Crop Weather

Volume 28, Number 20	                               (Issued weekly on the Internet, May – October)    	            	        September 15, 2008 – 4 pm
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                           											   For week ending 9/14/08
Hot, Cold, Dry, and Wet

GENERAL CONDITIONS:  For the week ending September 14, 2008, there were 5.7 days available for field work across New England. Pasture condition was rated 12% poor, 20% fair, 58% good, and 10% excellent. The past week began with partly cloudy skies and thunderstorms throughout New England. Temperatures were average to above average ranging from the high-60s to mid-70s. Mid-week brought much needed relief from the rain with some sunny, breezy days. However, daytime temperatures dropped below average and were in the low- to mid-60s. Hurricanes Hanna and Ike dumped more rain on the area over the weekend. High temperatures were average to above average in the mid-70s to low-80s. Nighttime temperatures were average to below average all week, ranging from the mid-40s to low-60s. Frost warnings occurred several nights during the week, but no damage to crops was reported. Total precipitation for the week ranged from 0.44 to 1.99 inches in the eleven weather stations tracked for this report. Several crop specialists reported receiving as much as three to four inches of rain in areas of New Hampshire and Vermont.

FRUIT: The cranberry harvest was gearing up to begin this past week. More fruit rot showed up and upright dieback is widespread in some beds, but the adequate rainfall helped to size and ripen the berries. Maine’s wild blueberry harvest came to a close at week’s end. The highbush blueberry crop was nearly complete and was reported in good to excellent condition. Orchardists continued harvesting early season apple varieties such as Cortland, McIntosh, Jonamac, Gala, and Honeycrisp. While the crop was reported in good condition, growers were busy trying to find markets for the fruit damaged by hail from early season thunderstorms and the tornado in New Hampshire. The pear harvest neared the half-way mark while the peach harvest was winding down, both ahead of last year and normal.   
 
VEGETABLES: Growers continued harvesting sweet corn, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and other late summer vegetables. Some sweet corn was again knocked down by heavy winds from hurricanes Hanna and Ike, but overall the crop was reported in good to excellent condition. Pumpkins and winter squash began showing up at farmers’ markets and roadside stands. The variable weather conditions during the growing season have led to a decreased pumpkin crop and increased instances of mold and disease. Vegetable producers were busy cleaning up harvested fields and planting cover crops.

FIELD CROPS: The first cutting of hay finally came to a close this past week. The drier weather in the middle of the week allowed farmers to make excellent progress on the second and third cuttings, but drying conditions were still less than favorable. Field corn conditions were variable across the region. Vermont producers welcomed the rain, while producers in other areas of New England were hoping for a drier week. The crop was reported in good to excellent condition, but slightly behind normal for maturity. The drier weather in Maine allowed grain producers to significantly advance the oat and barley harvests, jumping way ahead of last year and normal. Both broadleaf and shade tobacco harvests neared completion at week’s end.

	SOIL MOISTURE ACROSS NEW ENGLAND
Soil Rating	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	
 	 Percent	
Topsoil Moisture				
   Very Short	0	1	2	
   Short	4	8	22	
   Adequate	79	72	75	
   Surplus	17	19	1	
Subsoil Moisture				
   Very Short	0	1	5	
   Short	3	7	20	
   Adequate	84	76	75	
   Surplus	13	16	0	

        
FRUIT CROP DEVELOPMENT ACROSS NEW ENGLAND
Crop	Percent Harvested	Fruit Size	Condition	
	2008	2007	5 -yr
Avg			
Apples	30	30	30	Average	Good	
Peaches	95	85	90	Average	Good/Fair	
Pears	40	30	35	Average	Good/Fair	
Blueberries						
   Highbush	99	99	99	Average/Above	Good/Excellent	
   Wild, ME	100	100	100	Average	Good	
Cranberries, MA	-	-	-	Average/Above	Good	

FIELD CROP DEVELOPMENT ACROSS NEW ENGLAND
Crop	2008	2007	5-yr Avg	Condition	
	Percent Harvested 		
Barley, ME	85	55	75	Fair/Good	
Oats, ME	75	65	65	Good/Fair	
Potatoes

		
   Maine	5	5	5	Fair/Good	
   Mass	45	30	40	Good	
   Rhode Island	80	80	70	Good/Excellent	
Silage Corn	10	25	15	Good/Excellent	
Sweet Corn	90	90	85	Good/Excellent	
Tobacco					
   Broadleaf	99	95	95	Fair/Good	
   Shade	99	95	99	Good/Fair	
Dry Hay					
   First Cut	100	100	100	Fair	
   Second Cut	90	95	90	Good/Fair	
   Third Cut	50	60	50	Good/Excellent	

Weather Summary For New England Agricultural Statistics 
Prepared By AWIS.com 

        For the Period:     Monday September  8, 2008 
                    To:     Sunday September 14, 2008 

                      AIR           CUM SINCE MAR 1      1-WEEK PRECIP     4-WEEK CUM PRECIP
                  TEMPERATURE    GROWING DEGREE DAYS     -------------     -----------------
                  -----------     BASE-50F  BASE-60F   TOTAL               TOTAL
STATION          LO  HI AVG DFN   TOT  DFN  TOT  DFN  INCHES    DFN DAYS  INCHES    DFN DAYS
-------          --  --  --  --   --- ----  --- ----   -----   ----  ---   -----   ----  ---
             MAINE
Augusta_State_A  41  75  61  +1  2083 +155  851 +119    0.80  +0.10    3    4.50  +1.63    8
Bangor_Intl_Arp  38  74  59  +0  1962 +202  769 +156    0.99  +0.15    3    4.15  +0.97    6
Bethel           37  75  57  -2  1733   -5  608  +19    0.96  +0.19    2    3.71  +0.32    5
Caribou_Municip  34  68  55  +1  1546 +152  502 +124    1.46  +0.62    3    2.12  -1.37    9
Dover-Foxcroft   34  73  55  -2  1622 +106  544  +92    0.55  -0.36    2    1.96  -1.58    8
Frenchville      37  67  54  -1  1392  +97  410  +87    1.07  +0.19    3    1.45  -2.18    9
Houlton          31  69  56  +1  1511  +54  484  +60    0.51  -0.34    3    1.53  -2.06    7
Livermore_Falls  34  76  57  +0  1802 +314  667 +238    0.60  -0.24    2    3.82  +0.22    6
Moosehead        31  71  54  -2  1321  +62  369  +59    1.07  +0.21    3    2.52  -0.88    7
Portland_ME      42  79  62  +2  2042 +261  830 +200    0.50  -0.20    2    6.10  +3.35    6
 
             NEW_HAMPSHIRE
Benton           29  75  55  -4  1636  +42  519  +45    0.98  +0.22    3    3.01  -0.34    7
Berlin_AG        35  73  56  -2  1685  +82  541  +45    0.66  -0.11    3    2.30  -1.22    7
Concord          39  78  61  +2  2193 +260  949 +219    0.78  +0.13    3    6.13  +3.34   10
Diamond_Pond     36  69  53  -1  1194 +120  272  +67    1.29  +0.33    4    2.54  -1.70    8
Keene_AP         39  77  61  +3  2101 +337  884 +288    1.56  +0.86    3    5.02  +1.84    7
North_Conway     39  74  57  -2  1822  +28  634   +5    0.81  +0.02    3    3.61  +0.19    6
Rochester        42  79  61  +0  2233 +162  980 +148    0.50  -0.20    3    5.73  +2.73    8
 
             Vermont	
Burlington_Intl  41  77  62  +2  2285 +225  994 +167    0.72  -0.07    4    1.70  -1.74    7
Island_Pond      37  74  57  +3  1589 +273  515 +191    0.83  +0.02    5    2.36  -1.44   10
Montpelier       39  76  60  +3  1881 +261  694 +190    0.79  +0.11    4    2.05  -1.07   13
Pownal           41  76  61  +3  2110 +418  865 +322    1.43  +0.52    4    4.88  +1.11   11
Rochester        38  79  59  +2  1740 +138  604 +110    1.28  +0.37    3    3.06  -0.86    7
Rutland_AG       37  76  60  -2  1864 -272  682 -188    0.59  -0.26    4    2.73  -0.90    7
Springfield_VT   40  76  61  +3  2079 +325  842 +255    1.03  +0.19    3    4.13  +0.62   10
Sutton           36  73  56  +1  1553 +224  478 +141    0.51  -0.30    4    1.49  -2.25   10
 
             MASSACHUSETTS
Boston/Logan_In  53  80  67  +2  2673 +184 1362 +205    0.50  -0.20    3    2.71  -0.27    6
Fitchburg        43  79  64  +6  2517 +764 1201 +608    1.01  +0.31    3    5.32  +2.41    8
Greenfield       36  77  61  -3  2153 -166  870 -139    1.13  +0.32    4    5.05  +1.77   10
New_Bedford      47  80  64  -3  2349 -170 1117  -67    1.09  +0.29    3    3.70  +0.12    9
Otis_AFB         48  81  64  +2  2210 +162 1024 +195    0.98  +0.21    3    4.84  +1.74    8
Plymouth         45  82  65  +2  2381 +276 1150 +278    0.80  -0.18    3    4.88  +1.02    7
Walpole          44  78  64  +2  2438 +317 1161 +295    0.79  -0.08    3    4.47  +0.87    9
Chicopee/Westov  42  78  64  -3  2404 -253 1102 -176    1.62  +0.78    3    7.18  +3.83    9
Worthington      40  74  59  +0  1858 +132  670 +106    1.48  +0.64    3    6.12  +2.56   10
 
             RHODE_ISLAND
Providence       50  80  66  +2  2780 +405 1424 +351    1.06  +0.22    3    5.35  +1.99    7
Woonsocket       45  79  64  +3  2435 +347 1146 +320    1.17  +0.26    3    4.71  +1.07    8
 
             CONNECTICUT
Bridgeport/Siko  57  81  69  +3  2891 +332 1532 +299    1.64  +0.88    3    5.14  +2.27    8
Hartford/Bradle  48  79  66  +2  2761 +215 1394 +201    1.15  +0.24    3    6.67  +3.12    9
Norfolk          45  72  60  +2  2020 +294  807 +243    2.09  +1.11    4    6.77  +2.69   10
Thomaston_Dam    47  78  64  +2  2424 +356 1118 +309    1.54  +0.59    3    6.90  +3.01   10
Willimantic      46  78  64  +2  2525 +414 1188 +345    1.50  +0.59    3    5.62  +2.03    8

 
Summary based on NWS data.		                            
 DFN = Departure from Normal (Using 1961-90 Normals Period).
 Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches.  
 Precipitation Days = Days with precip of 0.01 inch or more.
 Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit. 
 Copyright 2006.  AWIS, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 For detailed ag weather forecasts and data visit the AWIS
 home page at www.awis.com or call toll free at
 1-888-798-9955

State Weather Summary
For the Week Ending Sunday, September 14, 2008
       
       AIR TEMPERATURES   PRECIPITATION
STATE   LO  HI AVG DFN      LO      HI
--     --- --- --- ---    ----    ----
ME      30  79  57  -1    0.07    1.46
NH      28  80  58  +0    0.50    1.87
VT      34  79  59  +1    0.30    2.22
MA      36  83  63  +1    0.32    1.70
RI      45  80  66  +2    0.81    1.17
CT      43  81  65  +1    1.15    2.20

REPORTERS COMMENTS, By County:  Reporters are from Extension Service (Ext), Farm Service Agency(FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), or other knowledgeable individuals.

CONNECTICUT - Ross Eddy (FSA), Hartford/Tolland:  Showers on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday but not all day long. Vegetable harvest continued. Some broadleaf tobacco taken in and some more corn chopped as silage. Some reported sweet corn knocked down by Hanna. Marsha Jette (FSA), New London: Producers chopping corn and trying to finish third cutting of hay. Wet weather has contributed to downy mildew on cucumbers, early blight and large cracks on tomatoes, as well as black rot in pumpkins. Sales have been slower at the vegetable stands. Dawn Pindell (FSA), Windham:  Corn looks good, nice height and color, ears are drying down, maturity is at various levels through out the county and about two weeks later than normal, heavy rain a concern that fields will be to wet to get in to harvest, corn harvest has started in southern to central towns of Windham county, apple picking is good, nice color and flavor, pears a bit sparse with earlier frost damage and effects of micro climates on production, high prices for winter cover crops, cleaning up vegetable beds. Nancy Welsh (FSA), New Haven: Silage corn fields began to be opened up and harvesting began this week. Rain storms dropped another couple of inches of rain on already saturated cropland. We escaped without any major wind damage problems from tropical storm Hanna. Fall crops are plentiful in the farm markets. Jude Boucher (Ext), Tolland: Wet, wet and more wet. Growers just want this season to end. Richard Meinert (Ext), CT Cooperative:  Silage harvest is started in CT. Fields that got planted on time in the spring are ready. Even some late planted fields seem to have caught up with earlier planted fields. Surprisingly dry matters taken on sample fields were only a point or two less than the normal fields.

MAINE - Pam Hickey (Ext), Aroostook: Grains continuing to be harvested. Broccoli harvesting continues. Canola is being harvested. Some early potatoes being harvested from field to processing continues also. The next week more farmers will be harvesting potatoes in the area. White mold levels are a little higher in canola this year.  Steve London, Aroostook: Potato harvest will start for most growers this coming week. Sandy Truslow (FSA), Cumberland/York: Farmers are busy harvesting what is left in the fields. Pumpkins are reported to be way down in production. Sweet corn is just about over. Hay is still being cut. Apple orchards are open for pick your own.Gary Raymond (FSA), Franklin:  Time to gear up for fall harvest. Fair season is coming to a peak. Some of the corn crop looks awesome and some in heavy soils not as good. With all of the rain, everything stayed green this summer. Trudy Soucy (FSA), Knox/Lincoln: Fall crops are now being harvested with plenty of pumpkins, winter squash, ornamental corn, and gourds available at local farm stands. Popular apple varieties are now available including McIntosh and Cortland. Sweet corn, which has been excellent, is still available although harvest is winding down. Farmers are hoping to start chopping some silage corn by the end of this week. We had some rain over the weekend, but through most of the week the weather was absolutely beautiful with plenty of sunshine. With warm, balmy weather forecasted for most of this upcoming week, farmers should have no problem harvesting their crops once fields dry up from yesterday's rainfall. Kathy Hopkins (Ext), Somerset: Apple crop is looking good as well as vegetables, fall squash and pumpkins. Field corn is looking good for the most part. Rick Kersbergen (Ext), Waldo: Some corn silage being harvested. Recent rains will slow down field work. 

MASSACHUSETTS - Aimee Thayer (FSA), Berkshire: Most of the week felt like fall with cool temps and lows at night in the 40's and 30's a couple of times with frost warnings. But the week ended with tropical humidity and two and a half inches of rain. More folks started chopping corn and everybody is still trying to make hay. Fall veggies showed up at farm stands and markets. Ted Smiarowski, Jr. (FSA), Hampshire/Hampden: Rain off and on during the week. Harvesting field corn, sweet corn, potatoes, apples, squash, pumpkins, cabbage, carrots and many other fall crops.  Frank Caruso (Ext), Plymouth: Cranberries: Harvest has been with mostly Ben Lear beds in early sequence for Ocean Spray. Some dry harvesting will begin this week. More fruit rot showing up and upright dieback is widespread in Early Black beds. Ample rainfall within the past week has really helped.

NEW HAMPSHIRE - Amy Ouellette (Ext), Belknap: Early apples like Jonamac and McIntosh are being picked. Sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers and other late summer vegetable are still available. Fall mums, corn stalks and pumpkin sales are going strong. Wet weather over the weekend will help cover crops grow. Tina Savage (Ext), Carroll: The weather was all over the charts this week, hot, cold, dry and wet. Hot and muggy early in the week, Cold nights threatened frost midweek, clear, dry and beautiful mid week and rain by Friday. If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute, it will change! Fall is definitely in the air, apples, mums and pumpkins are everywhere, and leaves are beginning to turn. Silage corn looks good considering the summer conditions, a bit late in maturing. This year's hay was a real challenge and producers are estimating a 30 to 35% reduction in hay harvested. Carl Majewski (Ext), Cheshire: A lot of field corn is mature now, and harvesting has begun. Vegetables doing well and a number of farms are putting fields to bed for the season. Apple harvest continues to progress, blueberry harvest just about done. Steve Turaj (Ext), Coos: Mixed weather, varying temperatures this week. Hay still coming in, but harder to dry. Field corn looking well, milk stage to early dent. Farmers getting ready to chop. No frost of any consequence yet reported. Late season veggies sweet corn, pumpkins, tunnel tomatoes available from local farms. Potatoes are being dug. Annual grass weeds appear to have been the most common problem in corn fields this season. Heavy rains resulting in some ponding of fields in low lying areas along rivers. Early season apples now for sale at orchards. Steve Schmidt (FSA), Grafton: For the week ending September 13, we had from three to four inches of rain depending on location. Rain events were heavy and intense in many areas. Soils are again saturated in many areas. We had two days in the middle of the week with decent weather, and farmers took advantage of this and chopped both corn and grass. Initial reports on the corn crop are encouraging. George Hamilton (Ext), Hillsborough: Fruit: Apple harvest is in full swing with most growers concentrating on second picking McIntosh and picking Cortland apples, also harvesting Gala and Honeycrisp apples. Many growers are trying to find markets for hail damaged fruit. Fruit size is good. Fall raspberries and pear harvest continued with peach and plum harvest winding down. Vegetables: Harvesting a wide array of summer and fall vegetable crops. Farmers are starting to clean up harvested fields and planting cover crops. Pumpkin crop and winter squash yields vary from field to field. Field Crops: Farmers getting ready to start chopping corn silage. Hay  cutting  continued  between  rain showers  with the second 

and third cuttings being made. Geoffrey Njue (Ext), Strafford: A nice week for field work. Hay producers were making the second cut for hay and haylage whenever possible. Fruit growers were harvesting apples and late varieties of peaches. Blueberry harvesting was winding down while harvesting of fall raspberries was picking up. Growers were also mowing orchard floors and doing weed control as needed. Vegetable growers continued to harvest an array of vegetable crops. Some growers were planting winter rye for cover crop. Farm stands and farmers markets were busy with sweet corn, pumpkins and all kinds of vegetables. Garden centers were selling fall mums, pumpkins, corn stalks, trees and shrubs and other plant material.

RHODE ISLAND - Karen Menezes (Ext), Newport: Showers have helped some of the grasslands but make haying difficult. Started chopping some field corn, harvesting potatoes and corn and summer vegetables. Winter squash and pumpkins look good and starting to fill up roadside stands.

VERMONT - Jeffrey Carter (Ext), Addison: Started Corn silage harvest. Plants starting to shut down, ears mature but many not filled to tips. Soil conditions dry for good travel. Second cut hay and third cut haylage finishing as switching to corn. Soybeans filling our pods, good pod counts. New seeded hay fields not so good, very weedy, regrowth slow after removing first clipping. Pastures shutting down. Dennis Kauppila (Ext), Caledonia: Threat of frost one night. Two showery days, continuing  to  make  hay.  Some  farmers  beginning  to open up 

corn fields. Corn still looks good, starting to dent. Soil getting kind of dry. Lots of Eastern Tent Caterpillar in trees. Paul Stanley (CCA), Franklin: Who would have thought that a nice rain on Tuesday was very welcome. Things are beginning to shut down on growth as fall is showing some signs. Pastures have slowed on growth and will soon be taking the last of the grazing advantage. Corn is changing rapidly. Scouted some corn today that was well dented at 1/3 milk line. Moisture still a little high, however, this will change rapidly as we enter the mature stage of the corn. The idea is to have machinery and storage ready to go for harvest. Saw some Soybeans that are maturing and showing some brown shade from the road. Apples will be in full picking mode so get out and stock up for winter. John St. Onge (FSA), Lamoille: Corn silage harvest started last week for the "early birds". The possibility of frost did not pan out around here, thankfully. Some progress was made last week on second and third cut grass. Veggie producers in the cooler locations are starting to wind down after a challenging year. The rain we received over the weekend should be beneficial to grass growers and grazers. Julie Jacque (FSA), Windham: Hurricane Hanna supplied some needed rain and not in too much excess. Reports were about three inches of rain received over the weekend. The rest of the week provided mostly sunny days to continue harvest of crops. Most farmers report a "average" year for hay production having this window of sunny weather the last couple of weeks to catch up. Hopes are the weather will continue to allow for additional  feed to be put up.
  
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Gary R. Keough, Director 								                        Gerald D. Tillman, Deputy Director
Lorie Warren, Statistician		                                                                                                                   Lynne Arsenault, Stat Assistant