ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date September 20, 2009 Issue GA-CW3809 Agricultural Summary September 21, 2009 SCATTERED SHOWERS Scattered showers have improved topsoil moisture, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures were in the low 80's. Average lows were in the 60's most of week. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 2% very short, 13% short, 58% adequate, and 27% surplus. Heavy rains brought flooding to low areas and delayed some commercial vineyard harvest. Wet conditions caused boll rot to appear in some cotton field. Cotton was dropping leaves due to potassium deficiency and leaf blight. Army worms have continued to infest pastures and hayfields. Other activities included spraying for armyworms, harrowing corn and tobacco stalks, and finishing up tobacco. County Extension Agents reported an average of 4.1 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 09/20/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Harvested for Grain : 87 76 86 85 Soybeans Dropping Leaves : 18 9 16 25 Sorghum Harvested : 13 10 44 35 Cotton Bolls Opening : 44 32 66 67 Apples Harvested : 24 21 22 30 Peanuts Dug : 4 1 13 11 Peanuts Combined : 1 1 5 5 Rye Planted : 5 1 5 6 Other Small Grains Planted : 3 1 4 3 Tobacco Harvested : 96 91 93 97 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 09/20/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Soybeans : 1 7 35 51 6 Sorghum : 1 7 47 42 3 Cotton : 3 8 37 41 11 Range and Pasture : 1 8 34 50 7 Apples : 0 0 5 40 55 Hay : 1 8 36 49 6 Peanuts : 0 4 31 51 14 Pecans : 0 4 43 39 14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/20/09 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 2 2 14 Short : 13 30 30 Adequate : 58 63 41 Surplus : 27 5 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 09/20/09, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 0 3 46 51 District 2 (NC) : 0 0 46 54 District 3 (NE) : 1 19 43 37 District 4 (WC) : 2 12 53 33 District 5 (C) : 1 6 50 43 District 6 (EC) : 6 21 68 5 District 7 (SW) : 0 10 80 10 District 8 (SC) : 2 21 66 11 District 9 (SE) : 2 32 54 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Georgia/Publications/County_Esti mates/index.asp. Pasture Condition for Week Ending 09/20/09, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 3 15 24 53 5 District 2 (NC) : 0 0 21 67 12 District 3 (NE) : 4 9 40 45 2 District 4 (WC) : 3 26 49 22 0 District 5 (C) : 0 6 30 52 12 District 6 (EC) : 0 2 44 54 0 District 7 (SW) : 1 2 22 64 11 District 8 (SC) : 0 2 30 52 16 District 9 (SE) : 0 1 59 39 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Georgia/Publications/County_Esti mates/index.asp. Weather Summary for Week Ending 09/20/09, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:-------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day:Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alapaha : 88 71 79 0.83 1 3.50 2.00 39.09 80 Albany : 88 73 81 0.78 3 2.30 5.00 42.02 83 Alpharetta : 77 68 72 6.85 1 10.30 0.00 42.49 75 Arlington : 87 69 78 2.39 3 5.90 4.00 46.42 80 Attapulgus : 85 71 78 1.32 5 4.10 4.00 39.86 81 Baxley : 86 70 78 2.41 4 4.60 1.00 39.45 81 Brunswick : 86 73 80 0.38 4 8.60 2.00 0.38 82 Cairo : 86 72 79 1.68 5 5.10 9.00 38.89 79 Calhoun : 78 66 72 1.73 2 2.60 8.00 37.04 76 Cordele : 87 71 79 2.31 3 6.90 6.00 38.85 79 Dallas : 78 69 73 8.71 1 11.20 9.00 41.78 76 Dawson : 87 71 79 2.06 2 6.40 1.00 43.68 81 Dearing : 86 69 77 2.65 3 5.20 7.00 36.84 79 Dixie : 87 71 79 0.77 4 5.90 3.00 36.30 81 Douglas : 86 71 79 0.81 4 3.30 2.00 40.40 81 Dublin : 86 72 79 2.35 3 8.10 9.00 34.29 81 Dunwoody : 77 67 72 6.43 1 9.50 7.00 41.90 75 Eatonton : 82 68 75 8.14 3 10.40 5.00 45.58 76 Elberton : 83 68 75 2.99 2 4.40 1.00 37.29 77 Ellijay : 74 65 69 8.46 3 10.80 8.00 40.61 73 Gainesville : 75 68 72 4.24 2 6.00 7.00 40.15 75 Georgetown : 86 71 78 2.24 2 4.90 7.00 51.22 79 Griffin : 80 68 74 1.51 1 3.60 8.00 35.83 77 Homerville : 88 70 79 0.28 5 2.70 0.00 44.50 80 Lake Seminole : 84 74 79 0.82 4 1.50 1.00 34.71 81 Midville : 85 70 78 2.41 2 5.30 4.00 37.18 81 Moultrie : 86 72 79 0.52 3 1.90 2.00 40.96 82 Newton : 88 72 80 3.16 2 5.50 4.00 47.40 81 Odum : 86 70 78 2.10 5 6.20 1.00 42.88 81 Ossabaw : 86 73 79 0.29 4 8.90 2.00 49.75 79 Pine Mountain : 82 69 75 2.78 3 6.50 2.00 41.82 77 Roopville : 80 69 75 7.40 2 9.70 7.00 39.57 76 Rome : 81 71 76 3.33 2 6.30 3.00 48.16 76 Sasser : 86 71 78 1.45 2 5.90 2.00 39.78 79 Savannah : 86 70 78 1.76 4 4.10 7.00 45.83 81 Shellman : 86 71 79 2.49 3 8.00 4.00 42.18 81 Skidaway : 83 72 77 0.79 4 5.30 4.00 44.70 79 Sparta : 83 68 75 11.58 3 14.20 7.00 45.11 77 Statesboro : 87 69 78 0.18 3 1.20 9.00 28.44 83 Tennille : 84 69 77 3.64 2 7.80 5.00 45.70 79 Tifton : 87 73 80 0.40 5 2.10 4.00 44.70 79 Tiger : 72 63 68 7.82 2 9.90 6.00 50.83 72 Unadilla : 84 69 77 5.22 4 8.90 8.00 38.14 79 Valdosta : 88 73 80 0.72 4 3.50 3.00 38.93 81 Vienna : 86 71 79 2.95 3 6.20 4.00 39.49 79 Vidalia : 86 71 79 9.93 3 17.90 9.00 51.93 81 Williamson : 81 68 74 1.56 2 4.80 9.00 35.39 77 Woodbine : 87 71 79 0.08 4 4.00 2.00 45.37 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 20, 2009 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST It has rained for the past week and is still raining. We have experienced some flooding in low areas. Received 2 to 5" of rain across the county up till Friday this week. Abundant rainfall. Weekend flash flooding. Soils are saturated. Approximately 8 inches of rain in the last week. Received +6 inches over this past weekend. Creeks and rivers running full but not over their banks yet. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Some parts of the county have had up to 7" of rain this week. Heavy rains this week delayed commercial vineyard harvest. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST Rain blankets the area for the entire week. Should break dry summer pattern and create ideal soil moisture for planting in October when it clears. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL The slow rains have helped tremendously this week. Dairy producers starting to put in winter annual pastures. Peanut harvest still a week or so off. Soybean crop looking ok. Stinkbugs in soybeans starting to pickup. Some rainfall- scattered and variable amounts ranging 5 inches in some spots down to .4 of an inch in other. Large portion of the county is still dry. Some rainfall; scattered, variable amounts. Good rains for us, not the soakers some got. Some dry days now to get temporary winter grazing in would be timely. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL We received 4.68 inches of rainfall over the past 24 hours. Has been very wet here. Flooding has become an issue in other parts of GA. No flooding here but too wet to allow any outside work. Rain continued during the week. Not much field work going on. Armyworms in hay fields and pastures again. Early planted soybeans dropping leaves. Cotton still blooming out the top. Lots of rain fell recently in the county. Armyworms are continuing to infest pastures and hayfields. Good rainfall amounts (3 to 5 inches) brought moisture back to the adequate range. Some small grains are starting to be planted. Due to early season rain we planted very late. Now we have a very late crop. Very unusual to be digging peanuts so late. Our cotton is very late too. Very difficult year for the farmers due to an 8 week drought in mid summer. Not going to be a good year for us. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL This most recent rain is too late for some cotton, soybeans & peanuts that have gone without most of the season. May start defoliating some dry land fields soon. Dry land soybeans are really enjoying this rainy spell and should make fine yields. Peanuts are still about 10 days away from digging. Rainy, warm, humid weather has got everything stopped. Rainy/wet weather is delaying harvest of corn. Scattered showers. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST The county has received a moderate rain through the week. Rainy wet conditions continue to promote boll rot in cotton. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Spraying late cotton for armyworms and beet armyworms (all sizes). Applying late planted peanuts with next to last or last fungicide spray. Pecans have some scab disease showing up on nuts. Preparing land for planting small grains for grazing. Harrowing corn and tobacco stalks. Checking early cotton and peanuts for maturity but 2-3 weeks behind normal. Dryland peanuts look fair to good and irrigated peanuts look good to very good. Yields will be down I am afraid. A bunch of cotton dropping leaves due to potassium def. and leaf blight related to that. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.