By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
After back-to-back punches from the tropics, Georgia farmers are
happy to see the return of sunnier, drier weather.
The damage from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan was worse for some
crops than others and worse in some places than others, say
University of Georgia experts.
Pecan production in Georgia was hurt by both storms. About 25 to
30 percent of the pecan crop has been lost around Dougherty
County, where much of the state’s pecan crop is grown, said
Lenny Wells, a UGA Extension Service agent in Dougherty
County.
The pecan crop was reported to be hurt in Lowndes, Lanier and
Berrien counties, too. Most of the damage was from downed trees
and limbs and nuts blown from trees.
And the damage may be felt for years to come, Wells said. Young
trees that were blown down can be propped back up. But they can
have problems getting back into a production rhythm. Mature
trees that were uprooted probably can’t be saved.
“It will take four to six years for replacement trees to bear
again,” Wells said, “and 15 years or so to make it back to full
production.”
Georgia’s pecan harvest will begin in late October and run
through December.
About 20 percent of Georgia’s cotton crop has been lost to the
storms’ excessive rains and winds, said Steve Brown, a UGA
Extension cotton agronomist.
Western counties were hit harder by Ivan’s winds and
rains. “Their losses may have been higher,” Brown said.
Georgia’s most widely planted cotton variety hasn’t been very
stormproof. “It readily falls out once it has opened and
subjected to rain and wind,” he said.
Cotton picked before the storms was of good to excellent
quality, he said. But the harvest is just beginning. There’s
still a lot of cotton left to pick.
“The bright sunshine of the past several days has been a real
positive to Georgia cotton,” Brown said.
Peanut farmers are taking advantage of the drier weather, too.
Frances and Ivan didn’t cause too much trouble for the state’s
peanut farmers. The rain from Frances actually did more good
than harm.
But the wet, humid weather between the two storms delayed
harvest and increased disease pressure in fields, said John
Beasley, a peanut agronomist with the UGA Extension Service.
“We had several days of rainy, overcast weather that didn’t
allow us to dry out any and maybe even harvest some between the
two systems,” Beasley said.
Georgia’s vegetable crop wasn’t widely damaged. “But there was
some locally heavy damage in individual cases,” said UGA
Extension horticulturist Terry Kelly.
The moisture and cloudy days of September so far have caused
pollination problems for some vegetables. It’s also made it
tough for farmers to apply needed pesticides.
“It has made disease more likely,” Kelley said. “It generally
causes a decrease in growth and development of the plants.”
On Thursday, forecasters weren’t sure where or if Hurricane
Jeanne would hit the southeastern U.S. coast. Nov. 30 is
generally considered the end of hurricane season.
