State NEW ENGLAND WEEKLY CROP WEATHER Week ending date 10/23/05 Issue NH-CW3704 Volume 25, Number 26 (issued weekly on the Internet, May - October) October 24, 2005 - 4 pm -- Agricultural Summary-- This is the final New England Crop Weather report for 2005. This weekly report would not have been possible without the voluntary efforts of our reporters. We wish to thank all of them for their help in making this a timely, accurate report. We look forward to their continued support next May, when the 2006 crop season begins. Although every report is important, special recognition is deserved by those who have been able to respond on a regular basis throughout the six-month growing season. Reporting is a significant commitment, and their faithful cooperation helps the New England Crop Weather release to be a consistent, high quality product. FIRST MAJOR FROST GENERAL CONDITIONS: For the week ending October 23, 2005, there were 4.5 days suitable for field work. Topsoil moisture was rated 29% adequate, 71% surplus. Subsoil moisture was rated 41% adequate, 59% surplus. Pasture condition was rated 10% very poor, 19% poor, 32% fair, 31% good and 8% excellent. In southern New England, partly cloudy skies arrived at the beginning of the week and remained until the weekend. In northern New England, the week began with light rains which hindered field work until mid-week. Cool, wet weather arrived during the weekend to all areas, causing some water levels to pass flood stage. On Thursday and Friday, the first heavy frost arrived to the region and snow fell in the mountains. Farmers were busy cleaning debris from flooding and estimating storm damage. Farm activities included chopping corn silage where soil permitted, cleaning and putting away equipment, mowing and discing fields, spreading lime, spreading manure on dry fields, and tilling crops. Producers harvested a variety of fruits and vegetables. SOIL MOISTURE ACROSS NEW ENGLAND --------------------------------------------- Soil Rating This Week Last Week Last Year -- Percent -- Topsoil Moisture Very Short 0 0 0 Short 0 0 1 Adequate 29 31 95 Surplus 71 69 4 Subsoil Moisture Very Short 0 0 0 Short 0 0 1 Adequate 41 43 96 Surplus 59 57 3 --------------------------------------------- -- Fruit, Vegetable, and Specialty Crops Report FRUIT: The first heavy frost arrived to the region late in the week. Fruit growers were busy harvesting fruit. Apple harvest was starting to wind down as only late maturing varieties remained to be picked. The recent rainfall and heavy winds caused some apple droppings. Pear harvest was completed in all states except for Connecticut, where all growers should finish shortly. Cranberry growers were busy harvesting more then usual at this time of year. The last two weeks of rain hindered growers from dry harvesting. Maine wild blueberry growers were busy flail mowing fields where land was not too soft and not too green. VEGETABLES: The recent rains caused some damage to late planted vegetable crops in parts of the region. In addition, the rains have hindered sales at farm stands and farmers' markets. Farmers' markets and roadside stands continued to be full of pumpkins, mums, and fall vegetables as businesses will close for the winter. Producers were busy harvesting brussel sprouts, cabbage, eggplant, kale, pumpkins, and winter squash. Farmers were also busy mowing and discing fields, and cleaning and putting equipment away. FIELD CROPS: The recent rainfall has saturated fields, hindering harvest in some parts of the region. Maine oats and barley harvest has come to a halt due to soft fields; therefore, no equipment can access the fields. Maine potato growers were able to harvest some potatoes during the week on dry soil and also before the weekend rain arrived. More nice dry days are needed to finish the harvest. Massachusetts potato growers made progress with the harvest even though conditions were very difficult from the recent flooding. The crop conditions varied in the region from very poor to good. Farmers that had corn on dry soil were busy combining. Some reports of corn fields along river beds were still under water. Most of the corn silage harvested in the region with only corn grain left to harvest. Another wet week limited any progress for cutting hay in the region. Both, second and third cutting of hay progress remained the same as the previous week. A few farmers might cut some more second and third cutting of hay that is if the field conditions improve. Tobacco growers in the Connecticut River Valley are concerned about the recent rain causing mold to grow in the sheds. -- Crop Progress Tables FIELD CROP DEVELOPMENT ACROSS NEW ENGLAND ---------------------------------------------------- Crop 2005 2004 5-yr Avg Condition ---------------------------------------------------- -- Percent Harvested -- Barley, ME 95 100 100 Fair Oats, ME 95 100 100 Fair Potatoes Maine 95 100 100 Good Mass. 90 95 95 Poor Field Corn 90 95 95 Good/ Excellent Dry hay, 2nd cut 99 100 100 Good/Excellent Dry hay, 3rd cut 90 95 90 Good ---------------------------------------------------- FRUIT CROP DEVELOPMENT ACROSS NEW ENGLAND ----------------------------------------------------- --Percent Harvested-- Crop 2005 2004 5-yr Fruit Condition Avg Size ----------------------------------------------------- Apples 90 95 95 Avg Good/Fair Pears 99 95 95 Avg/B.Avg Fair/Good Cranberries, MA 90 90 85 Avg/B.Avg Good ----------------------------------------------------- -- Weather Summary For the Period: Monday October 17, 2005 To: Sunday October 23, 2005 AIR TEMPERATURES PRECIPITATION STATE LO HI AVG DFN LO HI -- --- --- --- --- ---- ---- ME 22 61 44 -1 0.35 1.76 NH 15 68 44 -1 0.83 3.40 VT 22 62 44 -1 0.02 4.41 MA 27 69 50 +0 0.09 1.65 RI 33 67 51 +0 0.76 1.13 CT 30 71 50 +0 0.60 1.12 ------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005: AWIS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. -- Weather Information Table For the Period: Monday October 17, 2005 To: Sunday October 23, 2005 AIR CUM SINCE MAR 1 TEMPERATURE GROWING DEGREE DAYS ----------- BASE-50F BASE-60F STATION LO HI AVG DFN TOT DFN TOT DFN ------- -- -- -- -- --- ---- --- ---- MAINE Albion 25 56 43 -6 2017 -155 807 +17 Allagash 26 54 42 +2 1482 +139 484 +161 Augusta_State_A 29 57 47 -1 2356 +266 1039 +293 Bangor_Intl_Arp 27 60 47 +1 2313 +412 975 +353 Barnard 27 58 44 +1 1887 +292 697 +245 Bath 26 59 44 -4 2028 +64 779 +119 Bethel 27 56 45 -2 2081 +218 828 +232 Brassua_Dam 27 52 41 -1 1671 +354 574 +264 Brunswick_ME 27 57 45 -3 2177 +213 909 +249 Caribou_Municip 31 61 44 +3 1843 +395 686 +308 Corinna 27 60 45 +1 2083 +322 842 +302 Danforth 28 56 44 +2 1824 +127 656 +131 Dover-Foxcroft 29 54 44 +1 1745 +150 589 +137 Durham 27 57 44 -5 2034 -202 802 -39 East_Hiram 26 54 43 -3 2033 +181 808 +218 Eustis 25 53 40 -3 1568 +291 504 +221 Frenchville 33 51 43 +3 1814 +471 680 +357 Gray 33 57 47 -1 2391 +456 1075 +438 Greenville_ME 32 50 42 -2 1839 +230 677 +214 Guilford 26 56 44 +1 1888 +293 724 +272 Hollis 24 56 43 -3 2124 +362 888 +356 Houlton 25 56 43 +1 1854 +340 697 +273 Kennebunkport 27 58 46 -5 1947 -462 735 -206 Livermore_Falls 22 55 43 -1 2124 +559 895 +466 Moosehead 25 52 41 -2 1609 +292 521 +211 New_Sharon 24 55 45 +2 2084 +519 867 +438 Patten 30 54 43 +1 1706 +192 594 +170 Portage 28 55 43 +2 1782 +334 651 +273 Portland_ME 28 59 46 -2 2356 +421 1033 +396 Rangeley 26 52 41 -1 1682 +438 564 +300 Sebec_Lake 28 56 44 +1 1860 +251 668 +205 Vanceboro 29 56 44 +1 1810 +167 635 +157 Waterville 29 59 46 -3 2201 +29 935 +145 NEW_HAMPSHIRE Barnstead 23 57 42 -5 2182 +95 936 +197 Benton 26 55 42 -4 2052 +346 817 +341 Berlin_AG 28 56 43 -1 2073 +373 823 +326 Bethlehem 24 56 42 -3 2068 +374 824 +348 Concord 27 62 48 +2 2655 +568 1242 +503 Diamond_Pond 26 48 38 -4 1537 +419 486 +281 First_Conn_Lake 27 48 38 -3 1522 +404 457 +252 Greenville 30 66 49 +2 2704 +808 1311 +726 Keene_AP 28 63 47 -2 2641 +278 1226 +310 Lakeport 33 60 47 +3 2644 +711 1250 +605 Marlow 26 59 44 -4 2282 +148 988 +241 Mount_Washingto 15 34 26 -4 398 +337 15 +15 North_Conway 28 59 46 +2 2302 +389 990 +357 Otter_Brook_Lk 30 60 46 -3 2396 +33 1043 +127 Plymouth 25 57 44 -1 2124 +454 855 +378 Rochester 27 58 46 -3 2396 +128 1076 +224 Weare 30 57 46 -2 2395 +261 1064 +317 VERMONT Ball_Mt_Lake 27 57 43 -3 2132 +310 866 +315 Bethel 27 59 45 -1 2291 +561 990 +486 Burlington_Intl 30 56 46 +0 2816 +595 1381 +540 East_Haven 22 53 42 +1 2052 +656 807 +470 Island_Pond 27 51 41 -2 2004 +610 785 +460 Montpelier 26 59 44 -1 2377 +640 1043 +531 Morrisville_AG 24 56 43 -2 2027 +300 804 +288 Mount_Mansfield 22 47 33 -5 1237 +521 272 +206 Northfield 27 58 44 +1 2180 +611 900 +478 Pownal 31 60 45 -1 2391 +562 1007 +455 Rochester 27 59 44 -1 2300 +570 988 +484 Rutland_AG 28 60 45 -4 2481 +139 1133 +233 Sunderland 28 60 45 -3 2362 +131 1021 +200 Sutton 26 50 40 -2 1968 +572 763 +426 Townshend_Lake 29 60 46 -1 2462 +255 1100 +277 Union_Vill_Dam 24 60 43 -4 2262 +46 968 +139 MASSACHUSETTS Ashburnham 32 62 47 +2 2557 +670 1166 +568 Boston/Logan_In 30 67 53 -1 3032 +208 1535 +307 Greenfield 31 65 49 -3 2709 +133 1260 +209 New_Bedford 31 67 51 -4 2770 -114 1303 +33 Otis_AFB 34 64 53 +3 2993 +691 1452 +587 Plymouth 30 65 50 -1 2735 +390 1323 +420 Walpole 32 66 50 +3 2912 +583 1437 +543 West_Medway 33 64 50 +2 2741 +412 1296 +402 Chicopee/Westov 30 67 50 -3 3103 +122 1537 +187 Worcester 37 63 48 +0 2805 +625 1354 +570 Worthington 29 61 46 -2 2305 +420 962 +387 RHODE_ISLAND Providence 36 67 52 +0 3224 +545 1668 +534 Woonsocket 33 67 50 +2 2918 +633 1420 +574 CONNECTICUT Bakersville 30 64 47 -4 2555 -277 1134 -119 Bridgeport/Siko 43 71 54 +0 3375 +446 1715 +387 Hartford/Bradle 34 69 51 +0 3313 +495 1709 +467 Norfolk 32 59 46 +0 2414 +545 1023 +450 Norwich 36 70 51 +0 3088 +425 1544 +435 Thomaston_Dam 36 66 50 +1 2927 +627 1410 +564 Willimantic 33 67 50 +0 2969 +624 1430 +554 1-WEEK PRECIP 4-WEEK CUM PRECIP ------------- ----------------- TOTAL TOTAL STATION INCHES DFN DAYS INCHES DFN DAYS ------- ----- ---- --- ----- ---- --- MAINE Albion 1.34 +0.43 4 12.78 +9.44 12 Allagash 1.16 +0.46 3 9.05 +6.09 11 Augusta_State_A 1.02 +0.11 4 11.99 +8.68 15 Bangor_Intl_Arp 0.70 -0.07 3 11.23 +8.26 13 Barnard 0.65 -0.19 4 10.48 +7.11 14 Bath 1.17 +0.28 2 15.04 +11.88 10 Bethel 1.05 +0.15 3 9.23 +5.93 11 Brassua_Dam 0.73 -0.04 4 7.06 +3.97 13 Brunswick_ME 1.33 +0.44 4 16.71 +13.55 12 Caribou_Municip 1.01 +0.31 2 8.37 +5.56 10 Corinna 0.75 -0.08 2 10.71 +7.54 9 Danforth 0.80 +0.03 3 9.21 +6.16 12 Dover-Foxcroft 0.35 -0.49 3 8.18 +4.81 13 Durham 0.90 +0.00 4 12.66 +9.41 12 East_Hiram 1.11 +0.16 3 15.12 +11.70 14 Eustis 1.34 +0.63 4 9.60 +6.84 13 Frenchville 1.40 +0.70 4 7.74 +4.78 14 Gray 1.34 +0.43 4 14.25 +10.96 13 Greenville_ME 0.82 -0.02 4 9.74 +6.37 13 Guilford 0.61 -0.23 3 10.86 +7.49 12 Hollis 1.23 +0.32 1 16.14 +12.81 12 Houlton 0.79 +0.06 3 6.87 +3.96 11 Kennebunkport 1.76 +0.82 4 12.41 +9.07 13 Livermore_Falls 1.15 +0.27 5 10.34 +7.02 13 Moosehead 0.66 -0.11 6 7.63 +4.54 15 New_Sharon 1.23 +0.35 3 12.21 +8.89 11 Patten 0.85 +0.12 2 9.08 +6.17 13 Portage 1.28 +0.58 3 8.62 +5.81 12 Portland_ME 1.21 +0.30 1 12.56 +9.27 10 Rangeley 1.27 +0.57 5 9.15 +6.43 14 Sebec_Lake 0.57 -0.27 4 9.66 +6.29 13 Vanceboro 0.77 -0.01 3 8.95 +5.78 12 Waterville 1.34 +0.43 4 11.33 +7.99 12 NEW_HAMPSHIRE Barnstead 1.44 +0.69 4 18.69 +15.90 15 Benton 1.23 +0.46 4 9.51 +6.63 14 Berlin_AG 0.83 -0.01 4 8.81 +5.69 12 Bethlehem 1.82 +1.05 5 8.34 +5.46 13 Concord 1.18 +0.43 3 13.34 +10.55 13 Diamond_Pond 0.91 +0.07 4 7.84 +4.48 14 First_Conn_Lake 1.78 +0.94 6 8.19 +4.83 15 Greenville 1.27 +0.42 2 15.28 +12.16 13 Keene_AP 0.96 +0.26 2 13.91 +11.16 12 Lakeport 1.04 +0.22 3 18.60 +15.59 13 Marlow 0.84 -0.03 3 15.35 +12.10 14 Mount_Washingto 3.40 +1.77 6 17.49 +11.32 15 North_Conway 1.26 +0.30 5 10.73 +7.19 13 Otter_Brook_Lk 1.21 +0.51 3 12.69 +9.94 14 Plymouth 1.36 +0.50 4 10.55 +7.36 14 Rochester 1.08 +0.08 2 14.72 +11.14 11 Weare 1.17 +0.30 3 17.78 +14.53 13 VERMONT Ball_Mt_Lake 1.54 +0.70 5 11.93 +8.59 17 Bethel 1.32 +0.48 4 7.73 +4.37 15 Burlington_Intl 1.46 +0.83 5 6.07 +3.48 16 East_Haven 2.71 +1.94 5 10.26 +7.30 13 Island_Pond 3.20 +2.48 5 9.71 +6.89 14 Montpelier 1.66 +1.03 5 7.67 +5.15 17 Morrisville_AG 2.47 +1.70 6 6.93 +3.95 17 Mount_Mansfield 4.41 +3.17 5 13.22 +8.32 17 Northfield 1.94 +1.21 5 8.23 +5.40 16 Pownal 1.77 +0.93 4 12.71 +9.37 17 Rochester 2.78 +1.94 5 9.15 +5.79 15 Rutland_AG 2.04 +1.41 4 9.56 +6.88 16 Sunderland 2.31 +1.68 6 11.63 +8.98 18 Sutton 2.50 +1.73 6 8.80 +5.84 17 Townshend_Lake 1.18 +0.41 3 10.83 +7.95 15 Union_Vill_Dam 1.21 +0.44 3 10.33 +7.34 14 MASSACHUSETTS Ashburnham 1.10 +0.33 2 12.38 +9.50 13 Boston/Logan_In 1.08 +0.32 2 8.02 +5.16 11 Greenfield 1.65 +0.88 2 11.29 +8.21 13 New_Bedford 0.73 -0.08 1 11.34 +8.33 12 Otis_AFB 0.43 -0.47 3 8.14 +4.73 14 Plymouth 0.56 -0.35 3 9.32 +5.73 14 Walpole 1.18 +0.27 2 12.34 +8.91 13 West_Medway 0.95 +0.04 1 12.20 +8.77 12 Chicopee/Westov 1.09 +0.25 2 13.82 +10.66 13 Worcester 1.13 +0.15 3 14.24 +10.35 15 Worthington 1.31 +0.47 4 16.53 +13.24 17 RHODE_ISLAND Providence 1.09 +0.25 2 13.18 +9.98 14 Woonsocket 1.13 +0.22 2 13.42 +9.90 13 CONNECTICUT Bakersville 1.00 +0.21 3 12.58 +9.37 15 Bridgeport/Siko 0.73 +0.03 2 10.92 +8.17 15 Hartford/Bradle 1.12 +0.33 2 12.60 +9.39 12 Norfolk 0.93 +0.02 3 12.67 +9.15 14 Norwich 1.09 +0.16 2 12.07 +8.50 13 Thomaston_Dam 0.86 -0.05 3 14.77 +11.23 15 Willimantic 0.73 -0.21 2 11.19 +7.52 13 Summary based on NWS data. DFN = Departure From Normal (Using 1961-90 Normals Period). Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches. Precipitation Days = Days with precip of 0.01 inch or more. Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. Copyright 2005: AWIS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For detailed ag weather forecasts and data visit the AWIShome page at www.awis.com or call toll free at1-888-798-9955. -- Other Agricultural Comments and News CONNECTICUT - Ross Eddy (FSA), Hartford/Tolland: Another soggy weekend has passed but no more flooding thank goodness. Most crops are in and farmers are picking up plastic mulch off fields and putting machinery away. There is much concern over broadleaf tobacco becoming moldy in sheds due to continued wet weather. Identified some severe erosion on farm roads and a couple burst dams for ponds in the area. Combines still in sheds as soils too wet to allow picking of field corn. Marsha Jette (FSA), New London: Very wet. Late planted tomatoes wiped out because of heavy rain. Business is slow at the vegetable stands on weekends due to cold, wet weather. Dawn Pindell (FSA), Windham: Some corn waiting to be picked for grain, water still in some fields, clearing debris from flooded fields, damage to farm roads and some erosion. Good apple picking, first frost, time changes soon. Nancy Welsh (FSA), New Haven: All in all this was a very poor growing season in New Haven and Middlesex counties. The weekend weather has been very uncooperative for the sale of fall decorative crops and apple picking. Prices have been poor and compounded by the high cost of fuel. We have not had a killing frost to date and that is unusual. Richard Meinert (Ext), CT Cooperative: Hay rides to and through pumpkin patches were popular this past week as folks shook off the 2 weeks of rain. Field work was hampered by muddy conditions. MAINE - Steve London, Southern Aroostook: Potatoes and small grains: Saturated fields. Conditions good for harvesting crops, but unsure of unharvested crops. Leslie Nelson (NRCS), Piscataquis: More rain over the weekend kept fields saturated. Harvest of potatoes and corn silage progressing very slowly. Donald Burke (FSA), Waldo: Silage corn harvest continued during the week as weather permitted. Most corn is harvested. Rain on Sunday and more rain in the forecast during the week. October will be one for the record books, just like April and May! Have a safe winter and we'll look forward to reporting crops in the spring. Trudy Soucy (FSA), Knox/Lincoln: Flail mowing is underway on blueberry fields, but most land is too soft and the plants are too green for burning. Some areas had a light frost mid-week. Spreading manure remains to be done before the ground freezes. The growing season is ending, the same way it began with record setting rain. Who knows what next year will bring. Think spring! Sandy Truslow (FSA), Cumberland/York: The first frost hit the area last week ending the growing season. Poor weather continues to plague pick your own apples, pumpkins and corn maze operators. Gary Raymond (FSA), Franklin: We had a hard frost and frozen ground on Saturday. Apple harvest is done. Grain corn is drying down in the field. All of this rain is making it hard to empty manure pits. Spreading is causing rutting in many fields. Marcia Hall (FSA), Oxford: Oxford County producers have reported several fields are very muddy and unable to harvest some crops due to more wet weather. Pumpkins & squash being harvested and marketed throughout the county. Oxford County received more rain this past weekend and more on the way. Laura Rand (FSA), Androscoggin: Producers are reporting very wet soils and have been working on finishing touches of harvest. Rainfall has hampered outside farming activities, first hard frost this week. MASSACHUSETTS - Arthur Williams (FSA), Berkshire: Cold and rainy, drizzly on and off all week with short patches of sun. We had our first countywide hard frost. Windy conditions early in the week knocked off lots of leaves and downed a few trees. The foliage has been lackluster and very very late affecting the tourist flow. Farm stands are wrapping up with fall vegetables, flowers and Halloween decorations. Arthur is retiring after 23 years as CED and many years before that on the FSA County Committee. His dedication to this crop weather survey has been strong and he encourages all those who don't report regularly to do a better job next year! Have a great winter! Frank Caruso (Ext), Plymouth: Cranberries: More harvesting of berries being done than usual at this time, as growers wait and wait for better color. Had very dangerous frost night Thursday into Friday. Growers doing dry harvesting tried to catch up after last week's consecutive rainy days. Handlers reporting that the crop may be as much as 35% below the August estimate. This may be the final harvest for those growers on the edge. Things looked so promising back in June, only for this to happen. Jason Otto (FSA), Bristol: Fall is finally here. Local farm stands had another wet weekend. All sales are slow and there is no time left to recover. John Devine (FSA), Franklin: Farmers in Franklin County spent the week assessing damage and trying to figure out how to harvest water-logged crops. Silage and grain planted on river-bottom land is either loaded with silt or still under water. High winds have affected all unharvested fruit crops. Apple producers are reporting that tons of fruit were blown off the trees. Right now, producers are trying stabilizing erosion damage before the ground freezes. Ted Smiarowski, Jr. (FSA), Hampshire/Hampden: Another week with added rainfall. Harvesting grain corn, potatoes, greens, cabbage and pumpkins. Harvesting is difficult because of the very wet conditions. Tobacco growers continue bundling their crop for sale. Many farmers are cleaning and putting their equipment under shelter. Spreading manure and applying a cover crop on harvested fields continues. Gary Guida, Worcester: Spotty killing frost in this area, still harvesting eggplant and a few tomatoes. Last of fall raspberries and cranberries. Pumpkin sales somewhat off from last year, mums way off as everyone seems to be selling them. Most winter squash sold and farmers getting a breather from field work with all this rain. Bringing in firewood and general public concern about heating oil prices and fearing long cold winter. NEW HAMPSHIRE - Tina Savage (Ext), Carroll: Frost at long last, two nights of fly killing and mosquito freezing weather finally arrived this week. Every thing else wrapped up for the year. Carl Majewski (Ext), Cheshire: Fall like weather all week, cool temps, with the first frost Thursday night. We had first snowflakes of the season falling Sunday morning. Not too much going on in the field, farmers spreading manure, maybe try for a fourth cutting on alfalfa in a week or two, but that's about it. Farmstands are closing for the winter, and orchards finishing up with late varieties. As always, it was an interesting crop season. See you next year. Steve Turaj (Ext), Coos: Colder, wet weather prevails; sodden fields hamper field work significantly. Unharvested corn in low lying fields well under water to tassel. Ponding of fields along CT River appears to be worse as one progress's southward from North Stratford. Wet fields, corn for silage standing in water along the Androscoggin River as well. All tributaries seen running high at midweek. First hard freeze at end of week, quite late for Coos county. High water, trees, wood, other debris left in field from flooding will make harvest of remaining corn silage questionable and no doubt adversely affect forage quality. It's a hard end to the season. Evergreen boughs starting to head south for the winter decoration market. Steve Schmidt (FSA), Grafton: So far for the month of October we have received slightly over 7.25 inches of rain. Field conditions are generally a little on the wet side. Fortunately most of the corn is cut. Those few with some left to chop are fighting the weather. There is still some 4th cut alfalfa out there to cut. We got our first frost on October 21st, and our first snow fall on the 22nd. George Hamilton (Ext), Hillsborough: Killing frost occurred Thursday night, Friday morning and the next night. Fruit: Apple harvest winding up. Finish harvesting Red Delicious, Rome and other late maturing apples varieties. Only the final picking of Golden Delicious and Fuji remains. Pear harvest is done. Cleaning up drop apples and putting away orchard equipment. Vegetable: Continue harvesting cool season crops like cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, lettuce and greens. Farmers kept busy pulling plastic mulch & tomato stakes, mowing and disking fields, cleaning up fields, planting cover, and putting away equipment. Field Crops: Corn silage cutting is nearly completed. With all the rain in past two weeks farmers cannot get into fields to finish corn chopping and clipping hayfields. Sadie Puglisi (Ext), Merrimack: The season is almost done. One more week of farmer's markets. Squash, pumpkins and some potatoes are at the markets now. Some pockets of frost last week. People are planning for next year. Nada Haddad (Ext), Rockingham: Rain, cold, windy and occasional sun; harvesting apples and PYO apples operations were busy on Saturday. Pumpkins, winter squashes, mums, ornamental corns available at different retail outlets. Chopping corn. Spreading lime, cleaning vegetable fields that are not muddy. Pam Marvin (FSA), Sullivan: All this rain has made it difficult for last fields of corn to be cut. Ground is saturated. Third cut of hay is held up also. We experienced a good frost late in the week. The pumpkin crop is very abundant this year. Assessments of damaged fields in the southern half of the county from heavy rain two weeks ago is ongoing. Geoffrey Njue (Ext), Strafford: A welcome break from the rains. However we got our first freeze of the season this week. Fruit growers continued to harvest late apple varieties. Apple picking at pick your own operations was affected by the last one and half weeks of rains resulting in many drops at most farms. This week customers were back trying to pick the last apples of the season. Growers busy picking for storage and for making cider. Vegetable harvesting is winding down. Growers harvesting cool season vegetables, such as cabbage and brocolli. Pumpkin sales were still going strong. RHODE ISLAND - Karen Menezes (Ext), Newport: Catching up on lots of field work, chopping field corn and getting in some third cut. PYO apples still going strong and a good crop of pumpkins add to the fall PYO. Roadside stands are filled with fall mums, fruits and vegetables. VERMONT - John St. Onge/Kim Peterson (FSA), Lamoille: The week ended on a wintry note with up to 6 inches of snow in this part of the state. Slow week for field work as many fields were still drying out from heavy rains a week ago. Corn silage harvest almost completed. Looks like its going to be difficult to harvest any more grass this season. Overall, it has been a great year for crops in this area. Dave Blodgett (NRCS), Orleans: Crop harvest is nearly complete. A few farms may cut some fourth cut hay if the weather improves. Field conditions are very wet now with the recent rain. We got two days of killing frost so the growing season is finally over. Most farms are spreading some manure to get their manure storages ready for winter. Pastures are still doing well for this time of year but this should begin to change with the recent frost. Perley Sparrow (FSA), Windham: Corn harvesting pretty much complete and good yields. Dennis Kauppila (Ext), Caledonia: First frosts of the fall on this week, Two mornings of 25 degrees. This is very unusually late. Another 1.5 inches of rain on Saturday night, brooks bank full again. Snow in higher elevations, 4 inches in places. Fields soaked, some folks trying to spread manure on drier ground. Had 3 sunny days, some were doing some last minute haying. A good growing season- heat, moisture, length of season. Heather Darby (Ext), Franklin: Wet weather has delayed field operations. Most corn silage has been chopped but grain crops such as soybean and corn remain in the field. Very little manure has been spread and farmers are concerned about finishing spreading before the winter ban. Some fall tillage has been done but not as much as usual at this time. Cover crops are up on many fields in this area. Sherwin Williams, Rutland: All fields seeded to winter rye. A real good cover crop for the winter. Plenty of rain and warm weather has made for good growth on all fields. Rain for the week totaled 2.775 inches. A real good garden season for year 2005. Everything is winding down to October 31 closing. Have a good winter. Reporters are from: Extension Service (Ext), Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), or other knowledgeable individuals. -- Contact Information To receive this report, send an e-mail message to listserv@newsbox.usda.gov and in the body, type subscribe usda-new-eng-crop-weather Statistician: Travis Averill Stat Assistant: Lynne Arsenault Deputy Director: Gerald Tillman New England Agricultural Statistics National Agricultural Statistics Service United States Department of Agriculture Aubrey R. Davis, Director 22 Bridge St, 3rd Floor PO Box 1444 Concord, NH 03302-1444 Phone: (603) 224-9639 Fax: (603) 225-1434 Internet: http://www.usda.gov/nass/ E-Mail: nass.nh@nass.usda.gov ****************** end of report*********************