ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date June 24, 2007 Issue GA-CW2507 Agricultural Summary June 25, 2007 LIMITED RAINFALL THIS WEEK Weather conditions were hot and mostly dry this week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Average highs were in the high 80's to the mid- 90's; lows were in the 60's. Limited rainfall the first half of the week brought some relief from the drought. Topsoil moisture conditions were rated at 31% very short, 38% short, 31% adequate, and 0% surplus. Enough rain fell this week to prevent crop conditions from deteriorating any further in most areas. Some areas even reported a slight improvement in conditions. Farmers in northwest Georgia were able to resume planting after receiving the first significant rainfall in some time. Forage crops have greened up some. Dryland crops continued to be in much worse shape than irrigated crops. Vegetable growers were starting to see disease outbreaks in some of their crops. There were reports of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus in tobacco and weed pressure was high in many fields. Planting of soybeans continued. Other activities included cutting hay, feeding hay to cattle, applying sucker control and insecticides to tobacco, applying herbicides to peanuts and cotton, applying poultry litter to pastures, and spraying pastures for weeds. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.1 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 06/24/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Silked : 80 67 81 79 Corn Dough : 28 16 38 37 Corn Dent : 2 0 4 8 Soybeans Planted : 81 68 93 92 Soybeans Emerged : 66 49 83 83 Soybeans Blooming : 1 0 5 8 Sorghum Planted : 81 72 90 85 Cotton Squaring : 27 11 57 56 Cotton Setting Bolls : 1 0 9 11 Winter Wheat Harvested : 98 92 98 91 Peaches Harvested : 44 24 32 40 Peanuts Blooming : 26 15 50 58 Peanuts Pegging : 7 2 19 22 Tobacco Harvested : 1 0 2 3 Watermelons Harvested : 30 11 36 34 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 06/24/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn : 20 21 29 27 3 Soybeans : 4 8 42 45 1 Sorghum : 13 18 45 23 1 Cotton : 10 20 42 24 4 Range and Pasture : 35 27 26 11 1 Apples : 80 14 6 0 0 Hay : 37 31 22 9 1 Peaches : 85 0 7 8 0 Peanuts : 5 18 42 33 2 Pecans : 15 23 34 23 5 Tobacco : 2 15 30 47 6 Watermelons : 3 13 51 29 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 06/24/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 31 32 12 Short : 38 31 24 Adequate : 31 36 49 Surplus : 0 1 14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 06/24/07, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 62 38 0 0 District 2 (NC) : 38 48 14 6 District 3 (NE) : 61 22 17 0 District 4 (WC) : 66 29 5 0 District 5 (C) : 18 60 22 0 District 6 (EC) : 2 45 53 0 District 7 (SW) : 45 23 32 0 District 8 (SC) : 4 38 56 2 District 9 (SE) : 9 16 74 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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. Pasture Condition for Week Ending 06/24/07, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 63 36 1 0 0 District 2 (NC) : 44 28 22 6 0 District 3 (NE) : 72 23 2 3 0 District 4 (WC) : 59 34 7 0 0 District 5 (C) : 21 24 45 9 1 District 6 (EC) : 4 37 39 20 0 District 7 (SW) : 58 12 16 13 1 District 8 (SC) : 13 31 38 18 0 District 9 (SE) : 6 5 35 49 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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 Summary for Week Ending 06/24/07, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:---------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day : Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albany : 96 66 80 0.79 2 4.14 4.68 17.68 87 Alma : 95 67 78 0.32 2 4.09 4.28 10.45 79 Alpharetta : 96 59 76 0.73 2 1.93 3.43 14.36 80 Arlington : 98 63 79 0.70 2 2.18 2.43 15.49 85 Attapulgus : 97 63 79 0.20 2 1.25 1.47 8.60 89 Blairsville : 89 51 71 1.13 3 4.23 5.07 15.34 76 Williamson : 96 58 78 0.61 2 1.86 3.13 14.62 82 Bowen : 97 65 79 0.12 2 4.63 4.65 12.54 86 Brunswick : 94 71 79 0.54 2 4.36 5.08 12.60 79 Byromville : 97 63 80 0.84 2 3.90 4.02 15.05 82 Byron : 96 62 79 0.28 2 4.00 4.00 14.24 82 Cairo : 95 66 79 1.22 2 5.97 6.23 13.84 80 Calhoun : 96 53 76 1.92 2 2.63 2.77 10.58 81 Pine Mountain : 95 61 76 1.41 2 3.67 5.76 19.95 82 Camilla : 98 65 80 0.78 3 1.41 1.51 13.34 88 Clarks Hill : 97 59 77 0.81 3 3.79 4.74 14.79 81 Cordele : 96 63 80 0.59 2 3.06 3.06 14.03 82 Covington : 97 60 79 0.27 2 2.20 3.70 14.67 82 Dahlonega : 91 55 74 0.51 2 2.21 3.98 17.19 78 Dallas : 94 60 78 1.07 1 1.56 3.60 13.27 80 Dawson : 96 62 79 0.18 2 1.95 1.96 12.46 81 Dearing : 97 64 80 0.03 1 3.08 3.68 14.17 80 Dempsey : 96 60 78 0.68 1 1.14 1.70 12.42 83 Dixie : 96 65 79 2.80 2 6.74 6.76 14.87 84 Dublin : 97 62 78 0.44 2 7.64 9.82 22.11 82 Duluth : 96 58 77 0.29 2 1.11 3.43 15.21 77 Dunwoody : 94 60 77 0.88 2 1.57 2.91 14.13 79 Eatonton : 98 57 78 0.12 2 2.61 2.78 13.68 85 Elberton : 99 59 79 0.34 2 2.67 4.49 18.07 80 Ellijay : 91 52 73 0.52 3 1.59 2.13 12.02 79 Rome : 96 56 77 3.37 2 4.10 4.51 11.19 79 Fort Valley : 98 62 79 0.23 2 4.39 4.49 11.62 83 Gainesville : 93 61 77 0.67 3 2.67 3.92 12.86 81 Georgetown : 96 60 79 0.74 2 1.92 2.54 18.30 84 Griffin : 95 62 79 1.01 2 2.27 2.95 13.58 80 Homerville : 98 64 78 0.91 3 5.53 5.61 12.88 81 Jonesboro : 97 61 79 0.64 1 1.68 3.69 13.91 82 Jeffersonville : 96 62 78 0.51 2 5.82 5.99 17.75 83 Lafayette : 96 52 75 0.34 2 0.57 2.56 11.82 79 McRae : 98 60 77 0.76 3 6.03 6.61 17.20 84 Midville : 97 63 79 0.22 3 7.26 7.75 18.07 84 Newton : 98 64 79 0.73 3 1.92 1.96 14.49 85 Plains : 95 61 79 1.31 2 3.35 3.35 14.40 85 Sasser : 94 64 79 0.31 2 3.60 3.82 17.00 82 Savannah : 96 64 78 0.44 2 7.24 8.45 15.44 82 Skidaway : 94 67 78 0.82 3 7.66 8.91 14.74 79 Sneads : 91 62 77 0.37 2 0.37 0.37 7.41 78 Statesboro : 97 64 79 0.71 2 9.58 10.02 19.17 87 Tifton : 95 65 79 0.09 1 4.69 4.70 12.33 81 Tiger : 90 51 71 2.28 3 5.79 8.48 24.83 77 Valdosta : 95 69 80 2.18 2 8.17 8.78 16.80 78 Vidalia : 96 65 79 0.13 2 9.50 9.51 18.85 82 Roopville : 96 60 78 0.80 2 1.20 1.96 13.04 83 Watkinsville : 96 63 79 0.04 1 1.30 3.45 14.18 83 Woodbine : 96 66 78 0.59 3 8.50 8.86 17.09 81 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Weather data are supplied by the 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 at www.georgiaweather.net. DISTRICT COMMENTS June 24, 2007 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST The area received much needed rain this past Tuesday evening, anywhere from 1 to 2 inches were reported. The NW GA Research and Education Center recorded 1.89 inches. This has set folks off to planting with the much needed moisture. A lot of summer annuals are being planted for potential grazing and hay. Also, some field crop planting has resumed too. We received 3 to 4" of rain the first of the week. It helped, but more is needed! DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Dry! DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Soils are very dry at 1/4 to 1/2". DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Very dry - pasture and rainfall is very limited. A few scattered showers have greened up forage crops a little, but soil moisture levels are still low, pond levels are low and stream flows are below normal. Irrigated crops are doing better, but dryland is in poor shape. Cattle producers are still selling off animals due to lack of grazing and hay. Damage to most crops from the drought ranges from 50% to 95% at this time. Nursery irrigation drip systems supplied by deep wells are clogging up due to a change in water quality coming up from the wells. Calcium and sulphate levels and the pH level of the well water has increased. Irrigation systems that have worked fine for years are now clogging up daily. Hot and dry again! We received 0.2-0.3 of an inch of rain county-wide this past week. The drought continues. Pastures, hayfields and dryland crops are really suffering. Most hay producers are still waiting for enough growth for the first cutting of hay. Some rain seen by some, conditions were better about a minute. Wheat harvest complete; prepping for millet planting should soil moisture allow. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Some more welcome showers! Crop, pasture and hayfield conditions improved slightly due to the recent rain. Hay feeding continues for some livestock. We are still significantly behind in terms of rainfall. We are starting to see outbreaks of disease in some of our vegetable crops such as tomatoes. The sporadic rainfall has helped some areas, yet some areas in the county are still bone dry. Then there's the potential danger of alfatoxins in some of the areas that have received rainfall. The bottom line is that we need rainfall on a consistent basis. Soybean planting continues. Pastures looking better. Haying has begun. Small grain harvesting for the most part finished. Corn beginning to silk and pollinate. Need rain! Very little rain and higher heat this week is sapping the small relief from recent rains. Pastures still critically low and very little in affordable hay available to livestock producers. No chance for cutting summer grass for hay. Bermuda gets 4 to 6 inches and heads out. In this report the only acreage shown as good is what is irrigated. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Getting scattered showers, soybeans up to quick stands behind wheat, sidedressing cotton, first fungicide spray on peanuts. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Soybean acre intentions have increased due to some cotton being severely damaged by hail and the decision made to destroy it and replant with soybeans. Topsoil moisture becoming dry. Cotton and peanuts slowly growing. Weed pressure high due to scattered rains and getting ahead of crop growth. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Getting some rain but still need more. Applying herbicides to cotton and peanuts. Irrigation of corn. Spraying pastures for weeds. Applying sucker and insect control to tobacco. TSWV is showing up in tobacco. Probably about 15-20% TSWV. Planting late soybeans. Applying poultry litter to pastures. Cutting hay between showers. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.