DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220484

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   57 lines

PEANUT FARMERS RACE AGAINST FROST FRIGHT LOWS IN THE 30S ARE PREDICTED FOR OVERNIGHT THURSDAY.

If by today Thomas Rountree finishes harvesting the peanuts he dug before last week's rains, he'll call it a good year.

The pressure is on for local farmers to get their peanuts into dryers before what may be a freeze Thursday morning, when overnight temperatures are expected to dip into the low 30s.

``So far, we've actually had a perfect year for peanuts,'' said Rountree, who raises 60 acres of the crop near the Isle of Wight County line.

``There's no need to cry now. The grades are messed up a little; the weights are lighter, and the dry weather made the crop late. But the frost has held up. If we can just get the rest of them in, we'll be all right.''

Heavy rains late last week soaked the parched ground, Rountree said. Most farmers were prevented from getting into their fields Monday, but they were back to work Tuesday.

The goal early in the week was to pick - separate the legumes from their vines - the peanuts that had been dug but were still on top of the ground.

Peanuts exposed to the elements would be in danger of damage by frost Thursday and Friday morning, said Barron Keeling, research specialist at Virginia Tech's Tidewater Agricultural Research Center in Holland. ``If they're still in the ground, the best thing to do now is leave them there,'' she said.

The earliest frost recorded in this area was on Oct. 2, 1947; the latest was on Dec. 3, 1985. Records show the area's first frost usually occurs between Oct. 15 and 21.

Now, if forecasts hold true for Thursday and Friday, frost will arrive only a couple of days behind schedule. But it may be just late enough to save money for the farmers.

The Peanut/Cotton Info-Net's frost advisory is forecasting a freeze for Thursday. The temperature in Suffolk is expected to be down to 32 degrees, lower in outlying areas like Southampton County. With 34 degrees predicted in Suffolk on Friday, a heavy frost is expected.

A little more than two inches of rain that fell across the area may have been too late to help late soybeans, but it at least helped to soften the ground to make easier digging for those farmers with peanuts still in the ground.

The rain last weekend fell consistently across the area, Keeling said. In the past months of near-drought, some areas got rain while others were left dry. That made for inconsistent crop conditions across the rural areas of Hampton Roads.

With so little rain, the corn crop this year was a disaster, Rountree said. But peanuts can tolerate more dry weather, and this year wasn't as bad as most farmers expected.

With quick work, there still may be a chance for a decent crop. ILLUSTRATION: [color photo]

FORECAST FOR SUFFOLK

SOURCE: Va. Tech Peanut/Cotton Info-Net

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