A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

Links in the above section:

ARC/PLC Decision Aid
https://www.afpc.tamu.edu/tools/farm/farmbill/2018/

Additional Resources Available at https://agecon.uga.edu/extension/policy.html:

Pecan Tree Bark Shedding – Dr. Lenny Wells

Every year I receive calls regarding trees in which the bark sheds for no apparent reason. This understandably creates great alarm among growers. I see it most often on Desirable but it can occur on other cultivars as well. Usually the outer bark layer sloughs off  exposing the inner bark layer, which has a brown or cinammon color. As long as you don’t see the light yellowish/white wood underneath the bark and the tree is showing no other signs of problems, the tree is fine.  Here are a few photos I have received this year of this problem:

Fire Ant Mounds in Pecan Orchards – Dr. Angel Acebes-Doria

The recent wet, unseasonably warm weather has lots of insects on the move. Most of them don’t matter much to pecan growers, but fire ants can be a different story. That’s especially true if the ants build their mounds inside the guards used to protect young trees from herbicide applications. Filling the tubes with dirt is a bad thing for the trees and also makes any control difficult or impossible. The problem can occur in any orchard setting but is particularly common in low-lying sites. The ants are trying to get up above grade to stay dry, and the guard tubes make piling the dirt up easier.
Unfortunately, there really is no solution that doesn’t involve removing the guards. Even pouring insecticide directly down the tube won’t always do the trick – it takes a lot more liquid than most people think to drench all the way down to the bottom of the underlying mound, and the dirt would still be there. The guards protect the ants from orchard floor sprays just as effectively as they protect the tree trunk from herbicide sprays. If you leave the guards on the problem is likely to continue as long as the weather stays warm and wet (a typical south GA “winter”). Once the guards are off, an orchard floor spray with chlorpyrifos will reduce ant activity and mound building as long as you pick a time when the ants are active (put a little bit of peanut butter or tuna out near a mound to check for activity. They’ll be on it 5-10 minutes if they are). Follow that up with a bait application in the spring and early fall to reduce fire ant populations before the winter season next year.
At the very least, you need to remove the guards from trees with mounds already in them. It’s not the ants that are the problem, it’s the dirt. Six inches of dirt inside the guard means your tree is effectively planted 6” too deep, and the graft is probably underground. Especially for very young trees, that is a real problem.

Prepared by: Dr. Will Hudson

2020 Pecan Spray Guides HERE

Tiller Counting – Rome Ethridge

Now’s the time we need to make sure we have adequate tillering in small grains. Each tiller produces a grain head so we want plenty for a good grain yield.  Tillers = grain heads. If not 80/square foot then split sidedress in two applications. If 80 or more then just sidedress 2nd week in February.  The plant below has 3 tillers:

Tifton Beef Cattle Short Course

We invite you to attend the annual Tifton Beef Cattle Short Course on March 3rd, and stay for the 62nd Tifton Bull Evaluation Sale on March 4th.  This year’s program will be a packed line-up of seminars and demonstrations to better equip Agents and Cattle Producers on a well-rounded operation. This will be a great opportunity to network with industry stakeholders, learn, and have a great time! All of the details, online registration for producers, mail-in registration, and full program can be found by going to ugabeef.com/programs and clicking on “Tifton Short Course” or use this link.

https://beef.caes.uga.edu/programs/tifton-beef-cattle-short-course.html

 

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