ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date June 4, 2006 Issue GA-CW2206 Agricultural Summary June 4, 2006 STILL HOT AND DRY Hot and dry conditions persisted across Georgia last week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. The state began the week with highs in the mid 90's, but only reached highs in the mid 80's by the end of the week. Weeklong lows were in the mid 60's. No significant rainfall was recorded until Friday night and Saturday morning when many stations received well over a half inch of precipitation. Soil moisture conditions were rated 24 percent very short, 42 percent short, 33 percent adequate, and 1 percent surplus. Although weekend rain was welcomed, the state remains behind normal spring rainfall levels. The need for more rain is a reoccurring comment from producers across the state. Sporadic hail, during the end of week showers, raised concerns for fruit growers. Water levels in wells, streams, and ponds are falling and wind has dried moisture left from previous rain showers. Pasture, hay, and crop conditions have declined due to lack of consistent precipitation. Recently harvested hay goes straight from the field to the hay ring for livestock on supplemental feeding. In the central part of the state, peanuts were reported to look good while dry land corn has been severely damaged. Cotton looked good with only minor thrips damage, but it needs rain to continue progressing. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus continued to plague tobacco. Wine grapes began to bloom. Growers cutting wheat have reported a better than anticipated yield. Other activities included cutting hay, completing peanut and cotton planting, harvesting onions, squash, and watermelons, and irrigating corn. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork. CROP PROGRESS Jun 4, Prev Prev 5 Year 2006 Week Year Avg Corn, Silked 26 9 9 22 Corn, Dough 2 0 0 3 Soybeans, Planted 69 54 56 63 Soybeans, Emerged 54 40 43 47 Sorghum, Planted 61 51 55 62 Cotton, Planted 94 86 91 91 Cotton, Squaring 8 2 4 11 Wheat, Harvested 64 32 19 47 Onions, Harvested 92 83 86 95 Peaches, Harvested 14 9 17 20 Peanuts, Planted 90 75 91 94 Peanuts, Blooming 6 1 4 10 Watermelons, Harvested 0 0 0 1 CROP CONDITION June 4, 2006 Crop Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Corn 1 9 34 47 9 Soybeans 1 7 41 49 2 Sorghum 0 4 41 53 2 Cotton 1 10 35 49 5 Wheat 3 11 30 49 7 Pasture 7 22 40 28 3 Apples 0 9 31 47 13 Hay 5 20 45 28 2 Peaches 0 1 45 54 0 Peanuts 1 2 42 51 4 Pecans 4 16 40 35 5 Tobacco 3 16 42 38 1 Watermelons 0 3 33 53 11 PASTURE CONDITION - DISTRICT* LEVEL June 4, 2006 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 5 11 54 30 0 Dist 2(NC) 0 28 29 35 8 Dist 3(NE) 4 24 67 5 0 Dist 4(WC) 16 20 37 20 7 Dist 5(C) 7 20 38 35 0 Dist 6(EC) 22 12 45 21 0 Dist 7(SW) 3 24 29 39 5 Dist 8(SC) 3 33 34 28 2 Dist 9(SE) 0 19 44 35 2 *A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Soil Moisture Table Jun 4, 2006 Prev Year 5 Year Avg --Percentages-- Very Short 24 1 11 Short 42 10 27 Adequate 33 57 49 Surplus 1 32 13 SOIL MOISTURE - DISTRICT* LEVEL June 4, 2006 Very Short Short Adequate Surplus --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 10 30 56 4 Dist 2(NC) 5 40 48 7 Dist 3(NE) 39 45 16 0 Dist 4(WC) 19 68 13 0 Dist 5(C) 36 40 24 0 Dist 6(EC) 32 27 41 0 Dist 7(SW) 22 40 37 1 Dist 8(SC) 32 43 25 0 Dist 9(SE) 14 46 40 0 *A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Weather Information Table GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY JUNE 4, 2006 1/ 2006 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALBANY 95 65 79 0.71 2 3.22 5.20 17.67 89 ALMA 91 63 77 0.09 2 4.10 6.43 19.97 78 ALPHARETTA 93 54 75 0.16 3 1.37 4.16 18.09 78 ARLINGTON 94 64 78 0.11 2 4.81 7.24 17.52 85 ATTAPULGUS 90 61 77 0.71 3 4.46 6.85 14.47 85 BLAIRSVILLE 88 47 69 1.00 4 4.00 7.66 19.89 75 BOWEN 91 64 77 0.83 3 2.29 4.61 14.48 86 BRUNSWICK 86 67 77 0.79 2 1.92 3.55 12.57 79 BYROMVILLE 94 61 78 0.31 1 5.30 7.86 17.76 83 BYRON 93 62 77 0.34 2 1.67 4.59 13.37 80 CAIRO 91 62 77 0.08 1 5.31 6.93 14.77 78 CAMILLA 94 60 79 0.12 1 4.87 7.01 18.42 90 CLARKS HILL 95 58 75 2.92 2 4.63 7.46 16.95 80 CORDELE 93 63 78 0.38 2 1.94 4.87 15.73 84 COVINGTON 94 59 76 0.00 0 1.48 3.01 10.42 83 DAHLONEGA 89 51 72 0.00 0 2.04 4.47 15.32 75 DAWSON 93 59 77 0.20 2 3.11 4.21 11.40 80 DEARING 94 61 77 2.23 2 3.11 5.43 13.66 78 DEMPSEY 93 56 76 0.58 2 2.11 3.98 12.96 83 DIXIE 92 62 77 0.01 1 2.39 5.26 14.62 85 DULUTH 95 54 75 0.39 2 1.68 4.27 19.27 78 DUNWOODY 93 55 75 0.50 2 1.82 4.44 18.14 77 EATONTON 95 55 76 0.70 3 1.93 4.04 13.02 65 ELBERTON 95 58 76 0.97 2 2.66 4.18 15.04 79 ELLIJAY 88 50 71 0.27 1 2.69 7.24 22.61 77 FORT VALLEY 94 65 78 0.48 1 2.17 4.04 12.10 86 GAINESVILLE 91 58 75 0.04 2 1.20 4.00 15.80 82 GEORGETOWN 93 59 77 1.63 2 5.67 7.16 17.05 85 GRIFFIN 93 57 76 0.55 2 1.98 3.92 13.33 79 HOMERVILLE 92 60 76 0.11 1 2.89 4.19 13.24 82 JACKSONVILLE 92 62 77 0.12 1 2.20 5.40 12.53 83 JONESBORO 94 58 76 1.14 3 2.57 6.04 17.36 79 LAFAYETTE 92 54 73 0.30 3 3.31 7.05 17.42 76 MCRAE 93 60 76 0.04 2 2.74 4.82 17.27 85 MIDVILLE 93 64 77 2.20 2 3.31 5.75 13.41 86 NAHUNTA 91 60 76 2.57 3 5.11 6.06 12.82 81 NEWTON 93 60 77 0.05 3 5.79 8.52 19.97 84 PINE MOUNTAIN 93 53 75 0.49 2 3.05 5.52 16.00 80 PLAINS 93 60 77 0.40 3 3.26 6.16 17.73 83 ROME 94 55 74 0.75 3 2.65 6.63 18.66 78 ROOPVILLE 95 56 76 0.00 0 2.04 5.24 17.81 81 SASSER 91 61 77 0.16 1 4.67 5.43 14.60 85 SAVANNAH 91 60 76 0.69 3 2.23 5.24 14.76 82 SHELLMAN 94 64 78 0.24 1 3.13 3.98 12.26 87 SKIDAWAY 85 65 76 0.25 4 2.51 4.43 12.24 78 SNEADS 90 70 79 0.00 0 0.29 3.82 12.99 85 STATESBORO 92 61 76 0.53 1 1.15 3.63 10.35 86 TIFTON 91 62 77 0.55 2 2.62 4.93 16.90 78 TIGER 89 49 69 1.71 6 4.63 8.03 21.24 75 VALDOSTA 92 66 79 0.11 3 1.70 3.79 13.02 76 VIDALIA 93 65 78 0.43 2 0.98 3.26 11.28 83 WATKINSVILLE 93 58 76 0.25 2 1.95 4.91 18.74 80 WILLIAMSON 93 54 75 0.45 3 2.32 3.38 11.68 81 WOODBINE 91 62 76 1.07 2 2.84 3.68 10.60 81 1/ Weather data supplied by Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia. For detailed Georgia weather data visit the AEMN homepage, www.georgiaweather.net. NA - not available. District Highlights These comments are written by the Georgia County Extension Agents, and have been compiled and edited by the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. DISTRICT COMMENTS June 4, 2006 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Harvesting hay - Late cutting due to all the rain. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Pastures are in desperate need of rain. Frequent showers, some with hail has caused some concern for fruit growers. Dry weather has led to declining crop conditions. Need rain! Isolated thunderstorms left widely varying moisture levels across the county - first hay cutting completed - wine grapes beginning to bloom. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Scattered rains but still nothing widespread. Pastures short, out of hay and no hay to cut. It all spells some hungry cows and producers are either feeding or selling. Some corn too far gone and beyond help. Dry. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Critically dry! No rain and very hot! Pasture, hayfield, and crop conditions continue to decline rapidly due to drought. Most all livestock producers having to feed hay to livestock again. Hay that is being harvested is going from the hayfield to the hay ring to feed animals. Some wells going dry and stream and pond levels dropping rapidly. We need rain really badly and real soon! Wheat harvest in full swing. We have to get some rainfall as soon as possible or we're going to have some serious problems. Everything is looking good at the moment but if we don't get any rainfall of any significant nature we start looking like a disaster county. Slight rains of 1/2 inch this week helps slow moisture loss in soils. However, soil moisture is still at a very low level. We continue to be well behind in rainfall this spring and early summer. Many cattle producers are feeding hay and looking for ways to stretch hay supplies. Continued very dry conditions. The wind has dried almost any moisture left from previous rain completely out. Hay and newly planted crops are looking poor. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Rainfall for Friday averaged 1.3 inches. The recorded high was almost 3 inches. Most stands of cotton are generally good with some thrips damage due to low moisture levels. Dry land corn is severely damaged. Peanuts look good so far. The first cutting of hay will be delayed at least 3 weeks from normal in most parts of the county due to drought conditions. Tobacco is being hit hard by TSWV. Peanut seed quality problems caused some thin stands. Cotton needs rain to outgrow thrips. Wheat yields better than anticipated. Pastures are poor - need rain. Corn getting much irrigation. Widespread showers Friday evening has greatly improved growing conditions. Some scattered showers have helped. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST We received 0.21" rainfall. Green bean harvesting (spring). Slowing green up of pastures. Slow drought conditions has caused slowed plantings in hayfield. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Dry! Getting a few scattered showers but not but a few tenths of an inch. Cutting hay. Wrapping up peanut and cotton planting. Need rainfall. TSWV is getting worse in tobacco. Scattered showers, areas still very dry. Skippy cotton strands with a lot of acres to replant. TSVW hits very high in some tobacco fields that will reduce yields. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Crop condition much better with rains showers this week. A few scattered showers lately have helped relieve our drought. Onion harvest nearly complete. Watermelon harvest to begin full swing this week. Squash harvest also in full swing. Rain in the county on Thursday. Covered most of the county with 0.8 to 1.2 inches. Find agricultural statistics for your county, State, and the Nation at www.usda.gov/nass/. Media Contact: Douglas G. Kleweno, Director USDA-NASS Georgia Field Office Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga