ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date September 14, 2008 Issue GA-CW3708 Agricultural Summary September 15, 2008 IMPROVED PASTURE CONDITIONS Showers, over the past week, have improved pasture conditions, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures were in the high 80's. Average lows were in the 70's most of week. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 5% very short, 32% short, 58% adequate, and 5% surplus. Rain is still needed in some areas. Red crown rot has appeared in soybeans. A light amount of white mold and limb rot was reported on some peanuts. Soybeans, pasture and vegetables were returning to a healthy condition after the damages from tropical storm Fay. Cotton harvest is underway. Other activities included digging peanuts and finishing up tobacco. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.6 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 09/14/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Harvested for Grain : 76 59 77 76 Soybeans Setting Pods : 94 88 95 98 Soybeans Dropping Leaves : 10 5 10 20 Sorghum Harvested : 37 28 13 31 Cotton Setting Bolls : 98 96 100 100 Cotton Bolls Opening : 53 37 39 56 Cotton Harvested : 1 NA 0 2 Apples Harvested : 18 13 27 28 Peanuts Dug : 4 1 3 7 Peanuts Combined : 2 NA 1 3 Rye Planted : 1 NA 3 3 Other Small Grains Planted : 1 NA 0 0 Tobacco Harvested : 89 81 87 96 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 09/14/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Soybeans : 2 12 44 37 5 Sorghum : 1 8 39 49 3 Cotton : 4 10 44 35 7 Range and Pasture : 4 12 43 38 3 Apples : 0 4 13 28 55 Hay : 5 17 45 31 2 Peanuts : 2 4 29 53 12 Pecans : 5 13 42 37 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/14/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 5 4 10 Short : 32 24 28 Adequate : 58 62 45 Surplus : 5 10 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/14/08, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 7 33 60 0 District 2 (NC) : 6 53 41 0 District 3 (NE) : 8 36 55 1 District 4 (WC) : 7 21 56 16 District 5 (C) : 1 45 53 1 District 6 (EC) : 16 29 51 4 District 7 (SW) : 1 29 59 11 District 8 (SC) : 1 22 72 5 District 9 (SE) : 5 24 68 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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 09/14/08, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 5 12 40 43 0 District 2 (NC) : 0 9 64 26 1 District 3 (NE) : 10 26 57 7 0 District 4 (WC) : 6 13 35 46 0 District 5 (C) : 3 15 44 31 7 District 6 (EC) : 14 11 49 26 1 District 7 (SW) : 0 11 28 52 9 District 8 (SC) : 0 5 39 55 1 District 9 (SE) : 0 1 33 63 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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 09/14/08, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:-------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day:Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weather data are not available for the week ending 09/14/2008. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 14, 2008 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL No comments available. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Beneficial rains last week, pasture conditions are improving. Beneficial rains in forecast. Hopefully they'll improve soil moisture without hampering hay. The last cutting of hay was virtually ruined. Less than 5" of rain for the week. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Producers are starting to take leaves off cotton, and thinking about digging peanuts. Corn harvest is about over. Almost 2 inches rain last week, really helped soil moisture conditions; forages are green but it's short; soybeans look good; been some armyworms in millet but it is now being harvested. Some light rain this week, need more very badly. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL We haven't gotten a significant amount of rainfall over the past week or so. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Raining a little more frequently but it may be a case of too little, too late for hay and dry land cotton. Soybeans are benefitting from showers and peanuts should be progressing well as we reach time for last fungicide sprays. No peanut disease showing up but many cotton fields showing stemphylium leaf spot brought on by potassium deficiency. Seeing some red crown rot in soybeans, indicative of the presence of CBR (cylindrocladium black rot)infection where peanuts are on short rotation. This is something we'll definitely warn growers about. Early indications are that 140 day maturity peanuts such as GA Green are on schedule to be dug in that 136-144 time frame but "serious" peanut digging is at least a week away. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Corn and cotton yields were hurt by tropical storm Fay. Peanuts will benefit from storm. Prospect for best peanut crop in several years. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Some Cotton being defoliated. Digging a few peanuts and finishing up tobacco. A fair amount of white mold and some limb rot showing up on Peanuts. Probably will dig some early. Some fields need some rainfall. Other getting scattered showers. The growers started digging peanuts. This crop of peanut look very good. The office has been profile peanut for ten plus days and two growers stared digging the crop. The hay crop looks good. Soybean, pastures and vegetable are returning to a healthy condition after tropic storm Fay. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Asiatic soybean rust detected at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center last week.