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OVERVIEW

Planting progress

Many areas have made a quick start this season. More planting is underway, but it’s not unusual to find growers who have finished or will wrap up remaining acres soon. Some areas in the lower Southeast needed rain as the weekend started. At least one promising system developed in the gulf late last week but pretty much fell apart as it reached the Florida-Georgia line. Other isolated thunderstorms developed after that. It appeared that better rain amounts fell in south Alabama, south Mississippi and west Florida.

Thrips building

In this week’s cotton report, several of our contacts reported high numbers of thrips in cotton. In his Ag Pest report Thursday night, Virginia Extension Entomologist Ames Herbert said infestations of thrips were at the same level as this same period in 2007, which was the heaviest seen since he and his colleagues began extensively scouting for the pest.

“If this progresses like it has in previous years, populations will continue increasing and peak sometime in the next 2 weeks,” Herbert said. “So, the worst is yet to come. We are already finding immatures on seedlings, both cotton and peanut.”

More doublecropping

Some planting behind small grain has started, with more expected across the lower Southeast.

CROP REPORTS

David L. Wright, Florida Extension Agronomist, Quincy, Fla.

“Peanuts are being planted heavily right now. I think most people are going to try to finish in the next week. Growers are harvesting wheat, and there’s interest in planting some peanuts after small grain. Most of that acreage will still go to soybeans, with a little to corn and maybe cotton. But there at least is interest in shifting some of it to peanuts. Stronger peanut prices are encouraging this. Also, the tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) preferred planting dates have us planting later, anyway. So, if a grower would be planting peanuts on May 20, maybe he’ll considering planting some peanuts behind his small grain. The other difference is that we haven’t had a lot of small grain in several years, and this bigger crop means more acres will be doublecropped with something.

“We’ve had rain in parts of the state. Last week, west Florida got more than 2 inches, and around here it ranged from 8 tenths to a little over 1.2 inches. East of here, though, almost nothing fell. Humidity is picking up, and temperatures have warmed up, which gives us the chance for more thunderstorms. Until this morning (Wednesday), we have had cool mornings, with lows in the 50s to low 60s. This morning, it was into the low 70s.”

Trey Bullock, Bullock’s Ag Consulting, Hattiesburg, Miss.

“We are probably 80% planted, with 10% to 20% to a stand. Emergence and stand establishment have been slow. I’m not sure if this is due to seed vigor or all the rain that has beaten back anything trying to come up.”

Mark Mitchell, Mitchell Ag Consulting, Inc., Bainbridge, Ga.

“Of the acreage I’m consulting, 75% to 80% of the peanuts have been planted. We started our first crack sprays on Monday. Our oldest peanuts are 34 to 35 days old today (Thursday), with our boiling peanuts at 40. We started picking up some lesser cornstalk borers, just small larvae. Nothing is at a treatable level, but they could increase considerably if it stays hot and dry. Yesterday, we began picking up three-cornered alfalfa hoppers, with numbers as high as I’ve seen them in peanuts at this age. We need more rain – badly. One farm got over 3 inches in less than an hour last Friday (5/16), but fields 5 miles down the road got nothing. It’s been sunny and windy the last 2 days, and soil is drying quickly. We’re watering cotton and peanuts up and also watering to hold down the sand. That doesn’t sound so bad when diesel is $1.50 a gallon, but it’s troubling with diesel prices at something over $4.”

Jay Chapin, Extension Specialist-Peanuts, Blackville, S.C.

“We’ve rolled a lot of peanuts in, and we’re not done yet. Overall, we’re ahead of schedule. People had moisture early and started planting. Typically, we have a lot planted between May 20 and May 25, but we were pretty well along before that point. The upside is that we’re getting the crop established. The potential downside is more tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) with the earlier planting dates. We’re certainly ahead of where we’ve been for the last few years. Some people with fairly substantial acreage are already done.

“We need a rain right now. Some showers moved through this week, and people either got rain or didn’t, but we could still use a good rain everywhere. Some early-planted peanuts are up. Stands, so far, mostly look okay, with some replanting in spots.”

Carl Hobbs, Carl Hobbs Ag Consulting, Ashburn, Ga.

“We’re getting very close to finishing up planting. We are able to go deep enough to put seed into moisture. Stands are pretty satisfactory. The first wheat has started coming off this week, and some peanuts are being strip-till planted now into that stubble.”

Todd A. Baughman, Texas Extension Peanut Specialist, Vernon, Texas

"We’re a little on the dry side. Most of our production areas in west and north Texas received rain 2 weeks ago, but for some locations that was the first real rain in quite a while. But, as a whole, most of the peanuts were planted in pretty good moisture. Growers did a good deal of pre-watering because it was so dry. Around Vernon, we caught some showers and actually planted in good moisture. In south Texas, planting is just starting. That area picked up 1 to 4 inches of rain recently. But, like us, they had been extremely dry in places. But that rain should at least start them off.”

Kris Balkcom, Research Assistant, Wiregrass Research and Extension Center, Headland, Ala.

“We’re going wide open on planting. Last Friday morning (5/16) we got 6 to 7 tenths of an inch of rain, although on the radar it looked like 2 inches was falling. We were sure glad to get it. For the 3 previous weeks, we had only gotten 1 to 2 tenths each week. That rain saved some stands that were real marginal. We need moisture now to catch up. We’re 4 inches behind for rainfall for the year, but we went into the year already behind from the drought. We’re seeing grasshoppers in other crops, and some have been treated in cotton.

“There’s a lot of interest in planting peanuts behind wheat, and we’re getting questions about it. People started harvesting oats first, and a few have started planting wheat. With fairly normal conditions, we’ve got time to make a peanut crop after wheat, so I think we’ll see some peanut planting right behind the combine.”

ALSO AT AGFAX.COM

Peanut Prices, 5-23, from USDA.

Mississippi Crop Situation, 5-22, Peanut update.

Virginia Ag Pest, 5-23. Thrips - and more thrips!

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