Georgia is divided, geographically, into three sections- the mountains, the piedmont and the coastal plain. The soil types differ vastly between the three, and even within the coastal plain, where I farm. Sandy loam soil predominates the coastal plain, but even that varies from excellent to poor soil. What you see in the pictures is considered by farmers in this area to be on the poor side, droughty and unable to hold very much in the way of nutrients. That makes it less profitable for row cropping and more desirable for recreation, growing pine trees or hay fields.
I have always used ClearField seed, but may quit and save the money. Cadre, which is the herbicide that is able to be sprayed over the top of CF sunflowers, has become almost completely ineffective in controlling Palmer Amaranth pigweed, our biggest nemesis. I began this year using a new herbicide, Zidua, just recently released and labeled for sunflower. It is absolutely awesome on broadleaf weeds. Of course, for grasses I still use either Trifluralin or Prowl, preplant. OBTW, the Zidua absolutely must be sprayed pre-emergence, that means even before the sunflower crack the ground. Have been using Spartan for broadleaves, but Zidua is better, and at $14/acre it's $11/acre cheaper. Win/win.
SRH
