– It’s been a wet couple of weeks in St. Martin Parish, but so far that’s been good for the sugar cane crop, according to Louisiana Sugar Cane Cooperative Ag Division Manager John Hebert.
“Mo’ rain, mo’ cane,” Hebert quipped. “Some areas within our growing area are not getting the excessive rainfall that we’re seeing right here.
“It’s seems like the Parks-St. Martinville area is getting the brunt of it. I’d say from Arnaudville to St. Martinville seems to be getting the most rain, but the thing that I’ve noticed is we’re still getting good crop growth because the temperature’s good.”
There’s plenty of sunshine for the crop to grow, he said.
“If you’ll notice, if it’s not raining, it’s clear,” Hebert said. “It’s either raining or there are very few clouds, so we’re getting plenty of sunshine, good temperatures, and good moisture. It’s not ideal. Ideally we’d take it a teaspoon at a time right now and maintain the perfect amount of moisture, but growing conditions are good right now. The rain definitely is not hurting the crop.”
Weather
About the only aspect of the wet weather that’s hurting is the wet ground can prevent farmers from getting out to control the weeds.
“It’s stopping the growers from getting their final measures of weed control taken care of,” he said. “Normally at this time we’d be doing what we refer to as our layby application, which is like the last cultivation and last application of herbicide before we can’t get back in the crop anymore because it gets too tall.
“There’s going to be some grassy fields. There’s going to be some not- perfectly- manicured areas because farmers just aren’t able to get in and take care of all the grass as fast as the cane is growing because it’s just too wet to get to it. But I don’t think the vegetation is going to be of any direct concern as far as competition with the crop.”
