Northampton Interim Director Craig Ellison said the latest information shows Irene tracking just outside the area.
Even with that track the storm can bring winds that can topple fragile crops and bring too much rain that could foster disease in peanuts and soybeans.
“It keeps shifting,” Ellison said this afternoon. “It goes out to the east and back in to the mainland. The track's got us anxious. It's a really big storm.”
The problem is the storm could bring anywhere from 3 inches of rain or more and high winds, winds being the biggest worry among the area's extension experts.
Corn is close enough to be harvested, Ellison said. With the proper amount of machine power and storage corn could be harvested and put in drying bins. “Our concern is about disease in peanuts and soybeans — whether we need to go ahead and do something now or take a wait and see stance. Peanuts are close enough to (another) fungicide (application). Some (farmers) may be more proactive.”
What agents and farmers don't want to see is soybeans get laid to the ground. The crops are strong enough, Ellison said, to take a good shaking from at least tropical force winds.
The storm comes as farmers and agents were expecting above average cotton yields and good bean and peanut yields.
Cotton is a concern because many of the crops have opened. “Once opened, nothing good can happen until its harvested,” Ellison said. “Cotton seems to hold fairly tight in the bolls.”
In Halifax County Extension Director Arthur Whitehead said too much wind and rain could cause damage. “If we get 20 to 30 mile per hour winds it's going to get knocked around a bit … The rain doesn't bother me. It's the wind.”
If cotton falls to the ground the chances for boll rot increase. If tobacco falls off there are increased chances for disease. “We just don't want the big wind.”
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