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| Hail Damaged Cotton |
Harsh environmental conditions continue to plague the NWP of Texas. The exceptionally dry conditions have dominated local weather even though some much needed precipitation was received June 5. The NWP is right at 50% of the long term average precipitation year to date while the May 1 to date heat unit accumulations are slightly ahead of the long term average.
Very high winds associated with recent storm fronts have added “insult to injury”, damaging crops, sprinkler irrigation systems, and power poles. Precipitation recorded by local weather stations ranged from .5 inch to 1.5 inches; some storms also contained damaging hail. Cotton stand counts less than .2 plants/foot and corn with severe leaf burn have been observed in fields in the path of these storms. The injury to corn at this stage should not result in measurable yield loss. A good article talking about wind and sandblasting damage to corn published by Purdue University can be found at http://goo.gl/ZpQtm . Much of the area cotton on the other had has sustained varying degrees of damage, some of which is severe.
On the brighter side, irrigated crops not subjected to or more tolerant of the severe conditions associated with the recent storms look pretty good and in some cases very good. Crops are behind in development compared to last year, for example most cotton is in the cotyledon to 2 true leaf stage compared to 3-4 true leaf stage for the same time last year. Crop moisture demands remain fairly low but will soon rapidly increase, especially in corn.
Very high winds associated with recent storm fronts have added “insult to injury”, damaging crops, sprinkler irrigation systems, and power poles. Precipitation recorded by local weather stations ranged from .5 inch to 1.5 inches; some storms also contained damaging hail. Cotton stand counts less than .2 plants/foot and corn with severe leaf burn have been observed in fields in the path of these storms. The injury to corn at this stage should not result in measurable yield loss. A good article talking about wind and sandblasting damage to corn published by Purdue University can be found at http://goo.gl/ZpQtm . Much of the area cotton on the other had has sustained varying degrees of damage, some of which is severe.
On the brighter side, irrigated crops not subjected to or more tolerant of the severe conditions associated with the recent storms look pretty good and in some cases very good. Crops are behind in development compared to last year, for example most cotton is in the cotyledon to 2 true leaf stage compared to 3-4 true leaf stage for the same time last year. Crop moisture demands remain fairly low but will soon rapidly increase, especially in corn.
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