Extended dry weather prior to this week has resulted in some fields expressing severe drought stress symptoms. When less severe, drought stress can cause areas of a field to take on a silvery appearance from the leaves folding up to reduce water loss. Continued drought stress can lead to leaves becoming necrotic and crispy, as in the attached picture. While several things can lead to similar looking symptoms, including soil diseases, the presence of otherwise healthy roots and limbs combined with the presence of prolonged dry conditions on light sandy land help to clarify the primary cause of these symptoms. Rainfall from Idalia this week should help to alleviate drought stress in fields. Current estimates are anywhere from 0.5 to 10".

While pod maturity so far does not appear to be early, it is still a good practice to check pod samples for maturity at least a week before "standard" variety maturity timings to help rule out surprises. In previous years, if a portion of a field is on sandier land and under drought stress, pod samples from that part of the field tend to show a somewhat more advanced maturity in a sample. Keeping samples from those sections of a field separate will give a more detailed picture of how different parts of fields are progressing.

Friendly reminder of the Peanut Field Day next week on Thursday Sep 7 at EREC. The event has been approved for 0.5 core pesticide credits and 2 CEU credits (0.5 pest management and 1.5 crop management).