Michigan Fields Left Oversaturated
Published: Friday, April 14, 2023
The following is from the Michigan Field Office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service for the week ending April 10.
Another week of wet conditions left fields oversaturated and continued to delay the start of planting across most of the state. There were 1.5 days suitable for fieldwork.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, approximately 97% of the state experienced no drought conditions. Some areas in Shiawassee, Genesee, Lapeer, Oakland and Macomb counties were considered abnormally dry.
The Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula experienced a large shift in temperature causing rapid snow melt, no fieldwork was reported for the week.
Further south, producers continued to report fields and pastures as muddy and wet from heavy rain from the week's severe thunderstorms. Planting across the state has been delayed until the cold and wet conditions improve. In the Southeast Lower Peninsula winter wheat began to break dormancy and green up.
Other activities during the week included fertilizing where conditions allowed, tending livestock and preparing for planting.
Fruit
Growers around the state were pruning tree fruit, applying dormant sprays and even did some planting.
In the south, most apple buds were at silver tip with early blooming varieties like Zestar, IdaRed and Macintosh at silver tip to first green tip. In west central, early varieties such as Zestar and IdaRed showed signs of bud swell and silver tip, but most buds remained dormant.
Blueberry buds have swollen in the south. Fruit buds have begun to separate in some early varieties in advanced locations. Some movement in cherry buds has been seen in the south.
Cherries were at side green (Montmorency) to green tip (sweet cherry) in Berrien County. In the west central, tart and sweet cherry buds ranged from dormant to bud swell.
In the south, peach fruit buds were at first calyx green, with some terminal tips showing slight green. In west central, early peaches were showing signs of swelling and side green.
Topsoil moisture was rated very short, 0%; short, 1%; adequate, 54%; surplus, 45%.
Subsoil moisture was rated very short, 2%; short, 3%; adequate, 57%; surplus, 38%.
The crop progress schedule (last week, previous week, 2022 and 5-year average) showed: winter wheat jointing, 1, 0, N/A, N/A; barley planted, 0, 0, 0, 1; oats planted, 0, 0, 0, 6; sugarbeets planted, 0, 0, 0, 9.
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