 An AgFax Media Publication Owen Taylor, Editor |
OVERVIEW
Harvest is starting. It’s later than usual this year and even later than anticipated late in the summer. Rain in the lower Southeast and Midsouth have thrown in additional delays. We’re hearing mainly about peanuts being dug. No yield reports yet.
Dealing with a late crop. Advisory from Eddie McGriff, Coffee County, Georgia, Extension.
HARVEST SURVEY REPORTS
This week, we’re winding down our regular reports and will be back in late October with our Harvest Survey Reports. We’ll ask a random group of our readers for a brief rundown on how harvest is progressing in their area. Those responding are identified only by occupation, county and state.
If you’re on our survey list this season, please take a minute (or less) to take part.
CROP REPORTS
Clyde Smith, Regional IPM Agent, Jackson County, Fla.: "The rain probably has slowed down the early peanut harvest, but it also benefited some of the late crop where vines were starting to decline. This moisture should make them stronger and help fill out some more of the crop. We’ve gotten 3 to 4 inches on a wide area and up to 6.5 in places over the last week or so. With the peanuts that are about ready now, people are waiting until a little closer to dig to really hone in on it. But the bulk of our crop is probably 2 to 2.5 weeks out. One thing we’re finding is a lot of bunching, with most of it on the first crop, with what appears to be a little less than normal out there on the second crop. It should pay off nicely where growers can correctly time things, but they’ll lose some of that front crop if they dig too late. I’m also assuming that we’ll see an acceleration of maturity once it stops raining and things dry out. We’re pressure washing and aren’t finding nearly as much nematode and pod-feeder damage this year as we would expect."
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Rome Ethredge, Seminole County, Georgia, Extension Coordinator: "We’ve had rain but not nearly as much as areas around us, maybe just one to two inches. Digging was suppose to get underway today (9/21) in some fairly sandy fields. We can’t pick them yet because things are too wet. Skies are cloudy again, but at least it’s not raining. I’ve been doing maturity checks, and a lot of fields are ready or almost there, and farmers say that they’ll start digging when things dry u enough. We’ve got another group of fields that won’t be ready until next week or later."
Mike Howell, Extension Area Agronomist, Gulfport, Miss.: "Our earliest peanuts are ready to dig this week, and we’ve got a good crop in the ground. We just need the weather to cooperate. It keeps raining, more so in north Mississippi than down here. I started off in the Tchula area in the south Delta today (9/23) and made it to the Aberdeen area in northeast Mississippi, and it was sopping wet. Some peanuts in the Hamilton area were going under water because the creeks were full and backing up. We blasted a bunch of peanuts in north Mississippi, and they’re maturing about with the calendar, and some were ready today. But with 10 to 19 inches of rain in the last 10 days, it will be the middle to end of next week before anyone can dig in that part of the state. We’re looking at October 5 before much really starts, and in north Mississippi that only gives us 25 days before the first typical frost day. Basically, I’m telling growers there to start digging as fields get dry instead of worrying about when to start. South Mississippi isn’t nearly as wet. We had small showers, a quarter to half an inch, then 1 to 2 inches in the last 2 days. It will be the first of next week before we dig any. Almost no disease is evident in north Mississippi, but we’re still dealing with some white mold down here."
Gary Swords, Swords Consulting, Arlington, Ga.: "Just a few peanuts have been turned up, so far, but not nearly enough. As soon as it dries out, we’ll start digging. After Sunday, the forecast improves."
Jay Chapin, Extension Specialist-Peanuts, Blackville, S.C.: "We are digging now (9/24), and the activity has really picked up. We’ve got a little bit of everything in terms of yields, with extremes ranging from 5,000 lbs/acre down to 1,000. No question, the August drought put a whipping on us in some dryland peanuts. We’re playing things a lot of different ways in terms of digging. In places, we’ve got enough and will take what’s out there. In other fields, we’ll let them go to probably November. And then we have fields that we’re digging right on time. From what I’ve seen, crop maturity is pretty much on time, other than where we had drought stress. We’ve kind of got a paradox this year. On one hand, we’ve got fields suffering from drought stress. On the other hand, we have leaf spot issues. You usually don’t think of those 2 problems to any degree in the same season. If you’re talking about leaf spot, drought stress won’t be a significant factor. In some irrigated production, though, we’re finding more leaf spot on some of the super-susceptible varieties. This usually traces back to irrigation starting a little too soon after a leaf-spot treatment or rainfall soon after the application or simply not using the right material or rate. So, we ended up with a lot of late leaf-spor pressure but also drought stress."
John Beasley, Georgia Extension Agronomist, Tifton, Ga.: "In our planting date study at Attapulgus, the mid-May plantings look like they’re maturing on time. All the April-planted peanuts, though, were much delayed, closer to 145 to 150 days for the mid-maturing varieties. The mid-May plantings, though, are tracking on time – for the most part, 135 to 140 days. Farmers are digging where they can. I’ve been doing harvest clinics this week, and we evaluated several samples in Baker County on Monday that indicated peanuts were ready as soon as things dried out enough, so I’m sure those are being dug now (9/24). Harvest is really fixing to crank up. We did get heavy rain over the weekend, and that delayed producers, plus some overcast weather this week wasn’t good for drying. At least harvest is starting, although later than we anticipated."
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