mi-crop-weather State Michigan Crop Weather Released September 24, 2012 Week Ending Date September 23, 2012 Issue MI-CW3912 Agricultural Summary Field Crops Five days were suitable for field work last week. Cool and wet weather arrived this week, with temperatures ranging from 5 to 7 degrees below normal across the State. There were reports of scattered frost in the northern Lower Peninsula. Crops continued to mature and dry down. Corn harvest continued. Silage harvest continued. Soybean and dry bean harvest was progressing, as cooler weather helped them ripen. Wheat planting picked up after rains this week. Field activities included fall tillage, manure hauling, and planting of cover crops. Fruit Concord grape harvest continued; yields have been higher than originally expected. The wine grape harvest also continued, and quality has been excellent. Red Delicious apple harvest began; Jonagold and Golden Delicious harvests continued. Apple fruit size and color have been below normal, but brix levels have been very high. Fall raspberry harvest continued. Vegetables Brasica-cole crops are benefitting from the cool weather and developing with no apparent disease problems, but cooler temperatures have slowed progress on harvest of other crops, including tomatoes, peppers, and cucurbits. Scattered frosts in the Central Region injured mostly small market gardens. Harvest has begun on some pumpkin fields; pumpkin growers are working to keep their vines healthy as powdery mildew continues to be a challenge. In the central region, summer squash and pickle harvest is complete. Growers are taking more fields out of production and now are in the process of removing plastic mulch and drip tape. Final pesticide applications have been applied in preparation for cover crop planting. Percent of fall seasons (1971-2000) in which first freeze occurred on or before the date (mo/day) given in the table ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Station :Earliest : 90% : 50% : 10% : Latest ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Alma : 9/20 10/18 10/07 9/24 11/01 Alpena : 8/29 10/08 9/24 9/15 10/10 Bad Axe : 9/17 10/31 10/11 09/28 11/07 Caro : 8/29 10/08 9/24 9/08 10/08 Coldwater : 9/20 10/18 10/06 9/23 10/22 Eau Claire : 10/02 11/05 10/20 10/08 11/10 Grand Rapids : 9/23 10/19 10/09 9/25 11/01 Hesperia : 9/04 10/12 9/24 9/07 10/19 Lansing : 9/13 10/14 10/06 9/22 10/18 Lapeer : 8/15 10/21 10/04 8/30 11/01 Marquette : 8/31 10/03 9/22 9/07 10/14 Monroe : 10/02 11/04 10/19 10/09 12/09 Saginaw : 9/22 10/30 10/12 9/25 11/06 S.S. Marie : 8/29 10/09 9/25 9/10 10/21 Standish : 8/20 10/09 9/24 9/10 11/01 Stephenson : 8/28 9/28 9/18 9/04 10/03 Traverse City : 8/29 10/19 10/06 9/17 11/01 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Soil Moisture and Crop Condition Tables Soil moisture for week ending 09/23/12 --------------------------------------------- : Very : : : Stratum : short : Short :Adequate:Surplus --------------------------------------------- : Percent : Topsoil : 11 30 59 0 Subsoil : 26 36 38 0 --------------------------------------------- Crop condition for week ending 09/23/12 ----------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Crop : poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent ----------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : All Hay : 11 21 37 28 3 Corn : 20 24 26 28 2 Dry beans : 10 12 34 41 3 Pasture : 14 25 34 22 5 Soybeans : 11 18 32 34 5 ----------------------------------------------------------- Crop progress for week ending 09/23/12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ : This : Last : Last : 5-year Crop : week : week : year : average ------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Days : Days Suitable for Fieldwork : 5 6 -- -- : : Percent : All hay, third cutting : 89 86 85 81 All hay, fourth cutting : 41 36 25 30 Corn, dent : 95 87 87 89 Corn, mature : 58 44 30 48 Corn, harvested : 10 6 1 5 Dry beans, dropping leaves : 99 77 87 86 Dry beans, harvested : 39 12 28 40 Soybeans, turning leaves : 95 81 76 85 Soybeans, dropping leaves : 70 42 39 54 Soybeans, harvested : 6 1 0 4 Sugarbeets, harvested : 12 6 6 7 Winter wheat, planted : 9 1 8 14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contact Information U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Michigan Field Office P.O. Box 26248 Lansing, MI 48909-6248 517-324-5300; or 800-453-7501 Fax 517-324-5299 email: nass-mi@nass.usda.gov Web Page: http:/www.nass.usda.gov/mi Weather Information Table Michigan Weather Summary for Week Ending 09/23/12 1/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : :Cumulative growing: : Temperature : degree days 2/ : Precipitation :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : : : : : : : : : : : Normal Station : : :Departure: : : :This:Last :Last : Since :------------- :Maximum :Minimum : from :2012 :2011 :Normal:week: two :four :April 1: Since : For : : : normal : : : : :weeks:weeks: :April 1:month ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ironwood : 63 32 2,214 2,050 1.47 1.51 2.39 15.61 Marquette : 59 31 2,129 2,007 2.77 2.78 4.20 18.86 Stephenson : 64 29 2,472 2,221 0.84 0.91 1.32 13.24 Western UP : 64 25 -6 2,236 1,996 1,867 1.54 1.58 2.47 14.74 19.22 3.58 : Cornell : 62 34 2,379 2,252 2.28 2.36 3.56 14.71 Sault St Marie : 64 36 2,234 2,034 1.19 1.41 1.70 12.34 Eastern UP : 64 30 -6 2,222 2,000 1,653 2.39 2.49 3.70 16.11 18.18 3.55 : Beulah : 72 40 2,622 2,391 1.82 1.84 3.76 16.30 Lake City : 72 33 2,435 2,296 1.47 1.58 3.38 23.20 Old Mission : 74 39 2,498 2,251 2.37 2.39 3.39 15.86 Pellston : 71 31 2,330 2,174 1.71 1.75 2.67 15.43 Northwest : 74 31 -6 2,428 2,240 2,131 1.91 1.96 3.25 17.15 17.15 3.66 : Alpena : 78 35 2,432 2,203 0.96 1.05 1.61 14.34 Houghton Lake : 76 35 2,578 2,428 0.71 0.78 1.42 18.10 Rogers City : 76 37 2,303 2,052 1.52 1.61 2.28 13.82 Northeast : 78 31 -5 2,402 2,249 2,061 1.15 1.26 1.96 15.80 17.13 3.47 : Fremont : 73 32 2,701 2,547 0.72 0.81 1.55 13.33 Hart : 76 33 2,610 2,416 1.68 1.73 2.07 14.79 Muskegon : 76 40 2,980 2,828 0.39 0.48 1.02 12.88 West Central : 76 32 -6 2,689 2,523 2,327 0.96 1.02 1.57 13.79 17.29 3.19 : Alma : 79 38 2,694 2,531 0.34 0.54 1.08 21.06 Big Rapids : 79 34 2,578 2,399 0.47 0.66 1.30 20.65 Central : 79 31 -5 2,654 2,480 2,401 0.42 0.60 1.05 17.77 18.16 3.09 : Bad Axe : 77 41 2,633 2,462 0.23 0.67 2.89 16.06 Pigeon : 77 41 2,555 2,423 0.30 0.68 2.46 8.84 Saginaw : 77 37 2,918 2,743 0.15 0.45 2.23 23.10 Standish : 77 36 2,682 2,352 0.21 0.55 2.13 15.95 East Central : 77 35 -5 2,641 2,483 2,408 0.25 0.62 2.30 16.50 16.24 2.70 : Fennville : 75 39 2,745 2,599 1.40 1.57 2.27 14.21 Grand Rapids : 78 39 3,094 2,927 0.50 0.74 1.98 15.64 Holland : 77 47 2,861 3,701 1.95 2.07 3.51 15.92 South Bend, IN : 75 40 3,197 3,049 0.65 0.87 2.06 19.77 Watervliet : 77 39 2,926 2,798 1.19 1.38 2.36 14.62 Southwest : 78 31 -7 2,904 2,837 2,623 1.08 1.26 2.26 14.94 18.61 3.26 : Belding : 76 34 2,710 2,562 0.24 0.42 0.81 11.81 Coldwater : 77 37 2,978 2,815 0.60 1.12 3.76 12.59 Lansing : 76 41 2,982 2,768 0.64 1.19 2.88 15.16 South Central : 77 34 -7 2,819 2,679 2,576 0.57 1.01 2.19 14.83 18.35 2.79 : Detroit : 78 39 3,271 3,090 0.58 1.02 3.00 13.70 Flint : 77 35 2,980 2,834 0.27 0.89 2.58 18.54 Romeo : 70 37 2,818 2,700 0.17 0.64 1.49 15.03 Tipton : 77 36 2,895 2,795 0.85 1.56 2.87 11.57 Toledo, OH : 77 38 2,957 2,838 0.50 0.93 2.31 12.89 Southeast : 78 32 -6 2,919 2,825 2,576 0.53 1.09 2.48 14.22 17.52 2.43 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Issued by the USDA, NASS, Michigan Field Office in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service, Agricultural Meteorologist, Department of Geography, and Crop Advisory Team ALERTS. 2/ Growing degree days (GDD) is the sum of daily mean temperatures minus 50 per day, 86 maximum and 50 minimum. The GDD is accumulative from April 1.