COLLEGE STATION — If you like leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and cabbage, you may find them to be in short supply this fall because of the drought, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

“The problem we’re having right now is that we’re starting to plant some of these crops like cabbage and we’re having heck keeping it wet enough to get it up and get it growing,” said Larry Stein, AgriLife Extension horticulturist for southwestern Texas.

“The other challenge we are having right now is that we don’t know how much water we’re going to have for the fall if it doesn’t rain soon.”

The Winter Garden area and surrounding region grow a wide range of vegetable crops, including onions and broccoli, Stein said. The locations grow most of the state’s spinach crop.

Most are cool-season crops and are planted in the fall and grown under irrigation.

This year, despite the drought, many area vegetable growers had a pretty good year because no rain meant less disease pressure. That all could change with this fall’s plantings, he said.

Stein said the region did get some rain last year, but not enough to cause the rivers to run.

“We had an inch here, two inches there, but we never had any running water,” he said. “So we have rivers that have not run in three to five years. The Nueces is about dry. If they don’t run, we won’t have any gravel water we can access.”

With recharge from the rivers and faced with heavy demands through irrigation this summer, the Edwards, Carizzo-Wilcox and other local aquifers are all low, Stein said.

“Basically, we’re starting to suck air from some of these wells,” he said. “We’ve got all these plans to plant, but if we don’t get some rain soon, we’re not going to have a whole lot of water to work with.”

Stein said the large vegetable production areas in South Texas were better off because the watersheds had been recharged there from summer storms.

For more information on the Texas drought and wildfire alertsvisit http://agrilife.tamu.edu/drought/.

West Central

Extremely hot, dry conditions continued. Burn bans remained in effect. No dryland crops survived the drought. Irrigated crops continued to suffer from high temperatures, and producers had a hard time keeping up with water demands.

There was no field activity because of a lack of soil moisture. Without rain soon it was predicted there would be no fall crops planted.

Rangeland and pasture conditions continued to decline, and producers further decreased the size of their herds while increasing the amount of supplemental feed and water hauled. Hay was in very short supply. Most small livestock operators have completely liquidated their herds.

North

Temperatures remained very high and soil moisture levels are very short. Some areas had spotty showers, but not enough to have much effect.

Livestock producers continued to feed hay and supplements, while others were reducing their herds at a rapid pace.

Many livestock producers were buying corn and grain sorghum stalks that were recently baled. There were concerns about high nitrate levels in these forges. Stock ponds were either very low or completely dry. Pasture conditions were poor to very poor. Nearly all row crops except cotton were harvested.

East

As much as 4 inches of rain fell in some areas, but most received only scattered showers. Even where there was heavy rain, it was not enough to rollback drought conditions. Water levels in ponds continued to drop.

Some producer bought hay for livestock while others further culled herds. Daily temperatures were well into the triple digits, breaking records in many areas.

Burn bans remained in effect in all counties. More than 450 acres burned in Harrison County. Feral hog damage increased. There were reports of armyworms and chinch bugs in pastures.