In order to spread out harvest and reduce the risk of an early cold snap shutting down the maturity process, it is in the best interest of many producers to plant some of their peanut acreage in April.

Spotted wilt disease has forced us to plant a very high percentage of the peanut acreage in Georgia in May.

During most of the past few years we have planted nearly half of our acreage in mid to late May and those acres have been exposed to cold weather by the third week of October.

In reviewing some historical information in old Extension publication related to peanut production, it was recommended to plant as many acres in April as possible. The concern with that is the cool soil temperature in early to mid April.

Monitor soil temperature closely over the next two to three weeks. If the four-inch soil temperature soil temperature remains above 65 for several days and there is no forecast for an approaching cold front, I would recommend that producers having a significant number of acres to plant consider planting some acreage in April.

The cultivars to plant in April would be Georgia-06G, Florida-07, Tifguard, Georgia-07W, Georgia Greener, or Georgia-02C. All of these cultivars have significantly better resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus than Georgia Green. Avoid planting Georgia Green and AT 215 in April. AP-4 is also moderately risky for planting in April.

Besides soil temperature being at least 65 degrees or higher at the four-inch depth, there should also be adequate moisture in the seed zone. Seed should be planted 2-2.5 inches deep and you want at least an inch of moisture above the seed. DO NOT plant seed 3 inches or deeper chasing moisture.

Seeding Rate for Large-Seeded Runner Cultivars (John Beasley)

We’ve discussed the opportunity to help producers lower seed cost per acre without sacrificing yield potential. Research over the past two years on seeding rate of large-seeded runner cultivars indicate that you can reduce the seeding rate to 5 – 5.5 seed per foot of row without sacrificing yield potential.

The cultivars we are specifically targeting for seeding rate reduction are Georgia-06G, Florida-07, Tifguard, Georgia-07W, and AP-4. These five cultivars typically run about 650 seed per pound compared to 800 – 850 for Georgia Green. If planted at 6 seed per foot of row, Georgia Green would take about 105 pounds per acre.

The large-seeded cultivars would take about 135-140 pounds per acre at 6 seed per foot of row. By reducing the large-seeded cultivars to 5 seed per foot of row you would end up planting about 112 pounds per acre, which is much closer in pounds per acre to Georgia Green planted at 6 seed per foot of row.

We do not recommend planting Georgia Green or AT 215 at less than 6 seed per foot of row. Those two cultivars are the most susceptible to tomato spotted wilt virus of the cultivars available this year. Since Georgia Greener and Georgia-02C have a medium seed size they are not as costly to plant at 6 seed per foot of row compared to the large-seeded cultivars. If a producer wants to drop the seeding rate of Georgia Greener or Georgia-02C to around 5.5 seed per foot of row, that will help reduce the cost some what closer to Georgia Green at 6 seed per foot of row.