Harvest season is in full swing and mother nature has finally decided to provide some rain. Although the timing is not perfect, you still have to be thankful for the rain because it is much needed. Even though we need the rain it is really throwing a wrench in harvest of cotton and peanuts. Over the past few weeks I have noticed that peanuts seem to be about 5-10 days behind in dryland fields, and on-time to 7 days behind in irrigated fields. Defoliant decisions have also been a tough one the past couple of weeks with a split crop across early planted dryland fields. This update provides information from specialist on how to manage harvest with the rainfall, economics advice from Dr. Liu, and end of season considerations.
Topics in This Newsletter:
- Potential for tropical activity next weekend (Mrs. Pam Knox. UGA Weather Network Director)
- Defoliation Update – 10/5/26 (Dr. Camp Hand, UGA Cotton Agronomist)
- 2026 Row Crop Disease Update (Dr. Bob Kemerait, UGA Plant Pathologist)
- ARC/PLC Decision Aid (Dr. Serinna Liu, UGA Agriculture Economist)
- 2026 Row Crop Economic Situation in Geogia Article (Dr. Serinna Liu, UGA Agriculture Economist)
- Ext PA and Irrigation Blog Post (Dr. Wes Porter, UGA Precision Ag and Irrigation Blog Post)
- All About The Pod Podcast (UGA Peanut Team)
Potential for tropical activity next weekend (Mrs. Pam Knox. UGA Weather Network Director)
I have been quiet for most of the summer because not much threatening weather was occurring. That may be about to change as a potential tropical storm is now brewing in the Bay of Campeche. As of this morning, it has a 70% chance of developing into a named storm, which would be called Isaias (ee-say-EE-as) if it happens. As usually happens early in the development of a storm, the models are all over the place regarding how strong the storm will be and where it will go.
Most of the current storm paths bring the storm onshore west of Georgia in LA or MS, but there will certainly be some changes to that over the week. The most likely outcome for GA from this storm at present is rain, since we are likely to be on the wet side of the circulation. I know it is raining now and some parts of the state have received quite a bit over this past weekend, but there will be some dry days this week and farmers will need to consider how to handle harvest of cotton, peanuts, and other crops. What you do will depend on how wet it is now, how close your crops are to harvest, and where you are. The rain will likely start falling in SW Georgia and will stretch northward as the storm, if it happens, gets closer. That probably won’t start to happen until Saturday morning, but it could change so keep watching reliable forecasts. Social media is probably going to go crazy since they have not had much to write about all summer, but don’t let that distract you.
Source : uga.edu