sc-crop-weather State South Carolina Crop Weather Release Date, Week Ending Date Week Ending July 17, 2005 Issue SC-CW1421 Agricultural Summary Crop conditions across the state continue to improve. The remaining bands from hurricane Dennis brought more than adequate amounts of precipitation last week. The upstate really saw the bulk of the rainfall while some coastal counties could still use some moisture. Overall, moisture levels are in great condition. Soil moisture was 3% short, 77% adequate and 20% surplus. Heavy rains have slowed harvesting activities for hay and melons. Wet fields have also caused some producers to start making aerial pesticide applications. There were 5.0 days suitable for fieldwork. Field Crops Report CORN condition continued to improve. According to most reports, this year's crop looks to be one of the best on record. SOYBEAN planting wrapped up last week. Producers have their fingers crossed that we will not see any signs of rust in this year's crop. COTTON condition remained good. SORGHUM planting wrapped up last week with crop progress right on schedule. PEANUT producers were busy applying fungicides. Pegging was near normal for this date and the crop was in mostly good condition. TOBACCO topping was 90 percent completed. Tobacco plants have seen increased pressure from Tomato Spotted Wilt, as much as 10 percent of the crop state wide. The crop was in fair to good condition. Fruits, Vegetables and Specialty Crops WATERMELON and CANTALOUPE harvest were still behind normal and producers were finding it difficult to get out in the fields with all the wet weather. Vegetable harvest was nearly right on schedule with some reports of bloom drop and yellowing from all the excess water. SNAP BEAN harvest was 93 percent completed, CUCUMBER harvest was 98 percent completed and TOMATO harvest was 91 percent complete. Forty-eight percent of the PEACH crop had been harvested by week's end and the crop was in mostly good condition. APPLE condition remained fair to mostly good. Small Grains, Pastures and Livestock Report LIVESTOCK and PASTURES remained in mostly good condition with pastures showing the most improvement last week. WINTER WHEAT harvest was completed last week with other SMALL GRAINS not far behind. Crop Progress Table ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 Yr : 5 Yr Crop Phase 2005 2004 Avg :Crop Phase 2005 2004 Avg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --Percent-- --Percent-- Barley Harvested 99 99 100 :Snap Beans Harvested 93 98 94 Cantaloups Harvested 73 89 88 :Sorghum Planted 100 100 100 Corn Silked 99 99 98 :Sorghum Headed 68 84 68 Corn Dough Stage 70 74 71 :Sorghum Turned Color 30 39 31 Corn Matured 9 7 21 :Soybeans Planted 100 100 100 Cotton Squared 70 86 80 :Soybeans Emerged 97 100 99 Cotton Bolls Set 21 33 28 :Soybeans Bloomed 22 27 23 Cucumbers Harvested 98 100 99 :Soybeans Pods Set 5 12 11 Other Hay Harvested 52 68 64 :Tobacco Topped 90 94 92 Oats Harvested 98 100 100 :Tobacco Harvested 14 19 18 Peaches Harvested 48 50 53 :Tomatoes Harvested 91 94 93 Peanuts Pegged 65 70 66 :Watermelons Harvested 65 86 86 Rye Harvested 99 99 99 :Winter Wht. Harvested 100 100 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crop Condition Table ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Very Excel- Very Excel- Crop Poor Poor Fair Good lent :Crop Poor Poor Fair Good lent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Percent -- -- Percent-- Apples 0 0 33 67 0 :Peaches 0 0 3 90 7 Cantaloups 0 6 55 39 0 :Peanuts 0 1 16 79 4 Corn 0 1 16 63 20 :Sorghum 0 0 0 96 4 Cotton 0 2 18 73 7 :Soybeans 0 2 19 67 12 Hay 2 3 22 60 13 :Sweetpotato 0 0 75 25 0 Livestock 0 0 20 69 11 :Tobacco 0 4 30 62 4 Pastures 0 0 15 74 11 :Watermelons 0 4 65 31 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Carolina Weekly Weather Summary for the Week Ending July 17, 2005 Daily thundershowers during the work week were enhanced by moisture from Tropical Depression Dennis, located near Kentucky, and southeasterly surface winds from the Atlantic. Intense rainfall rates in slow moving convective cells caused flash flooding in both urban and rural locations. Sites along the central Savannah River and upstate report surplus rainfall amounts for the year while coastal counties between Charleston and Myrtle Beach are in deficit. For the period, the State average temperature was near normal. The highest official temperature reported was 97 degrees at Cheraw on July 17. The lowest official temperature reported was 60 degrees at Caesars Head on the morning of July 11. The heaviest 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.98 inches at Caesars Head ending at 7:00 am on July 12. The average Statewide rainfall for the period was 0.9 inches. SOIL: 4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 82 degrees. RIVERS AND SURF: South Carolina river stages were near to above normal. Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 84 degrees. Precipitation Weekly Jan 1 Deviation Total Total From Avg Greer 0.85 34.4 5.8 Columbia 3.07 25.3 -2.0 Orangeburg 1.55 24.1 -2.6 Charlotte, NC 0.23 24.3 0.3 Augusta, GA 1.36 32.0 6.4 Florence 1.04 23.6 -0.7 Myrtle Beach 0.31 16.3 -6.2 Charleston 0.20 22.7 -4.1 Savannah, GA 2.04 26.8 0.6 Weekly rainfall totals this period ending midnight Sunday. Contact Information Robert A. Graham, Director Stephen Pavlasek, Jr, Deputy Director Phone: 803-765-5333 E-mail: nass-sc@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/sc