Peanut is once again coming out of the bag and going in the ground. The end of April typically marks our early portion of acres starting to be planted. Soil temperatures have fluctuated some with changing air temperatures, although for the most part soil temperatures in the state are currently in the mid 60s F, with our rule of thumb being at least 65 F for 3 days at 4" (with weather ahead forecast to be favorable). This guideline is primarily for good germination, emergence, and stand establishment. Temperatures into next week are currently projected to be fairly stable. One night in the mid 40s should not cause a great disruption. In years where a more extended cold snap moves in following planting, that tends to increase instances of delayed emergence, j-rooting and skippy stands.

Several options can be effective for preplant burndown. If a product that has residual activity like Valor is used for burndown (alongside glyphosate, for example), and we are looking at coming back with planting peanut about 3 weeks later (w/ strip tillage), an application of residual at-plant/pre-emergence herbicide would still be needed following the planter. In addition to the benefit of starting the window of residual activity nearer to when planting starts, at-plant residual application would also be needed following the tillage's mixing action of the soil negating the prior protectant application.

In general, the NC State thrips model is predicting thrips pressure to be similar to last year. Thrips pressure (and risk of TSW infection) typically decreases as we move into early and then mid May. Several questions have come up regarding Velum (+ imidacloprid), often compared to Thimet. I commented on this in an earlier article comparing several other products, but briefly, our results over multiple years have shown Thimet to be more consistently effective and profitable in managing thrips, TSW, and yield/economic value. AgLogic has also shown effective thrips/yield performance across years. If putting out a granular is not going to occur, imidacloprid does still provide thrips control, though depending on the variety and related factors, it can increase TSW infection. Postemergence acephate is another available option for where addition management may be needed. Before considering adding a product (and additional cost) for nematode management, I would carefully look at the results of a nematode soil test for the field.

FloRun T61 is starting to be a little more available. While we are still collecting data on its performance, currently it appears to have better TSW resistance compared to FloRun 331, being comparable to TR 297. Leaf spot susceptibility also looks comparable to 297. Yield performance looks competitive overall, with seed size approximately similar to 06G (~650/lb). Maturity seems to be in and around 145 days, though that is something we are continuing to look at more.