Аgrometeorological forecast for the end of November and the beginning of December

At the end of November, the country woke up under a snow cover. Last night the first snow of the season fell in Western Bulgaria. Temperatures dropped below zero, as a result of which the precipitation in Sofia, Razgrad, Pernik and Kyustendil turned into snow.  The snow cover is expected to reach up to 5 cm, except in the Danubian Plain, where its depth will be between 10–15, in some places up to 20 cm.

At the end of November and the beginning of December, the agrometeorological conditions will be increasingly dynamic. At the beginning of the period they will be determined by mild weather for the season, with average daily temperatures in most of the field areas around and above the biological minimum required for the vegetation of winter cereal crops and winter oilseed rape.

During this period, a significant decrease in temperatures and a change in the agrometeorological conditions are forecast. The expected cooling will lead to a slowdown, and in the higher fields and the Fore-Balkan, where precipitation including snow is forecast, to a cessation of the vegetative processes in the autumn-sown crops. Exceptions will occur in some places in the southeastern regions and along the Black Sea coast, where a weakly expressed vegetation of winter cereal crops will be observed.

At the beginning of December, in the wheat stands sown within the agrotechnical period, in October, the tillering stage will be observed, in which the winter cereal crops overwinter successfully. The third leaf stage will prevail in the stands sown at the beginning of November. The late-sown stands, in mid-November, are not well established and are in the stages of emergence and initial leaf formation. In oilseed rape, the rosette stage, the suitable stage for overwintering, will be observed in the stands sown at the beginning of autumn.

During the next period, precipitation and an improvement of soil moisture reserves in the upper soil layers are expected. As a result of the below-normal November precipitation, the soil moisture reserves in the 50 and 100 cm layers in wheat fields in most of the country are unusually low for the season – in some places in the eastern and the extreme southern regions below 60% of field capacity (agrometeorological stations Sandanski, Haskovo, Sliven, Razgrad). 

At the beginning of the next period, the conditions will be suitable for planting fruit trees and for carrying out autumn plant protection spraying in fruit crops.

To protect fruit crops from winter cold, to destroy lichens and mosses, and to repel the brown marmorated stink bug and the leopard moth, it is necessary to treat the trunks and thick branches of the trees with a 20% lime wash to which a small amount of clay is added.

Source: NIMH