fl-crop-weather Week ending August 15, 1999 Released 4:00 P.M. August 16, 1999 WEATHER SUMMARY: Hot temperatures continued during the week of August 8 through 14 with the weekly averages near normal to three degrees above at the major stations. Daytime highs averaged in the 90s with Tallahassee and Gainesville having at least one high at 100 or more. Nighttime lows averaged in the 70s. Scattered rains fell during the week with totals ranging from traces at Ft. Pierce and Daytona Beach to about three and a third inches at Gainesville, Tallahassee, and Bradenton. FIELD CROPS: The topsoil moisture throughout the State is short to adequate with scattered areas of surplus moisture. Cotton is in good condition. Corn harvest is active. Tobacco harvest is winding down. Tobacco marketing is active. Hay making is active. Cotton, soybeans, and sugarcane condition continues mostly normal. Peanut growers are making preparations to start harvest. Peanut condition: fair 13%, good 64%, and excellent 23%. Moisture Topsoil Subsoil Rating Last week This week Last week This week Percent Very short 1 0 4 4 Short 50 30 25 18 Adequate 48 68 70 78 Surplus 1 2 1 0 LIVESTOCK AND PASTURES: In the Panhandle, cattle and calves were in fair condition. Most locations had hot and humid weather, an excellent growing condition for grass. In the central area, cattle and calves were in fair condition due to only fair pasture. Grass growth was limited by soil moisture shortage. In the west central area, cattle were in fair to good condition, pastures were good and green with some pastures wet. In the southwest, rain has been spotty with cattle and range in fair to good condition. Range Cattle Condition Last week This week Last week This week Percent Very poor 0 0 0 0 Poor 5 0 5 0 Fair 50 50 25 20 Good 45 45 70 75 Excellent 0 5 0 5 CITRUS: This was another very hot and humid week in Florida's citrus groves with showers and thunderstorms varying in intensity depending on location. Some groves had adequate rains throughout the week while others were running their irrigation systems to maintain good tree condition. Most trees in all areas continue to show an abundance of new growth. New crop fruit is making good progress with a little premature splitting of early oranges and a few Navels. Some fresh fruit packing houses have members testing early bloom grapefruit for the first shipments. Caretakers are cutting cover crops and herbiciding to control the summer weed growth. Growers are fertilizing, spraying and removing dead trees. Some resetting has been reported in the larger grove operations. VEGETABLES: Mostly clear weather allowed land preparation for fall crops to proceed on schedule. Activities in the major growing areas follow: Quincy--Tomato transplanting is nearly finished with about one percent of the acreage left to plant. About three percent of the tomato acreage was lost to dry conditions in late July with growers replanting this lost acreage. Palmetto-Ruskin--Tomatoes are in fair to good condition with planting slowly increasing. Workers are making the first ties of the oldest tomato plants and spraying for the control of disease and insects. Planting of cherry and plum tomatoes is gaining momentum with both rated in fair to good condition. Watermelon planting is underway. Planting of eggplant is expected to start within the next five to seven days. East Coast--Scattered rains helped ease the dry soil conditions with the laying of plastic for fall crop planting increasing. Pepper planting is steady. Tomato transplanting is slow as the season gets underway. Growers are starting to plant eggplant. Southwest--Producers are laying plastic for the transplanting of tomatoes which is expected to begin within the next two weeks. Dade--Okra harvesting continues with good quality available. Growers are expected to begin transplanting of U-Pic tomato fields within the next five to seven days. Planting of fields for out of state shipments is expected to start around the first of September. Snap bean planting is expected to begin about mid- September. FLORIDA AQUACULTURE Aquaculture has been a growing industry in Florida for the past several years. Florida Agricultural Statistics Service has conducted surveys for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services since 1987 to measure the production and sales of all aquacultural commodities. The results of the latest survey are summarized below. In 1999 the National Agricultural Statistics Service conducted a Census of Aquaculture in all States. All producers were contacted and asked to provide information about water acres, production, and sales. The results of this Census will be published in September. Florida Aquaculture Sales - 1997 Tropical Fish $57,194,000 Aquatic Plants $13,221,000 Clams $12,712,000 Alligators $3,189,000 Tilapia $1,067,000 Sport & Game Fish $1,044,000 Catfish $637,000 Total $102,000,000 To receive this report via e-mail, send an e-mail message to nass-state-releases@news.usda.gov with the following message: subscribe fl-crop-weather. The report will be e-mailed automatically to your e-mail address each week.