After attending a Peanut Maturity Clinic in Tifton I thought that a quick peanut update might be beneficial.
There have been a few wet spots in middle Georgia this year, but for the majority of our peanut farmers it has been overly dry. Two tropical systems have passed by our area with little more than a few tenths of rain, and only one front from the west has produced any widespread rain. This extreme dry weather has sped up our dryland peanut maturity.
I looked at several dryland fields that were planted in the last week of April and early May that are ready to dig, and probably have been for some time. The only problem is that we can’t get a plow in the ground to dig them.
Looking at several fields planted in late April irrigated peanuts look to be ready at about the 145 day mark. That would be September 15th for April 23rd planted peanuts and the 19th for peanuts planted on the 27th of April. A field that was planted on the 15th of April looked like it would be ready by the 21st of this month putting it at about 130 days. I suspect that might not actually be the case so we will definitely go back and revisit that field in a 7 – 10 days.
Once we are able to dig our dry corners or dryland fields it is important to keep these peanuts separate from our irrigated crop. We do not want to jeopardize peanut grades with poor quality or contaminated peanuts.
