Recent Posts

  • In spite of the consistent rainfall that much of Georgia’s peanut growing region received from mid-May through early June, I have received several reports of fields at threshold for lesser cornstalk borer (LCB). This insect does not generally thrive under conditions of high soil moisture, but this is a good reminder that very little is…

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  • Thrips numbers on our traps increased significantly last week. Counts were as high as I have seen in Georgia in four years.  Growers need to be checking their fields for thrips injury especially if no insecticide was used at plant or if a neonicotinoid insecticide was used in-furrow. Thrips injury can progress quickly, and too…

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  • Tobacco thrips captures remained steady for two weeks and then declined over the last seven days. Whether this represents the end of the spring thrips flight remains to be seen, but it certainly is not bad news for peanut growers. As we pass mid-May thirps typically become less of a concern, and we can begin…

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  • Peanuts are being planted, and tobacco thrips are moving in Georgia. Trap captures increased significantly at four of our six monitoring locations last week. This means that peanuts emerging over the next couple of weeks will be at relatively high risk for infestation. Using an at-plant insecticide with proven efficacy will usually be sufficient to…

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  •   Everyone in the peanut industry in Georgia knows that burrower bugs are bad. That is why I get several calls each spring from folks who have found burrower bugs in their fields and are understandably concerned. Sometimes the offending creature is the peanut burrower bug, but most of the time it is not. The…

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  • Garden Fleahopper

    It has been a while since anyone asked me about garden fleahopper in peanut, but this is the time of year when they begin to get noticed. After a couple years with more fleahoppers than “normal”, populations in Georgia peanut fields in 2016 were typically low or nonexistent. We are currently seeing increasing numbers of…

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  • Velvetbean caterpillar (VBC) numbers are on the rise across south Georgia, and this is a good time to remind growers who may not have a professional crop consultant or scout that they need to check their fields for insect pests. Velvetbean caterpillar populations should be relatively easy to manage, but overlooking an infested field can…

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  • Hopper Burn

    I have  received some nice pictures of “hopper burn” on peanuts over the last week. The insect responsible for this damage is the potato leaf hopper (PLH). It is a tiny, bright yellow-green insect that feeds on the mid-vein of the leaf causing the characteristic “v” shaped yellowing at the tips of leaflets. Hopper burn…

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  • Here is an entry I wrote last week and realized today that I never published it… Things have been relatively quiet in terms of insect pressure in most peanut fields so far in 2017, but that could change quickly. I have been getting reports of heavy caterpillar pressure in some areas of Florida, and agents…

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  • I have been getting scattered reports of lesser cornstalk borer (LCB) in Georgia peanuts for several weeks now. The very dry conditions that we experienced to start the season were perfect for LCB survival, and they showed up early enough in the year to cause me no small amount of concern. The recent rain that…

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