Upcoming Production Meetings in Colquitt County:
- Colquitt County Vegetable Production Meeting — January 24, 2023 at Noon
- Colquitt County Precision Ag and Irrigation Meeting — January 27, 2023 at Noon
- Colquitt County Peanut Production Meeting — February 10, 2023, at Noon
- Colquitt County Row Crop Weed Management Meeting — February 13, 2023, at Noon
- Colquitt County Pecan Production Meeting — February 16, 2023, at Noon
- Colquitt County Cotton Production Meeting — March 1, 2023, at 6 PM
All of the production meetings mentioned above will be held at the Colquitt County Extension office. If you have questions please call the office.
Other meetings of interest..
January 17th – Georgia Corn Short Course – Tifton, GA
• January 19th – GA Peanut Farm Show – Tifton, GA
• January 25th – Georgia Cotton Commission Annual Meeting – Tifton, GA
It has been an exciting couple of weeks in Colquitt County agriculture. The top story has been the cold weather. Below is the updated drought monitor and rain amounts from the rain event that occurred this week from CoCoRaHS.
Mr. Kichler, When was the last time it was this cold for this long in Colquitt County? This has been a common question for weather enthusiasts. Pam Knox, Director of the UGA Weather Network and Agricultural Climatologist, sent me the information below that shows how many days the minimum temperature was less than or equal to 20 degrees for the period from 1990 to 2023 in Colquitt County. This information can be obtained at this website. Since 1990, the temperature has dropped to 20 degrees or below 22 times, including three times last month in Moultrie, Georgia.
My citrus trees look really bad!!
The last couple of weeks, I have received numerous questions and pictures from concerned citrus growers about the impacts of the cold weather on their trees. Below are few tips from Jake Price, UGA Citrus Agent about the impacts of the cold weather on citrus and how to manage these challenges.
What is happening with cold damaged citrus trees?
It takes time to know the extent of damage that has occurred to citrus trees. Obvious early symptoms of damage are leaf curl and tanned foliage. After a few days many trees begin to shed leaves. Some green foliage that looks ok may also drop. This is actually a good sign because trees and or limbs that are killed by a freeze do not drop leaves. Foliage that turns tan and sticks to the tree indicates the limb or tree has died. It is common to see younger late season growth die back from freezes while order growth on the same tree appears ok.
What do I do now to my damaged trees?
Do not prune citrus trees now. We do not yet know the extent of damage to limbs, branches, and the trunks of trees. By May or June limb damage will be obvious. Wait until then to prune these dead limbs by pruning into the green wood below the dead wood. Any fruit left on trees was frozen and is no longer good. In general frozen fruit is only good to use as juice but fruit should be juiced within a couple of days after freezing. READ MORE
What about data from the UGA On Farm Cotton Variety Trials?
Excellent question. Colquitt County hosted a location of the UGA On Farm Cotton Variety trial at the Sunbelt Ag Expo. Results are shown in the information below and in a pdf format here.
Results from another on-farm variety trial are shown below. This plot was planted on May 20, 2022, and harvested on November 7, 2022. Each plot was six rows wide and replicated three times across the field. The average length of plots was 938 feet. Fiber samples were sent to UGA Microgin for information on fiber quality and turnouts. We would like to thank the Davis Family Farms for all the help with this project.
2022 UGA Colquitt County Extension Cotton Variety Trial – Davis Location
| Variety | Lint Yield | Gin Turnout | Color Grade | Staple | Mic | Strength | Grade | Length | Uniformity |
| DP 2038 B3XF | 1777 | 41% | 31 | 36 | 4.4 | 28.9 | 2 | 1.13 | 80.9 |
| ST 5091 B3XF | 1734 | 39% | 31 | 36 | 4.4 | 27.9 | 2 | 1.12 | 81.9 |
| DP 2333 B3XF | 1634 | 39% | 31 | 37 | 4.7 | 29.9 | 2 | 1.15 | 81.0 |
| AR 9831 B3XF | 1591 | 39% | 31 | 37 | 4.5 | 29.8 | 2 | 1.16 | 82.7 |
| DG 3799 B3XF | 1586 | 39% | 31 | 37 | 4.4 | 30.5 | 3 | 1.17 | 82.1 |
| DP 2127 B3XF | 1581 | 38% | 31 | 36 | 4.8 | 31.7 | 2 | 1.12 | 82.8 |
| AR 9371 B3XF | 1566 | 38% | 31 | 37 | 4.6 | 29.9 | 2 | 1.14 | 83.2 |
| DP 1646 B2XF | 1532 | 38% | 31 | 39 | 4.2 | 29.7 | 2 | 1.23 | 81.6 |
| NG 3195 B3XF | 1531 | 37% | 31 | 37 | 4.4 | 30.5 | 2 | 1.16 | 84.2 |
| ST 4595 B3XF | 1525 | 38% | 31 | 37 | 4.6 | 28.9 | 3 | 1.16 | 82.5 |
| NG 4190 B3XF | 1502 | 37% | 41 | 37 | 4.5 | 29.5 | 2 | 1.14 | 83.4 |
| Average | 1596 | 38% | 31.9 | 36.9 | 4.5 | 29.7 | 2.18 | 1.15 | 82.39 |
Aphids!!! I have been getting questions about aphid thresholds in oats and other small grains. Growers or scouts should inspect fields 25-35 days after planting, full tiller, and heading. Yield-reducing transmission of Barley Yellow Dwarf virus can occur during the first two periods; transmission at heading is too late to reduce yield. According to the 2022 UGA Pest Control Handbook thresholds in small grain include treating when aphid populations reach or exceed the following thresholds at various stages of development:
Aphid treatment thresholds are:
• Seedlings (2/row ft)
• 6–10 inch plants (6/row ft)
• Stem elongation (2/stem)
• Flag leaf (5/flag)
• Heading (10/head to include flag)
• Soft/Hard Dough stages (Do not treat)
If you would like more information about insecticide selection in small grain it is available in the UGA Pest Management Handbook.
If you have any questions please contact your local County Extension agent
What about Quelex? Quelex is a new broadleaf herbicide for wheat, barley, and triticale. The label allows it to be used as a preplant burndown treatment for wheat to control emerged weeds prior to, or shortly after planting (prior to emergence). It may also be used as a postemergence tool when wheat is between the 2-leaf to flag leaf stage of growth. Do not apply more than 0.75 oz/A per growing season and no more than 2.25 oz/A per year for both burndown and in-season use. A nonionic surfactant at up to 0.25% v/v or a crop oil concentrate at 0.5 to 1% v/v should be included with Quelex. Control of small common chickweed, Carolina geranium, henbit, and horseweed is expected. For radish, it is effective when the weed is small but on larger plants MCPA and 2,4-D are more effective.
Small grain growth stages... Knowledge about small grain growth stages is important for herbicide selection and other production practices. Currently (January 6, 2023), area small grains are in Feekes 2-3 stage of development. If you would like more information on growth stages in small grains please go here.
What is a tiller? According to the Southern Grains Resource Management Handbook, tillering is the development of shoots from buds at the base of the main stem (Figure 1). The count of leaves on the main stem is a good way to measure plant development and is linearly related to GDD. Planting to six leaves on the main stem (three tillers) requires about 730 GDD. During initial development, the tiller is dependent upon the main shoot for nutrition, but once the tiller develops approximately three or more leaves, it becomes independent of the parent plant for nutrition and will form its own roots. Varieties show relatively little variation (5 percent to 10 percent) in leaf development rate. Planting date or season-to-season climate variation, appear to create greater change in leaf development rate than variety.
Secondary tillers may also arise from primary tillers. The extent of tillering is dependent upon genetic and environmental factors. Tillering increases with high light intensity, reduced plant populations, and high soil nutrient (primarily nitrogen) availability. High temperatures, high plant populations, soil moisture stress and pests can reduce tillering. Although each tiller has the potential to bear a productive seedhead, generally, about one-half of the tillers do not survive to bear grain. Aborted tillers are affected early in tiller development, long before visual evidence of tiller death is evident.
Have a great weekend,
Jeremy M. Kichler
Colquitt County Extension Coordinator