Driving back from Athens yesterday to T-town I ran into heavy rain south of Macon. It didn’t last long, but it was blinding. Any rain for Georgia, at this point is a good thing.
Drought conditions obviously can and likely will have tremendous affect on our 2026 row crops; without sufficient rain. Irrigation can only do so much.
For this morning, a few thoughts on how conditions at planting and early in the season affect diseases, nematodes, and management.
1. You know growers should avoid “cold and wet”. I don’t think we need to worry about that.
2. The best situation would be where soils are warm enough and moist enough to support rapid, uniform germination and vigorous, uniform emergence. Rapid. Uniform. Vigorous.
3. Soils that are hot and dry are problematic as well. Hot and dry soils predispose a peanut crop to outbreaks of Aspergillus crown rot. In dry soils, granular products like AgLogic 15GG and Counter 20G may not be activated, at least initially, to protect against nematodes. These same conditions may make lesser corn stalk borers more severe in a peanut crop, but I need to stay in my pathology lane.
4. Very warm conditions early in the peanut season may also flare early-season white mold which loves the early heat.
Bottom line- as you talk to growers, be aware that hot and dry can 1) affect performance of granular nematicides, 2) increase risk to tomato spotted wilt if peanut emergence is patchy and sporadic across a field, 3) increase risk to Aspergulllus crown rot and LCSBs., 4) could increase risk to early season white mold.
Solutions to all of these could include a) use of irrigation, b) adjusting planting date, c) careful choice of what you put in-furrow, and d) 3-5 weeks after emergence considering application of Proline in a narrow band over the peanuts.
Pic 2- while nobody believes me anymore, predictions are for an El Niño to begin to develop, perhaps a strong one, beginning in late summer. While this could bring catastrophic drought to places like SE Asia, it should also bring us cooler and wetter weather next winter. Hopefully not during cotton harvest.
