Peanut Pointers

Weigh Planting Decisions

Growers are beginning to make many decisions for the 2023 production season. Each one of these carries a risk that will impact productivity and economic return. The UGA Peanut Team is about halfway through county production meetings where many of the team members are talking about some of the risks that were taken during the past growing season and the cost of these risks.

For example, many growers are now planting more acres in April as it may benefit their operation to finish planting early so they can plant cotton, or they may be trying to achieve the highest yield potential possible. There could be many reasons for planting early, some of which are not the wrong decision, as long as you understand the rewards versus risks.

Typical planting decisions should include the variety to be planted, the germination percentage of the seed, environmental conditions the week before and after planting and the insecticide and fungicide selections that should be applied in-furrow. All of these options need to be addressed so the best decisions are made to suit every grower’s farming operation, especially in April to early-May. The unfortunate situation, in most years, is Mother Nature does not cooperate, and some of our decisions will end up working against us.

As mentioned earlier, we talk about the risks of these decisions, but very seldom do we talk about the economic impact of those decisions. One reason we do not talk about it is because it’s a moot point. The damage is done, and we need to move forward. For now, let’s work to reduce the impact in 2023.

Let’s look at decisions regarding planting date and insecticides as they relate to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. In 2022, the weather was moderate, and growers decided to plant about half their acres before May 10, with an estimated 30% of acres not utilizing Thimet, the only insecticide shown to suppress the virus. Was this a bad decision? Not entirely. Looking at the past five years, growers have applied other insecticides and not experienced any issues. Unfortunately, it is a risky decision, and the worst-case scenario happened in 2022.

Based on a survey conducted by UGA Extension, TSWV averaged 19.3% to 27% in fields using insecticides other than Thimet and 9.7% for fields that used Thimet. The economic impact of non-use of Thimet was estimated to be greater than $40 per acre, nearly one-third of the cost of a fungicide program. Is this a big enough economic impact for a grower to consider a different decision? In this situation, a change in planting date and/or insecticide could have reduced the risk and the potential loss in yield.

Looking forward to this growing season, growers should be sure to ask for the germination percentage of each lot they are planting. Do not plant a seed lot with reduced germination percentage or vigor in April to early May. Cool, wet conditions plus poor-quality seed will likely cause skippy stands, thus increasing the risk of TSWV significantly. Luckily, seed quality in 2022 was good and we did not experience any issues with stands. Poor-quality seed could have easily doubled the economic impact experienced from TSWV.

Every grower has to make some tough decisions regarding their whole operation. We are here to provide you the information and help to weigh the risks so that you can achieve the highest level of productivity. Please call your local county agent if you need any help.

Plant To Irrigation Capacity

The 2022 growing season was one of the toughest, most challenging seasons for Southwest growers. We are glad that we can finally put 2022 behind us and think about the 2023 season. However, the National Weather Service forecast through April 30 shows persistent drought in the peanut-growing region of the Southwest.

Although fertilizer costs are lower than at the same time last year, the price is still higher than the five-year average. Supply chains are slowly getting better, but other input costs are still higher than past years. We can hope 2023 may not be as challenging as 2022; however, it is always best to prepare detailed plans for optimizing profitability.

When expecting a dryer-than-normal year, optimizing water-use efficiency is the most important management decision you can make. We rely heavily on irrigation for peanut production as our precipitation is not sufficient to produce optimum yields. “Plant the peanut to irrigation capacity” is something that I always repeat when drought is forecast ahead of us. Splitting the circle with other crops such as cotton, with a season water use of 12 inches to 24 inches, sorghum, at 20 inches to 22 inches, and sesame, 16