Dr. Scott Tubbs is the cropping systems agronomist and research peanut agronomist at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus. Most of his research is related to issues the grower can manage in his field directly. A lot of his research focuses on variety testing in different scenarios that affect disease patterns, yield and grade. These scenarios would be things such as, row pattern (twin row vs. single row), tillage patterns (conservation vs. strip-till) and re-plant decisions. For example, if a grower were to have a poor plant stand at the beginning of the season, Tubbs and his team are working to obtain information that will help the grower decide whether he or she should re-plant. Some of the re-plant decisions can cause the maturity profile of the peanuts to shift – having multiple maturities growing in the same field at the same time. In turn, this makes it difficult for the grower to determine the best time to harvest to maximize yield and grade. Because of that, Tubbs’ research at the Lang Farm is focusing on assessing the re-plant decisions in specific plant populations and determining the best timing for digging those peanuts.
