HDR101200019001 FL WEEKLY WEATHER-CROP NEWS Week ending June 30, 1996 Released 4:00 P.M. July 1, 1996 WEATHER SUMMARY: Comments on the week's weather and its effect on crop conditions are included in paragraphs below. FIELD CROPS: Topsoil moisture is short to adequate in the Panhandle and adequate to surplus throughout the Peninsula with scattered areas of short moisture. Peanut condition is reported as 1 percent very poor, 0 percent poor, 6 percent fair, 62 percent good, and 31 percent excellent. Percent of peanuts pegging is 70 percent. Soybean planting is virtually complete. Tobacco harvest is active. Hay cutting is active. Corn, cotton, and sugarcane are in good condition. LIVESTOCK AND PASTURES: The condition of the State's ranges and pastures was rated from very poor to excellent (previous week's rating in parentheses); poor 0% (0%), fair 25% (40%), good 60% (55%), and excellent 15% (5%). Pasture condition has improved considerably following the recent rains and increase in temperature. The State's cattle herds were rated at poor 0% (5%), fair 25% (30%), good 55% (60%), and excellent 20% (5%). CITRUS: Citrus groves, trees and new crop fruit are all in very good condition as a result of some hard pelting rains in all areas. Moisture is adequate to surplus depending on location. Very little irrigation is being used except for those growers applying fertigation. The current ideal growing conditions have produced an abundance of new foliage on most citrus trees. New crop fruit is making very good progress. Most oranges are now larger than golf balls and some grapefruit are baseball size. The Temples and tangelos are near golf ball size while most tangerines are smaller than golf balls. Valencia harvest is very slow as supplies are running out. Grapefruit harvest is down to the last few thousand boxes. Caretakers are cutting those cover crops that are tall and have grown out of control. Summer sprays and fertilizations are being applied in all areas. Dead trees are being removed and burned. Resetting is being done on a limited basis. Estimated boxes harvested week ended Crop Jun 17 Jun 24 Jul 1 1,000 boxes Valencias 1,791 770 NA All grapefruit 21 35 NA VEGETABLES: High temperatures and humidity with scattered thunderstorms and showers occurred this past week over most of the State and especially in the southern half. Daytime temperatures continued to reach into the upper 80s and 90s. Tomato picking continues in the Quincy area. Sweet corn picking is tapering off. The potato harvest in the Hastings area was almost complete. Watermelon harvest remains active. Some growers were cleaning and preparing fields for the fall crop planting. VEGETABLES 1995-96 SEASON: Warm, rainy conditions marked the climate from mid-July through September with the hot temperatures retarding crop development, and the storms delaying field preparations and planting in most vegetable production areas. Many localities recorded a 100 degree temperature or higher during late July and the first half of August. During early August, Hurricane Erin dumped from five to ten inches of rain and whipped winds up to 100 miles per hour as it moved over the southeast coast into the central Peninsula and over some western Panhandle localities. Tropical Storm Jerry passed over nearly the same path during late August and dropped from one to over eleven inches of rain. Scattered showers, caused by tropical moisture being pumped over the State, continued to cause some planting delays during September. Over four inches of rain fell in Belle Glade during one day around mid-September. Planting in the North Central region increased in late September with some growers providing supplemental irrigation to ensure good germination and transplant growth. In early-to-mid October two other hurricanes, Opal and Roxanne, occurred in the southwestern part of the Gulf of Mexico and brought more heavy rain to some vegetable areas. Strong winds from Opal laid over some tomatoes in the northern and Palmetto-Ruskin areas. Opal's winds reduced yield prospects by blowing blooms off plants and bruising some young fruit on tomatoes and peppers in the northern, East Coast, Southwest, and Palmetto-Ruskin regions. In the Southwest, hard rainfall from Opal beat snap beans and eggplant, causing a slowdown in development, and washed potato fumigation beds away, slowing ground preparation for planting. Opal's rainfall over the Everglades and some Central fields boosted crop development and replenished soil moisture supplies. Standing water over Southwest roads from the fall rains limited access to some acreage, with tractors, big machinery, or four-wheel drive vehicles needed to enter the fields. Heavy rains during mid-to-late October caused some acreage losses for snap beans and squash in Dade County; for radishes in the Everglades; and for watermelons near Wauchula. Also, nearly all vegetables around Immokalee suffered some yield loss. A significant acreage located in the south Webster and Center Hill areas was lost to the October flooding. Mostly dry and cooler weather over the southern Peninsula in late October helped evaporate excess water in most fields. The milder conditions allowed fieldwork and harvest progress to return to schedule. Growers in the Palmetto-Ruskin area drained excess water off fields after heavy showers in early November. This heavy rain did not significantly affect plant growth, but did reduce yields due to the bruising of fruit and the loss of blooms. Fields in low lying areas along the southeastern coast also dried out. Drier conditions for most of November and December allowed planting and harvesting to proceed at a normal pace. Cooler temperatures during the last half of November slowed plant growth and fruit development. Most northern harvesting wound up as the cooler temperatures arrived. Strong, cold winds in late November tossed some vines and burned some leaves in Dade County and in the East Coast and Southwest regions. Plants recovered during the mild weather that followed during late November and early December. These milder conditions provided nearly ideal harvesting conditions. Yields for many crops improved as growers started to pick fruit that developed after the adverse fall weather. Temperatures dipped to near freezing during early December around Lake Apopka, but caused no significant damage to crops. Some radish, carrot, and leaf crops were singed, but no significant commercial losses occurred. Heavy fog during the morning hours of early December caused fieldwork delays in some southern Peninsula localities. Mild temperatures and mostly dry weather returned by mid-December with fall crop harvesting meeting the holiday demand. Dade County growers began the commercial harvest of tomatoes about mid-December with a very low volume picked. Temperatures during late December in central and southern areas remained cool but above freezing until the mornings of December 25 and 26. Dade County and most of the southwestern acreage escaped damage from this freezing weather. Most growers in the Plant City area ran overhead sprinklers to form ice caps on strawberry plants for protection from freezing temperatures. Some pepper and cucumber leaves were burned in a few southeastern fields. Heavy rainfall over New Year's caused very muddy conditions in fields around Lake Apopka with harvest of cabbage, celery, endive/escarole, FLORIDA VEGETABLES Page 2 July 1, 1996 lettuce, and carrots at a standstill for about a week. Everglades crops escaped the heavy rains with only a half inch or less accumulation reported by growers. The effects of this heavy rain over the southern Peninsula varied by locality and crop. The rain benefitted most crops in the Southwest since soil moisture was getting dry and aided crop recovery from a late December frost in Dade County. However, the heavy rain reduced the supply of strawberries in the Plant City area. In early Janaury, Palmetto-Ruskin, Webster, and Center Hill growers delayed the planting of some spring crops due to the heavy rain and the threat of freezing weather. Strong, freezing winds during the night of January 7 and early morning of January 8 in the Lake Apopka area caused some leaf burn. Everglades localities again escaped freezing temperatures on January 7 and 8. However, virtually all southern Peninsula acreage was damaged by temperatures dipping into the 30s, and wind chills into the 'teens and 20s on January 8 and 9. Frost and cold winds over the southern Peninsula near mid-January again burned some foliage on crops not protected by wind breaks, sprinkling, or other means. Growers around Lake Apopka recorded lows in the 20s with leaves of mature crops burned and some young acreage killed. Warmer temperatures during late January helped some surviving plants to recover from the adverse weather. Producers in the Oxford and Webster areas made final land preparations for spring plantings during late January. Growers harvested some fruit to avoid damage from cold winds and freezing temperatures during early February. Some producers sprinkled water on plants to form protective igloos and used crop covers and chemical sprays to provide protection from early February cold temperatures. Drier, warmer weather for a short time after the early February cold helped plants recover from the freeze. Strong winds and cold temperatures returned to most of the southern Peninsula around mid- February. These strong winds prevented the proper formation of igloos over some strawberry plants with some major cold temperature damage occurring. Producers in the Palmetto-Ruskin region reported spotty losses of young transplants with some growers making spot re-sets in some fields, and some producers replanting acreage completely lost. Squash, eggplant, snap beans, mature tomatoes, and mature peppers around Immokalee suffered heavy foliage damage with some plants killed. During late February cold temperatures and strong winds over the southern Peninsula again caused signficant damage to some crops. Southwestern producers recorded lows from the mid 20s to the mid to upper 30s during this cold spell. Heavy frost in Dade County burned foliage on squash, snap beans, sweet corn, pickles, and potatoes with most tomato plants not affected by this cold. Lows near freezing around Lake Okeechobee killed some young corn and snap beans, and burned the tops of radishes. Cold temperatures around Lake Apopka slowed the growth of plants which had not fully recovered from the earlier freeze. Damage in the Palmetto-Ruskin region was limited as growers began to replant acreage lost to the earlier freeze. During the last half of February balmy conditions returned to the southern Peninsula and helped crops recover from the earlier adverse weather. Wet fields delayed land preparation for spring crop plantings in the Quincy area. Mild weather during the last week of February allowed growers in the counties of Sumter, Union, and Gilchrist to begin spring crop planting. Cold winds tossed plants and burned some foliage during early March in Dade County and along the southeastern coast. Low temperatures and heavy rain over March 10 and 11 slowed crop development in central areas and some southern Peninsula localities. Freezing temperatures during March 9, 10, and 11 killed watermelons and unprotected peppers in Sumter County. Strong winds and heavy rains on March 10 and 11 caused no significant damage to crops along the southeastern coast, but bruised some squash and broke leaves off plants in Dade County. Strong winds tossed plants, and wind-borne sand scarred some fruit over the southern Peninsula after mid-March with some yield prospects lowered due to bloom loss, fruit drop, and scarred fruit. Sumter County producers replanted a considerable acreage lost to the earlier freezes. During late March warmer temperatures boosted plant growth and fruit development in both northern and southern regions, while rainfall replenished subsoil moisture in northern localities, but disrupted spring planting schedules and flooded some acreage in some central localities. Near mid-April, scattered storms dropped varying amounts of precipitation over the southern Peninsula. Temperatures dipped to freezing or near freezing around Zellwood on April 11 which burned leaves on some crops. This freezing weather damaged some watermelons in northern localities with growers replanting some acreage. Cool temperatures during the first half of April slowed plant development over southern localities. Cold temperatures and frosts delayed some plantings in northern areas after mid-April. Warmer weather in late April boosted crop growth in southern regions. An increasing amount of 'dust devils' around Lake Okeechobee indicated that some southern localities became dry in late April. Tomato harvesting began during late April in the Palmetto-Ruskin area. Northern growers began to pick squash, and watermelon harvesting got underway around Immokalee by early May. Scattered rainfall brought needed moisture to some northern and southern areas during the first half of May as some north central producers irrigated crops to ensure adequate moisture. Growers in all areas increased harvesting by mid-May to meet the Memorial Day demand as the picking of crops in northern areas gained momentum. Homestead received about 2 inches of rain in an hour and a half from a storm on May 14. Most commercial harvesting finished up in Dade County and began to slow in the Immokalee area after mid-May. Sweet corn picking started in the Zellwood area in late May with a good volume available for the festival at the end of May. Thunderstorms dropped varying amounts of rain over both southern and northern fields during late May and early June with Dade County recording from two to 11 inches of rain during this period. Over two inches fell around Immokalee on Tuesday, May 21. Some fields in the Palmetto-Ruskin region received from a trace to about seven inches of rain. Up to two and a half inches of rain accumulated in some southeastern coastal localities. Gadsden County received soaking showers on May 28 and 29 with about two inches accumulating, while Union County got nearly one and a half inches over May 29 and 30. Subsoil moisture supplies remained short in some northern areas with growers continuing to irrigate crops during early June. Growers around Immokalee finished virtually all harvesting, except for watermelons, by early June. A low market for the first half of June caused producers to abandon some squash fields. Tomato picking started around Quincy in early June as frequent rainfall eased drought conditions. The harvest of watermelons became very active in northern areas by mid-June. Quincy growers continued tomato harvesting into early July. Scattered showers and warm temperatures continued through most of June.