Michigan Ag Connection - Warmer, Drier Weather Prevails in Michigan

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Warmer, Drier Weather Prevails in Michigan
Michigan Ag Connection - 05/24/2016

There were 5.5 days suitable for fieldwork in Michigan during the week ending Sunday, according to the Great Lakes Regional office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Cool, wet weather at the start of the week finally gave way to warmer drier conditions by mid-week which continued through the weekend. Although some farmers reported a few fields with standing water in lowlying areas with heavy soils, most fields had dried out enough to finally begin field work. Farmers took advantage of the blue skies and drier fields to finish planting sugarbeets and make strong progress on planting corn and soybeans, but many producers want to see warmer nighttime temperatures, and even some rain in northern parts of the State, to facilitate germination and emergence. Oat and barley planting was winding down this week with just over half of the crop emerged. A few producers reported cutting alfalfa for greenchop this week, with many more expecting to begin next week. Much of the State's winter wheat crop has jointed, with a few areas reporting head emergence; growers continued to monitor fields for cutworm damage and stripe rust.

Recent cooler weather has extended bloom in tree fruit, strawberries and blueberries in many parts of the State. Growers have been taking frost protection measures as freeze warnings were posted in west central and northwest regions for May 18. Insect activity has been lighter than normal due to prevailing cooler temperatures, but growers were spraying fungicides in anticipation of upcoming wet weather. In the southwest and the east, stone fruits, including apricots, peaches, plums, and cherries ranged from fully in the shuck to fully out of the shuck, In the west central and northwest regions, sweet cherries ranged from full bloom to petal fall while tart cherries ranged from showing little white to full bloom. In apples, orchards were in king bloom in the north, full bloom in the central regions, and generally past bloom in the south. Wine grapes ranged from swell to bud burst while juice grapes and hybrid varieties were at bud burst with up to six inches of shoot growth. Raspberry shoots and leaves continued emerging in fall bearing raspberries while flower buds were separating in the clusters in summer bearing raspberries.

Direct seeding of sweet corn, cucumbers, squash and zucchini continued in the southwest as weather allowed. Sweet onion planting was nearly complete in the eastern region and seeding of beans and peas was on-going. Potato planting was well underway in the central region although wet and cool conditions did slow progress. Cole crops were being transplanted into market gardens as well. Asparagus harvest continued in Oceana County and carrots were showing strong emergence and development.

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