Peanuts: "lessers" get an opening with dry weather

While parts of the Southeast received rain over the weekend, it was spotty in many areas, and dry conditions linger -- and provide the kinds of conditions that favor lesser cornstalk borer infestations in peanuts.

We began hearing about "lessers" in southwest Georgia peanuts last week. They also are being dealt with in parts of north Florida. Tim Kelly with Southeastern Crop Consulting, Inc., in Barney, Ga., said in an email Sunday that his firm's growers in north Florida were "fighting lessers in peanuts, especially on the real sandy land."