Statewide
Staple Herbicide Use in Texas Cotton Restricts Rotation to Grain Sorghum
Staple (or Staple LX), a.i. pyrithiobac sodium, is an occasional herbicide used in Texas cotton. Texas producers of any crop are encouraged to rotate their weed control herbicides to slow the potential for development of herbicide-resistant weeds (use pre-plant herbicides, do not rely on the same chemistry year after year, etc.). Staple is one pre-emerge and post-emerge option, but the label states “do not rotate to grain sorghum in the year following a Staple (LX) application.”
According to Dr. Paul Bauman, Texas AgriLife weed specialist, College Station, Staple is used some along the Texas Gulf Coast for pigweed control, and Staple offers some help for Roundup resistant waterhemp control. In the High Plains Staple is a herbicide of choice for morningglory control and likewise is an option for control of newly documented Roundup resistant Palmer amaranth (pigweed). However, Staple use precludes any consideration of grain sorghum the following year. Dr. Pete Dotray, Texas AgriLife, Lubbock notes ‘the injury potential on grain sorghum the next year is real,’ let alone trying to plant sorghum in the year when hailout of cotton occurs.
Texas High Plains
Hailout/Replant/Late Plant Guide is Now Available
The 11thth annual edition of Texas AgriLife Extension Service’ “Alternative Crop Options after Failed Cotton and Late-Season Crop Planting for the Texas South Plains” has been updated for 2012. The guide is a “first things” approach to what you need for assessing hail damage and stands in current crops, and what your replant options are. Grain sorghum is a key replant consideration in most cotton hailout/replant decisions due to inexpensive establishment costs, income potential, and generating valuable surface residues in a cotton rotation. Herbicides, as noted above, can limit sorghum as an option. Tips for planting dates, seeding rates, herbicides already applied, etc. are noted throughout the document, which is available at http://lubbock.tamu.edu.
