There are concerns that imidacloprid-based insecticides for thrips control may negatively affect Rhizobia in inoculants when tank-mixed and applied in the furrow when plating peanut. As we are just a week (or less) from starting peanut planting in Virginia, I thought this issue be addressed for the farmer’s peace of mind if they decide to mix Optimize Lift inoculant with Admire-Pro insecticide for in-furrow seed treatment. I personally have not looked into this issue before, because we have not seen any effects in research plots or received complaints from farmers.  However, we will research this aspect in 2018.

Meanwhile, colleague Dan Anco, Peanut Specialist at Clemson University, tested the effect of different tank-mixtures for in-furrow applications on the nodule number and peanut yield in 2015 and 2017.  Graciously, Dan shared this information included in the In_furrow tank mixes tables.  The results clearly show no effect of mixing Optimize Lift with Admire-Pro on peanut yield in both years (Tables 1 and 2), even when the number of nodules from this mixture appeared to be reduced by the use of Admire-Pro in 2017 (Table 2). David Jordan, Peanut Specialist at North Carolina State University, reported similar findings Peanut Science Inoculant CFTGM Peanut Inoculant.