in continuous cotton and noticed the yield was down. So in 2019, he planted 350 acres of dual-gene root-knot nematode resistant PHY 350 W3FE and had a first look at the newly named PHY 400 W3FE, which is also a root-knot nematode resistant variety.
“Mitch Binnar, our PhytoGen territory manager, brought in an experimental variety with reniform resistance to see if that would help with the nematode problem,” he says.
After the reniform fields were harvested on Wade’s farm, the results showed a 20 to 216 pounds-per-acre increase with the experimental reniform resistant variety when compared to susceptible varieties.
Reduce Nematode Populations
Woodward says in the Mid-Atlantic region, yields were higher for experimental PhytoGen brand varieties with reniform resistance compared to non-reniform resistant varieties in all comparisons, ranging from 20 to 356 pounds per acre. Resistant varieties reduced reniform populations at the end of the season by 42% to 71% compared to susceptible varieties.
“This looks to be very consistent with other data I have seen across the Cotton Belt — about 200 pounds per acre yield advantage and a 60% to 80% reduction in nematode populations,” he says.
Based on his own PhytoGen experience, Wade says, “If you have root-knot or reniform nematodes, planting a PhytoGen brand variety with nematode resistance is the way to go. And if you have any drought at all, planting nematode resistant seed will give you a bigger yield and healthier roots all season long. That stronger root also will help if you have any drought stress. We are blessed with good seed technology.”
™ ® PhytoGen, PhytoGen Breeding Traits and the PhytoGen Logo are trademarks of PhytoGen Seed Company, LLC. ™ ®Enlist, Enlist Duo and Enlist One are trademarks of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or their respective owners. The Enlist weed control system is owned and developed by Dow AgroSciences LLC. Enlist Duo® and Enlist One herbicides are not registered for sale or use in all states or counties. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your area. Enlist Duo and Enlist One herbicides are the only 2,4-D products authorized for use with Enlist crops. Consult Enlist herbicide labels for weed species controlled. Always read and follow label directions. PhytoGen Seed Company is a joint venture between Mycogen Corporation, an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC, and the J.G. Boswell Company.
February 2020 – Jamey Duesterhaus
PhytoGen Grades Well in a Tough Growing Season
Jamey Duesterhaus has grown PhytoGen® cottonseed since 2017 on irrigated and dryland acres near Littlefield in the Texas Panhandle. Following the 2016 season, he says he was looking for varieties to help control the resistant weed species in his fields. The PhytoGen Breeding Traits™ that would protect his cotton from root-knot nematodes and verticillium wilt also piqued his interest.
“After we planted in 2017, we noticed improved seedling vigor and better emergence than what we had seen from other cotton varieties on the market,” Duesterhaus says. “This is crucial to us on the High Plains where our planting window is about a month and can sometimes be reduced to 2½ to three weeks because of moisture conditions and soil temperatures.
“If we plant a cottonseed that is ready to come out of the ground and start growing, we are off to a better start. The PhytoGen varieties are consistent. When 2018 came around, we were much more confident that PhytoGen was what we wanted to plant, and in 2019, we were convinced it was the way to go.”
Thriving in Spite of Perfect Storm
This past season, Duesterhaus planted two mid- to fullseason PhytoGen brand varieties on his dryland acres and PHY 300 W3FE, PHY 350 W3FE and PHY 250 W3FE on his irrigated ground. The Texas farmer describes May as cool, wet and plagued by hailstorms. Adverse weather led to replanting much of his acreage. On those acres, Duesterhaus planted PHY 250 W3FE, which is an early maturing variety with high yield potential.
As 2019 progressed, conditions that started off cool and wet ended up hot and dry. Duesterhaus says his cotton was subjected to hot nights as well. This was unusual since High Plains’ nights typically are cooler than most of Texas because of the area’s elevation. And to top off everything, the season finished with an earlier-than-normal freeze that began to shut down the plants.
“We had every calamity imaginable thrown at us last year,” Duesterhaus says. “Our yields were off, but the grade and quality of the PhytoGen cotton was almost unbelievable. I had one dryland field of PHY 350 W3FE that received absolutely no rain and had a disappointing loan value, but all the other fields were above 50 cents.
“My highest dryland loan value was 54 cents. My lowest irrigated loan value was 53 cents on PHY 250 W3FE, and my highest irrigated loan value was 57 cents on PHY 350 W3FE. The quality was there. It was a blessing from God in 2019.”
Complete Set of Benefits
After looking at the PhytoGen brand varieties for the past three years, Duesterhaus says he plans to stick with them.
“To me, PhytoGen always has a variety that fits,” he says. “If you want to swing for the fence, they have that. If you want a variety that can hang on to get to the next rain or until your pivot makes another pass or until you get back to those zones with subsurface irrigation, they have PHY 350 W3FE.”
Duesterhaus likes the whole package PhytoGen delivers — yield, quality and protection from root-knot nematodes and verticillium wilt that comes with PhytoGen Breeding Traits.
He depends on WideStrike® 3 Insect Protection to keep worm pressure off the cotton and the Enlist™ weed control system to take out resistant weed species. After applying a preemergence herbicide at the beginning of the season, Duesterhaus comes back with a tank mix of Enlist One® herbicide and glufosinate or glyphosate, depending on the field’s weed spectrum.
“Based on what I have seen over the past few years on both irrigated and dryland ground, I think my return on investment is high,” he says. “That’s what makes me want to keep planting PhytoGen varieties.”
™ ® Trademarks of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or their respective owners. The Enlist weed control system is owned and developed by Dow AgroSciences LLC. PhytoGen Seed Company is a joint venture between Mycogen Corporation, an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC, and the J.G. Boswell Company.
March 2020 – Shane Isbell
Yield and Quality Drive ‘Dream Year’ in Alabama
Fifth-generation farmer Shane Isbell operates Isbell Farms in Colbert County, Alabama, in partnership with his father, Neal. Shane’s son, Tyler, also works full time in the operation.
“My grandfather, Hollis Isbell, is a visionary who is responsible for originally growing the farm,” Shane says. “He still comes out here, so we have four active generations involved.”
Alabama farmer Shane Isbell, who grows PhytoGen® cottonseed, picked 1,600 pounds per acre across 2,000 acres and averaged 2 to 3 cents above market on grades this past fall.
The Isbells grow 6,500 acres of cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat on some of the same land that has been in their family for more than 120 years. About 40% of the operation is irrigated with center pivots, and their cotton acreage typically ranges from 1,700 to 2,000 acres.
The Alabama farmer says the No. 1 factor he considers when selecting varieties is yield.
“We conduct variety trials on our farm each year, and seven years ago, PhytoGen started winning these trials,” Shane says.
In 2020, their intentions are to plant 1,800 acres of cotton to root-knot-nematode-resistant PhytoGen® brand PHY 320 W3FE, PHY 360 W3FE and PHY 400 W3FE.
“We have a big nematode problem on Isbell Farms — root-knot and reniform,” Shane says. “PhytoGen also has some new varieties coming out in the near future with reniform nematode resistance. I am going to try a couple of them this year on a small scale to see how they perform in a field where I have big- time reniform pressure.
“Another benefit we have seen with the PhytoGen varieties is excellent vigor and emergence. We farm near the Tennessee River in northwest Alabama, so the ground doesn’t warm up as fast as it does in other areas. Since we started growing PhytoGen, we’ve seen a better stand of cotton and a healthier stalk coming out of the ground than we have with any other company’s varieties.”
Improved Weed and Insect Control
In addition to high yields and the PhytoGen Breeding Traits™ that protect those yields, Shane says, the Enlist™ weed control system helps control glyphosate-resistant pigweed and marestail.
“Pigweed is the No. 1 weed we fight in cotton, and No. 2 is morningglory. We try to get out in front of the weed pressure with a good burndown program, and we like being able to tank- mix Enlist One herbicide and glyphosate throughout the year. The tank-mix flexibility that Enlist One offers is beneficial to us because rarely do we cross the field without tank-mixing something with it whether it is an insecticide or another herbicide.
“Before we started growing PhytoGen varieties with WideStrike 3 Insect Protection, bollworms were also an issue for us. Now they are not. WideStrike has cut our insecticide sprays way down,” Shane says.
Thriving With High Yield, High Quality
In reflecting on the 2019 season, Shane says, “God gave us perfect weather and the best yields we have ever had in the entire six generations of our farm. We planted PHY 320 W3FE, PHY 330 W3FE and PHY 350 W3FE and picked 1,600 pounds of cotton per acre across 2,000 acres.
“After defoliation, we only had one late rain during harvest, so we averaged 2 to 3 cents above market on all our grades. Color was great, leaf and mic were low, and staple length was outstanding. We had a dream year across the board.”
As a Cotton Incorporated director for Alabama, Shane is aware that grade is becoming more important as cotton retailers are in the market for environmentally friendly and sustainably grown cotton.
“Grade becomes a bigger issue every year,” he says. “Buyers look at grades and say, ‘These people are taking care of their cotton.’ This may not always be fair to the farmer because weather plays a big role in how grades turn out. But the buyer’s perception is our reality. Growing high-quality cotton is a big deal.”
™ ® Trademarks of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or their respective owners. The Enlist weed control system is owned and developed by Dow AgroSciences LLC. PhytoGen Seed Company is a joint venture between Mycogen Corporation, an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC, and the J.G. Boswell Company.
January 2021 – Russell & Richard Isaacs
Oklahoma Farmers Score 5-Bale Cotton
Russell Isaacs (right) and his father, Richard, are all smiles after making 5 bales per acre on this field of PHY 350 W3FE.
Yield is paramount in PhytoGen® brand varieties and is what makes cotton growers thrive. PhytoGen cottonseed also has many traits to help farmers protect that yield.
Even so, in the western Oklahoma Panhandle, Mother Nature can wreak havoc on a cotton crop during the season. For the Isaacs — Russell, wife Alice, and father Richard, who farm near Turpin — a seed brand that hangs tough through the more challenging years is appreciated.
“We planted PhytoGen brand PHY 350 W3FE for the first time in 2018,” Russell says. “Seedling vigor and strong emergence are big factors for us in choosing a variety. Consistent seed quality translates to consistency in plants in the field. A good stand is key if you are going for that ‘big boy’ cotton. PHY 350 W3FE pops out of the ground, squares fast and pumps out the yield.
“Our area has a short growing season for cotton, so we push the envelope and plant based on the five-day forecast instead of soil temperature. When we see some warm days coming, we plant the day before to get as much seed in the ground as we can to take advantage of the heat. We plant shallow because the top of the soil profile warms up fast in the mornings.”
Perfect Season for ‘Big Boy’ Yields
The Isaacs’ typical yield expectation is 2,000 pounds per acre on irrigated ground.
“We have a short window to fruit and make bolls,” Russell says. “PHY 350 W3FE has consistently done it for us. This variety is like the pretty girl at the dance.”
In 2018, the cotton in one of the Isaacs’ PHY 350 W3FE irrigated fields came up all at once to a perfect stand with great spacing. Every plant was at the same stage.
“At 5-leaf cotton, our consultant, Marc Voth, called it,” Russell says. “He said, ‘This is our field.’ It was a good growing season for cotton, and Marc managed it like we were going for the big yield. We had made 4-bale-per-acre cotton the year before and were now shooting for 5 bales.
“While we were doing boll counts in mid- to late September, Marc said, ‘I think we are going to get there.’ When I pulled in with the stripper and had made a module before getting to the pivot, I thought we might have done it. But you never know for sure until the cotton is ginned.
“Once we got the numbers back and saw we had reached 5 bales per acre on that field, we were excited. It was an incredible year. We had a lot of good cotton.”
Team Approach to a Common Goal
Being this far north, a big hurdle for the Isaacs is maturing cotton.
“We have to do our part, but the PhytoGen breeders have done the rest to get the yields and quality we need,” Russell says. “In 2019, we had the best quality with PHY 350 W3FE we’ve ever had — upper 56s, almost 57. That’s pretty good!”
In 2020, the combination of 70 mph winds in June and a cold snap in September tried to put a damper on yields and quality. However, there were some bright spots, and the Isaacs are enthusiastic about the upcoming season.
“Right now, we are in the process of making our variety decisions,” Russell says. “We are still going through the data, but we know we will plant PHY 350 W3FE again. We also are looking at one of the new PhytoGen brand varieties — PHY 332 W3FE.
“I love raising cotton, and we consider the PhytoGen team part of our team. We need trusted partners, and we see PhytoGen striving to deliver consistency. That’s something we can go the long haul with.”
February 2021 – Rodney Moon
Reniform Nematodes Meet Their Match
Rodney Moon says the new PhytoGen reniform resistant varieties are a major breakthrough in managing high populations of this pest in his north Alabama cotton fields.
Third-generation north Alabama cotton farmer Rodney Moon just completed his 48th crop. He says he was raised in what many call “the cotton culture.”
“Cotton made things go around here,” Moon says. “It paid the bills, and in my case, it’s the only crop I really feel attached to. I farm 100% dryland cotton and have grown 100% PhytoGen cottonseed for the past 15 years. PhytoGen has high-yielding varieties with excellent seedling vigor and fiber quality.”
With the help of his long-time crop consultant, Bill Webster, the Alabama farmer prides himself on being able to deal successfully with challenging situations that affect his cotton crop.
“Bill knows his business very well,” Moon says. “I wouldn’t want to plant a stand of cotton without Bill and his crew to help.”
Reniform Nematodes Pose a Problem
However, Moon says extremely high populations of reniform nematodes in his cotton fields were a “tough nut to crack.” The Auburn University Soil Testing Laboratory classifies numbers over 200 reniform nematodes per 100 cc of soil as “high populations.” Moon has fields with 2,000-3,000 reniform nematodes per 100 cc of soil.
“I call them the silent robber,” he says. “Because they are almost microscopic, you can’t see them, but they are out there. When the numbers begin to get high, you will see symptoms in the cotton plant such as stunting, yellowing leaves and wilting. Reniform nematodes delay the crop. You may not lose a stand, but you lose some of the benefits of early growth and early fruiting. In the end, this damage results in yield loss.”
Moon says he used to manage them with aldicarb before it went off the market. He also says rotating with corn is helpful. But because he now grows 100% cotton, that is not an option for his operation.
“Once we stopped our corn rotation, the reniform nematode numbers started to build and steadily became worse,” he says. “That’s the situation I have gotten myself into. We tried a few products that gave us some help, but none of them provided a real solution.”
Reniform Resistant Varieties ‘Showed Out’
In 2019 and 2020, Moon trialed PhytoGen® brand varieties resistant to reniform nematodes in fields next to susceptible varieties.
“I saw a 250-pound yield increase with the reniform resistant varieties over the susceptible varieties,” he says. “Where I had those high reniform nematode numbers, the resistant varieties really showed out.
“In 2021, I plan to grow the two PhytoGen reniform resistant varieties I grew in 2020. They will be commercially available this year as PHY 332 W3FE and PHY 443 W3FE. They are strong varieties that graded middling last year with 37 staple, mic in the range and good leaf grades.”
In addition to their resistance to reniform nematodes, Moon appreciates the varieties having resistance to root knot nematodes and bacterial blight. PHY 332 W3FE also has tolerance to vert wilt.
“In our rolling topography, we have redder soil ridges on the hills and darker, better soils down in the flats,” he says. “We typically have vert problems on our best-yielding ground, so verticillium wilt tolerance is a big plus for us. It’s a pleasure to work with the PhytoGen people who are dedicated to making a better cotton plant.
“When you combine all the benefits I mentioned with WideStrike® 3 Insect Protection and the Enlist™ weed control system, the PhytoGen varieties offer the total package,” he says. “They are easy to manage and hard to beat. They make life pretty simple.”
March 2021 – Van Voigt
Whipping Nematodes On The South High Plains
Van Voigt (far right) farms cotton in the Texas South Plains with (from left) long-time employee Fabian Sigala; Van’s son, Kyle; and Van’s father, Harold.
Van Voigt farms mostly dryland cotton in Lynn and Garza counties in the South High Plains of Texas with his father, Harold, and his son, Kyle. They all bring something to the table and pool their talents when it comes to producing a successful crop.
Since groundwater is a scarce commodity in this area, the Voigts decided to install drip irrigation on one of their fields about eight years ago. During the first growing season using the new system, Harold’s eagle eye spotted a problem.
“There’s something wrong with the cotton in that corner over there,” he said.
Van remembers running the cotton stripper across the field three years later and dumping five times. Then he turned around and went from one end to the other on the next set of rows and never dumped.
“We asked our Simplot representative, Nathan King, to take a look because we didn’t know what was going on,” Van says. “He put us in contact with PhytoGen Cotton Development Specialist Ken Legé, who came out to the field, ran a lot of soil tests and found that we had reniform nematodes. I had never heard of a reniform nematode, but some of our farming practices were spreading them everywhere.
“The reniform nematodes had started in the corner of the field that caught my dad’s eye earlier. We were farming conventionally, so we would chisel across the row and move dirt from one area to another. And we weren’t cleaning our equipment before we would run to another field because we didn’t know any better.”
Today, the West Texas farmers have switched to no-till and plant into a cover crop. They don’t disturb the field again except to run the spray rig and the stripper to avoid moving the nematodes from one field to another.
Yield Doubled, Nematode Numbers Declined
The Voigts have worked with Legé for the past five years to try to get rid of their reniform nematode problem. He educated them about the pest and conducted variety trials in a test plot on the irrigated field where the reniform nematodes first showed up.
In 2020, Legé had five different varieties in the test plot. The susceptible variety — like one they would normally plant — only made 750 pounds to the acre. The reniform-resistant variety — now available as PhytoGen® brand PHY 443 W3FE — made 1,450 pounds per acre on the very next row.
“This shows you how mean those nematodes are,” Van says. “And the loan on the reniform-resistant variety was 56.5 cents. We were tickled with that. It’s also a big deal to me for the variety to be resistant to bacterial blight. You can wear out a pair of boots going back and forth trying to decide if the infected plants are going to live or not. That time of year, we need to be moving on to the next job instead of worrying about bacterial blight.
“If it weren’t for PhytoGen and Ken Legé, that irrigated field would be planted to something else because you can’t be in the cotton business and survive on 750-pound-per-acre irrigated cotton. Another benefit to the PhytoGen reniform- resistant variety is our nematode numbers are going way down. We hope one day we will be nematode-free again.
“I think PhytoGen really has something with PHY 443 W3FE. It should get this reniform nematode problem whipped, so nobody else has to go through the learning curve we did.”
