By John Doyle Atkins
UF/IFAS Peanut fungicide trial untreated plots showing 50% White Mold Infestation.
Peanut harvest is in full swing in the Florida Panhandle, but producers have had challenges to crop success in the form of disease and erratic weather this year.
White mold has been particularly troublesome this season. On August 24th we dug and rated our University of Florida, IFAS peanut fungicide comparison plots here in Jay Florida, and some of the untreated plots had as much as 50% white mold. Much of the high white mold levels were driven by the extremely warm temperatures we had this year coupled with the fact that many fields were planted peanuts behind peanuts.
In addition to high levels of white mold being influenced by the weather, the 2015 growing season in Santa Rosa County was hit or miss as far as rain events go. I don’t mean miss the rain one week and make up for it the next; all season long, many areas either got rain, or they did not. The decision to get the first peanuts out of fields was not based on maturity or a profile board, it was based on salvaging what they had before the plants died. Yields in these fields ranged 1,000 – 1,300 pounds per acre with a lot of seg 2’s and 3’s. Some fields in the dry areas were only harvested for forage.
Peanuts coming out of fields that were fortunate enough to receive rainfall, and did not remain for weeks in a wilted state, are yielding 2,500 – 4,500 pounds per acre. I know of one field that appeared to have never wilted that yielded 6,000 pounds per acre. One grower stated that his average farm yield was bumping 6,000 pounds per acre in 2014, but this year he is hopeful to be reach the 3,000 – 3,500 pound per acre range.