Spraying for peanuts, pecans
John McLemore, County Extension Agent
There are many peanut fungicide spray programs available to peanut farmers. There are several good spray programs, so choose the one that fits your farm and don’t be late in applying the fungicide throughout the year. Fungicide sprays longer than 14 days apart can make the difference in disease control at harvest.
Pecan growers need to be vigilant with their spraying programs as well. The following was written by Dr. Lenny Wells, UGA’s pecan specialist:
Most pecan growers in Georgia have been stretching out their scab sprays over the last several weeks since we have been hot and dry with no rain at all for about a month now. In the absence of any scab pressure this was the right thing to do but when you stretch your sprays out you really have to be watching the forecast closely. Unfortunately, the forecast has changed dramatically and we now have rain scheduled at 50-60 percent every day for the next week or so. Therefore growers who have been stretching sprays out need to get a fungicide spray on as soon as possible. It is always best to get a fungicide spray on prior to the rain as opposed to waiting until the rain has passed. Since many growers most likely will not be able to get over everything prior to the rain, they need to start with spraying Desirables and any other scab susceptible varieties they may have first. Now that we are entering the nut-sizing stage, a good option will be a group 3 + group 11 fungicide with a surfactant or go ahead and begin spraying with Elast or Elast/Tin. Stay on a 2 week maximum interval from this point on until shell hardening, rain or shine for susceptible varieties.
The University of Georgia extension and Coffee County ANR extension program is committed to helping the community move forward, and continue to be of value to the community as much as the community is of value to UGA extension. Coffee County ANR extension agent can be reached by email john.mclemore@uga.edu or office phone at 912-384-1402.