Producers harvesting cotton in some areas (Texas)

Mild temperatures were experienced across most of the state for the week ending Sept. 30, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Southern Plains Regional Field Office, Texas. Most of the precipitation was concentrated in the Gulf Coast where precipitation ranged from 0.5 to 3.0 inches, with isolated areas getting upwards of 6 inches. The Northern Low Plains, the Southern Plains, the Cross Timbers and areas of the Blacklands and North East Texas received between 0.5 and 1.0 inch of rain, while the rest of the state only received trace amounts. There were 5.0 days suitable for fieldwork.

Small grain seeding continued in areas of the Northern High Plains, the Edwards Plateau, South Central Texas and South Texas. Army worms damaged newly emerged wheat in several areas.

Some producers were harvesting cotton in the Blacklands and South Texas, while moisture levels were still too high to harvest in South East Texas, the Upper Coast and the Lower Valley. Bolls were opening in the Edwards Plateau and producers were applying defoliants in the Trans-Pecos and the Cross Timbers. Corn and soybean harvest continued in the Northern High Plains. Upper Coast rice harvest was stalled due to wet conditions.

Harvest of early pecan varieties was underway in the Cross Timbers, and continued in the Edwards Plateau. Harvest of watermelons, cantaloupes, spinach and cabbage resumed in South Texas. Producers were planting vegetables in the Lower Valley.