Hunt Sanders
South Georgia is in an extreme drought. Many counties are in Exceptional drought. Ben Hill County is mostly under the D4 “Exceptional Drought”. Check out the detailed forecast below from the National Weather Service.
Podcasts:
Peanut Podcast “all about the pod”
Some Recommendations on Peanut Varieties and Month of Planting:
April:
- GA-12Y, Arnie, TUF Runner725
- Thimet
May Panting
- All other varieties with Thimet
- GA-18RU plant May 11th – 25th
If you are planting in short rotations with higher chances of leaf spot
Plant early, be timely,
Varieties for nematode acres:
TifNV-HG, GA-22MPR, GA-23RKN
Tifton UGA weather site data:
Peanut Planting Considerations from Dr. Scott Monfort
It has been hot and dry for the last several weeks. Growers need to be mindful of the moisture in the fields being planted. For the non-irrigated fields, the soil profile is DRY!!! The rain we received a week or so ago will not be enough to germinate the seed and allow them to emerge consistently. The seed is too expensive to put in dry soil and hope for rain. Keep the seed in the bag and wait for better conditions. In irrigated fields, it would be good to ensure the soil profile is well-moistened prior to planting. Try not to plant in dry, hot soil and irrigate after planting. This could shock the seed and cause uneven emergence. It is always better to irrigate before and after planting when temperatures are high and dry, as they are currently.
A few things to think about:
Make sure the moisture is there. Dig the soil profile and see where the moisture line is. Even though there may be some moisture a few inches down, keep digging and see how far it goes. Make sure it’s not a 2-3 inch “moisture band” with dry soil underneath.
Cotton Planting Considerations from Dr. Camp Hand
Thankfully for cotton, we are still early in the planting window. Normally we start in mid-April, but I did get some reports during the first week of April of some cotton going in following rain just so dryland guys could take advantage of moisture. I had a similar idea and planted about 7 acres of dryland on 4/10. In that situation, we deepened up significantly, so the seed was below moisture, and as of the Monday after planting we were looking good but still had some time to go.
All of this to say is yes, we can deepen up to avoid hot conditions, or put seed in moisture if there is any, or consider planting larger seeded varieties, but we are still early in the planting window for cotton and it is not time to push the panic button yet!!! Right now, the most critical piece to getting a stand in my mind is watering an irrigated field before you start planting, to ensure you put the seed in good, clean moisture. Then follow up with additional irrigation within a few days of planting. For dryland, have your finger on the trigger and be ready to go when the opportunity presents itself – or in other words “be sitting on go” when we catch a rain.
Corn & Soybean Planting Considerations from Dr. Nick Shay
With little to no rain in the forecast until the end of April, I am still receiving calls from growers considering “dusting in” their remaining acres. There’s no question that dry conditions will elevate the risks associated with continuing to plant field corn and soybeans.
While this approach is inherently risky, both corn and soybeans can tolerate dry soils for a period of time. However, several factors can significantly reduce germination and successful emergence. First, if soil moisture is below roughly 30–50% of the seed’s weight, germination will not initiate. In this state, seed can remain viable for several weeks, but elevated soil temperatures may reduce overall seed vigor over time. Planting depth becomes vitally important and trying to catch a light rain in the top inch of the soil would not be advised for seeds that would otherwise be exposed to extreme temperature swings. Second, if there is enough moisture to initiate germination—often described as moisture “two knuckles deep”—but conditions turn dry shortly after, seedlings may only survive for about a week before death. As concerning is the hot soil temperatures the small plants will be growing into.
Third, hot and dry soil conditions can increase pressure from soil-dwelling pests, which may damage or destroy seed and young seedlings. Fourth, surface-applied or pop-up nitrogen is at greater risk of volatilization under these conditions. Finally, pre-emergence (PRE) herbicides may either break down before crop emergence or fail to properly activate due to insufficient moisture, reducing their overall effectiveness. I understand that some still may have to move forward with planting. I hope that this helps to guide their decisions and understand these risks. My recommendations would be to wait until our next rain or transition to cotton or peanut. Data from this past year has indicated that as long as we plant before April 28th, we can still sustain adequate yields.
Drought/Dryland Peanuts/Herbicides (Prostko)
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!!
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)?
Row Crop Update:
Corn in the county ranges from around V2-V8. If pivots have been active, the corn looks good. It is easy to tell where pivots are not reaching certain spots of fields or where pivot nozzles have not worked correctly. This is where pivot uniformity tests come in. Test pivots to make sure they are applying uniform irrigation events, especially in years like this one where every nozzle plays a significant role in providing moisture to your crop.
Cotton and peanut planting slowly began. Some dusting in of cotton and irrigated peanuts. When it comes to planting right now, I reiterate the check moisture. Don’t just dig down to see where it is at, keep digging to see if there is continued moisture or if it is just a small 2–3-inch band of moisture that will not hold up.
Do I fertilize/spray my residual herbicides now due to this chance of rain?
We all know that these rain chances are not guarantees, it is a coin toss as in who gets it. However, this seems to be the best chance we have. Different sources for weather forecasts show different percentages of rain. The National Weather Service shows a 60% chance on Saturday for the Fitzgerald area whereas the weather channel is showing a 24% chance for Saturday.
There are several resources your county agent has access to for assisting the public:
- SpotOn Digital Sprayer Calibrator & nozzle cleaner tool – Accurate flow rate checking of individual sprayer nozzles.
- Fertilizer Spinner-Disc Spreader Calibration – spread pattern testing of fertilizer spreaders.
- Hay Moisture Tester – Evaluation and assessment of hay to bale at optimum moisture content – decrease mold growth and increase feed value. Test baled or unbaled (in field)
- Forced Motor Planter Calibration – at-plant insecticide hopper box calibrations. Potential benefits: increase insecticide application efficacy with the appropriate and effective application of product label and recommended control rate. Decrease
- Mobile Irrigation Lab – Pivot efficiency evaluation/Irrigation audits to support water conservation and decrease irrigation costs.
- Harvest Moisture Testing – Corn and soybean moisture testing to decrease drying time and fuel costs.
- Enviroscape Watershed Model – Environmental education programming tool. Interactive demonstration of the sources and effects of water pollution. Present and illustrate watershed/stormwater concept.
- Rainfall Simulator Tabletop Educational Program tool –
- Digital wind meter educational tool – Anemometer measures wind speed to support safe pesticide applications and reduce drift.
- Pivot Calibrations
- Drone imagery/scouting