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OVERVIEW

Budworms in more places now

Heavy populations of tobacco budworms – initially reported in Georgia – are now turning up in Alabama and South Carolina. One field in south Mississippi also was treated late in the week. Peanuts being treated continue to be younger ones with limited foliage.

More rain, more needed

Parts of the Midsouth and Southeast received good rainfall in the last week, but it mostly has been those spotty, personal showers. A good, general rain is still needed.

Texas hit by more wind, hail

In the last week, storms blew over pivots and pelted peanuts with hail in several areas.

CROP REPORTS

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

“Peanuts are growing, and people are into fungicide applications. We’ve had spotty, variable rains. Some areas have had 3 to 4 inches in the last 3 to 4 weeks, while other places received a half-inch or less. It at least appears that we’re in a more normal year for afternoon thunderstorms. Peanut stands, overall, are decent, although I’ve heard that stands are a little skippy with some varieties.”

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

“I just looked at some peanuts north of Vernon that were hit with baseball-size hail. New green tissue is coming out, and the hail didn’t kill plants, but damage was about as bad as I’ve ever seen. They were beaten up and shredded so badly that it looked like they had been planted in stubble. Luckily, this was an isolated strip, but the storm turned over every pivot in its path. We continue to have isolated storms, but they’re mostly wind and hail and not much rain.

“There’s concern about limb rot where peanuts were badly damaged. It’s not showing up. We are finding some pythium on roots but can’t say whether that would be a factor in terms of pod rot. And the peanuts look pretty good where the weather missed them. Our south Texas production area is dry like we are here, and they were still planting hard and heavy, according to the last report I heard. That area pretty typically plants through the first of July. Peanuts in the western production area are pretty clean. One concern out there is that nodulation isn’t quite where we’d like to see it, and we might have to apply more supplemental N to maintain yields. Nobody is excited about that. As dry as it’s been, I don’t think we were able to keep soil wet enough to maintain nodulation.”

Al Wood, Extension Agent, Pasquotank County, N.C.

“Our peanuts look good. In another 2 weeks or so growers will be putting out land plaster.”

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

“It’s relatively dry. We’ve had hit-and-miss showers in some areas over the last week but still need a good, general rain. We’ve sprayed quite a bit for foliage feeders, primarily tobacco budworms and a few cutworms, mainly in young peanuts that couldn’t stand the pressure. Older peanuts with plenty of foliage have not sustained nearly as much damage. If you averaged it out, 80% to 85% of what we had were budworms. I haven’t generally seen them this early with this much pressure in peanuts. This is uncommon for us, but down here we’re use to the uncommon. We’ve treated quite a few fields for lesser cornstalk borers. Some whole farms have been treated, and others are in the process.

“Older peanuts have had their second fungicide application, and we’ll start the third on some next week. So far, we’ve been able to keep up with irrigation because the crop hasn’t required a lot of water yet. But our oldest are pushing 60 days, so the requirement is going up. They happen to be in an area that got 1.5 to 2 inches of rain in the last week or so. The rain started last Thursday, and some spots got up to 3 inches.”

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

“Tobacco budworms have become an issue in at least one location. We were going to make a fungicide and herbicide application, and I checked the field Monday and then went back Wednesday just to make sure everything was okay. I was finding holes in some leaves but no worms. Even around areas where I could see crows, I couldn’t find worms. When the grower went back to spray today (Thursday), there were brown spots. When he called, I went back, and in those brown spots I found up to 6 to 7 worms per foot. I’ve since rechecked other fields – including one across the turnrow – and haven’t turned up further problems. This one field covers about 135 acres, and 75 acres were affected, mainly in swags.

“I’d been a little concerned about budworms because some corn borer moth traps were filling up with budworm moths. At first, I thought we had gotten the wrong pheromone, but Angus Catchot (Extension Entomologist) indicated that corn borer traps in other areas were filling up with budworm moths, too. I’m conservative when it comes to spraying worms in peanuts, partly because of the risk of flaring spider mites. But we’re treating now. These are little plants, and it’s dry. They’ve already had leaves knocked off of them once by Gramoxone, and we need to get some photosynthesis going.”

William Birdsong, Extension Agronomist-Row Crops, Headland, Ala.

“We’ve had spotty, variable showers. Some people got none, others maybe an inch or more, with up to 5 inches or better in spots. Some growers are making their initial fungicide applications on the very earliest peanuts, while others are just making the first post-emerge herbicide treatments. We’re dealing with an outbreak of lepidoptera in peanuts. Ron Weeks (Extenstion Entomologist) said it was not economically advisable to treat for worms in peanuts unless they were in epidemic proportions.”

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

“We’ve got all the tobacco budworms that everyone has been finding down in Georgia. They’re running 2 to 3 per foot in spots in real small peanuts. In most cases, I don’t think they’ve been noticed yet, and we’re doing comparison plots to determine control options. As small as plants are, worms will pretty well strip them. The question is, does it pay to treat? Everything done with early-season defoliation studies tends to indicate that young peanuts have the capacity to take a lot of defoliation. But you won’t know if there’s a yield response to treating until the end of the season. We’ll check our treatment comparisons on Monday and should have a better idea about what will kill them.

“With it as dry as it is, growers have altered leaf spot treatments, skipping the 30-day application. I’m saying that’s okay unless they have 1 of the 5 really susceptible varieties under irrigation or peanuts behind peanuts. If they don’t treat at 30 days, they’ll have to come back at 45 days, for sure.”

Mike Howell, Extension Area Agronomist, Gulfport, Miss.

“We’ve had several calls this week about insects in peanuts. Populations are generally below threshold in northeast Mississippi, but people are keeping an eye out because we sustained some damage there a couple of years ago. In south Mississippi, we’ve had one report of tobacco budworms. I’ve been in a bunch of peanuts this week and have not seen damage elsewhere. We’re going to spray some wireworms, though. In one case, we were putting in a subsurface drip irrigation system near Lucedale, and when we turned on the water, it started shooting into the air in spots. Wireworms had eaten into the plastic hose, and it had to be patched in 42 places. I’d never dreamed they could do that.”

Edward Kane, Ind. Crop Consultant, Robertsdale, Ala.

“A couple of growers just finished planting peanuts. Some of that was doublecropped and the rest were cases where growers were waiting for moisture. Our oldest peanuts are on their second fungicide application. On a field-by-field basis, we’re dealing with pyrethroid-resistant tobacco budworms. Plus, we’ve got cutworms and have had fall and southern armyworms. But the heaviest feeding has been due to budworms, and it started at least 2 weeks ago, with enough damage that growers were willing to treat. We’ve mainly used Steward and, where available, Tracer. We tried pyrethroids a couple of times, and the budworms came through. This has been tough to scout, and I’m doing a lot of rechecking and second-guessing. You go in one day and see a few holes but can’t find worms. When you go back a couple of days later, you find treatable populations.”

John Beasley, Georgia Extension Agronomist, Tifton, Ga.

“Over the last weekend (6/14-15), we had more showers than we’ve seen in a while. Amounts ranged from zero up to several inches. But it’s dry again, and we need more rain. I was in Seminole County today (Friday), and it was very dry in the areas where I was working. On the other hand, I was in a field this week in Jeff Davis County that got almost 5 inches. Our oldest peanuts are blooming pretty heavily now, so we’re at the stage where we need rain.

“The situation with tobacco budworms is spreading from where they were first found in our southwest counties. They’ve now been found over toward Douglas, Oscilla and Hazlehurst. We’re also finding lesser cornstalk borers in dryland fields. Where it’s rained, we need to jump on fungicides fast. We’re seeing leaf spot.”

Justin Tuggle, CropDocs.Com, Plains, Texas

“The west Texas peanut crop endured another week of wild weather. A major hail event occurred Tuesday night, with damage from Muleshoe to eastern Andrews County. The area of damage was roughly 8 miles wide and 120 miles long. Most of the peanuts had 50% or less defoliation, but some were reduced to a stem from the 6-inch canopy those fields had before the storm. These peanuts will recover. The cotton is gone. Much-needed and more general rain developed across the area from Monday to Friday.”

ALSO AT AGFAX.COM

Peanuts: Grains still look like the biggest influence on 2009 peanut acreage 6/21

USDA Peanut Prices, 6-20.

Texas Crop and Weather Report, 6-17, Windy conditions and record high temperatures stressed crops and dried out pastures.

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