{"id":2571,"date":"2026-07-06T08:38:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:49:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:49:32","slug":"peanuts-enter-peak-water-demand-staying-ahead-of-irrigation-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/2026\/07\/peanuts-enter-peak-water-demand-staying-ahead-of-irrigation-in-july\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Ahead of Irrigation in July"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Peanuts: <\/strong>This season has been especially challenging, with conditions shifting from extreme drought in May to excessive rainfall in mid-June and then back to extreme heat last week. The good news is that the dry conditions likely encouraged strong root development in most fields. As we move into July, peanuts planted in early May are approaching 60 days after planting (DAP), while late May plantings are around 30 DAP. As Georgia&#8217;s peanut crop enters peak water demand, irrigation management becomes critical for protecting yield potential. Peanuts generally reach peak water use around 55 DAP and maintain high water requirements through approximately 95-100 DAP. During this period, daily water use can approach 0.3 inches under hot, sunny, and windy conditions. A simple rule of thumb is to supply about 1 inch of water every three days. While scattered rainfall has provided temporary relief, many growers report limited subsoil moisture reserves. In many cases, rainfall has only wetted the soil surface without fully recharging deeper soil moisture. As a result, irrigation systems may need to supply nearly all of the crop&#8217;s water requirements during hot, dry periods. For example, peanuts planted on May 10 are now entering their peak water-demand period, with water use exceeding 1.5 inches per week and potentially reaching 0.3 inches per day under stressful conditions. Adequate soil moisture during this stage is essential for pod development and pod fill. Limited soil water-holding capacity makes staying ahead of irrigation especially important. Most sandy loam soils in Georgia hold about 1 inch of plant-available water within a two-foot rooting depth. At peak water use rates, that reserve can be depleted in as little as three days. Falling behind on irrigation during this critical window can result in irreversible yield loss. Waiting until peanuts show visible drought stress often means yield potential has already been reduced. Without timely rainfall, it is also very difficult to fully recharge the soil profile with irrigation alone. Maintaining adequate soil moisture throughout pod development is far more effective than trying to recover from moisture stress. You should also consider the efficiency of the irrigation system when scheduling applications. If peanuts are using 0.30 inches of water per day and an irrigation system operates at 85% efficiency, approximately 0.35 inches must be applied to replace daily crop water use. This does not mean irrigating every day, but efficiency should be considered when determining irrigation amounts. In the absence of effective rainfall, irrigation requirements can approach 2.5 inches per week. The key message for July is simple: stay ahead of the crop&#8217;s water needs rather than trying to catch up after moisture stress occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cotton:<\/strong> Pretty much the same story as peanuts. Cotton planted in April and May should now be squaring, blooming, or approaching peak bloom. Bloom typically begins about nine weeks after planting, and water demand increases rapidly once flowering starts. During this stage, maintaining adequate soil moisture is critical because yield potential becomes highly sensitive to water stress. Soil moisture sensor data have consistently shown that cotton begins drawing water from deeper soil layers during bloom, and these deep moisture reserves can be difficult to replace with irrigation alone. For this reason, you should closely monitor soil moisture and adjust irrigation schedules as crop demand increases.<br>The most critical irrigation period extends from first flower to first open boll, when cotton water use reaches its seasonal peak and may approach 1.5 inches per week, or approximately 0.20 inches per day under typical South Georgia conditions. On coarse-textured soils, irrigation may be needed every three to four days to prevent stress that can reduce fruit retention and yield potential. You should also remember that heavy summer rainfall does not always translate into effective soil moisture due to runoff and infiltration limitations. Soil moisture sensors can help determine how much rainfall actually benefits the crop. As cotton moves through peak bloom, the key is to stay ahead of moisture deficits while avoiding overirrigation, using crop demand, weather conditions, and soil moisture status to guide irrigation decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peanuts: This season has been especially challenging, with conditions shifting from extreme drought in May to excessive rainfall in mid-June and then back to extreme heat last week. The good news is that the dry conditions likely encouraged strong root development in most fields. As we move into July, peanuts planted in early May are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2577,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions\/2577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/tiftcoag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}