Preventative Fungicide Spray Warning for Peanut Growers in: Mississippi, Louisiana, North Alabama and the Boot Hills of Missouri

The projected wind maps and storm track maps for Invest 91L have started to stabilize. See

http://trackthetropics.com/invest91/

It is possible that this storm has picked up fungal spores from peanuts grown around the base of the Yucatan peninsula. If so, some of the spores could be rained out into peanut crops growing in Louisiana, Mississippi, the boot hills of Missouri, central/north parts of eastern Alabama, and parts of Arkansas.

You may wish to apply a preventative spray to your plants prior to the storms arrival. The best spray would be a penetrant type fungicide. Chlorothalonil, usually used as Bravo or Echo, can also be effective if the associated rains are not heavy AND the application used sufficient pressure and water/A to cover the entire plant.

There are a lot of “ifs” involved with possible infection of our peanut crop:

• Invest 91L has certainly been over areas which in the past have been associated with spore showers in our area. However, the storm was poorly formed then and upwelling may have been minimal at that time.
• If upwelling convection currents associated with the storm in the Yucatan Peninsula area did pick up fungal spores of peanut pathogens and rains them out on our growing areas, the earliest an infection would normally be detected would be the middle of July, assuming conducive weather for pathogen development. If weather turns dry, the infection may not become apparent until August. Irrigation will also affect this proposed time line.
• Please watch for predicted changes in the path of the storm.