fl-crop-weather Week ending September 6, 1998 Released 4:00 P.M. September 8, 1998 WEATHER SUMMARY: Hot temperatures continued to affect plant growth when Hurricane Danielle drew moisture from the atmosphere as it passed parallel to the eastern coast during the week of August 30 through September 5. Hurricane Earl made landfall in the Big Bend area during the early hours of Thursday, September 3 with tomatoes in the Quincy area escaping significant damage from Earl's wind and heavy rain. Rainfall at the major stations ranged from about two thirds inch at Daytona Beach to about five and a half inches at Tallahassee. The Quincy area reported about 6 to 7 inches of rain from Earl. Palmetto-Ruskin reported from a half inch to two inches of rain for the week. The farming areas in Dade County received at least an inch and a quarter, mostly late in the week, with Miami reporting almost two and a half inches for the period. The Immokalee region recorded from traces to over an inch and a half. Temperatures averaged normal to three degrees above with highs in the 80s and 90s and lows in the 70s and 80s. FIELD CROPS: Topsoil moisture in the Panhandle was adequate to surplus while in other areas of the State moisture is reported mostly adequate with scattered areas of short moisture. Hurricane Earl caused far less damage to agricultural crops than anticipated. Earl caused some losses to cotton and delayed the peanut harvest. Haying is active in most areas. Tobacco marketing is active. Fall army worms and mole crickets are a problem in hay fields and pastures. Some hay producers have sprayed three times for army worms. White mold, limb rot and possibly CBR are showing up in many peanut fields. Foliage feeders are coming back to some peanut fields. Sugarcane planting is active. Peanut condition: poor 2%, fair 34%, good 64%. Nine percent of the peanuts for nuts are reported harvested. Moisture Topsoil Subsoil Rating Last week This week Last week This week Percent Very short 0 0 0 0 Short 27 13 24 10 Adequate 73 74 75 79 Surplus 0 13 1 11 LIVESTOCK AND PASTURES: In the Panhandle, there was a lot of standing water due to Hurricane Earl. Also, pastures have suffered severe losses from army worms over the past month. In the northern counties, warm season grasses (Bahia and Bermuda) showed damage from army worms. In the central area, pastures were in good shape from recent rains. Some army worm and mole cricket damage was reported. Pastures in the west central area were in fair to good shape but growth of grass has slowed. Calving was active. Pastures in the southwest were somewhat dry. Range Cattle Condition Last week This week Last week This week Percent Very poor 0 0 0 0 Poor 0 0 0 0 Fair 25 20 40 30 Good 75 80 60 70 Excellent 0 0 0 0 CITRUS: There were several rains this week of a tropical nature and scattered thunderstorms. This additional moisture has been welcomed to help replenish some of the lakes, ponds, and streams that have been utilized for irrigation and spraying purposes. Most well-cared-for groves continue in very good condition with an abundance of new growth on trees of all ages. Those groves that have had very little care or discontinued maintenance show little new growth and in most cases a tremendous amount of cover crop and weed growth. As of this date, there are four fresh fruit packing houses packing early bloom red and white seedless grapefruit. Several other fresh houses have representatives in the fields running maturity tests. Caretakers are cutting cover crops that have grown tall and out of control. Fall spraying and fertilizing are underway in all areas. A lot of growers are removing dead and unthrifty trees from their groves. Some resetting of young trees is generally being done in the larger groves. VEGETABLES: Hot temperatures affected plant growth with growers making some resets of weaker plants. Gadsden County--Tomatoes remained in good condition with no significant damage from Hurricane Earl's wind and rain. Plants reached the third and fourth strings with some topping stakes. Producers continued to pick squash planted earlier in the summer. Sumter County--Staked tomato planting is active. A small acreage of pumpkins is in good condition. East Coast--Tomato condition improved with stronger plants bushing out well. Producers continue to reset weaker tomato plants hurt by the hot temperatures. Planting of eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes continued while snap bean and squash planting started. Oldest eggplant and peppers are in mostly good condition. Other activity included staking of tomatoes and ground preparations for future vegetable planting. Palmetto-Ruskin--Tomatoes are in fair condition with hot temperatures affecting some plant growth. Transplanting of tomatoes is nearing the end. Planting of fresh market cucumbers started while pepper planting gained momentum. Watermelon, plum tomato, and cherry tomato plantings started to slow seasonally. Eggplant planting is completed with the crop in fair to good condition. Pepper condition is good. Cherry and plum tomatoes, eggplant, and watermelons are rated fair to good. Other fieldwork included spraying, staking and tying tomatoes. Southwest--Tomato condition is rated fair to good with producers providing water to plants in drier areas. Tomato transplanting is steady. Squash and watermelon planting started with both in fair to good condition. Peppers, eggplant, cherry and plum tomatoes are in fair to good condition with planting gaining momentum. Other field activities included staking of tomatoes and preparing land for future plantings of vegetables. Dade County--Tomatoes planted recently for the U-Pic market are in good condition with most transplanting of commercial fields to begin later this month. Snap beans are in good condition with planting slowing. Planting of larger fields of beans is expected to start in two to three weeks. A small acreage of pickles was planted with most to begin in late September. Squash planting is expected to start later this month with some acreage to be planted on plastic left from last season's tomatoes. Eggplant planting is getting underway. Other field work included discing fields for tomato planting. MONTHLY UTILIZATION OF CITRUS 1997-98 SEASON MONTHLY UTILIZATION OF CITRUS 1997-98 SEASON SOURCE: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To receive this report via e-mail, send an e-mail message to nass-state-releases@news.usda.gov with the following message: subscribe fl-crop-weather. 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