By Ag expert: Fall rains damages sweet potatoes
Cullman, AL – - Heavy fall rains have cut into the sweet
potato crop in Cullman County this year.
Arnold Caylor, director of the North Alabama Horticulture
Research Center, estimated up to 80 percent of the county's crop
will be lost. The county usually ranks second in the state in sweet
potato production.
Caylor says soil in the fields also are likely sticking to the
potatoes more this year because of the mud. He says that makes the
potatoes more likely to retain moisture during storage and be more
susceptible to organisms that cause rot.
State agriculture statistics show about 2,700 acres of sweet
potatoes planted in Alabama. More than one-third of that acreage
was in Cullman County.
Officials say much of the remaining acreage is in Baldwin
County, where conditions are better.
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Information from: The Birmingham News,
http://www.al.com/birminghamnews