Source: USDA'S NASS NC FIELD OFFICE, 5/11/15

DAYS SUITIBLE FOR FIELD WORK

This Week Last Week Last Year 5-Year Avg.

6.0 4.7 6.0 4.2  

SOIL MOISTURE PERCENT
VS ST A SS 
Topsoil Moisture 0 11 67 22 
Subsoil Moisture 0 4 74 22
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 88 74 88 94

Cotton 20 n/a 23 38  

Tobacco: Flue Cured 71 42 62 75  

PHENOLOGICAL:  
Corn % Emerged 68 46 68 81
Wheat % Headed 88 63 83 91

HARVESTED:
Hay 1st cutting 24 n/a 22 26 

CROP CONDITION PERCENT

VP P F G EX 

Corn 0 2 21 61 16  

Tobacco: Flue Cured 0 0 24 68 8

Barley 0 3 24 69 4
Oats 2 7 45 42 4

Wheat 1 9 30 52 8
Pasture 1 7 36 50 6

VP = Very Poor P = Poor F = Fair G = Good EX = Excellent

COUNTY EXTENSION AGENT REPORTS
Scattered thunderstorms and rainfall later in the week hindered field activity in some areas of the county. Vegetable producers have made good progress planting cool season vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli. Pastures continue to improve and hay crops are coming on; however, at this point it appears that grass will be heading out short making the first cutting of hay to be off. Corn planting continues at a slow pace with the majority of the crop expected to be planted in the next two weeks with warmer soil temperatures.
Stanley Holloway– Yancey County Extension 

Tobacco growers are actively transplanting tobacco plants. Pastures are producing plenty of forages for livestock now. Strawberry growers in the area have been picking for a week now. The county could use some rainfall now to help set the tobacco plants in the field and add some moisture to pastures and other vegetable crops. Livestock producers are busy harvesting hay. Home gardeners are busy planting summer vegetable crops and harvesting spring cold crops.
Joey Knight – Caswell County Extension 

It's been over three weeks with no rain in much of Cleveland County. Conditions are very dry. Ground is too hard to drill early soybeans in some fields. Hay producers have been taking advantage of the dry weather; hay yields are okay so far. Strawberry made it through the wet early April and are looking good. 
Stephen Bishop – Cleveland NRCS 

First good week growers had to get started planting cotton and peanuts. Cereal Leaf Beetles in many wheat fields but infestation levels below treatment threshold. Good progress in setting tobacco.
Richard Rhodes – Bertie County Extension

Corn planting is nearing completion as soybean planting starts. Irish potatoes and cabbage are looking very good since cool temperatures and good soil moisture is favoring their growth. Wheat is heading and flowering at this time and all of the crop should be in the grain filling stage in the next 10 days.
Al Wood – Pasquotank County Extension 

Much progress was made last week with corn, cotton, and soybeans all being planted. Tobacco transplanting continued and is nearly complete, while a few sweet potatoes were transplanted. Strawberry harvest continues as does runner growth and disease incidence. Mother's day harvest was impacted by Ana. So far some areas have received 4+ inches of rainfall. 
Chris Jernigan – Agronomist Region 3 

TS Ana dropped 3.8" to 6.0"+ across much of Pender County. Some fields are completely flooded, others extremely wet. Replanting corn is not going to be an option this week as fields across the county are saturated. Wet field conditions will also delay soybean planting in many areas. Wet weather and high winds also caused lodging in wheat. Some fields are 50% lodged, others small patches. Very little of these lodged fields will recover because of the growth stage the wheat is in. Strawberry growers are losing yield because berries are saturated and wet conditions are preventing them from being able to spray fungicides. Also wet weekend weather is hurting the amount of customer traffic for direct market sales. Blueberry harvest is expected to begin later this week (5/17/15). This weekend's tropical storm winds did not impact blueberry crop potential significantly and heavy rains generally will not affect yield at this stage. Blueberries will absorb a lot of water quickly as they reach maturity but with most berries still immature, the moisture uptake is not expected to impact their quality at harvest. 
Mark Seitz – Pender County Extension