The next two weeks will be vital for many farmers in the Wiregrass.

The next two weeks will be vital for many farmers in the Wiregrass.

According to William Birdsong, an extension specialist for the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center in Headland, good rainfall in July has been counteracted for many farmers by poor rainfall totals in August.

Due to an extremely dry spring, the still-drought-plagued Wiregrass crops were planted later than usual.

Now, a steady rain is needed to help the cotton and peanuts in their race against the clock.

“It’s too early for me to say we’re gonna have a good crop or a poor crop. It all really depends on what has happened on these various farms in the Wiregrass area last week, this week and next week,” Birdsong said. “We’re at very critical stage here.”

The historical freeze date in Alabama is Nov. 20, and Birdsong said any more delays in peanut and cotton development will be devastating to the crops, which are now in the reproductive stage.

“What’s gonna happen is we’re gonna be out of time,” he said. “If it’s another two weeks before we get a rain, and the crop goes back to growing, it’s really just gonna be out of time. Unfortunately, because of the dry spring, a lot of crops were planted later, so those crops are gonna be needing more late-August, September and early October rain to finish development of those crops, whereas if they had been planted earlier, a July, August and early-September rain would have worked.”

While cotton and peanuts’ respective fates are up in the air, corn did not fare as well.

“Dry-land corn was a total disaster,” Birdsong said. “Here on the station, we had a demonstration with irrigated corn compared to dry-land corn. The irrigated corn made 100 bushels per acre, which is less than we expected, while the non-irrigated made 10 per acre. Dry-land corn was disastrous.”

Birdsong said many farmers have had to replant their crops multiple times this year due to poor stands.

A stand refers to the ratio of successful plants to seeds planted.

“Once you get to around a 65 percent and less germination and establishment for those seedlings, that would be what we call a poor stand,” Birdsong said. “A farmer has to put out the same amount of fertilizer, herbicide and insecticide if it’s a 90 percent stand or a 30 percent stand, regardless of how many of the plants will actually be productive.