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News from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

A photo of a car windshield covered with yellow pine pollen. CAES News
Pollen Counts
The dusty pollen that we see in the air is not the pollen that plagues allergy sufferers. However, oftentimes when we can see lots of pine pollen floating in the air, pollen counts for problem plants are often high as well.
A deer dines on pasture grass in Butts Co., Ga. CAES News
Dining deer
When deer leave the shelter of the woods in search of food, they often inspect the shrubs and flowers in your front yard’s landscape as if they were browsing a buffet.
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension wildlife expert Michael Mengak tells visitors to a field day how a squirrel trap should be used. CAES News
Critter control
Chewing pests have many Georgia homeowners wondering “Who dunnit?” when their favorite tree or shrub is scarred by teeth marks.
Fictional Peter Rabbit isn't the only rabbit that enjoys munching in vegetable gardens. To keep rabbits out of home gardens, University of Georgia Extension specialists recommend building a fence around precious plants. The fence must be at least 2-feet high and the bottom must be buried at least 3-inches deep. CAES News
Rabbit Control
While rabbits may seem cute and fuzzy, the common rabbit or eastern cottontail can do considerable damage to flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs any time of the year in places ranging from suburban yards to rural fields and tree plantations.
Abnormally dry conditions this summer have kept Georgia's mosquito populations mercifully low, but that's no reason for Georgians to let down their guard, especially this season. CAES News
Mosquito Season
With warmer temperatures around the corner, Georgia’s mosquito season won’t be far behind. This year the remote chance of a southeastern U.S. outbreak of Zika — a mosquito-borne virus now prevalent in parts of South America — has university and public health officials doubling down on their message of how to control the pest.
Over the course of February, swaths of northwest and southeast Georgia received as much as three or four inches more rainfall than normal, leaving some farm fields that have reached the planting milestone of 55 degrees Fahrenheit too wet to plant. CAES News
February's Variable Rains
Overly wet weather in Georgia’s major row crop regions during February 2016 has farmers worried that soggy soil may delay corn and peanut planting or cause fungal diseases to be a major issue later this spring.
Southern corn rust appeared at least two weeks early in 2014 (5 June) than it did in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 or 2013. Appearing earlier means that this disease will likely be more problematic than in recent years. Corn that is approaching (or has passed) the tassel growth stage is worth protecting if the yield potential is there, according to UGA Extension agent Shane Curry. CAES News
El Nino 2016
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension plant pathologist Bob Kemerait cautions Georgia corn farmers about the El Nino weather pattern that will likely interfere with planting this March. A delay would increase the likelihood of diseases too, so Kemerait advises growers to plant resistant varieties and be ready to apply fungicides earlier than normal.
Members of Stanley Culpepper's team conducts a trial that is comparing methyl bromide to Paladin Pic, Trifecta, and the UGA 3-WAY. CAES News
Drift Complaints
Complaints over off-target movement of chemical applications went down 48 percent from 2014 to 2015, but Georgia farmers must better understand the factors that influence drift, according to University of Georgia weed scientist Stanley Culpepper.
Pictured is a dry land peanut field in east Tift County on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. CAES News
Peanut Planting
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension peanut agronomist Scott Monfort insists that poor peanut plant stands in Georgia may not necessarily be due to seed quality.
Although January was drier than normal across the state, some areas of Georgia, specifically Atlanta and Alma, received more rain than normal. CAES News
January Climate
After a record-setting warm December 2015, January 2016 in Georgia was slightly cooler and drier than normal. While El Niño conditions mean a continuation of slightly cooler-than-normal conditions in February, it should also mean a wetter-than-normal month.