By LON TONNESON
Diligent crop scouting is essential when growing sunflowers. Some good recommendations from Extension specialists and private agronomists for successful sunflower scouting include:
• Have a plan of attack. Identify what pests are active during the crop growth cycle. Scout fields every seven to 10 days.
• Do your homework. Use tools and resources from Extension and other reference publications, and do some extra research in order to understand what pests and diseases look like; saving photos to a cell phone or portable device can allow for quick identification, as can various field scouting guides.
• Get out of the truck. There is no substitute for actually walking the fields.
• Keep thorough records. Take notes, pictures and samples.
This article published in the February, 2011 edition of DAKOTA FARMER.
All rights reserved. Copyright Farm Progress Cos. 2011.