ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date September 17, 2006 Issue GA-CW3706 Agricultural Summary September 17, 2006 MORE RAIN AND COOLER TEMPERATURES A mid-week cold front brought more rain and cooler temperatures to Georgia this week, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia field office. Rainfall remained varied, but totals were slightly less than they have been over the past several weeks. Most areas received about one inch of rain this week. Daytime temperatures peaked in the low to mid 80's. Lows remained in the mid 60's all week. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 7% very short, 25% short, 64% adequate, and 4% surplus. Cotton defoliation was underway and some producers began to harvest cotton. Late planted and irrigated fields were reported in the best condition. Some producers fear yield will only be fair to poor. Producers also reported plans to begin digging peanuts soon. Irrigated fields were reported in good condition. Dryland fields were reported in fair to poor condition. Pastures and hayfields have experienced severe armyworm infestations over the past several weeks. Producers continued to spray for the worms across the State. White mold was reported in peanuts. Hay supplies remain short. Other activities included harvesting corn, peanut maturity checks, and planting Vidalia onions. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.4 days suitable for fieldwork. CROP PROGRESS Sep 17, Prev Prev 5 Year 2006 Week Year Avg Corn, Harvested 89 77 73 79 Soybeans, Setting Pods 99 95 99 99 Soybeans, Dropping Leaves 29 18 22 27 Sorghum, Harvested 45 44 30 32 Cotton, Bolls Open 82 66 51 66 Cotton, Harvested 6 2 1 5 Apples, Harvested 31 24 21 35 Peanuts, Dug 6 2 11 15 Peanuts, Combined 2 0 4 8 Rye, Planted 7 0 2 5 Other Small Grains, Planted 4 0 1 3 Tobacco, Harvested 98 94 100 99 CROP CONDITION September 17, 2006 Crop Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Soybeans 11 31 33 24 1 Sorghum 7 17 37 35 4 Cotton 15 24 35 23 3 Pasture 8 29 37 25 1 Apples 4 4 18 62 12 Hay 10 28 37 24 1 Peanuts 7 23 37 30 3 Pecans 15 36 33 16 0 PASTURE CONDITION - DISTRICT* LEVEL September 17, 2006 Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 31 48 18 3 0 Dist 2(NC) 0 20 40 38 2 Dist 3(NE) 4 23 65 8 0 Dist 4(WC) 6 43 33 18 0 Dist 5(C) 14 24 37 25 0 Dist 6(EC) 5 42 29 24 0 Dist 7(SW) 3 25 28 39 5 Dist 8(SC) 5 26 44 24 1 Dist 9(SE) 1 11 47 38 3 *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 Sep 17, 2006 Prev Year 5 Year Avg --Percentages-- Very Short 7 28 12 Short 25 48 29 Adequate 64 23 42 Surplus 4 1 17 SOIL MOISTURE - DISTRICT* LEVEL September 17, 2006 Very Short Short Adequate Surplus --Percentages-- Dist 1(NW) 30 42 28 0 Dist 2(NC) 0 21 76 3 Dist 3(NE) 2 20 78 0 Dist 4(WC) 9 29 59 3 Dist 5(C) 4 21 73 2 Dist 6(EC) 10 36 50 4 Dist 7(SW) 4 9 74 13 Dist 8(SC) 13 30 54 3 Dist 9(SE) 1 20 73 6 *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. Weather Information Table GEORGIA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THE WEEK ENDING MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2006 1/ 2006 Air Temperature Precipitation Totals Extreme Weekly Rain 30 60 Soil Location Max Min AvG Weekly Day Day Day Season Temp ALBANY 92 65 77 1.93 1 4.97 10.86 35.57 82 ALMA 90 63 76 0.00 0 7.22 8.56 33.72 79 ALPHARETTA 86 54 68 1.47 2 4.49 7.68 30.72 74 ARLINGTON 92 63 75 0.70 3 7.30 12.84 35.04 80 ATTAPULGUS 91 68 76 3.21 3 5.65 12.24 32.69 81 BLAIRSVILLE 81 50 64 0.77 3 2.73 7.64 34.44 73 BOWEN 90 64 75 0.20 3 3.29 7.71 28.00 82 BRUNSWICK 89 66 77 1.09 2 8.28 10.25 28.31 81 BYROMVILLE 88 62 74 0.70 3 9.72 14.38 33.75 80 BYRON 88 59 73 0.82 2 3.24 9.83 24.82 78 CAIRO 90 69 77 1.47 2 4.54 8.24 25.73 81 CALHOUN 89 51 70 0.59 2 2.46 4.03 26.13 77 CAMILLA 91 63 76 2.62 3 3.30 12.55 35.82 81 CLARKS HILL 87 58 71 1.40 2 4.35 10.60 34.42 77 CORDELE 88 61 75 0.26 2 5.04 9.05 26.91 79 COVINGTON 85 56 70 1.45 3 4.03 8.58 21.63 76 DAHLONEGA 82 53 66 2.32 3 6.52 8.98 28.69 71 DALLAS 86 54 69 2.12 2 3.38 6.91 29.61 75 DAWSON 89 63 75 1.20 2 6.08 10.31 22.83 79 DEARING 88 59 72 1.85 2 3.86 10.66 29.59 78 DEMPSEY 86 54 71 1.36 2 2.74 6.51 22.15 75 DIXIE 91 67 76 0.99 4 4.32 10.45 29.90 82 DUBLIN 88 60 73 1.08 2 4.28 7.43 25.70 79 DULUTH 86 54 69 1.55 2 3.36 7.67 30.39 74 DUNWOODY 86 54 69 1.67 2 4.58 7.78 31.13 75 EATONTON 88 56 70 0.86 2 2.04 6.78 23.72 78 ELLIJAY 83 50 66 1.43 2 4.37 5.98 32.44 73 FORT VALLEY 88 61 74 0.09 2 3.16 6.24 20.06 78 GAINESVILLE 83 59 69 1.33 2 4.82 7.08 25.55 76 GEORGETOWN 91 60 75 0.21 1 1.66 4.98 22.95 82 GRIFFIN 85 55 71 1.37 2 2.83 7.14 23.68 76 HOMERVILLE 91 61 76 0.57 2 2.81 5.95 23.67 80 JACKSONVILLE 87 60 73 1.14 1 3.86 9.85 24.43 79 JONESBORO 87 56 70 1.39 2 6.14 10.72 32.38 76 LAFAYETTE 87 51 68 0.45 2 2.41 4.41 26.91 75 MCRAE 88 58 74 0.00 0 3.60 6.55 26.69 81 MIDVILLE 87 61 73 0.95 2 2.58 4.38 21.64 80 NAHUNTA 89 60 75 0.17 2 3.19 5.65 23.81 81 NEWTON 90 66 76 1.86 4 5.49 10.42 36.56 81 PINE MOUNTAIN 89 58 72 1.00 3 2.95 7.65 26.38 76 PLAINS 90 62 74 0.72 3 5.19 16.15 36.03 78 ROME 88 53 70 0.82 2 2.99 5.21 27.00 76 ROOPVILLE 89 56 70 2.66 2 9.38 13.07 38.00 76 SASSER 89 63 75 0.84 2 4.63 11.39 26.77 79 SAVANNAH 89 62 76 0.16 1 3.71 7.93 28.93 81 SKIDAWAY 85 64 75 0.59 2 7.72 9.91 30.97 77 SNEADS 95 69 78 0.67 2 3.12 8.59 33.51 82 STATESBORO 88 60 73 0.11 1 3.84 9.25 25.40 82 TIFTON 92 66 76 0.22 1 2.74 4.81 27.19 78 TIGER 82 52 65 2.34 4 6.90 9.43 39.02 72 VALDOSTA 92 70 78 0.55 3 1.65 6.43 29.91 80 VIDALIA 88 61 75 0.00 0 2.82 6.89 21.22 80 WATKINSVILLE 84 58 69 1.17 2 4.33 8.94 30.50 75 WILLIAMSON 87 53 71 2.15 4 3.78 7.54 22.24 76 WOODBINE 92 66 76 0.54 1 5.85 9.08 25.67 82 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 National Agricultural Statistics Service. DISTRICT COMMENTS - Week 36 September 17, 2006 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Another busy week with spraying for armyworms. Rains at the beginning of week were a welcome sight. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL Armyworms are still moving through hay fields and pastures. Armyworms still a major problem throughout this area. Cooler temperatures and much needed rain a welcome sight this week! DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Pastures and hayfields have had severe fall armyworm infestations for the past 4 - 6 weeks requiring insecticide sprays. Several cloudy days but very little rainfall this week. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Showers mid-week in most parts of the county. Still having some army worm problems in some pastures and hayfields. Corn harvest continues. Army worms have finished off what was left of any hay crops--it's been a horrible year for forage growers--the drought plus now the army worms have been devastating. Good rainfall amounts received on Wednesday of this week - still need more rainfall to catch up from summer drought - armyworms have been fairly heavy across our area - hopefully they will decline some after rainfall received. Cotton defoliation begins. Pastures/hayfields recovering from armyworms. Soybeans looking good. Peanuts behind in maturity. Conditions are terrible for livestock and forage producers. Drought conditions beginning last September have been severe. Recent rains have given them a little hope of a decent fall. However, fall armyworms threaten any fields that dare grow any grass. Growers have had to spray fields multiple times to keep worms from robbing late season forage. Hay supplies are short going into the fall. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Cotton harvest starting. Peanut digging will start first of next week, have a chance for decent late planted soybeans and some decent IV's already harvested. Cooler temperatures but still very little rain. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST Received 1.93" of rainfall. Cotton defoliation start-up. Peanut maturity checks started. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL Cotton difficult to defoliate. Peanuts worst than we thought. Hay short. Peanut hay short. Corn yields fair. Cotton yields will be poor to fair. Need rain! Enjoying cooler weather. Steadily blasting peanuts - more every day. Irrigated peanuts look fair to good. Some dryland peanut fields have nearly no crop. Recent rain helped but now it is dry again. Pockets of rain in county and in those cases there are fair dryland peanuts -need rain to continue. Whitemold on the increase in peanuts. Foliage feeders on increase too. Treating armyworms in pastures and some peanut fields. Plenty of cotton being defoliated - crop very short. Some later and irrigated cotton looks better - time and future rainfall events will determine success. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST Peanut digging expected to begin later this week. Vidalia onion feedbeds being planted now. Find agricultural statistics for your county, State, and the Nation at www.usda.gov/nass/. Media Contact: Douglas G. Kleweno, Director USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office Phone: 706-546-2236 E-mail: nass-ga@nass.usda.gov Website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga