It is Expo week! Please come down and attend the North America’s Premier Farm Show in Moultrie. This is a great place to visit with Extension, industry and other people with an interest agriculture. The weather is supposed to be great for this annual event. Events include announcing the winners for the Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year and the Southeastern Hay contest will take place on Tuesday.
The next Colquitt County Cattlemen’s Association meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at 7 p.m. Dr. Glenn Harris, a fertility expert at the University of Georgia, will be the keynote speaker. The event will take place at the Colquitt County Extension Office. If you would like to attend, please call the office at 229-616-7455.
The crop progress report that came out last week for Georgia shows that 7% of the cotton crop has been harvested and 23% of the peanut crop has been harvested. In Colquitt County, the peanut harvest is further along. Wet conditions this past week may help with the maturity process of dry land peanuts. Peanut maturity has been a challenge this year for local growers. Local growers are starting to harvest cotton, and the yields have been a little more optimistic compared to the peanut yields. The weekly crop progress report for Georgia from NASS can be seen here.
Below is the observed rainfall for the last seven days. According to this 2-3 inches were observed in the southeast part of Colquitt County.
Extension internships!! Extension internship applications are open! This is a paid opportunity for college students to work alongside a county agent to see the impact and everyday work of Extension. Please share with anyone you think may be interested in applying. The deadline for summer internships is February 1, 2024.
Information and Application: https://extension.uga.edu/about/join-our-team/internships.html
I have received a question or two about nematode sampling. As this year approaches, let’s keep a few things in mind. 1. If you need to take nematode samples for any reason, soil conditions should be near-perfect after the anticipated approaching rains. Soil that is too dry is unsuitable for nematode sampling, both because of the difficulty of getting the probe 6 to 8 inches into the soil and because very dry soils aren’t great in the first place for sampling.
2. When you pull the samples make sure they come from the root zone of the crop being assessed. For troubleshooting calls make sure you collect two separate samples- one from “bad areas” and one from “good” areas. Also it is Important that soil for nematode analysis is a) placed in ziploc bags and not paper soil sampling bags, b) kept cool and away from heat, and c) refrigerated if it cannot be sent quickly for assessment.
The 45th episode of All About the pod is below.
EPISODE 45
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/allaboutthepod/episodes/Episode-45—Peanut-Grades-e2ahhv6
Also Dr Steve Brown, Alabama Extension cotton specialist sent out a notice about the latest edition of the Cotton Specialists Corner podcast. This edition features three esteemed economists who discussed various methods of marketing cotton. The group included O.A. Cleveland and Don Shurley, Professors Emeritus of Mississippi State and the University of Georgia, respectively, and John Robinson, Professor and Extension Specialist for Cotton Marketing at Texas A&M. The podcast can be found in several venues, including Episode 32: Cotton Marketing Methods and Considerations.
Colquitt County corn variety demonstration results are below. This year, data was collected from two locations in Colquitt County, which included one at the Sunbelt Ag Expo and another one that was held on a farm. Companies that entered hybrids included AgraTech, Croplan, DynaGro, Dekalb, Pioneer, and NK. These demonstrations could not be possible without the support from the companies, Sunbelt Ag Expo, A. Bell Farms, Cannon Farms, and Dixie Farms.
Have a great week and if you have questions please let me know.
Jeremy M. Kichler
Colquitt County Extension Coordinator
The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension does not endorse or guarantee the performance of any products mentioned in this update.