By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Peanut Commission and University of Georgia (UGA) Peanut Team remind growers to be cautious about seed germination, make sure to use Thimet insecticide and ensure their plants have adequate moisture as planting season continues across the region.
Scott Monfort, UGA Extension peanut agronomist, highlights the various factors when discussing the current planting season.
“The biggest thing is knowing the germ of your seed; asking if it’s in the mid-90s or wherever it might be, if you’re dropping off or not. The thing you need to be mindful there is, you’re going to have to increase your seed numbers a little bit per acre,” Monfort said. “The other thing is as we’re early, we need to make sure we’re using Thimet instead of any other insecticide because it does help us with the (tomato spotted wilt) virus (TSWV). Try not to use too many things in-furrow that you really don’t need, especially like in-furrow fertilizers or a lot of things we really don’t recommend. We need this crop to jump out of the ground and grow. We don’t need anything in there that’s going to cause it to slow down any whatsoever.”
Peanut producers are hoping for an improved production season following last year’s crop that was ravaged by TSWV. TSWV is vectored by thrips, tiny insects that can spread the virus by feeding on infected plants. Infected thrips transmit the virus when they move to feed on healthy plants. The virus can dwarf plants and cause significant reductions in peanut yields.
Adequate Moisture
Adequate moisture is also a key factor in how the peanut plants emerge from the ground, especially in the first couple of weeks.
“The biggest thing too, with irrigated acres is make sure that if we’re on the dry side, which right now we’ve got moisture most of the places and you’ve got good moisture, that’s good and there’s no need to put any irrigation out before you plant but come back within seven days. If we’re dry and not getting any rain, let’s not let those early seedlings go through a severe dry period,” Monfort said. “We want to make sure they have plenty of moisture.”