mrabney

  • Peanut Insect Update

    There are plenty of insects in Georgia peanut fields this week, but infestation levels vary significantly from field to field. The most common worm pests I am seeing continue to be soybean loopers (SBL) and velvet bean caterpillars (VBC). The VBCs have been very easy to kill in our UGA trials, and I have heard…

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  • What are we seeing out there?

    “What are you seeing?” is a question I have been getting and giving quite a bit the last couple weeks. The answer is a mixed bag of insects and a lot of variation in the level of pressure from field to field. We have seen three cornered alfalfa hopper (TCAH) numbers increase over the last…

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  • Mid July update

    As I ride around South Georgia visiting research plots, I am seeing areas that have had good rainfall recently and some areas that are quickly getting dry. Insect pressure is variable around the state right now. We are getting some reports of potato leaf hopper and foliage feeding caterpillars. I visited a field this morning…

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  • Lesser Cornstalk Borer

    Lesser cornstalk borer (LCB) is one of the most damaging and difficult to control pests in peanut. This insect is very fresh on the minds of many growers after a season of widespread heavy infestations in 2014. LCB is a sporadic pest in much of GA, and while outbreak populations in back to back years…

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  • Potato Leafhopper

    As I walked through my test plots and a few commercial peanut fields this week I noticed that we are starting to see some potato leafhoppers and very early hopper burn. UGA Extension agent Rome Ethredge in Decatur County also mentioned that there was some heavy leafhopper pressure in at least one field in southwest…

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  • Thrips Monitoring: June 5

    Though thrips numbers on our traps were never high, there were two distinct peaks: one in early April and another in mid-May. Numbers remained above above 0 at all sample locations for a couple weeks after the May peak, but they fell off this week. We saw plenty of peanut fields in May and on…

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  • Threecornered alfalfa hopper (TCAH) is commonly seen in Georgia peanut fields each year. This insect is highly mobile as an adult, and large numbers can very quickly move into and out of a field. The adults are easily identified by their triangular shape and bright green coloration, and they will flush up from the foliage…

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  • Thrips Update

    We are still seeing plenty of thrips in our test plots on the UGA Tifton Campus. The progression of the infestation and feeding damage at the Bowen farm is following a predictable pattern. Damage ratings a week ago ranged from 2 to 4.8, and this week ratings ranged from 2.3 to 9 on a 0…

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  • Thrips Monitoring: May 15

    We continue to check our thrips traps every Friday. After an early April bump in activity, captures of tobacco thrips dropped and stayed low until last week when numbers were up again. Thrips are definitely present in our peanut fields, and the trap data indicate that adults are moving. This means we need to keep…

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  • We have a couple peanut thrips trials that were planted on 24 April on the UGA Bowen Farm in Tifton that are currently experiencing moderate thrips pressure. These trials have treatments that include phorate (Thimet) in-furrow, imidacloprid (Admire Pro or Velum Total) in-furrow, thiamethoxam seed treatment (CruiserMaxx Peanut) and an untreated check. Adult thrips and…

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