Source: USDA'S NASS NC FIELD OFFICE, 4/16/18

DAYS SUITABLE FOR FIELD WORK
This Week Last Week Last Year 5-Year Avg.
5.5 5.0 6.5 4.9


SOIL MOISTURE PERCENT
VS ST A SS
Topsoil Moisture 0 6 71 23
Subsoil Moisture 0 6 75 19
VS= Very Short ST = Short A = Adequate SS = Surplus

CROP PROGRESS PERCENT – WITH COMPARISONS
This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Yr. Avg.
PLANTED:
Corn 30 13 29 32

CROP CONDITION PERCENT
VP P F G EX
Barley 1 4 33 58 4
Oats 0 2 17 75 6
Pasture 1 5 33 59 2
Wheat 0 4 24 63 9
VP = Very Poor P = Poor F = Fair G = Good EX = Excellent

COUNTY EXTENSION AGENT REPORTS

Corn planting progressed nicely last week. Most wheat fields that I visited last week were just prior to or at the flag leaf stage. Brandon Poole – Agronomist Region 8

Up and down temperatures not helping.
Gary Cross – Person County Extension

Pastures are starting to grow. If we can get warm temperatures producers should soon be able to turn cattle out for the summer. Julia Houck – Ashe-Alleghany County Extension

Drier soil conditions allowed growers to make good progress with soil preparation for planting. Temperatures were cool early in the week with low temperatures in the lower 30's but warmed significantly by late week with highs into the mid 70's. There was some light frost; however, damage was very minimal with only a few fruit crop blooms being affected. Other farm activities included fertilizing hay and pastures.
Stanley Holloway – Yancey County Extension

Some drying weather towards the end of the week allowed corn planting in some areas. More rain forecasted over the weekend will set us back another week. Early planted corn looks good. Daniel Simpson – Pamlico County Extension

Had a good week last week as far as field work was concerned. Corn planting started, tobacco land was beginning to be worked, and last night brought rain, slowing everything down for a few days. Tim Hambrick Forsyth County Extension

Dry weather allowed for good progress last week on preparing tobacco fields. Tobacco transplants in greenhouses are progressing well. Paul McKenzie – Warren County Extension

Corn planting is just beginning. Flying into Wilmington on Wednesday Pender County and northern New Hanover County fields looked very wet. Only farms with sandy soils appeared dry enough to plant. Soil temperatures are also a bit cold to be real aggressive. However with temperatures in the low 80s coming corn planting should increase significantly by next week.
MarkSeitz/Tim Matthews – Pender County Extension

The spring has started very slowly, with early fruit floral development retarded by cold March weather. Strawberries are 1-2 weeks later than normal, and at least three weeks later than last year. The peach crop appears to be fair, with not more than 2
weeks left of potential freezing weather. Blueberries, except for the earliest highbush varieties, appear to have a substantial, though not full, crop. Taylor Williams – Moore Cnty Extension

Carteret- Limited planting of corn occurred this week. Wet soils and frequent rainfall preventing most field work. Limited acres of corn previously planted still not emerged. Craven - Wet soils preventing planting of corn and tobacco transplant. Windy conditions prevent application of pre-plant, burn-down herbicides.
Mike Carroll – Carteret County Extension

Weather was good over the period with frost/light freeze early in period with warm, breezy and dry days followed by rain and light snow late with 1.25" of rainfall, which is normal for the period. Soil moisture is "Average WET" for topsoil and "Very WET" for subsoil conditions. Robert Hawk – Swain County Extension

Wet field conditions this week. Corn is being planted.
Blake Sandlin - Duplin County Extension

Planting of Irish potato is complete and cabbage planting is all but complete. Corn planting has begun and as soon as the land dries, most people will start planting. A small acreage of full season soybeans has been planted in the last 3 weeks and they are starting to emerge. Wheat looks really good and it will be heading in the next week to 3 weeks. A small amount of foliar disease is starting to show up in wheat with it primarily being powdery mildew. Al Wood - Pasquotank County Extension

Our soils are remaining cool and wet therefore our tobacco transplanting is already a week behind compared to the last couple of years. Corn planting is behind also due to the cool wet soils. We hope planting conditions will be better the end of this week. Our small grain crop is starting to show some disease issues such as powdery mildew as well.
Charles Mitchell – Franklin County Extension

Early wheat varieties are heading with good potential. Growers made good progress with corn planting but many are behind. Received some much needed rain with cold front that pushed through with strong winds. No reports of damage at this time.
Mac Malloy – Robeson County Extension

Corn planting is now in full swing, and small grains continue to look good. Stephen Bishop – Cleveland SWCD

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