ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date July 14, 2008 Issue GA-CW2808 Agricultural Summary July 14, 2008 SCATTERED SHOWERS CONTINUED Scattered showers, throughout the state, provided some relief to parched crops, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures fluctuated between the high 80's and low 90's. Average lows were in the high 60's most of week. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 18% very short, 34% short, 44% adequate, and 4% surplus. Scattered showers brought some relief to drought stressed crops. In some areas, recent thunderstorms have greatly improved top soil moisture. These rains came at a critical growth stage for corn, which was starting to show stress from drought conditions. The amount of hay, from the first cutting, was limited. Farmers have begun monitoring for corn ear worms and tobacco budworms, as moth have been seen. Other activities included irrigating crops as needed and applying weed control to some late planted peanuts and cotton. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.5 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 07/13/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Silked : 96 93 93 95 Corn Dough : 70 56 69 74 Corn Dent : 33 18 32 34 Corn Mature : 1 NA 3 4 Soybeans Planted : 99 97 99 99 Soybeans Emerged : 93 88 95 97 Soybeans Blooming : 23 10 13 29 Soybeans Setting Pods : 3 NA 1 7 Sorghum Planted : 88 83 92 94 Cotton Squaring : 80 66 62 83 Cotton Setting Bolls : 34 15 19 40 Peaches Harvested : 58 57 73 62 Peanuts Blooming : 87 75 70 87 Peanuts Pegging : 58 40 39 61 Tobacco Harvested : 11 5 14 16 Watermelons Harvested : 83 63 80 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 07/13/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn : 7 17 33 36 7 Soybeans : 5 15 45 33 2 Sorghum : 5 9 48 37 1 Cotton : 4 11 38 41 6 Range and Pasture : 14 21 39 24 2 Apples : 0 0 16 24 60 Hay : 15 24 40 19 2 Peanuts : 3 7 32 48 10 Pecans : 0 8 47 40 5 Tobacco : 1 8 26 49 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 07/13/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 18 25 10 Short : 34 38 21 Adequate : 44 35 53 Surplus : 4 2 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 07/13/08, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 21 41 34 3 District 2 (NC) : 8 33 58 1 District 3 (NE) : 37 18 41 4 District 4 (WC) : 31 31 35 3 District 5 (C) : 7 43 43 7 District 6 (EC) : 21 37 37 5 District 7 (SW) : 22 24 45 9 District 8 (SC) : 11 38 49 2 District 9 (SE) : 20 36 44 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. Pasture Condition for Week Ending 07/13/08, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 3 14 58 25 0 District 2 (NC) : 6 11 37 45 1 District 3 (NE) : 40 12 32 16 0 District 4 (WC) : 3 42 42 13 0 District 5 (C) : 11 22 52 13 2 District 6 (EC) : 24 35 25 15 1 District 7 (SW) : 13 17 33 34 3 District 8 (SC) : 6 25 37 29 3 District 9 (SE) : 1 9 49 40 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. Weather Summary for Week Ending 07/13/08, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:---------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day : Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albany : 94 71 80 0.93 2 5.07 7.04 22.29 88 Alma : 93 68 79 1.08 5 3.34 5.42 23.38 82 Alpharetta : 94 66 76 1.40 6 2.52 5.63 23.40 79 Arlington : 95 65 78 1.22 2 2.34 3.15 18.48 85 Attapulgus : 93 68 77 3.48 4 8.87 10.88 33.82 84 Bowen : 94 68 78 0.76 4 5.27 6.16 18.72 85 Brunswick : 94 69 79 0.67 4 4.42 6.77 19.57 81 Byromville : 95 68 79 1.62 4 4.78 5.42 23.92 85 Byron : 93 67 79 0.38 3 5.17 6.71 23.74 83 Cairo : 92 69 78 0.41 2 7.44 11.79 33.22 82 Calhoun : 94 63 76 1.59 5 2.75 6.23 21.92 82 Pine Mountain : 92 65 77 1.45 3 4.17 5.90 22.24 81 Camilla : 91 50 75 1.50 4 5.83 10.21 31.21 86 Clarks Hill : 94 65 78 0.19 2 1.47 2.42 17.92 85 Cordele : 92 67 79 0.62 3 1.53 2.48 19.68 86 Covington : 93 66 78 1.18 5 2.61 4.89 18.12 81 Dahlonega : 89 64 74 3.31 4 5.99 8.28 29.95 79 Dallas : 92 55 75 0.02 2 1.05 3.68 18.90 80 Dawson : 93 66 79 5.03 3 8.86 10.45 25.65 84 Dearing : 94 69 79 0.33 4 2.95 4.80 22.82 81 Dempsey : 91 65 78 1.97 3 4.20 5.97 17.71 82 Dixie : 92 65 77 0.12 2 3.51 7.37 25.70 85 Dublin : 94 69 79 0.59 2 2.95 6.07 23.01 84 Duluth : 93 61 74 2.10 4 4.66 8.14 24.30 80 Dunwoody : 93 67 76 3.09 5 5.08 7.19 24.69 78 Elberton : 95 66 78 1.81 4 4.21 5.62 21.18 82 Ellijay : 90 61 73 5.37 5 7.24 9.89 30.90 80 Fort Valley : 95 67 79 2.18 3 4.70 5.39 20.72 83 Gainesville : 92 67 77 2.36 4 3.09 4.98 23.66 83 Georgetown : 94 67 79 2.05 3 4.49 4.83 23.59 86 Homerville : 93 66 78 0.52 4 5.07 7.24 27.61 83 Jonesboro : 94 67 78 2.45 4 5.73 7.26 21.91 82 Jeffersonville : 94 66 78 1.06 3 3.71 5.22 23.73 85 Lafayette : 95 61 77 0.90 4 2.08 3.68 23.11 81 McRae : 94 66 78 0.79 4 3.96 5.45 24.87 84 Newton : 93 69 79 0.36 2 2.93 4.18 20.07 85 Savannah : 98 67 80 0.21 3 2.17 3.01 13.69 83 Skidaway : 95 69 79 1.78 5 7.84 8.98 21.75 82 Sneads : 90 72 79 3.26 4 6.60 9.17 31.13 85 Statesboro : 93 60 74 1.61 6 4.46 5.88 23.62 83 Tiger : 88 62 73 1.34 6 2.94 4.87 28.34 81 Valdosta : 94 70 80 0.59 5 3.48 7.09 24.24 81 Vidalia : 94 68 79 3.16 4 6.33 7.84 23.11 83 Roopville : 94 66 77 0.85 4 3.33 6.07 24.24 83 Watkinsville : 92 67 77 1.90 4 3.22 5.53 20.64 81 Woodbine : 94 67 78 1.35 5 8.57 13.00 28.36 82 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 July 13, 2008 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST We had a good rain on Sunday, July 13. The area received 1/4 to 1/2 inch rain on Wednesday, scattered showers Thursday, and hopefully more area wide rains on Friday through Saturday. Recent thunderstorms are greatly improving topsoil moisture. The moisture is coming at a critical growth stage for the corn which was starting to show drought stress. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL No comments available. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Scattered rains early in the week, rains over the weekend were very helpful. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Recent rains over the weekend helped out. Corn crop is in the early to mid dent stage. Soybean crop looks good in some areas where Herbacide Resistent Palmer amaranth do not take over. Peanuts are receiving first soil borne fungicide sprays. Widespread beneficial rainfall. Rain over most of county last week has conditions improving; soil moisture is beginning to accumulate and hold; slight recharge in ponds is evident. First good cutting of Bermuda grass hay expected to begin this week. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Got some badly needed rain! Some areas got up to 2 inches. We have gotten a few late afternoon showers. Unfortunately we are still behind the 8 ball in terms of rainfall. We have seen most of our corn crop start to show signs of severe drought stress. Scattered rains continues. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Scattered rains provided some help to dryland crops. Not all areas received rain! Getting some much needed showers county-wide, some more and some less, but everyone is better off than 10 days ago. I believe the last of our double- cropped beans and cotton are going to make a stand but it's going to require a very warm Sept. and Oct. to make late cotton. We just recently finished the first cutting of hay and it was pretty poor, worse than last year. People still planting millet and sorghum for feed and (hopefully) hay. Spraying peanuts w/ fungicide and boron. Just starting to peg pretty well. Large TBW and CEW moth flight has us watching beans, peanuts and refuge cotton for worms. Corn is ahead of schedule and shouldn't take but another couple of waterings. Some fields are only three weeks away from maturity and could finish faster, at the expense of 6-10 bu/acre, if the water was cut off. Glyphosate resistant pigweed is definitely here now (resistant to 32 oz./acre and up to at least 38 oz/acre which is what I spray suspect weeds using a hand sprayer) and growers are finally admitting it. We'll have to alter weed control strategies "across the board" next year. Some scattered showers. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Frequent rains previous week improved growth conditions of peanuts, cotton and soybeans. Heat resulting in topsoil moisture to be depleted quickly. Still have several dry spots in our area. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Getting some showers. Worms and stink bugs leaving corn and attacking peanuts and cotton. Irrigation of crops if needed. Cutting hay between showers. Tobacco harvest about to be in full gear. Applying weed control to some late planted peanuts and cotton. We are still in a drought. Need a tropical storm to come thru. Crop are responding to rainfall in southern part of the county, the rain has been spotty in the county. We need a uniform rain in the county for good crop development! DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.