ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date July 2, 2006 Issue GA-CW2606 Agricultural Summary July 2, 2006 SOME RAIN AND STILL HOT Some areas in central and northeast Georgia received beneficial rains earlier in the week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Some areas reported 4 to 6 inches of rain and were their first rain in two months. Many areas in south Georgia remain dry. Mid week highs averaged in the low 90's, by the end of the week highs averaged in the mid 90's. Lows were in the upper 60's. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 16% very short, 40% short, 42% adequate, and 2% surplus. Drought conditions continue, but in the areas that received rain, pastures and hayfields have greened up. Some parts of the state are still under hazardous fire conditions and many areas continue water bans. Wells going dry, low stream and pond levels remain a problem. Pasture conditions are poor to fair. Livestock were not able to graze because lack of rain and high temperatures has stunted pasture growth. Producers were feeding hay and purchasing hay when their stocks were depleted. Some have reduced herds to ease pasture grazing pressure. For producers who were able to harvest hay, yield and nutritional value were below normal. Crop conditions continued to decline. Tropical soda apple has been spotted in central Georgia. Pigweed was reported in some cotton and peanut fields. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus continues to be a problem. Growers were spraying pix on cotton. Drought has prevented weed control in some fields. Herbicides were applied to cotton and peanuts, and fertilizer was applied to cotton. Other activities included applying fungicides to peanuts, irrigating vegetables, cutting available hay, topping and suckering tobacco, and harvesting watermelons. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.8 days suitable for fieldwork. CROP PROGRESS Jul 2, Prev Prev 5 Year 2006 Week Year Avg Corn, Silked 88 82 85 88 Corn, Dough 55 40 34 56 Corn, Dent 14 5 5 18 Soybeans, Planted 97 94 94 95 Soybeans, Emerged 91 84 88 90 Soybeans, Blooming 11 6 15 18 Sorghum, Planted 94 91 84 89 Cotton, Squaring 75 60 62 71 Cotton, Setting Bolls 23 10 15 23 Peaches, Harvested 36 33 50 54 Peanuts, Blooming 70 53 71 76 Peanuts, Pegging 37 21 36 41 Tobacco, Harvested 5 2 3 8 Watermelons, Harvested 60 39 29 54 CROP CONDITION July 2, 2006 Crop Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Corn 8 22 33 30 7 Soybeans 3 9 32 54 2 Sorghum 6 19 47 28 0 Cotton 2 12 40 40 6 Pasture 16 27 38 18 1 Apples 10 20 30 20 20 Hay 13 28 40 18 1 Peaches 0 25 50 25 0 Peanuts 1 5 42 46 6 Pecans 11 33 33 22 1 Tobacco 4 22 40 32 2 Watermelons 2 6 50 40 2 PASTURE CONDITION - DISTRICT* LEVEL July 2, 2006 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 0 37 63 0 0 Dist 2(NC) 3 24 50 22 1 Dist 3(NE) 29 27 44 0 0 Dist 4(WC) 34 35 19 12 0 Dist 5(C) 16 35 44 5 0 Dist 6(EC) 0 3 43 54 0 Dist 7(SW) 28 27 29 15 1 Dist 8(SC) 11 29 38 22 0 Dist 9(SE) 5 15 34 36 10 *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 Jul 2, 2006 Prev Year 5 Year Avg --Percentages-- Very Short 16 1 3 Short 40 14 15 Adequate 42 68 65 Surplus 2 17 17 SOIL MOISTURE - DISTRICT* LEVEL July 2, 2006 Very Short Short Adequate Surplus --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 19 51 30 0 Dist 2(NC) 5 45 46 4 Dist 3(NE) 2 66 32 0 Dist 4(WC) 46 35 19 0 Dist 5(C) 16 39 40 5 Dist 6(EC) 1 14 82 3 Dist 7(SW) 26 54 20 0 Dist 8(SC) 18 37 44 1 Dist 9(SE) 3 29 62 6 *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 JULY 2, 2006 1/ 2006 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALBANY 97 67 80 4.86 3 6.42 9.08 23.38 88 ALMA 94 66 79 1.20 3 4.74 8.89 24.71 81 ALPHARETTA 96 59 76 0.18 1 3.33 4.74 21.42 79 ARLINGTON 97 62 80 0.07 2 1.68 6.65 19.20 87 ATTAPULGUS 94 67 79 1.89 2 4.86 9.82 19.33 84 BLAIRSVILLE 91 52 70 2.17 1 6.01 10.68 25.63 73 WILLIAMSON 94 58 78 1.08 1 2.62 4.97 14.27 82 BOWEN 95 65 79 0.68 3 3.48 6.37 17.95 87 BRUNSWICK 93 70 80 1.50 4 4.88 6.89 17.29 82 BYROMVILLE 98 65 81 0.69 3 1.28 6.59 19.04 85 CAIRO 95 68 80 0.61 3 2.38 7.76 17.15 82 CALHOUN 96 58 75 0.11 1 2.27 6.18 20.79 79 PINE MOUNTAIN 97 57 78 0.08 1 0.45 3.54 16.42 83 CAMILLA 96 67 79 0.26 2 3.28 8.70 21.70 88 CLARKS HILL 97 62 77 1.18 1 5.78 10.92 22.73 82 CORDELE 98 64 80 0.49 2 0.83 3.56 16.55 87 COVINGTON 97 61 78 0.36 1 1.43 3.60 12.45 82 DAHLONEGA 92 56 73 1.50 2 3.23 5.29 18.55 75 DALLAS 94 61 76 0.89 2 1.70 3.41 22.51 79 DAWSON 100 58 81 0.07 2 0.63 3.74 12.03 84 DEARING 96 67 78 1.22 2 4.68 8.21 18.31 81 DEMPSEY 93 59 76 1.49 3 2.57 4.40 14.95 81 DIXIE 94 65 77 0.73 3 4.47 6.96 19.09 83 DUBLIN 97 64 79 0.97 1 2.19 5.82 18.04 82 DULUTH 96 58 76 0.34 1 2.59 4.45 21.86 80 DUNWOODY 97 59 76 0.88 2 3.96 5.87 22.10 79 EATONTON 97 60 77 2.10 1 3.14 5.49 16.06 84 ELBERTON 97 62 78 0.62 2 1.55 4.34 16.56 81 ELLIJAY 92 54 72 0.12 3 2.41 5.13 25.02 78 ROME 96 61 75 0.29 2 2.76 5.30 20.81 80 FORT VALLEY 99 65 80 0.10 1 0.49 2.66 12.59 87 GAINESVILLE 96 63 76 0.63 1 2.42 3.72 18.22 82 GEORGETOWN 98 60 80 0.04 1 2.24 6.28 17.66 84 GRIFFIN 95 61 78 1.14 1 2.50 4.65 15.79 80 HOMERVILLE 96 63 78 0.24 2 3.33 6.53 16.57 83 JONESBORO 96 61 77 1.15 2 2.81 5.64 20.06 80 JACKSONVILLE 96 63 79 0.52 1 1.86 4.90 14.39 84 LAFAYETTE 94 57 73 1.34 3 3.17 6.57 20.59 78 MCRAE 96 60 78 0.93 4 2.76 5.97 19.99 86 MIDVILLE 92 65 78 0.82 2 3.71 7.47 17.06 85 NAHUNTA 95 64 77 1.65 1 3.80 8.90 16.61 83 PLAINS 99 64 81 0.02 2 1.29 4.54 19.01 88 SASSER 99 62 80 0.09 1 0.42 5.17 15.02 88 SAVANNAH 95 67 79 1.33 2 6.27 7.96 20.49 84 SHELLMAN 100 65 82 0.10 1 1.42 4.55 13.68 90 SKIDAWAY 91 68 79 0.80 5 4.85 7.20 16.88 80 SNEADS 94 72 81 0.00 0 0.00 0.30 12.99 87 STATESBORO 94 59 76 1.61 2 4.85 6.27 15.20 85 TIFTON 94 65 78 0.97 4 4.02 6.87 20.52 81 TIGER 91 54 70 2.85 1 7.89 12.73 29.00 75 VALDOSTA 96 69 80 5.14 3 8.46 10.45 21.48 78 ROOPVILLE 97 62 77 0.73 1 3.70 7.06 22.54 80 WATKINSVILLE 94 63 77 0.76 4 1.97 4.30 20.46 82 WOODBINE 96 67 78 0.44 3 4.79 7.62 15.38 83 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 July 2, 2006 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Heavy rain showers greatly improved soil moisture and crop conditions - final pumpkin planting underway. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Drought continues to plague the west central portion of the state. It doesn't seem possible, but it just seems to go from bad to worse. Some places in the county have received small amounts of rainfall, but countywide we are still extremely dry. We have 6-8 inch tall dryland cotton that is blooming out the top indicating that it finished for the year and extremely serious hay and pasture shortages. We need rain! DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Welcome rain, finally! Most areas of the county had a total of 4-6 inches for the week. Pastures and hayfield greening up some. Crop conditions improving due to the rain. We got some much needed rainfall but we're still lagging way behind in our rainfall counts. Received much needed rainfall over weekend across our county - conditions were so dry that most of the rain was soaked up pretty fast - will be dry again in a week or two if we go on for an extended period without receiving any more rainfall in the next few days - pastures and hay fields have greened up considerably following the rainfall we have received. Need rain! Local rains on June 23-26 were helpful but very spotted. Some locations received over 3 inches of rain, others less than a quarter of an inch. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Tropical soda apple confirmed in county. Getting good showers, spraying pix on cotton, fungicides on peanuts. Insect pressure light, group IV soybeans in early pod till. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Dry conditions in the county. Hay and pasture overall fair to good. Pigweed populations heavy in some cotton and peanut fields. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Need rainfall! Cotton and peanuts are at critical need growth stage. Corn yields will be affected by drought. Irrigation of crops. Applying herbicides, landplaster and fungicides to peanuts, and applying fertilizer and herbicides to cotton. Picking squash, and pepper is over. Rains earlier in the week was a welcome site. It also cooled the temperature a bit too. It has not taken long for things to dry out. Rain needed. Critical. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Recent rains have helped move crops along. Find agricultural statistics for your county, State, and the Nation at www.usda.gov/nass/. Media Contact: S. Radley Edwards, Acting Director USDA-NASS Georgia Field Office Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga