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Rain, Rain….

August 23, 2018

We’ve had so much rain for the month of July and August when we should be getting dry. It seems like every afternoon it’s raining at some point. It makes it difficult when we’re trying to put out fungicide on peanuts and pecans and plant growth regulators on cotton since those compounds require a certain amount of dry time. I wanted to share some pictures of signs of rain that I’ve taken over the past 3 weeks right here in the county.

Cotton boll open on August 20th. Rain in open locks that doesn’t dry can lead to boll rot.

I was south of Abbeville collecting insect samples for a bermudagrass stem maggot trial when I spoke with someone from Rochelle who told me it was pouring rain. I looked up to literally see the rain cloud moving my way over these peanuts. In this picture it has just passed over Rochelle.

Slime mold is in an old class of fungi that takes many different shapes and forms. Wilson Keene sent me this picture of slime mold at the base of a cotton plant. It’s nothing we have to spray for but is only present when rain occurs frequently. It may also show up in your flower beds appearing as dog vomit.

Slime mold can also look like this on volunteer peanuts. In grass, it looks like these purple dots. Nothing to worry about. Bottom line: it’s just the sign of lots of rain.

Grady McBryant and I were harvesting a corn plot when we crossed many large washes in this field. Obviously due to the rain this year, Grady says another field has been worse in lots of rain. I got him to sit down in the wash to see how much dirt has eroded in this row. In other washes we found, corn was lodged over into them.

Posted in: Weather