By Clint Thompson
Dry weather conditions continue to linger in Alabama. Like other areas in the state, Southeast Alabama is feeling the impact, says Neil Kelly, Alabama regional Extension agent in Southeast Alabama.
“I guess we’ve been the better part of three weeks since we’ve had a rain. This time of year, what rain we get lasts longer than it does in the heat of the summer, but it’s still getting fairly dry. The problem is the long-range forecasts does not look very promising for rain,” Kelly said. “Fruit and vegetable wise, we actually look pretty good right now. Most all of our fruit and vegetable crops are irrigated, and this time of year, most of them are on the downhill side of their water demands.
“We’ve actually had a pretty good pumpkin season due to some of the drier weather towards the end of the season. Our pumpkins look pretty good. The problem that we have with pumpkins is getting the pumpkin to cure like it’s supposed to. Moderate weather and low humidity is what you need for pumpkins to cure out and get hard versus rotten. This drier weather and little bit lesser humidity has helped some with that.
“Strawberries are going in the ground. Of course, the dry weather helps with disease in strawberries and things like that.”