I think we prayed a little too hard for rain.
Cotton: I don’t think we had much hail damage, but there may be some that had. It looks like a lot of the bad went above us or just below us. If you did have hail on your cotton, here are some things to remember.
- The first thing I would recommend doing is, if your field was damaged by hail, call your crop insurance agent and make them aware.
- The second thing I would highly suggest doing is not making any rash decisions on a cotton crop today or tomorrow. In the next two days, make note of the fields that were damaged, make your crop insurance folks aware of those fields, then we’ll reevaluate them next week. The cotton will look terrible today and tomorrow, but within 5 to 10 days, it should look better with a little warm weather and sunshine.
- If fields were severely defoliated or later planted cotton had cotyledons/terminals removed from hail, it will take time for the plants to recover. In these situations, we’ll treat these fields like late-planted cotton. More aggressive pix strategies (after the plant begins to recover), reduced N rates, etc., to hasten maturity in that crop.
- There is no magical product that will bring cotton out of hail damage. Right now, the plants that are damaged probably don’t even have enough leaf area to take up foliar-fed fertilizer or other foliar products that “stimulate plant growth.” All the cotton needs are warm weather, sunshine, and time.
Peanuts: Most of our peanut crop is at a time when the initiation of a fungicide program is warranted (as early as 30 days after planting). The abundance of rain we have will not only create conditions favorable for the development and spread of leaf spot, but may also delay timely fungicide applications. In such a situation, you may consider applying a fungicide, or a mixture of fungicides, that has some systemic activity. Also, if the fungicide was to be applied 30 days after planting but will now be applied 40 days after planting, you may consider choosing a different fungicide altogether better to ensure a good start to a disease management program.
Corn: Southern Rust is in Florida, but none has been confirmed in Georiga just yet. If you’re a gambler and want to wait it out, that’s ok, but if you want some fungicide protection, that’s ok too.