| Date |
Comments |
Submitted By |
| June 11, 2009 |
We did break the dry spring cycle that we have been in for the past three years. Unfortunately the wet spring has us a lot further behind than the dry springs did. However everyone has been pleased with the moisture at planting. Even though we had some late planting in the dry years never have I ever seen the as many peanut acres planted this late.
Planting is winding down and will hopefully be complete by next week. Past experience has showed us that we still have maximum potential on
peanuts planted as late as the 15th of June even getting a killing frost the 3rd week of October. The key will be getting the rainfall during the growing season through September which is historically a dry month but May is a dry month also if you look at the 30 year average. The early planted peanuts in April are fruiting and growing well now.
|
Kris Balkcom
Peanut Specialist - Auburn University |
| November 13, 2008 |
Overview - 2008 Alabama Peanut Crop
It's my opinion that Alabama will break the state average yield this year which was around 2,970 lb/ac in about 1984. This year on 194,000 acres, peanut producers have average an estimated yield of 3,100 lb/ac.
Attributing factors for the high yield were: Not a lot of rain but the rain came at the right time, cooler temps., (we did not have but 1 day over 100 degrees this season compared to last year when we experienced 14 consecutive days over 100 degrees), Alabama has been improving their rotation by planting 40-50,000 less acres to peanuts these past few years. Acreage that has continued to be farmed has a fairly good rotation and then increasing the 35,000 acres of land that has been rested helped considerably increase the yield this year accompanied by timely rainfall for better disease control with our soil borne fungicides and cooler temps - all attributed to better yields.
Harvest is nearly over with the early frost catching us by surprise this year. Alabama likes about 5% to being finished. This year's harvest is drawing to a close and although input costs continue to rise, we have been blessed with a good peanut crop overall. |
Kris Balkcom
Peanut Specialist, Auburn University |
| September 12, 2008 |
Well we have certainly dried off since Faye came through. We need some rain now to help finish out some peanuts maturity wise and help soften up the soil to make digging easier. We have already harvested some peanuts already but it will be another 10 days before harvest really gets going strong. |
Kris Balkcom
Program Specialist |
| August 15, 2008 |
The rain the first of the week was certainly a blessing. I have heard reports anywhere from 1-6 inches. That was the best rain that we have had all season covering the entire peanut belt with a significant amount of water to go with it. No one every passes up a rain in August. There were some dry areas before the rain but the peanuts are responding well to the water and setting another crop. Hopefully we will continue to receive some frequent beneficial showers from here on to harvest. The farmer certainly has a lot riding on this crop. We are getting to the time of year when white mold and CBR will began to show up. Insect pressure has been minimal with the exception of some isolated cases. However now is also the time for farmers to be on the look out for army
worms and other insects with corn harvest starting.
|
Kris Balkcom
Program Specialist - Auburn University |
| June 20, 2008 |
Scattered rains last week were a blessing to many farmers. This past week the farmers have been battling the worms. There are a number of fields scattered across the belt with corn ear worms and tobacco budworms feeding on the foliage of the smallest peanuts. Karate or Mustang Max is fine for corn ear worms but you need Tracer or Lannate for the Tobacco budworms. Most growers have applied paraquat and butoxone across their peanuts and began their first fungicide spray. The rain chance is good for this weekend, hopefully everyone will get a shower.
|
Kris Balkcom
Program Specialist - Auburn University |
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