I saw a post on Facebook this week that said: “if you want to know what it feels like in Georgia, take a hot shower, don’t dry off, and put all your clothes on.” That is about as truthful as it gets.

Pecans: Its time to crank up the irrigation in pecans orchards as shell hardening is completed and kernel filling begins. All irrigation systems should be at full capacity from now through mid-September in orchards bearing a commercial crop. This means 3600-4000 gal/acre/day for drip and micro-sprinkler systems and 1.5″-2″ per week for solid set sprinklers. With a 2″ rain, all systems can be turned off for 3 days before resuming irrigation. Otherwise, continue to irrigate at the recommended schedule.

Peanuts: We started looking at some maturity. The weather this year is going to have peanut maturity all over the place, especially on dryland peanuts. We are changing things up this year on maturity checks. Mondays we will be at Tifton Peanut Plant 2, Wednesdays we will be an Omega Farm Supply, and on Fridays, we will be at Chula Peanut. We will still conduct maturity checks at the office on those days as well. The idea behind this is that it will allow us to interact and be out in the county more. Dr. Albert Culbreath has confirmed peanut rust in Tifton on some UGA plots. It is not wide-spread in the plots yet but the fact that it is here at all in mid-August is a real problem. Peanut rust can move quickly and be devastating when it hits early enough. Watch your fields and be prepared to be aggressive. In some situations, 14/day spray intervals should be reduced to 10-12 days. It is important to be proactive and be prepared to act aggressively in need be.

Cotton: Areolate mildew is showing up in some counties around us. I haven’t seen any in Tift County yet. Priaxor is about the most effective fungicide we have for areolate mildew and target spot. We have also been seeing a decent amount of boll rot. Whiteflies are still there so continue to scout for them.

Vegetables: Plantings have begun for fall produce. We’ll soon be monitoring whiteflies and disease on those crops.

 

** Meeting: We will have a cotton defoliation and peanut maturity meeting at the Extension Office on Friday, Aug. 23rd at 8 am. Dr. Jared Whitaker and Dr. Scott Monfort will be speaking. We will have donuts and coffee. Pesticide credits will be available.