Summer & Fall 2024
David's Blog
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October 14, 2024
Harvest Continues: Caddo County got off to an early harvest start and has continued to bring in loads to the buying points - keeping the buying points very busy. Beckham County began digging a little later is in full swing now sending truckloads to the buying points. Peanut yields have been good, the hot weather has dried the fields quickly and sent the combines to the fields earlier than expected. Some TV stations are predicting the possibility of a freeze on Tuesday night - Wednesday morning, which will probably delay some fields from being dug today and tomorrow.
The Schantz Family Farm Field Day was another success this year. It was held on October 3rd, with about 70 people present. All the speakers did an excellent job. Attendees received 2 Private Applicator CEUs.
September 17, 2024
Early Digging in Caddo County. A few growers with lots of acres to harvest have already started digging. Hull-blasting at the Caddo Research Station Tour showed us several fields that were pretty far along, especially the Spanish varieties. It appears that some very good yield potential is out there - we just need some good harvest conditions in the next several weeks. We are not seeing a lot of disease again this year due to the hot dry weather which is good because irrigation costs will be high with the low rainfall we have received in August and September. The Hull-Blasting date in Beckham County is scheduled for September 27th - I hope that date works out well for most people, but we may see some field dug by then in Beckham and Greer counties. FSA Certification numbers show 17,133 acres of peanuts certified in Oklahoma. Caddo County had the most acres with 8,520 acres and over 6,000 of those Caddo County acres were certified as Spanish. The Schantz Family Field Day is scheduled for October 3rd with an early start with an 8 am Welcome. We have 2 ODAFF Private Applicator CEUs approved for the meeting. You can also bring in peanut plants for Hull-Blasting.
August 1, 2024
Upcoming events. Be sure and check the upcoming events in the Calendar of Events section of this news letter.
Crop Update: I am getting pictures from growers across the Oklahoma with plants already loaded up with peanuts - so it appears we are off to a pretty good start, possibly due to early rains, cooler temperatures and a couple of weeks with very little wind. A little more rain with no wind would be nice!
Disease Issues: Overall we have been in pretty good shape, we did see a few fields get a little Sclerotinia Blight from the cool mornings a few weeks ago but it hasn't been a huge problem yet. Some pictures have come in with Slime Mold which is nothing to be concerned about it. Slime mold gets started with high humidity, but will go away when the humidity drops; it really doesn't cause any harm to peanuts. We see Slime Mold mainly on lawns but not usually on peanuts like we have this year. Leafspot: Haven't seen a lot of leafspot yet, but you can find a spot in almost every field. The early applications are the most important. Hot temperatures and low humidity slow it down and it looks like that is where we are headed. Most growers have been very about getting an early fungicide applied.
Photos: Right - Span17s from the Willow, OK area / Left- Slime Mold
July 17, 2024
We are off to a pretty good start! We did have some stand issues this year with some varieties, but overall, peanuts in Oklahoma appear to be growing fast with few problems. We have a new OSU State Entomologist/IPM Specialist working in row crops now with the addition of Dr. Ashleigh Marie Faris to OSU Entomology Department. If you come across any interesting insect issues please contact Dr. Faris ashleigh.faris@okstate.edu .
INSECTS: Very few foliage feeders and lot of beneficial insects have been found in the fields I have visited so far. We are limited in our ability to control some of insects this year with the loss of Lorsban in our insecticide arsenal.
DISEASES: Only a trace of leafspot but the weather is now very favorable so I expect to see foliar applications going down soon. Forecasted morning lows are for 66 degrees and that is very close to temperatures that could kick off Sclerotina Bight and that is concerning; we don't like to see it get started this early in the season
July 1, 2024 updated
So what's going on with the peanut seed treatments? You might have noticed a different color to your seed treatment this year at planting time. Dr. Bennett shared an article from Peanut Grower from January 2022 where researchers are finding that our regular seed treatments had become resistant to Aspergillus Crown Rot. So changes have been made in the seed treatments being used; switching from Dynasty PD to Rancova V PD or to Trebuset. These new products are very effective and it is a good change. We did see some Crown Rot this year in Beckham County where Dynasty was used instead of the new treatments - so we definitely want to purchase seed with the new products I have added a link here to the Peanut Grower article written by Amanda Huber.
Seed Treatments: a First Line of Defense
November 20, 2024
Harvest is Complete: Winter is almost here and peanut yields in Oklahoma appear to be better than expected, especially considering the lack of rainfall in August and September. Harvest went very quickly due to cooperating weather conditions, almost everything was harvested before the rains came. Freeze damage was not an issue this year and everyone is happy about that.
American Peanut Council Sustainability Initiative. We are needing Oklahoma peanut growers to help with the initiative, go to the APC Sustainability Grower Toolkit at this website to learn more.