Peanut Grower Editor
Virtual peanut production meetings are nearly complete in preparation for the 2021 planting season. Although this format is not good for stocking up on pens, pads, hats and the yearly rain gauge, it is still useful for relaying needed information to start the crop year.
Here are a couple of news items I learned recently.
The first is a useful tool for managing peanut disease risk demonstrated by University of Florida peanut breeder Barry Tillman during UF’s Panhandle crop update. It’s not a new tool. Peanut Rx has been around for years, and researchers continue to update it as new data is acquired. However, now it is an online tool that can be found at www.peanutrx.org.
As Tillman demonstrated, with a few selections such as plant population, at-plant insecticide and row pattern, the risk chart turned from mostly red, indicating high risk, to more yellow and green, the low-risk color.
To achieve an even more reduced risk of tomato spotted wilt virus, he changed a few more selections choosing a longer rotation and different tillage plan, and more green squares appeared.
Changing your production practices is not as easy as the click of a button, but the online tool is an easy way to see how all these practices, varieties and planting date fit together to affect risk.
In a bit of product news, University of Georgia Extension plant pathologist Bob Kemerait says that, more than likely, Velum Total will undergo a label change, dropping the insecticide imidacloprid from the mixture. The new product will just be Velum. Velum Total has been used in furrow for both nematode and thrips control at planting.
“If you are going to use Velum on your peanuts for nematode control in 2021, then you are going to need to use something else for thrips control, whether it is an imidacloprid insecticide or Thimet. Ag Logic, the new formulation of aldicarb, is also an option for nematode control. Producers just need to be aware of the change and plan accordingly.”
Anyone that has Velum Total on hand can still use the product.
