ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date March 29, 2009 Issue GA-CW1309 Agricultural Summary March 30, 2009 HEAVY RAIN Georgia experienced heavy rain towards the end of last week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures fluctuated between the mid-60's and low 70's. Average lows ranged from the lower 40's to upper 50's. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 1% very short, 12% short, 57% adequate, and 30% surplus. Heavy rain, throughout the state, improved soil moisture conditions. In some areas, the rain damaged crops, delayed planting and caused replanting of some vegetables. Pastures have begun to green up and grass has started to grow. The dry weather, for vegetables, has been great, with very low disease levels in the crops. No disease has been reported, but farmers planned to spray to prevent any future occurrence. Other activities included preparing fields and equipment for planting, applying poultry litter, planting corn and vegetables, applying lime and fertilizer to pastures and hayfields, hay feeding for livestock, and the routine care of poultry and livestock. County Extension Agents reported an average of 4.5 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 03/29/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Planted : 48 29 37 33 Corn Emerged : 27 10 13 13 Winter Wheat Jointing : 78 73 78 52 Winter Wheat Boot : 35 14 24 19 Winter Wheat Headed : 4 0 2 3 Apples Blooming : 3 0 4 5 Peaches Blooming : 97 88 95 57 Tobacco Transplanted : 5 0 2 5 Watermelons Planted : 35 15 27 22 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 03/29/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn : 0 2 32 65 1 Winter Wheat : 0 4 33 57 6 Range and Pasture : 6 12 41 39 2 Onions : 0 0 11 88 1 Peaches : 0 6 13 81 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 03/29/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 1 1 0 Short : 12 17 0 Adequate : 57 73 0 Surplus : 30 9 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 03/29/09, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 0 5 51 44 District 2 (NC) : 0 2 59 39 District 3 (NE) : 0 12 76 12 District 4 (WC) : 0 2 42 56 District 5 (C) : 0 10 54 36 District 6 (EC) : 5 18 75 2 District 7 (SW) : 2 13 69 16 District 8 (SC) : 0 14 52 34 District 9 (SE) : 0 39 51 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 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 03/29/09, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 7 16 39 38 0 District 2 (NC) : 0 3 28 65 4 District 3 (NE) : 0 19 48 33 0 District 4 (WC) : 0 10 42 45 3 District 5 (C) : 13 14 27 44 2 District 6 (EC) : 17 13 45 25 0 District 7 (SW) : 5 6 49 30 10 District 8 (SC) : 2 14 46 38 0 District 9 (SE) : 0 19 66 15 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. Weather Summary for Week Ending 03/29/09, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:-------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day:Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alapaha : 73 53 63 6.32 3 8.16 9.96 11.05 63 Albany : 72 55 64 5.50 3 8.47 8.88 10.06 66 Alma : 74 54 64 5.42 4 6.93 7.75 9.32 63 Alpharetta : 65 47 56 3.13 5 7.71 10.20 15.10 56 Arlington : 71 52 61 6.29 3 9.63 11.94 13.81 63 Atlanta : 66 52 59 2.78 4 5.86 7.68 9.88 NA Attapulgus : 72 53 63 5.30 3 7.98 10.91 12.23 67 Baxley : 73 51 62 4.53 2 6.54 7.29 8.53 65 Blairsville : 61 43 52 2.16 6 4.74 6.57 10.75 53 Blue Ridge : 62 46 54 2.24 4 5.42 8.13 14.67 54 Brunswick : 72 56 64 1.51 3 3.39 5.40 6.84 66 Byromville : 69 52 61 2.11 3 4.58 4.98 6.74 61 Cairo : 72 55 63 5.99 3 7.55 9.95 11.54 63 Calhoun : 66 46 56 2.45 4 5.95 8.73 14.72 56 Camilla : 72 54 63 4.36 3 6.09 8.81 11.16 65 Cordele : 70 53 61 2.72 4 5.23 5.61 6.27 62 Covington : 64 47 56 4.02 4 10.50 13.20 15.56 58 Dahlonega : 62 46 54 3.15 5 6.91 9.61 15.39 54 Dallas : 65 49 57 2.48 4 5.76 8.80 12.45 57 Danielsville : 65 46 55 3.36 4 8.73 10.60 13.99 59 Dawson : 70 53 61 3.35 3 6.69 7.03 8.93 63 Dearing : 69 51 60 2.79 4 7.08 9.12 10.96 61 Dixie : 74 54 64 2.04 3 3.82 5.29 6.70 66 Douglas : 73 50 62 5.40 3 7.19 7.76 8.73 62 Dublin : 71 50 60 1.94 3 4.94 5.96 7.27 62 Dunwoody : 64 47 55 3.18 4 7.60 9.77 13.59 56 Eatonton : 67 47 57 4.11 4 9.72 12.55 15.11 59 Elberton : 65 47 56 3.44 4 8.49 10.21 12.42 58 Ellijay : 62 44 53 1.84 4 4.78 7.38 12.35 55 Gainesville : 63 47 55 0.47 5 4.77 7.53 13.45 57 Georgetown : 69 53 61 4.96 3 8.02 8.55 11.76 64 Griffin : 66 52 59 3.58 4 10.92 13.62 17.17 59 Hatley : 69 52 61 2.28 3 5.11 5.48 6.72 61 Homerville : 75 51 63 0.83 3 4.86 7.54 9.27 66 Jeffersonville : 68 49 59 2.07 3 4.52 6.57 7.85 61 Johns Creek : 63 45 54 3.68 4 8.35 10.77 14.37 56 Jonesboro : 67 50 58 3.87 4 9.10 11.11 14.73 58 Lake Seminole : 71 58 65 0.46 4 1.09 2.89 4.28 64 Midville : 72 51 61 1.36 2 3.62 4.56 5.46 62 Moultrie : 72 55 63 6.31 3 7.82 11.60 12.66 65 Nahunta : 76 52 64 1.26 3 3.09 5.16 6.88 65 Newton : 73 54 63 7.90 3 10.11 13.20 15.02 64 Odum : 75 51 63 5.42 3 7.22 8.00 9.45 65 Ossabaw : 72 55 63 0.89 3 2.19 3.91 5.37 64 Pine Mountain : 67 53 60 4.54 4 9.27 12.22 15.90 59 Plains : 67 51 59 3.23 3 7.70 8.68 10.93 61 Roopville : 67 50 58 3.78 4 8.49 11.21 14.35 59 Rome : 67 48 57 3.00 4 6.61 10.88 18.15 57 Sasser : 70 53 62 3.53 3 6.14 6.58 7.81 61 Savannah : 75 53 64 2.13 3 4.17 5.23 6.28 63 Shellman : 70 53 61 3.36 3 5.46 5.93 7.83 67 Skidaway : 69 52 61 2.35 3 4.19 5.39 6.83 62 Sparta : 68 48 58 3.81 4 9.07 10.88 8.60 60 Statesboro : 73 50 62 1.78 1 3.19 4.21 5.00 65 Tennille : 69 49 59 2.73 3 7.76 8.69 10.07 61 Tifton : 71 54 62 5.84 3 8.31 9.10 10.72 62 Tiger : 59 43 51 4.48 5 8.27 10.34 15.21 53 Unadilla : 69 50 60 2.54 3 6.46 7.14 8.51 61 Valdosta : 74 56 65 1.50 4 4.40 6.01 7.15 66 Vienna : 70 51 61 2.78 3 6.69 9.02 10.79 60 Vidalia : 74 53 63 2.79 3 5.07 6.41 7.76 63 Wat-UGA : 65 48 57 3.48 4 9.62 12.19 15.03 57 Williamson : 67 51 59 3.93 4 10.51 12.81 15.81 59 Woodbine : 76 54 65 1.22 3 2.52 5.10 6.38 67 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *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 March 29, 2009 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Rain this week improved soil moisture, pasture weed control is the major activity. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Corn planting has stopped. Wet! Attention to forage fertility; routine care of livestock; watching wheat for disease. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Rain late in the week. Pastures beginning to green up a little bit. Heavy hay feeding continues for livestock. We have not gotten any substantial rainfall. We are hoping the front will bring us some. Two inches of rain fell over Friday and Saturday. Small grains progressing well. Wheat being sprayed with fungicide as flag leaf stage reached. Corn planting continues. Lots of rain lately. Winter grass is starting to grow. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL No comments available. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Heavy corn planting this week ahead of rain. Corn stands good. Wheat progressing rapidly toward head emergence. After today will be out of fields for 5-7 days. Will slow completion of corn planting. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Spreading poultry litter and applying lime. Preparing soil to plant. Applying herbicides and nitrogen to wheat. We continue to very dry in the area. The transplanting of most of our vegetables have been completed. The dry weather for vegetable plastic culture has been great, with very low disease levels in the crops. As of Friday temperatures have been favorable for planting and improved crop conditions. Heavy rains over the weekend damaged crops and delayed planting and field work. Six to eight inches of rain over weekend may have damaged some fields enough to cause corn replant and watermelon replant, will be able to tell by the middle of the week. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Five inches of rain.