From the farm: bits and pieces; big crop for GA?

摘要

Spring has finally arrived here in the Southeast, though somewhat grudgingly. Despite all the earlier cold weather and tornadoes, most of Georgia has set a very good crop. We still have to get through the summer but the potential for one of the largercrops in the past 5 years is on the trees at this time. This part of the country has been very dry the past 60 days and growers have been irrigating steadily. If there is no rain over the next six weeks, which is possible as this is a dry season for us,non-irrigated orchards may suffer a larger than usual June drop from lack of soil moisture. We have also had the largest casebearer moth flight I have seen in many years. Big crop equals big food supply for insects. Most growers are applying sprays forthis, though some will wait to see how much damage occurs before deciding whether to spray or not. Closing the barn door after the horse got out in my opinion.