Last week was another exciting week in Colquitt County agriculture. The weather forecast this week calls for increased rain chance for the middle part of the week. Cool, wet weather has challenged corn growers.
Emily Watson is planning a Farmer Input Meeting on April 19, 2024. This meeting will be held at the Colquitt County Extension office from noon to 1:30PM. If you have questions about this project please contact Emily and her contact information is below.
In this week’s episode, Dr. Scott Monfort talked peanuts with Dr. Eric Prostko, Dr. Bob Kemerait, Dr. Corley Holbrook, Dr. Wes Porter and Dr. Scott Tubbs. In this episode, the peanut team revisited the breeding efforts for nematode and disease management along with answered questions related to early planting, weather, irrigation, weed management.
EPISODE 6, Season 2
Word on the street is that the UGA Cotton Team is going to copy the Peanut Team and have their own pod cast. Stay tuned.
Can I tank mix Liberty and Roundup for my corn? According to Dr. Eric Prostko, UGA Weed Corn Weed Specialist, you can. Eric sent me the slide below that shows 22 oz of Powermax 3 tank mixed with 22 oz of Liberty and 64 oz of atrazine applied 3 weeks after planting resulting in great weed control at 48 days after treatment (DAT).
Remember that Liberty-link corn hybrids are tolerant of postemergence applications of Liberty (glufosinate). Liberty provides good control of many troublesome weeds including morning glory, Texas panicum, and sicklepod. Atrazine should always be included with Liberty to improve the spectrum of control and to provide residual weed control.
**Many (not all) field corn hybrids are available that contain both the RR and LL traits.
I need to replant my corn, how do I control a failed stand of corn? This question has been brought up several times over the last week or so.
Dr. Prostko says that clethodim works the best and takes about 10 to 14 days to work. The slide below shows that SelectMax applied at 6 oz/A did an excellent job on corn that was V4 at the time of application and the pictures were taken 40 DAT. Corn can be replanted 6 days after a clethodim application.
How do I control wild radish in peanuts? In research plots by Dr. Prostko, excellent control (≥ 90%) of wild radish has been obtained with preemergence applications of Strongarm + Valor, early-post/cracking applications of paraquat + Storm, and/or postemergence applications of Cadre or Strongarm. As with most other weeds, a program approach that includes tillage and multiple herbicide applications will be the most effective for wild radish control.
Some other cool facts about wild radishes. Wild radish seeds are formed in pods botanically known as siliques. The seeds do not shatter from the siliques. The siliques must break down before the seed can be released for germination. Each silique can contain from 4 to 10 seeds. Research conducted in South Carolina indicated that a single wild radish plant can produce anywhere from 1,470 to 10,170 seeds/plant depending upon the time of year that emergence occurred. Wild radish emergence is significantly reduced when seeds are buried at depths greater than 3.2”. Thus, deep tillage would be a very beneficial component of control programs. In Australia, wild radish seeds buried at a depth of 4” for 4 years were still 43% viable. (Source: Dr. Eric Prostko)
How does the stage of development of small grains affect forage quality? This year has been a challenging year for oat baleage production. If you are reading the reference “Understanding and Improving Forage Quality“ it stages that if the boot-early head stage is missed, take the first harvest at the dough stage for forage quality. According to Dr. Dennis Hancock, Center Director of the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, the quality of small grains starts to decline rapidly after the boot stage. However, as the grain fills, it adds NFC (starch, in particular), and this partially offsets the decline in quality. Once it gets to the soft dough stage, however, the fiber in the forage becomes far more concentrated and more highly lignified, so it sharply declines thereafter.
Below is information about the nutrient content of various winter annual silage at different stages of growth. This information is from the publication “Managing Small Grains for Livestock Forage,” UK Extension AGR-160.
Relative Differences in Growth Stage Development, and Crude Protein % of Various Small Grain Species
On farm corn trial!! This past week, we had the opportunity to plant one location of the UGA on-farm corn trial at the Sunbelt Ag Expo. This year, several county agents across the state will plant a replicated on-farm variety trial that consists of 10 hybrids. The hybrids include Dekalb 7045, Dekalb 6835, DG56TC44, DG 58TC94, Pioneer 1608, Pioneer 17677, Cropland 5760, Cropland 5893, Agratech 711, and Agratech 85VP. This project would not be possible without industry support.
This week, Tanner Wilson started his new role as Colquitt County ANR Educator. He is a recent Auburn graduate, and he had fun this past week planting corn plots.
Have a great week,
Jeremy M. Kichler
Colquitt County Extension Coordinator
The University of Georgia Cooperative Exten