Crop report 2012 May (Saaz area)

1. Basic weather conditions datas

temperature °C

rainfalls mm

The temperatures in May were by 1.4 ° C higher compared to the long-term average. Rainfalls were considerably weak compared to long-term average (-28.4 mm) as well as the previous year (-34.2 mm).

2. Vegetation stage

The training of hops has been launched in early May. However, the growth of hops almost stopped due to low temperatures in the second decade that complicated the course of training. Nevertheless, the major part of training works were managed on time and in good quality. Immediately after the training, it was necessary to protect the hops against fungal diseases (2-3 x) and on some of the hop gardens, we had to apply the treatment against aphid hop. There is a big difference (from 1,5 m to 4 m) in height between different hop gardens. Due to last year's wet autumn, some hop fields, where the water has been standing, are considerably damaged and the plants are dying. The total affected area can reach up to 10% (that is about 300 ha).