Wheat and oats harvest nearly complete

Warm weather affected most of the state during the week ending July 8, but rainfalls across the Gulf coast helped to cool down temperatures, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Southern Plains Regional Field Office, Texas. Precipitation in the Upper Coast ranged from 2 to 6 inches, with isolated areas getting upwards of 10 inches. Rainfall in the Coastal Bend, the Lower Valley, South Texas, South Central Texas, the Edwards Plateau and the Trans-Pecos ranged from 0.5 to 2 inches, with isolated areas receiving upwards of 5 inches. There were 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork.

Wheat and oats harvest was nearly complete across the state. A few isolated areas in the Northern Plains were not finished harvesting.

Even with recent rainfalls, dryland cotton continued to struggle in the Plains and the Edwards Plateau. Cotton begun to bloom in the Blacklands. Cotton in South Texas was setting bolls, while bolls were opening in the Coastal Bend. Corn harvest began in South Texas and continued in the Lower Valley. Spider mite populations were becoming a problem in corn and sorghum in the Southern High Plains. Corn and sorghum harvest was underway in the Lower Valley, while rainfall in the Coastal Bend and South Texas slowed sorghum harvest. Grain sorghum in some areas of the Blacklands was being cut for hay due to poor yield potential.