la-crop-weather State Louisiana Crop Weather Week Ending Date May 22, 2005 Days suitable for fieldwork: 6.9 Soil moisture supplies: 50% very short, 34% short and 16% adequate Field Crops Report Louisiana crop producers continued to struggle with the extremely dry conditions. Crop conditions continued to decline due to lack of moisture. Many producers were waiting for moisture before completing sorghum and soybean planting. Rice producers continued pumping water and applying top dress to fields. Rice producers were still battling salt problems. Sugarcane producers were working the crop and spraying herbicides. Sweet potato planting progressed to 17 percent, compared to 5 percent last week. Wheat harvesting made excellent progress with the dry conditions. Fruits, Vegetables, and Specialty Crops Report Dry conditions continued to hinder the citrus crop, causing fruit to drop. Vegetable producers were irrigating tomato and bell peppers and continued spraying to control insects and diseases. Harvesting of greenhouse tomatoes began, and producers were selling produce. Livestock, Pasture, and Range Report Cattlemen and hay producers continued harvesting hay. Cattlemen were also fertilizing pastures. Pasture conditions continued to decline as little to no rain was received last week. Crop Progress Table PERCENT OF PROGRESS Last CROP STAGE 2005 Week 2004 5 YR AVG Cotton Planted 97 92 88 92 Emerged 88 72 81 81 Hay First Cutting 42 30 20 46 Rice Planted 98 96 97 98 Emerged 96 89 95 94 Sorghum Planted 89 86 89 86 Emerged 80 70 85 77 Soybeans Planted 65 59 62 63 Emerged 55 47 53 51 Sweet potatoes Planted 17 5 12 24 Wheat Turning Color 98 81 94 96 Harvested 37 4 6 28 Land Preparation Spring Plowing 99 99 96 97 Crop Condition Table CONDITIONS IN PERCENTAGES CROP VERY POOR POOR FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT Corn 5 21 39 35 0 Cotton 5 15 43 34 3 Rice 0 3 53 37 7 Sorghum 2 16 53 29 0 Soybean 4 28 40 28 0 Sugarcane 3 11 56 27 3 Wheat 0 7 41 49 3 Livestock 3 9 55 31 2 Vegetables 4 25 46 20 5 Pasture 11 33 43 13 0 LOUISIANA OFFICE OF STATE CLIMATOLOGY, LSU, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA LOUISIANA WEATHER SUMMARY FROM 05/16/05 TO 05/22/05 AIR PRECIPITATION 4 INCH SOIL TEMPERATURE WEEKLY FOUR YR.TO TEMPERATURE MAX MIN AVE NRM TOTAL WEEKS DATE NORM MAX MIN AVE 1. Northwest LSU-Bossier City 92 59 74 74 0.00 0.41 15.64 21.68 Minden 93 56 73 72 0.00 1.18 16.76 23.92 Mooringsport 93 58 75 MM 0.00 0.41 14.06 19.01 Extreme/Average 93 56 74 73 0.00 0.67 14.85 22.13 2. North-Central LSU-Calhoun 93 (49) 74 73 0.00 2.27 17.45 24.92 Homer/Hill Farm 90 50 71 71 0.00 1.06 19.19 23.92 ULM-Monroe 92 51 73 73 0.65 2.82 17.42 26.54 Winnfield 91 49 73 73 0.00 1.03 16.73 25.57 Extreme/Average 93 49 73 73 0.16 1.80 17.70 25.15 3. Northeast Lake Providence 93 55 73 73 0.00 2.52 18.61 27.75 LSU-St Joseph 95 55 76 75 0.00 2.00 17.78 26.97 MM MM MM LSU-Winnsboro 95 50 74 74 0.00 2.01 19.12 26.17 Tallulah 91 54 73 73 0.00 3.21 20.01 27.14 Extreme/Average 95 50 74 74 0.00 2.41 18.97 26.91 MM MM MM 4. West-Central Leesville 95 50 72 74 0.00 1.34 14.65 23.98 LSU-Rosepine 89 55 72 74 0.00 2.02 18.19 23.74 MM MM MM Natchitoches 92 55 74 74 0.00 1.42 16.47 24.09 Extreme/Average 95 50 73 74 0.00 1.38 16.47 23.88 MM MM MM 5. Central Alexandria 93 57 75 75 0.00 0.20 16.72 25.44 Brusly 93 60 75 75 0.10 1.91 15.00 25.84 Bunkie 93 56 76 75 0.00 0.29 18.60 27.08 LSU-Alexandria 94 51 74 75 0.00 0.13 16.37 24.49 MM MM MM Extreme/Average 94 51 75 75 0.03 0.63 16.67 25.68 MM MM MM 6. East-Central Bogalusa 91 58 75 74 0.00 3.88 21.87 27.74 LSU-Baton Rouge 94 61 77 75 0.01 1.44 13.18 24.83 LSU-Clinton 89 56 74 74 0.00 1.05 18.64 27.27 LSU-Hammond 93 58 75 75 0.00 2.14 16.43 26.66 MM MM MM Slidell 89 60 76 75 0.01 3.43 25.06 26.34 Extreme/Average 94 56 75 75 0.00 2.39 19.04 27.26 MM MM MM 7. Southwest De Ridder 95 58 75 75 0.00 1.47 16.61 24.05 Jennings (96) 60 76 75 0.00 0.97 16.84 22.30 MM MM MM LSU-Crowley 95 60 76 76 0.00 2.78 16.78 23.21 MM MM MM Extreme/Average 96 58 76 76 0.00 1.74 16.81 22.56 MM MM MM 8. South-Central Donaldsonville 92 62 76 76 1.71 3.40 15.98 23.94 LSU-Jeanerette 93 60 76 75 0.00 1.43 16.03 22.07 Morgan City 91 65 77 75 0.00 1.84 17.83 22.88 Extreme/Average 93 60 76 76 0.57 2.22 16.61 23.02 9. Southeast Galliano 91 64 77 76 0.33 1.17 24.16 24.44 Houma 93 63 78 77 1.29 2.18 27.48 23.17 MM MM MM NO Audubon Park 94 66 79 77 0.47 3.01 25.43 23.96 Reserve 95 63 76 75 0.20 4.00 23.92 26.15 Extreme/Average 95 63 77 77 0.57 2.59 25.25 24.52 MM MM MM State State Averages 96 49 75 75 0.14 1.72 18.20 24.63 MM MM MM M = Missing ( ) = Extremes Yr. To Date = Through May 22, 2005