Thinking About A Planting Do-Over? From need and timing to placement and maturity determination – ongoing research provides answers on replanting peanuts. By Amanda Huber
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Determining Need University of Georgia cropping systems agronomist Scott Tubbs is in a fourth phase of replanting research that began eight years ago. What he says was interesting initially is that replanting often does not improve yield over a poor plant stand as often as you might think. “Overall,” Tubbs says, “only when plant stands were as low as one plant per foot of row did replanting improve yield to a point that it would be economically viable to justify the cost of replanting.” However, skips in stands are a sure draw for tomato spotted wilt virus. At the UGA Cotton and Peanut Field Day in September 2021, Tubbs presented some of the replant research findings. In field plots, yellow flags represented the original plant population, with the flag in the crown of each plant, and orange flags were the replanted crop. “If you look at the rows with one plant per foot with no replanting, this plot has a tremendous amount of TSWV,” Tubbs says. That’s the real risk in not achieving the needed plant density. Although peanuts are known to fill in gaps well, Tubbs says some individual data has shown the potential for yield improvement when plant stands were two plants per foot of row or less. 10 /
THE PEANUT GROWER • MAY 2022
SCOTT TUBBS, UGA
eanuts may not be the most difficult crop to achieve a quick germinating, uniform plant stand, but troubles do arise to create a less-than-optimal outcome. Problems with seed quality, improperly calibrated equipment, tractor operator error, unsuitable temperature or soil moisture conditions – all of these can affect producers’ ability to get a good stand of peanuts. Peanut Rx, backed by research and Extension, recommend a planting rate of six seed per foot of row in order to achieve a minimum of four plants per row-foot. If this isn’t what’s coming up in the field, then what is an acceptable stand and what level should trigger a replanting of the field?
When an initial stand is less than 2.5 plants per foot in single rows or less than three plants per foot of row, supplemental replanting of peanut next to the initial stand will help recover yield. Do not terminate the initial stand.
“Hence, if plant stands are at least 2.5 plants per foot of row, whether twin row or single row, strip-till or conventional tillage, and the stands are relatively uniform without large gaps in the field, the chances of gaining a return on the PEANUTGROWER.COM
