Anticipate And Mitigate Disease Problems Avoid the ‘perfect storm’ situation for a leaf spot control failure. By Amanda Huber
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nticipating what might happen with disease pressure in your fields and providing research-based strategies to mitigate that yield destroyer are what plant pathologists do, says University of Georgia Extension plant pathologist Bob Kemerait. The first step is looking back to the past year to see what worked and what didn’t. In 2021, it rained a lot, which made conditions throughout the season favorable for fungal diseases. “Rains not only create conditions favorable for fungal infection and disease, but it also kept farmers out of the field and from making timely fungicide applications,” Kemerait says. “If you’re on a 14-day schedule and can’t get in the field for 21 days, there are going to be consequences.” He also says rain makes it difficult to have adequate product drying time on leaves. “In order to get great control, you have to have the right product, the right time and you have to be able to put the product out so that you get the right drying time. A lot of growers in 2021 did not have that.” Anticipate Problems In 2022 Kemerait says for this season, growers should be concerned about several things. “What’s going to be the impact of La Niña? A wetter spring is what most experts would say a La Niña weather pattern would bring,” he says. Another concern is the impact from fertilizer costs. 10 /
THE PEANUT GROWER • APRIL 2022
“We’ll see more peanut acres, and it is anticipated that we will have shortages of fungicides and increased costs,”
Kemerait says. “Expect reduced availability of fungicides and increased costs.” He suggests that if you cannot get PEANUTGROWER.COM
