Recent Posts
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Trap captures of adult tobacco thrips increased right on schedule last week at four of our six monitoring locations. The NCSU thrips model predicts peak dispersal will occur around 15 May in the Tifton, area. Thrips dispersal will not end all at once following the peak, and growers should be aware that the risk of…
Posted in: Thrips -
Peanuts are being planted, tobacco thrips are moving, and there is nothing unusual about either of those things this time of year in Georgia. Our thrips traps are picking up numbers that I would describe as typical for late April. Growers should remember that peanuts planted prior to 10 May are at increased risk for…
Posted in: Thrips -
Every spring I post an article on this blog about early season thrips management in peanut. The most important difference between 2019 and the previous five years is probably the economic situation of Georgia’s farmers after hurricane Michael and the almost continuous rain that fell though the 2018 harvest season. Perhaps in 2019 more than…
Posted in: Thrips -
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 we have done something to…
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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 means that we could see…
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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 and in commercial fields this…
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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 through the third week of…
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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 reminder that very little is…
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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 can progress quickly, and too…
Posted in: Thrips -
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 concern, and we can begin…
Posted in: Thrips