Very few things are as frustrating as delivering 5000+ pound per acre peanuts to the buying point and having them grade “Seg 2” because of insect injury, and when it happens there are usually a lot of questions. What caused it? Why did it happen? When did it happen? Could…
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Conditions continue to be favorable for southern corn rootworm (SCR) development across much of Georgia’s 2018 peanut acreage. SCR is a pest that requires moist soil conditions, and we typically see rootworm infestations in fields with heavy soils and center pivot irrigation. The abundant rainfall in many areas this year…
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Insect activity is beginning to pick up in some of our Georgia peanut fields, and now is a really good time for growers who may not have a consultant or scout to get out and walk the crop. I have seen a mixed bag of caterpillars in my research plots…
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Insect pressure in Georgia’s 2018 peanut crop has been as low as I have seen since 2013. Several calls have come in over the last two weeks with folks asking what they are missing because it all just seems a little too quiet in the peanut patch. As we move…
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In spite of the consistent rainfall that much of Georgia’s peanut growing region received from mid-May through early June, I have received several reports of fields at threshold for lesser cornstalk borer (LCB). This insect does not generally thrive under conditions of high soil moisture, but this is a good…
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Thrips numbers on our traps increased significantly last week. Counts were as high as I have seen in Georgia in four years. Growers need to be checking their fields for thrips injury especially if no insecticide was used at plant or if a neonicotinoid insecticide was used in-furrow. Thrips injury…
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Tobacco thrips captures remained steady for two weeks and then declined over the last seven days. Whether this represents the end of the spring thrips flight remains to be seen, but it certainly is not bad news for peanut growers. As we pass mid-May thirps typically become less of a…
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Peanuts are being planted, and tobacco thrips are moving in Georgia. Trap captures increased significantly at four of our six monitoring locations last week. This means that peanuts emerging over the next couple of weeks will be at relatively high risk for infestation. Using an at-plant insecticide with proven efficacy…
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Everyone in the peanut industry in Georgia knows that burrower bugs are bad. That is why I get several calls each spring from folks who have found burrower bugs in their fields and are understandably concerned. Sometimes the offending creature is the peanut burrower bug, but most of the…
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It has been a while since anyone asked me about garden fleahopper in peanut, but this is the time of year when they begin to get noticed. After a couple years with more fleahoppers than “normal”, populations in Georgia peanut fields in 2016 were typically low or nonexistent. We are…
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