ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date October 15, 2007 Issue GA-CW4107 Agricultural Summary October 15, 2007 DROUGHT CONDITIONS DELAY PLANTING Cooler temperatures arrived this week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Average high temperatures were in the mid-70's to the upper 80's. Average lows ranged from the mid-40's to the mid-60's. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 36% very short, 33% short, 29% adequate, and 2% surplus. Drought conditions remained an issue. Fall planting has been delayed in north Georgia. In middle Georgia, the soil was too dry to finish planting winter annuals. Some that were planted early died due to the dry weather. The dry soil made digging difficult for peanut producers and the quality of hay harvested was poor. Ponds and streams across the state were extremely low. While rain was definitely needed, showers were received with mixed emotions due to the negative effect on harvest. Damage from whiteflies has been reported in string beans. Other activities included harvesting corn and sorghum for grain, digging and combining peanuts, cutting and baling hay, mowing and harrowing tobacco stalks, and cotton defoliation. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 10/14/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Harvested for Grain : 96 93 98 97 Soybeans Dropping Leaves : 51 32 67 70 Soybeans Harvested : 5 1 10 10 Sorghum Harvested : 32 25 60 57 Cotton Bolls Opening : 86 77 96 93 Cotton Harvested : 13 7 33 27 Winter Wheat Planted : 7 4 6 8 Winter Wheat Emerged : 0 0 0 2 Apples Harvested : 51 46 39 64 Peanuts Dug : 41 26 51 69 Peanuts Combined : 27 15 38 53 Pecans Harvested : 3 1 2 4 Rye Planted : 31 21 29 31 Other Small Grains Planted : 26 15 23 22 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 10/14/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Soybeans : 5 10 35 43 7 Sorghum : 8 11 30 46 5 Cotton : 7 14 32 39 8 Range and Pasture : 27 28 27 17 1 Apples : 75 20 5 0 0 Hay : 31 28 25 14 2 Peanuts : 5 9 28 45 13 Pecans : 9 9 25 38 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 10/14/07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 36 28 9 Short : 33 28 26 Adequate : 29 39 56 Surplus : 2 5 9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 10/14/07, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 85 15 0 0 District 2 (NC) : 54 40 5 1 District 3 (NE) : 80 20 0 0 District 4 (WC) : 42 47 11 0 District 5 (C) : 35 44 21 0 District 6 (EC) : 40 28 28 4 District 7 (SW) : 36 35 29 0 District 8 (SC) : 3 32 63 2 District 9 (SE) : 0 15 78 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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 10/14/07, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 62 32 6 0 0 District 2 (NC) : 42 36 22 0 0 District 3 (NE) : 45 39 16 0 0 District 4 (WC) : 38 49 11 2 0 District 5 (C) : 18 22 34 22 4 District 6 (EC) : 20 31 38 11 0 District 7 (SW) : 25 24 32 34 5 District 8 (SC) : 3 10 40 46 1 District 9 (SE) : 1 2 36 59 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 10/14/07, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:---------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day : Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albany : 90 49 71 0.00 0 2.82 7.96 31.30 79 Alma : 88 52 70 0.01 1 5.19 10.37 32.80 75 Alpharetta : 87 39 62 0.62 1 0.62 2.51 21.50 69 Arlington : 91 45 68 0.00 0 0.72 5.04 29.14 75 Attapulgus : 89 47 70 0.00 0 2.16 6.22 21.23 77 Blairsville : 85 33 58 0.06 2 0.15 3.04 27.09 69 Williamson : 86 41 64 0.35 2 1.16 5.77 27.14 70 Bowen : 88 49 70 0.00 0 2.83 9.56 26.52 78 Brunswick : 87 55 73 0.03 1 3.49 7.38 29.96 77 Byromville : 89 46 68 0.00 0 1.34 9.16 29.27 74 Byron : 88 46 66 0.00 0 3.18 10.69 31.87 73 Cairo : 88 50 71 0.00 0 3.31 8.23 28.64 77 Calhoun : 90 36 62 0.35 2 0.80 3.72 18.73 71 Pine Mountain : 87 42 64 0.22 2 0.77 7.24 31.50 72 Camilla : 91 47 70 0.00 0 1.81 7.51 30.09 76 Clarks Hill : 92 43 66 0.00 0 1.49 5.46 23.17 72 Cordele : 90 45 67 0.00 0 1.03 6.27 28.19 75 Covington : 87 42 65 0.00 0 0.76 4.11 24.69 72 Dahlonega : 83 38 62 0.40 1 1.54 3.55 24.84 67 Dallas : 87 42 63 0.28 2 0.53 4.05 23.34 70 Dawson : 90 46 69 0.00 0 0.99 3.02 18.61 76 Dearing : 91 45 68 0.00 0 0.66 2.49 20.21 75 Dempsey : 86 42 64 0.05 2 0.98 6.06 21.95 71 Dixie : 87 51 71 0.00 0 4.52 8.88 33.91 77 Dublin : 89 45 68 0.00 0 0.89 5.05 32.36 75 Duluth : 87 40 62 0.23 2 0.59 3.95 25.88 70 Dunwoody : 85 41 63 1.18 2 1.66 5.73 28.83 69 Eatonton : 89 38 64 0.00 0 0.37 6.51 27.25 74 Elberton : 93 40 66 0.01 1 0.59 2.52 22.83 72 Ellijay : 87 35 59 0.54 2 0.63 3.03 19.54 68 Rome : 88 42 63 0.80 2 0.82 3.35 18.17 71 Fort Valley : 88 46 67 0.00 0 2.57 10.63 27.11 72 Gainesville : 86 44 65 0.12 1 0.54 2.61 20.64 73 Georgetown : 90 44 70 0.00 0 1.22 4.01 32.76 78 Griffin : 84 42 64 0.12 2 0.95 6.41 25.14 71 Homerville : 89 45 69 0.00 0 4.50 6.50 31.62 76 Jonesboro : 85 44 64 0.00 0 1.04 6.46 23.75 72 Jeffersonville : 88 43 66 0.00 0 0.92 6.87 29.33 75 Lafayette : 87 40 62 0.02 1 0.09 4.47 21.14 71 McRae : 89 43 67 0.00 0 1.94 9.08 31.15 76 Midville : 89 44 68 0.00 0 1.42 5.89 27.55 76 Newton : 91 48 69 0.00 0 1.38 7.60 26.81 77 Plains : 88 46 67 0.00 0 2.37 7.21 27.81 73 Sasser : 89 46 68 0.00 0 1.66 6.08 29.88 73 Savannah : 90 48 69 0.00 0 4.07 14.48 38.34 76 Skidaway : 87 52 68 0.01 1 7.54 22.35 48.60 73 Sneads : 90 57 74 0.01 1 1.81 3.79 17.71 79 Statesboro : 89 47 68 0.00 0 1.81 6.34 33.50 76 Tifton : 89 50 70 0.01 1 2.43 8.77 27.50 75 Tiger : 84 35 59 0.00 0 1.15 7.06 39.90 69 Valdosta : 88 51 72 0.00 0 1.88 6.85 31.06 76 Vidalia : 88 50 69 0.00 0 3.65 9.61 37.32 76 Roopville : 86 42 64 0.04 1 0.27 6.44 27.13 72 Woodbine : 92 50 71 0.03 2 9.46 13.32 40.36 78 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 October 14, 2007 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Showers on Tuesday were a welcome site, but only received less than half inch. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL The county got a little rain this week. However, we are still very dry. Small rain showers this week did little to relieve the current drought - silage harvest nearing completion - fall planting delayed due to dry conditions - many cattlemen feeding hay due to extremely short pastures. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Showers Wednesday kept situation from deteriorating further. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Dry and hot conditions remain. A little more hay rolled. Too dry to plant winter grazing. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL No rain! Considerably cooler night time temperatures late in the week. Too dry to finish planting winter annuals. Some that was planted early germinated & died due to dry weather. Hay that has been harvested is poor quality. We are still in the level 2 drought stage. We received a brief shower seven days ago. It's still very dry although the temperatures have cooled off noticeably. No rain. Haying continues. Growers preparing for soybean harvest. The county received beneficial rains last Wednesday up to 2.3 inches in some areas. This was a mixed blessing as there was a lot of hay on the ground that got wet. Even with the increase in rains since September, many of the creeks and rivers are down extremely low. Many livestock producers are concerned about water supply from the streams and creeks that are very low. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Discouragingly dry. Ground getting very hard to dig peanuts. Not much cotton activity - it's taking a backseat to peanuts. Soybeans on verge of combining MG V and V1. Can't put in winter pasture. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Heavy rainfall (3-5 inches). Fields showing pythium. White flies heavy on greenbeans. Farmers baling all possible hay sources (Texas, millet, peanut, corn stalks, etc.) Dry weather continues. No topsoil moisture. Crops drying down quickly. The rain has been isolated some of our fields have missed out, we need one more broad coverage rain. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Great harvest weather. Cool morning slowing downing maturity of peanuts and cotton. Defoliation of cotton and picking peanuts. Harrowing fields for fall small grains. Cutting and baling of hay. Favorable harvest weather increases farm activities and hastens harvest. Whiteflies are damaging string beans. Re-growth is problematic in defoliating cotton. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.