It is always good to have a solid plan for managing thrips. I ask Mark Abney every year, “How bad are the thrips going to be this year” and his reply is that thrips will be in every peanut field but to what extent, we don’t know yet. Thrips feeding will reduce yield; therefore, managing thrips is a wise investment. I put up the Peanut Rx sheets and links a few weeks ago. The validity of the risk index has been tested and proven again and again for more than two decades. If you want to reduce the risk of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) infection, look no further than Peanut Rx. Keep in mind that killing thrips does not necessarily reduce your risk for TSWV; the only chemical proven to reduce the risk of TSWV is Phorate (Thimet). We have several great insecticides that will drop the hammer on thrips, but Phorate is the only one known to reduce the risk of TSWV. Remember, when the seed furrow is closed, opportunities for TSWV management are over. We can make foliar insecticide applications to manage thrips, but these sprays will NOT reduce the risk of TSWV.
Tomato spotted wilt disease was common in Georgia peanuts in 2022, and there is a lot of concern about the disease going into the 2023 season. While no one can predict year-to-year variations in virus abundance, the factors that affect risk are well-known and have not changed over the last two decades. We planted a lot of the 2022 crop in a high-risk environment for TSWV; high risk coupled with relatively high virus levels resulted in increased disease incidence. There are no new miracle treatments for thrips or TSWV in 2023, but we can do a very good job of managing both by using a combination of practices (found in Peanut Rx) that minimize risk.
Peanut Rx: https://peanuts.caes.uga.edu/extension/peanut-rx.html