It has become so dry that we are beyond the point of being worried about just being able to put seed in the ground or not. Our are area is in a dire need of rainfall, please continue to pray for rain, and those in Clinch, Echols, and Brantley counties that are being severely impacted by the massive wildfires in those areas. Aside from the wildfires in southeast Georgia we need rain for adequate soil moisture to plant as we are getting very close to that time. Several of the articles in this update are drought related as we need to consider different than normal management practices in this drought.
Topics in this Update:
- April Peanut Pointers (UGA Peanut Team)
- Drought/Dryland Peanuts/Herbicides (Dr. Eric Prostko, UGA Weed Specialist)
- Extension PA and Irrigation Blog (Dr. Wes Porter, UGA Precision Ag and Irrigation Specialist)
- Talkin’ Cotton Podcast – Season 3, Episode 9 (Dr. Camp Hand, UGA Cotton Agronomist)
- All About The Pod Episode 7, Season 4 (Dr. Scott Monfort, UGA Peanut Agronomist)
April Peanut Pointers (UGA Peanut Team)
Drought/Dryland Peanuts/Herbicides (Dr. Eric Prostko, UGA Weed Specialist)
No doubt the current drought conditions are on everyone’s mind. Thus, I have been getting tons of inquiries on how to manage herbicides in this situation, especially dryland fields. I don’t have all the answers but here are a few thoughts:
1) Residual herbicides must have moisture to be “activated”. Activation simply means the movement of the herbicide into the upper 1″-2″ of soil. This is the depth where most annual weeds emerge from. Moisture is also needed to keep the herbicide in the soil solution so that it can be absorbed into germinating weed roots and shoots.
2) In dry conditions, mechanical incorporation will improve the chances for success of some residual herbicides but is not a 100% guarantee under extreme drought conditions. In a drought, herbicides such as Prowl or Sonalan can be more tightly adsorbed onto soil colloids which makes them less available for plant uptake. If a grower is mechanically incorporating a herbicide and he cannot see the implement behind him because of the dust cloud, its very doubtful that incorporation will matter.
3) Since most residual herbicides only last on the ground for about 7-10 days (~14-17 days for Valor) before they must be moisture activated, it might be a good idea in dryland fields to go “naked” (no PRE) at planting. Wishing/hoping that more reliable rainfall is in the future? It costs roughly $20-23/A for the UGA standard PRE program of either Prowl or Sonalan (32 oz/A) + Strongarm (0.225 oz/A) + Valor (3 oz/A). So if it does not rain and these fail to perform, that’s good money lost!
4) A strong “naked” weed control program would include an “AT-CRACKING/EPOST” application of Gramoxone + Storm (brand name or home-made) + a Group 15 herbicide (Anthem Flex, Dual Magnum, Enversa, Outlook, Warrant, or Zidua: FYI, I have no preference here) followed by a timely “POST” application of Cadre + Cobra + 2,4-DB + Group 15. But, a grower must be ready to pull the trigger in these fields that have no PRE. There can be no delay!!
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| Figure 1. “Naked” (no PRE) program for dryland peanuts. Group 15 herbicides that can be used here include Anthem Flex, Dual Magnum, Enversa, Outlook, Warrant, and Zidua. |
5) I do believe that since Valor does last a little longer without moisture activation and is super cheap (~$1/oz), that it might be worth the risk (cheap insurance)?
Extension PA and Irrigation Blog (Dr. Wes Porter, UGA Precision Ag and Irrigation Specialist)
With the current conditions of drought and dry soils I wanted to provide everyone with some data and recommendations for planting into these conditions. I would say that this compliments Dr. Prostko’s post from earlier this morning too.
I appreciate Camp Hand, Nick Shay, Nick Gladden, and Scott Monfort for their additions and help with this blog post. We know this is an ever-changing situation, reach out if you have questions and/or concerns. Hopefully, this helps you with recommendations to your producers.
Planting Considerations for Dry and Hot Weather Conditions | Extension Precision Ag and Irrigation
Talkin’ Cotton Podcast – Season 3, Episode 9 (Dr. Camp Hand, UGA Cotton Agronomist)
Below is a link to the first in-season episode of the Talkin’ Cotton Podcast for the 2026 growing season. If you have suggestions on future topics or any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out. Distribute this link as you see fit.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2350262/episodes/19027089
All About The Pod Episode 7, Season 4 (Dr. Scott Monfort, UGA Peanut Agronomist)
Do I Have Enough Moisture To Plant Or Should I Wait? https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-34tsn-1a9f964