Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date June 12, 2005 ANOTHER WET WEEK Heavy rains continued to delayed fieldwork activities for the second straight week, according to the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. The wet conditions kept many producers from planting row crops, harvesting small grains, and vegetables, and spraying for weeds, disease, and insects. Soil moisture levels were rated 1 short, 46 percent adequate, and 53 percent surplus. Excessive moisture delayed herbicide and fungicide application to cotton, peanuts, and vegetables. Weed population has increased with the frequent rains. In south central Georgia, rains and wet soils have drowned cotton and peanuts in low land areas. Tobacco has "flopped" due to saturated soils and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus remained a problem for tobacco producers. Small grain harvest was significantly behind normal and quality of the grain has deteriorated rapidly. Pasture and hay field conditions continue to improve, but weather has halted hay harvest. County Extension Agents reported an average of 2.8 days suitable for fieldwork. Pecan nut set appeared to be excellent. Disease pressure still plagued commercial vegetables. Watermelon producers sprayed application between rains. There were report of bacterial spot problems in peaches. Other activities included the assessment of the sprouting damage in wheat and the routine care of livestock and poultry. Crop Progress Table Corn, Silked Corn, Dough Soybeans, Planted Soybeans, Emerged Sorghum, Planted Cotton, Planted Cotton, Squaring Wheat, Harvested for Grain Onions, Harvested Peaches, Harvested Peanuts, Blooming Peanuts, Pegging Watermelons, Harvested Jun 12, 2005 28 1 68 59 64 96 15 35 96 20 19 4 1 Prev Week 10 0 58 45 56 92 4 21 88 17 5 0 0 Prev Year 64 16 86 73 67 97 29 81 100 28 33 7 8 5 Year Avg 52 18 75 61 75 97 29 79 100 29 30 8 9 Crop Condition Table June 12, 2005 Crop Very Poor Corn 0 Soybeans 0 Sorghum 1 Cotton 1 Wheat 3 Pasture 0 Apples 0 Hay 0 Peaches 0 Peanuts 0 Pecans 0 Tobacco 2 Watermelons 2 Poor Fair --Percentage-- 2 19 2 16 1 32 5 25 7 32 3 19 18 38 4 22 3 52 3 18 2 32 11 36 8 43 Good 66 74 61 58 53 64 35 63 45 65 53 48 43 Excellent 13 8 5 11 5 14 9 11 0 14 13 3 4 Pasture Condition Table - District* Level June 12, 2005 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentage-- Dist 1(NW) 0 19 27 50 4 Dist 2(NC) 0 1 9 76 14 Dist 3(NE) 0 9 16 65 10 Dist 4(WC) 0 3 28 59 10 Dist 5(C) 0 3 13 60 24 Dist 6(EC) 0 1 36 59 4 Dist 7(SW) 0 1 14 73 12 Dist 8(SC) 0 0 18 60 22 Dist 9(SE) 0 1 10 80 9 *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 Jun 12, 2005 Prev Year --Percentages-- Very Short 0 9 Short 1 30 Adequate 46 55 Surplus 53 6 5 Year Avg 17 24 48 11 Soil Moisture Table - District Level June 12, 2005 Very Short Short Adequate --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 0 5 77 Dist 2(NC) 0 1 58 Dist 3(NE) 0 0 73 Dist 4(WC) 0 0 50 Dist 5(C) 0 0 23 Dist 6(EC) 0 3 62 Dist 7(SW) 0 0 39 Dist 8(SC) 0 0 36 Dist 9(SE) 0 3 51 Surplus 18 41 27 50 77 35 61 64 46 Weather Information Table GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY JUNE 12, 2005 1/ 2005 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALMA 91 69 78 0.82 6 7.91 10.80 24.02 80 ALPHARETTA 93 63 74 1.86 6 6.57 8.95 27.73 77 ARLINGTON 94 68 77 5.37 7 8.23 12.41 29.91 81 ATTAPULGUS 93 65 76 2.96 6 8.21 12.34 34.36 81 BLAIRSVILLE 88 60 71 5.55 7 8.27 10.51 26.25 71 BOWEN 92 68 77 2.80 7 6.04 10.28 29.63 82 BRUNSWICK 86 71 79 0.27 4 3.58 7.14 24.20 82 BYRON 91 65 76 2.71 6 7.31 10.00 24.99 78 CAIRO 93 69 78 3.71 6 8.01 11.83 31.65 79 CALHOUN 90 66 75 0.69 5 3.09 7.45 23.70 79 CAMILLA 93 69 78 2.68 5 5.93 9.37 27.73 84 CLARKS HILL 94 65 76 0.38 5 6.19 7.52 22.94 81 CORDELE 93 68 77 3.88 7 7.22 10.67 29.49 81 COVINGTON 90 63 76 0.64 4 4.01 6.14 18.59 78 DAHLONEGA 89 60 72 5.83 5 7.95 10.22 28.47 73 DALLAS 90 63 74 1.76 6 3.62 5.97 23.20 76 DAWSON 91 68 77 3.60 6 7.46 11.27 25.16 80 DEMPSEY 88 62 75 1.63 4 5.36 8.78 24.48 78 DIXIE 94 68 78 2.93 7 6.01 9.64 28.73 82 DUBLIN 91 68 77 1.47 6 4.49 7.55 23.86 82 DULUTH 91 62 75 3.27 5 6.32 8.30 24.98 77 DUNWOODY 91 63 74 2.97 7 6.79 8.87 26.66 78 EATONTON 90 63 76 2.42 5 6.36 8.84 23.32 81 ELLIJAY 88 58 72 5.11 6 7.64 11.46 27.65 75 GAINESVILLE 88 65 74 4.14 6 7.10 8.85 25.54 77 GEORGETOWN 90 65 76 3.86 7 7.31 11.84 36.16 81 GRIFFIN 88 63 75 1.86 3 5.88 9.02 25.56 76 HOMERVILLE 94 66 77 2.49 6 7.17 9.58 24.52 82 JACKSONVILLE 91 66 76 1.67 5 7.43 10.62 26.36 80 JONESBORO 90 63 76 1.34 7 3.75 6.81 24.79 77 LAFAYETTE 86 63 72 2.26 6 6.48 9.03 19.53 73 MCRAE 91 66 77 0.96 4 3.49 6.66 21.54 83 MIDVILLE 92 69 77 1.73 6 6.55 8.12 23.93 81 NAHUNTA 92 62 76 0.62 2 3.19 7.27 22.07 84 NEWTON 94 69 77 2.75 6 6.30 10.50 31.20 83 PINE MOUNTAIN 89 63 75 2.96 6 7.88 10.15 29.48 77 PLAINS 91 67 76 2.47 7 7.07 9.70 27.85 80 ROME 89 66 75 0.83 6 2.70 4.87 15.13 77 SASSER 90 69 76 4.31 6 9.30 13.67 31.79 79 SAVANNAH 89 70 79 1.75 5 6.43 8.81 22.42 80 SHELLMAN 93 68 76 3.52 6 6.70 10.92 27.31 81 SKIDAWAY 86 71 79 0.56 5 5.14 9.50 24.17 77 STATESBORO 90 64 75 0.57 3 5.87 7.73 24.12 82 TIFTON 90 69 77 2.59 6 5.92 9.64 23.48 79 TIGER 88 60 71 8.19 7 13.14 16.06 32.88 75 VALDOSTA 93 69 78 5.75 6 11.09 14.58 33.22 81 VIDALIA 92 69 78 0.47 4 2.96 5.18 15.24 81 WATKINSVILLE 90 63 76 2.14 5 6.50 8.41 28.90 78 WILLIAMSON 89 62 74 0.94 5 3.97 6.85 24.40 78 1/ Weather data supplied by Georgia Automated Environmental 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 compiled and edited by the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service. DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Scattered showers and thunder storms throughout the week. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Many acres of hay still waiting to be cut due to wet weather. Thunderstorms this week limited field work - some hay still in the field with growers unable to bale - corn planted delayed due to wet fields. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Rainfall amounts from 0.5 inches to 1.2 inches has fallen for 10 consecutive days. The tropical system over the weekend has dropped a lot of rain over the county. A lot of cotton needs Roundup applications. Peanuts are looking weedy. Some rain every day this week. Small grain harvest halted and quality of grain deteriorating rapidly. Hay harvest delayed and hay crops are over mature. Other row crops look good except for the fact that weed population has exploded and fields are too wet to get in to spray. Wheat is in danger of sprouting if wet weather continues. The ground is so wet, growers can not get into the fields. Rains all week. Pre crop deteriorated. Harvest delayed. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL More rain! Most areas of the county had 2-3 inches or more. Rain has continued to halt wheat harvest. Corn and grain sorghum looking good. Pastures and hay field conditions continue to improve, but weather has halted hay harvest. It's gotten hot and humid, prime conditions for disease and fungal outbreaks. We're staying close to this situation to see how it progresses. We have been getting intermittent thunderstorms on a daily basis. We have been hit extremely hard with the wet weather of the past 2 weeks. The falling score at the first of the harvest was 412. After the first rainfall the score fell to 270. Last week a sample registered 64 from the mills. I expect extreme levels of sprouting when we can get back into the fields. Wet! Heavy rains last week halted the beginnings of a summer drought. Rainy weather has hindered weed control in some crops. In grass crops it has pushed weed problems. Peaches have some bacterial spot problems but in pretty good shape. Hay crops can't be harvested, too much rain. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Rainfall stopped some field work. Showers fell throughout the county. Rainy (over 5" in June), overcast, humid weather is taking a toll on wheat. Wheat yields have been good. High moisture and sprouting grain caused big deductions. Weeds getting ahead of us, behind on squaring, struggling to stand up enough for first fungicide spray on peanuts. Wheat conditions deteriorating due to abnormally wet weather. Also, have not been able to continue summer planting. Lots of rain. Some small grain sprouting in head because of rain. Need sunshine. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Extended moist conditions are delaying herbicide/fungicide applications to cotton, peanuts, and vegetables. Wheat harvest delayed. We received 2.38" of rainfall. Excess field moisture and rainfall preventing wheat and greenbean harvest. Spray applications and final plantings. Wet weather has delayed small grain harvest, hay harvest, weed and fungicide sprays, but, with the exception of small grains and some flooding in low spots, the moisture has all row crops looking good. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Plowing drowned tobacco to aerate soil. Tropical Depression is of concern for areas already saturated with rainfall from last week. TSWV is increasing in tobacco. Peanuts look good with most of cotton looking good. Controlling weeds in peanuts and in cotton. Several problem fields with Tropical spiderwort weed or dayflower. Excess moisture is causing disease and drowning problems in vegetables and tobacco. Wet weather preventing small grain harvest, increasing watermelon disease pressure, melon growers tightening spray schedules in response. Cotton farmers spraying weeds in between almost daily rains. Rain and wet soils have drown peanuts and cotton in low areas of fields. Tobacco has flopped due to saturated soils. Heavy disease pressure from gummy stem blight is threatening the watermelon crop. Continued rains this week stand to ruin about half of the wheat crop that is left standing in the field. Cotton and peanut fields are too wet to apply herbicides. The crop looks weedy. It is really, really, really wet out there right now. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST TSWV ravaging tobacco crop, rains drowning some tobacco and vegetables, vegetable disease outbreaks due to rainy weather. Recent rains complicating final onion harvests, as well as delaying planting. Pecan nut set appears to be excellent. 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