By Clint Thompson
An extremely dry North Florida region was hit with much-needed rainfall on Monday. That was a welcomed sight for the Suwanee Valley’s watermelon growers who are mostly done planting this year’s crop.
“The rain will definitely help in those dry bed areas just to bring more moisture. All of it’s going to go in the hole but it allows us to bring more moisture to the bed that the drip tape is not having to do the whole job,” said Bob Hochmuth, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida, around mid-morning on Monday. “We had a squall that came through early (Monday) morning and then stopped around 8 a.m. Looks like we’ll get a break until maybe noon. At this moment it’s just overcast and muggy.
“I think the big squall is expected to come between 12 and 4.”
Plantings Mostly Done
Hochmuth estimated that most growers were about 90% done with plantings, though they probably could have been completed if not for grim predictions about the weather early in the week.
“I think we would have been 100% done except when they saw this front coming there’s a few hundred acres that they decided to wait and finish up,” Hochmuth said.
The region has been decimated by a prolonged dry spell, as evidenced by the extreme drought conditions throughout South Georgia and North Florida. The good news is that the rains should not sideline the growers for very long.
“These sands, if we don’t get more than an inch or two, as dry as it is, honestly, I would say I don’t know that it’s going to delay them at all for the little bit of planting that’s yet to be done,” Hochmuth said. “We’re almost done planting.”