Crops Conditions Improve with Wet, Warm Weather
Published: Friday, September 27, 2019
The following is from the Michigan Field Office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service for the week ending Sept. 22.
Warmer, wet conditions advanced maturity progress in most parts of the state. There were 5.4 days suitable for fieldwork.
Some counties in the central region of the Lower Peninsula received heavy rainfall during the end of the week, which modestly improved conditions in later planted crops still short of maturity.
Corn continued to mature across the state. Soybeans also continued to progress, and some of the earlier planted fields were starting to be harvested.
Farmers also continued to harvest corn for silage where the weather permitted.
In the Thumb, the sugarbeet harvest was reported to be slow due to the precipitation in the area, and some producers expressed concerns of below average yields.
Pasture and range conditions improved due to the wet weather.
Other activities included the planting of winter wheat and lime applications.
Vegetables
Potato harvest continued in most major growing areas. Across the state, producers are preparing for plantings of fall cover crops and starting on other post-season activities. There have been no known reports of Phytophthora Infestans (Late blight) in Michigan to date.
Fruit
Brown marmorated stink bug catches jumped last week. This is a late season pest in many orchards and growers treated for it on later maturing apple varieties in orchards that had not yet been prepared for harvest.
Apple harvest continued. Recent rains helped with apple sizing. Fruit quality across all varieties harvested thus far was excellent.
Growers picked Gala and Honeycrisp heavily in all areas of the state. Labor was adequate so far with some growers utilizing the H-2a program.
In the Northwest, Ginger Gold harvest was complete and growers were harvesting SweeTango.
In the Southwest, growers were wrapping up McIntosh harvest. In the West Central, growers were harvesting McIntosh, early Fuji and Jonathan.
On the Ridge, growers were cautioned to keep fungicide sprays current as recent moist conditions caused fungi to become active again. McIntosh and early Fuji were harvested in between Gala and Honeycrisp there.
In the East, growers busied themselves with harvest and noted that demand for cider was excellent.
Blueberry harvest was complete.
Topsoil moisture was rated very short, 1 percent; short, 10 percent; adequate, 74 percent; surplus, 15 percent.
Subsoil moisture was rated very short, 2 percent; short, 21 percent; adequate, 70 percent; surplus, 7 percent.
The crop progress schedule (last week, previous week, 2018 and 5-year average) showed: corn, dough 87, 80, 98, 97; corn, dented 53, 41, 86, 82; corn, mature 8, 3, 43, 35; corn, harvested for silage 18, 6, 62, 45; soybeans, setting pods 96, 92, 100, 100; soybeans, dropping leaves 35, 17, 59, 56; soybeans, harvested 1, 0, 3, 2; winter wheat, planted 10, 3, 6, 9; barley, harvested 79, 60, NA, NA; dry beans, dropping leaves 74, 51, 83, 81; dry beans, harvested 4, 0, 20, 23; alfalfa hay, third cutting 66, 58, 86, 82; other hay, second cutting 90, 80, NA, NA; other hay, third cutting 34, 27, 64, 60; oats, harvested 95, 83, NA, NA; sugarbeets, harvested 8, 4, 26, 15.
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