Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date May 23, 2004 Issue GA-CW2104 Agricultural Summary May 23, 2004 SCATTERED SHOWERS Scattered showers brought limited relief across the State last week, according to the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. Rain fall varied from 0 to 2 inches depending on location. Drought conditions still persistent. Lack of moisture forced producers to re-evaluate operating decisions. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.1 days suitable for fieldwork. Fire blight was reported in apple orchards and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus increased in tobacco. Thrip pressure in cotton and peanuts became a problem as did common rust in corn fields. Weed control was prevalent in cotton, peanut and hay fields. Hay yields were limited due to dry conditions. Livestock producers fed increased amounts of hay and supplements due to limited grazing and poor pasture conditions. Blueberry and blackberry harvest continued with the majority of the crop looking good. Yellow and zucchini squash were harvested and hay was cut. Other activities included planting peanuts, cotton, and soybeans, applying herbicides and fungicides and the routine care of livestock and poultry. Crop Progress Table Corn, Silked Cotton, Planted Cotton, Squaring Peanuts, Planted Peanuts, Blooming Sorghum, Planted Soybeans, Planted Soybeans, Emerged Wheat, Harvested for Grain Onions, Harvested Watermelons, Planted Peaches, Harvested May 23, 2004 5 75 1 73 1 36 51 30 11 82 99 38 Prev Week 4 56 0 46 0 27 33 17 4 73 97 11 Prev Year 3 71 1 63 1 56 40 20 9 65 99 9 5 Year Avg 8 73 2 74 3 54 32 20 18 79 99 7 Crop Condition Table May 23, 2004 Crop Very Poor Corn 1 Cotton 0 Hay 4 Peanuts 0 Sorghum 1 Tobacco 2 Wheat 3 Watermelons 2 Apples 0 Peaches 8 Pecans 6 Pasture 5 Poor Fair Good --Percentage-- 7 37 47 6 40 50 19 43 31 2 40 53 4 36 58 17 50 29 16 41 36 7 44 40 4 20 69 5 42 44 8 46 39 21 41 29 Excellent 8 4 3 5 1 2 4 7 7 1 1 4 Pasture Condition Table - District* Level May 23, 2004 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentage-- Dist 1(NW) 3 8 55 34 0 Dist 2(NC) 1 2 30 51 16 Dist 3(NE) 0 13 16 60 11 Dist 4(WC) 0 39 30 21 10 Dist 5(C) 16 36 36 12 0 Dist 6(EC) 0 12 49 38 1 Dist 7(SW) 2 18 51 28 1 Dist 8(SC) 8 23 40 25 4 Dist 9(SE) 2 13 56 29 0 *A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Soil Moisture Table May 23, 2004 Prev Year --Percentages-- Very Short 14 1 Short 42 8 Adequate 43 50 Surplus 1 41 5 Year Avg 23 34 34 9 Soil Moisture Table - District Level May 23, 2004 Very Short Short Adequate --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 3 54 43 Dist 2(NC) 4 16 78 Dist 3(NE) 25 3 60 Dist 4(WC) 6 56 38 Dist 5(C) 33 49 17 Dist 6(EC) 8 43 48 Dist 7(SW) 11 47 42 Dist 8(SC) 20 35 44 Dist 9(SE) 9 55 35 Surplus 0 2 12 0 1 1 0 1 1 Weather Information Table GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY MAY 23, 2004 1/ 2004 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALMA 93 62 76 0.84 4 2.24 2.64 10.15 76 ALPHARETTA 90 61 72 1.14 4 3.76 5.85 14.55 75 ARLINGTON 90 64 76 0.11 2 5.18 6.70 14.35 80 ATTAPULGUS 91 52 74 0.19 3 2.37 4.48 13.06 83 BLAIRSVILLE 85 56 68 0.65 3 5.73 9.34 17.48 72 BRUNSWICK 88 66 76 1.48 1 4.52 5.40 13.98 79 BYRON 92 65 75 0.01 1 2.58 3.42 11.98 77 CAIRO 92 65 76 0.64 3 2.38 3.34 12.21 75 CALHOUN 91 59 73 0.31 2 4.71 6.70 15.53 74 CAMILLA 91 63 76 0.37 1 4.51 5.68 14.18 85 CORDELE 92 66 77 1.26 2 5.31 5.73 10.59 80 COVINGTON 91 61 75 0.04 1 2.76 4.05 12.96 79 DAHLONEGA 87 58 70 0.95 4 2.80 5.35 15.38 73 DALLAS 88 63 72 2.15 3 4.45 9.02 18.98 75 DAWSON 90 64 76 0.79 3 3.25 3.79 11.19 82 DEARING 94 64 79 0.00 0 3.96 5.31 13.13 75 DEMPSEY 90 60 73 0.07 2 3.28 4.96 13.07 78 DIXIE 91 65 77 1.10 2 4.51 5.45 14.18 79 DUBLIN 93 64 76 0.01 1 3.56 4.39 11.73 81 DULUTH 90 61 73 1.10 3 2.30 4.51 13.17 73 DUNWOODY 88 61 72 0.70 2 3.52 5.60 14.60 74 EATONTON 93 59 75 0.00 0 2.15 3.25 11.16 83 ELLIJAY 87 58 70 0.16 2 5.04 7.30 16.51 73 FORT VALLEY 91 64 75 0.88 3 2.83 3.97 10.51 81 GAINESVILLE 87 63 73 0.86 3 4.94 7.07 15.09 76 GEORGETOWN 89 62 75 0.73 3 4.07 4.56 12.14 80 GRIFFIN 89 61 73 1.34 3 4.11 5.67 13.47 75 HOMERVILLE 92 59 75 0.02 1 3.16 4.22 12.33 78 JACKSONVILLE 92 62 75 0.41 3 2.67 4.41 13.85 78 JONESBORO 89 62 74 0.76 3 2.29 3.73 12.16 76 LAFAYETTE 89 57 72 1.22 3 2.74 5.18 15.88 72 MIDVILLE 92 64 76 0.17 1 3.63 4.73 16.07 83 NAHUNTA 94 60 76 0.03 1 2.80 5.12 13.54 82 NEWTON 91 63 75 0.16 1 3.45 4.82 15.19 81 PINE MOUNTAIN 90 60 73 0.03 2 4.27 6.41 14.88 75 ROME 89 60 73 0.35 3 6.24 9.03 20.57 73 ROOPVILLE 90 57 71 0.51 3 2.47 5.04 14.59 76 SAVANNAH 92 62 74 0.90 3 3.47 5.98 12.49 76 SNEADS 89 67 76 1.57 3 5.28 6.73 16.44 82 STATESBORO 94 64 77 0.00 0 2.55 3.18 10.83 84 TIFTON 90 66 77 0.73 1 4.53 6.48 17.94 79 VALDOSTA 92 67 77 1.19 1 3.65 4.97 12.37 83 VIDALIA 93 64 77 0.42 1 2.73 3.55 11.67 79 WATKINSVILLE 91 59 74 1.59 2 3.36 4.65 13.15 76 WILLIAMSON 89 61 72 0.52 4 3.79 5.04 11.67 78 1/ Weather data supplied by Georgia Automated Environmential Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia. For detailed Georgia weather data visit the AEMN homepage, www.georgiaweather.net. NA - not available. District Highlights These comments are written by the Georgia County Extension Agents, and have been complied and edited by the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. DISTRICT COMMENTS May 23, 2004 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL We have had many reports about problems with fire blight in the apple orchards. Many of the growers are cutting out the infected leaders. Mostly seeing the disease on the 'Rome' variety. Spotty thunderstorms prevent field work and hay cutting. Periodical cicada emergence in this area. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Rain is scattered, some areas have had sufficient rainfall, some areas have received none. Some hay is being put in. Scattered showers are providing some relief to dry conditions. Routine care of livestock & poultry; weed control in hayfields. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL A few spotty showers this week. We need rain bad! Scattered showers have helped crop conditions in a few isolated spots. Nothing has improved. We are still dry and need rain! Some corn for silage will not be planted due to dry weather, winter annuals for hay have been cut early and they were poor in quality. Bermuda is just sitting there waiting for moisture. Also, sorghum was to replace the corn that wasn't planted, but it has been too dry to plant it as well. We have gotten sporadic scattered showers, but not enough to provide us with enough water to break the drought. Dry weather continues. Farmers are cutting and baling hay. Hay yields are down as much as 70% from a normal yield due to dry weather. Hay is in short supply. Spotty afternoon thunderstorms are not much relief. Still very dry in most of the county. Scattered rains were received in the county. Grain harvesting has begun. Top soil moisture is low. Crop planting continues. We need rain. This spring drought is one of the worst in recent memory. For the month of March our county average taken from 12 locations was 0.14 inches, April's average was 1.35 inches, through May 17 is 1.96 inches. We have had 3.45 inches since the beginning of March. Many livestock producers are faced with decisions of selling calves much earlier than normal and at lighter weights. Some are feeding hay as well. We need rain! A few farmers received light showers this week but it was not enough to alleviate the drought conditions. Cattle farmers are still feeding hay and buying supplemental feed due to a shortage of grazing. Farmers irrigated crops all week. Some planting of soybean, cotton and millet fields occurred this week. A lot of farmers will have to wait until they get a rain to continue planting. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Corn responding to fertilizer and rain. Good stands of cotton and peanuts. Hay is being cut. Spot showers have allowed planting to continue almost uninterrupted. Wheat harvest will begin next week. Extremely dry, hot weather has deteriorated crop conditions and delayed planting. Soil moisture is going fast. We need rain. Dryland corn is starting to twist. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Scattered rain last week over 40% of the county. Some areas received up to 1.5 inches. In general crops are good. Some areas of the county need rain to complete planting. Common rust already appearing in some of the corn fields. Thrip populations are high. Both cotton and peanuts are being sprayed for thrip control. Planting of peanuts, cotton, and soybeans are 50% complete. We received 0.35" of rainfall. Rains are scattered. Some areas have had sufficient rainfall, but other areas have had no rainfall in 2 weeks or more. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Irrigating! Need rain. Planting peanuts and some late cotton. Grasshoppers in conservation tillage cotton. TSWV is getting worst in tobacco. Picking yellow and zucchini squash. Cutting hay. Fish and irrigation ponds are having more problems with weeds due to low water levels from the drought. Blueberries and blackberries are good. Heavy rain in parts of county, although not county wide. Some areas of county continue to be very dry. Harvesting blueberries and blackberries. Berry crop quality looks good. Tomato spotted wilt virus very bad in tobacco damage ranges from 8% to 40% dead plants. Thrips are hurting cotton and peanuts due to high numbers and dry weather. Dry soils did not allow soil applied insecticides to work. Cucurbits have encountered fusarium wilt. Gummy stem sprays are being made. The crowns of the oldest watermelons are weathered and worn which makes the crop look rough but the disease has not taken off yet! DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Dry. TSW in tobacco. Some rain in the county this past week. Rain needed in much of the county. Some planting activities stopped for lack of soil moisture. Contact Information David S. Abbe, Director Georgia Agricultural Statistics Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga