For the week ending April 11, 2010, another warm week allowed progress to be made with planting corn and transplanting vegetables, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures ranged from the lower 70’s to upper 80’s.  Low temperatures averaged from the low 40’s to mid 50’s. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 1% very short, 18% short, 73% adequate, and 8% surplus. Wednesday brought rain to most of the state. The statewide average for rainfall was over three quarters of an inch.

Corn planting progressed rapidly and is almost three quarters complete. Nearly half of the crop is emerging. Cotton planting is underway. Over a third of the winter wheat has booted and a few fields are beginning to head. Almost three quarters of the watermelon crop has been planted. Tobacco is being transplanted.  

Other activities for the week included preparing fields for cotton and peanut planting and spreading poultry litter as well as other fertilizers. County Extension Agents reported an average of 5.9 days suitable for fieldwork.

DISTRICT COMMENTS

April 11, 2010

DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST

Good rain on Thursday, April 8th.

DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL

Warm windy weather leading to somewhat dry soil conditions in areas; cold temps over night Thurs & Fri also a concern; not sure yet if any damage to strawberries & produce occurred.

Major activities include the spreading of litter in pastures and the spraying of commercial vineyards

DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST

Recent sunny weather allowing soil to dry out.  Unfortunately it's moving directly to summer time pattern. Hopefully the rain yesterday will help soften the soil again for optimum plant growth.

DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL

Got a little rain last week.

Getting drier by the day.

Weeds sprayed in forages, lime and fertilizer going out. Wheat looks good but two weeks behind. Need rain. 

DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL

We are still at a surplus in terms of rainfall. Planting has begun and we have not had any rainfall over the past seven days. Pollen count has gotten out of hand.

The weather is crazy, going from extremely wet and cold to extremely hot and dry. Hoping for a good rain today. The extremely wet weather has caused a lot of damage to pastures as cattle have literally plowed up a lot of ground due to trampling.

DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL

Fields are drying quickly during prep for planting. Corn planting has gone well and is practically complete. Wheat finally looks better. Preparation for planting cotton and peanuts is in full swing.

Amazing how fast we went from cool and wet to hot and dry. We're watering corn to get it up, watering some fields before we can plant them. Too early to be irrigating

Majority of wheat crop is approaching flag leaf emergence. I figure we're about 2-3 weeks behind on wheat maturity due to late planting and extreme cold this winter. Will make it hard to plant cotton/peanuts/soybeans behind it, due to lateness.

Dry conditions continue to prevail.

DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST

A good rain was received Thursday.

Corn planting is nearly complete and corn that was planted 2 weeks ago is coming up nicely. We did hit some hotter temps this week that caused some issues with moisture loss during transplanting tobacco. Farmers are now gearing up for cotton planting once we get a little later in the month.

DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL

Setting out tomato and squash plants on plastic. Sweet corn up. Watering and picking cabbage. Preparing land for planting by applying burn down herbicides, working the soil and applying fertilizers and lime.

This week has been very good for field work. Also, the county received more than one inch of rainfall, in some parts 2 plus inches of rain. The warm weather has allowed the vegetable transplant to grow very rapidly.  The crops in county look very good.