A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

News, events, and happenings in Colquitt County agriculture.

Peanut Hull Scrape Clinics are starting September 1!!!

We will be starting peanut hull scrape clinics at the Colquitt County Extension office starting September 1. If you want more information please go HERE.

UGA Cotton & Peanut Research Field Day – The University of Georgia Extension Cotton and Peanut Teams, will host a research field day on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, in Tifton, Georgia. The field day will start at 8:00 a.m. at the Tifton Campus Conference Center (TCCC) in the North Parking Lot and will conclude with lunch, sponsored by Georgia Peanut Commission and Georgia Cotton Commission, at TCCC. If you plan to attend, please RSVP for lunch by calling Ashley Golden 229-386-3366.

Last week was an interesting week. It rained almost every day making corn harvest and field work a challenge. The illustration below shows the recorded rainfall for the Colquitt County area over the past week (August 21-28, 2021) courtesy of NOAA.

Rainfall August 21-28, 2021 Courtesy of NOAA

What else is happening?

Below is an example of underground white mold. Underground white mold can be a problem even in wetter years, quietly eating away at pods- out of sight but hopefully not out of mind.

Underground white mold courtesy Mark Crosby

Charcoal rot on corn from Colquitt County- corn anywhere in GA prematurely lodging?  Split the lower stem open and look for the black and small black pepper grains (microslerotia) of Macrophomina phaseolina.  Worse in stressed years. 

An example of Charcoal Rot, Colquitt County 2021

Corn Rootworms in Peanuts Have Been Worse in Wet Weather. Payton Sapp, Burke County
Rootworms are the larvae of cucumber beetles (spotted cucumber beetle and banded cucumber
beetle), and they thrive in the moist soil conditions that have been prevalent in most peanut fields so far
in 2021. High risk fields are those with heavy soil texture and irrigation. Growers in some areas in
Georgia have been scouting for rootworms. Take a look at the video Dr. Abney put together on scouting
for rootworms. You can use this link to watch the video or the QR code below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHwpLpZ3pv8&t=18s

The only proven management tactic for rootworm is the application of granular chlorpyrifos and now
EPA has stopped this application. Rootworm injury in untreated plots in UGA research trials in Plains last
week exceeded 60%. That is, more than 60% of all the pods on the plants had rootworm feeding injury.
If you think you find root worm or root worm damage on peanuts, please let me know.

If you have questions please contact your local county Extension agent.

Jeremy Kichler is the County Extension Coordinator representing the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in Colquitt County. His email is jkichler@uga.edu .