ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date September 30, 2007 Issue GA-CW3907 Agricultural Summary October 1, 2007 LITTLE CHANGE IN CROP CONDITIONS A cold front arrived over the weekend dropping temperatures across the State, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Average high temperatures decreased from the upper 80's during the week to the lower 80's over the weekend. Average lows fell from the upper 60's to the mid-50's. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 33% very short, 31% short, 34% adequate, and 2% surplus. Overall, there was little change in crop conditions this week. North Georgia remained very dry and crop conditions there continued to be the worst in the state. Crops to the south were in better shape due to more frequent rains. There were some reports of hard-locked cotton. Cotton defoliant applications were increasing. Some growers with dryland fields reported they may wait for frost rather than trigger defoliation. There were reports of whiteflies in green beans and armyworms in pastures and hayfields. Producers continued planting small grains and pastures for winter grazing. Other activities included checking peanut maturity, grading and digging peanuts, cutting and baling hay, and checking late soybeans for rust. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.4 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 09/30/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Harvested for Grain : 90 86 95 93 Soybeans Dropping Leaves : 20 13 47 46 Soybeans Harvested : 0 0 3 3 Sorghum Harvested : 21 16 48 47 Cotton Bolls Opening : 65 54 90 84 Cotton Harvested : 3 1 16 11 Winter Wheat Planted : 2 0 3 2 Apples Harvested : 41 37 33 46 Peanuts Dug : 12 6 20 36 Peanuts Combined : 5 2 11 23 Rye Planted : 11 6 17 14 Other Small Grains Planted : 6 1 10 9 Tobacco Harvested : 97 93 100 100 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 09/30/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Soybeans : 7 12 38 35 8 Sorghum : 6 10 39 41 4 Cotton : 7 13 35 36 9 Range and Pasture : 28 29 28 13 2 Apples : 75 10 10 5 0 Hay : 30 32 24 12 2 Peanuts : 5 9 31 41 14 Pecans : 11 9 27 31 22 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/30/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 33 21 11 Short : 31 35 25 Adequate : 34 39 50 Surplus : 2 5 13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/30/07, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 69 22 9 0 District 2 (NC) : 59 39 2 0 District 3 (NE) : 84 16 0 0 District 4 (WC) : 28 48 22 2 District 5 (C) : 29 46 25 0 District 6 (EC) : 30 33 37 0 District 7 (SW) : 16 34 49 1 District 8 (SC) : 3 15 72 10 District 9 (SE) : 0 11 85 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pasture Condition for Week Ending 09/30/07, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 50 43 7 0 0 District 2 (NC) : 39 40 20 1 0 District 3 (NE) : 66 34 0 0 0 District 4 (WC) : 33 38 22 7 0 District 5 (C) : 11 21 46 14 8 District 6 (EC) : 16 31 44 9 0 District 7 (SW) : 17 26 36 15 6 District 8 (SC) : 3 7 47 41 2 District 9 (SE) : 2 2 24 70 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. Weather Summary for Week Ending 09/30/07, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:---------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day : Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albany : 91 59 76 0.15 1 3.71 9.38 31.01 82 Alma : 90 60 76 0.04 2 4.82 12.52 29.56 79 Alpharetta : 92 53 71 0.00 0 0.52 1.89 20.88 75 Arlington : 92 57 75 0.04 1 1.53 6.96 28.74 79 Attapulgus : 90 57 75 0.07 2 2.48 6.10 20.14 81 Blairsville : 86 40 66 0.03 1 1.56 4.95 27.03 73 Williamson : 88 52 71 0.00 0 2.12 4.89 26.25 77 Bowen : 90 58 74 0.06 3 2.91 9.92 25.52 80 Brunswick : 92 65 78 0.05 3 3.56 9.60 28.84 80 Byromville : 89 61 75 0.15 1 1.80 9.24 28.91 79 Byron : 90 53 72 0.35 2 4.93 11.69 31.17 78 Cairo : 89 61 76 0.95 3 3.65 7.05 26.93 79 Calhoun : 93 43 71 0.32 2 1.98 3.73 18.25 76 Pine Mountain : 90 52 71 0.01 1 2.20 7.22 31.11 76 Camilla : 92 54 76 0.67 2 2.37 9.09 29.68 79 Clarks Hill : 92 50 72 0.07 1 1.32 5.17 22.74 76 Cordele : 90 53 74 0.17 1 1.18 7.59 28.13 77 Covington : 91 53 72 0.56 2 2.63 3.92 24.50 76 Dahlonega : 88 48 69 0.47 1 1.24 3.17 23.77 73 Dallas : 90 50 71 0.03 1 0.93 3.55 22.84 76 Dawson : 90 57 75 0.10 1 1.35 3.85 18.52 78 Dearing : 92 53 74 0.40 1 1.39 2.36 20.08 78 Dempsey : 88 53 72 0.04 1 2.84 5.60 21.49 77 Dixie : 90 59 76 0.04 3 3.55 9.87 32.11 81 Dublin : 92 56 75 0.13 1 1.69 4.97 31.62 80 Duluth : 92 51 71 0.02 1 1.09 3.40 25.33 75 Dunwoody : 92 55 72 0.16 1 0.56 4.23 27.33 75 Eatonton : 91 52 73 0.26 2 5.85 6.44 27.15 79 Elberton : 93 53 74 0.39 1 1.32 2.35 22.63 76 Ellijay : 90 44 67 0.04 2 1.61 3.09 18.95 75 Rome : 92 46 71 0.00 0 1.46 2.53 17.35 77 Fort Valley : 91 55 73 0.19 2 4.15 9.76 26.07 76 Gainesville : 90 53 72 0.00 0 1.04 2.09 20.10 80 Georgetown : 92 52 74 0.00 0 2.01 6.70 32.72 79 Griffin : 88 50 72 0.05 2 2.93 5.61 24.34 76 Homerville : 90 57 75 1.26 4 3.99 8.66 30.26 80 Jonesboro : 90 49 72 0.00 0 2.06 5.55 22.75 78 Jeffersonville : 90 52 73 0.16 1 2.71 6.60 28.72 79 Lafayette : 92 47 72 0.00 0 4.26 5.32 21.05 77 McRae : 90 51 73 0.10 2 3.14 9.19 29.82 79 Midville : 92 55 74 0.00 0 1.27 4.68 26.34 80 Newton : 92 55 75 0.08 1 0.96 9.88 26.15 81 Sasser : 88 54 73 0.47 1 3.06 7.50 29.82 76 Savannah : 91 59 75 0.00 0 7.26 15.01 35.43 80 Skidaway : 87 63 74 0.17 1 17.91 20.96 44.93 77 Sneads : 91 66 79 0.00 0 0.88 3.35 16.30 81 Statesboro : 90 56 74 0.00 0 2.62 7.51 32.27 81 Tifton : 89 58 75 0.03 3 2.62 9.58 26.80 78 Tiger : 86 41 65 0.00 0 1.78 7.61 38.76 76 Valdosta : 91 65 77 0.01 1 2.30 8.54 29.96 79 Vidalia : 89 59 75 0.00 0 3.37 7.94 34.17 80 Roopville : 90 49 71 0.20 1 1.84 6.39 27.08 76 Watkinsville : 92 51 74 0.31 2 1.21 2.84 20.49 78 Woodbine : 93 61 76 0.03 1 3.77 10.87 32.72 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 September 30, 2007 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Still missing scattered showers. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Drought conditions continue. Many cattlemen now feeding hay due to poor pasture conditions. Corn silage harvest almost completed. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Conditions continue to deteriorate. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL A week of higher temps and no rain kicked us back hard. Moisture for small grain planting / winter grazing rapidly leaving. Did roll a bit more hay. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Cooler temperatures and very little rain. Small grain and winter grazing planting continues. Some hay producers trying to harvest some hay before armyworms can eat it up. Recent rains have really turned pastures and hayfields around for the better. A very good harvest of second cutting of hay for the season is underway. Producers are too busy trying to get this second cutting of hay to plant winter grazing yet. Many landscape plants are getting past the permanent wilting point. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Cotton is weak...hard-locked, not able to be picked. Many dry land fields may wait for frost rather than defoliate. Peanuts are pretty good but many fields will need rain as will MG VII and MG V111 soybeans which have very good potential. Growers scrambling to find wheat seed. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST We received 0.11" of rainfall. Whitefly problems in green bean fields. Cotton defoliant applications increasing. Crop condition unchanged for the most part. We did receive a good overall 1 1/2 inch rain. Will help fill out soybean crop and peanut crop on dryland. Irrigation ponds completely dried up. Will need a good winter of wet weather to replenish water supply. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Checking peanuts for maturity. Harvesting rows around fields. Digging early planted peanuts. Wet foggy mornings affecting hay baling. Cotton opening and beginning to drop leaves. No defoliants sprayed yet. Checking late soybeans for rust. Tobacco pounds made may average 2500 pounds per acre. Need dry harvest weather. Grades on large seeded peanut varieties are not good on dryland crop. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.