New Food Plot - 20 Days without rain

Native Hunter

Well-Known Member
The value of having a plot on low ground with just a little shade has become apparent to me this year. I got a great rain the day after planting and everything came up - but now it has been 20 days and not a drop.

The morning dews have been good, and along with the low ground, I think that is all that's saving me so far.

I planted a virtual cornucopia of different seed together this year as an experiment. I had my normal cool season stuff but added a dusting of buckwheat and sunhemp to the fall mix. My reasoning was that I would get some use out of the warm season stuff until it died out and then the cool season stuff would be there ready to go.

How is everything doing without the rain?

Wheat - looks green and is about 4 inches high. Just kind of stalled out waiting for more rain.

Oats - About the same as the wheat.

Diakon Radishes - Once they germinate, the drought can't touch them much. However, they are not growing fast.

Red and White Perennial Clovers - This has me worried. Not seeing much yet. Either needs more rain to germinate or possibly some has germinated and died.

Crimson Clover - lots has germinated and looks pretty good.

Sunhemp - Very green and about 5 inches tall. Kind of stalled out right now.

Buckwheat - About 8 inches tall and stalled out needing more rain.

Chicory - Lots has germinated and about 3 inches tall.

This is the day I did throw and mow just before the rain came:

f9gabgZ.jpg


This is the best section on the lowest side where it gets some shade. I wish it was all this good,

mDewsXU.jpg


This is out in the hottest and driest part. Not bad but spotty and needing a drink.

MUSHtOP.jpg



My worst fear at this point is that I will lose (or have lost) a lot of my perennial clover. Another thing is that since this is taking off so slowly, I can see some crabgrass coming up in the thin spots. We are not out of the woods yet - still not a good forecast in the near future. I think if this had been on the ridge land rather than the low area, it would be toast now.
 
All things considered looks like you're in pretty good shape for going 20 days without rain. The clover could be replanted I suppose unless cost is an issue. Get your tomahawk out and do a little rain dance.
 
All things considered looks like you're in pretty good shape for going 20 days without rain. The clover could be replanted I suppose unless cost is an issue. Get your tomahawk out and do a little rain dance.

Just looked and it's 10 more days until we get over a 10% - 20% chance, and then it's 40%. Hot and dry............
 
Just looked and it's 10 more days until we get over a 10% - 20% chance, and then it's 40%. Hot and dry............
This seems to be a pattern in recent years, or maybe just my luck. Rain, plant, sprout.. no rain for a month. Didn't you plant earlier than normal last year due to a good rainy spell in August ? Or am I mis-remembering ?
 
This seems to be a pattern in recent years, or maybe just my luck. Rain, plant, sprout.. no rain for a month. Didn't you plant earlier than normal last year due to a good rainy spell in August ? Or am I mis-remembering ?

You have a good memory Jeff.

Yes, I've done that early planting with a good rain forecast more than once in recent years. I would have done it again this year, but our August was drier this time. Then in late August we had that one good rain coming, so I went ahead and planted with hopes that it wouldn't be too long until we got more. That hasn't happened.

Twenty days hasn't ruined everything yet, but I don't know what 10 more days will do. An ideal thing for me would be to catch one of those little pop up showers in the afternoon. There have been some around, but I've not been lucky enough yet to catch one.

If all else fails I have enough fruit and chestnuts to feed the whole state this fall.
 
Very dry across much of the SE. You either got rain from hurricane Dorian or nothing. Our place is in the latter category. I’m really enjoying these few years when I get to experiment from afar. This year I was able to get fall seed down but decided not to spray the plots. It hasn’t rained since the day I broadcasted but we’re likely to get a little tonight and tomorrow.

I may not get a chance to hunt this year at all but it would have been nice to enjoy a more successful plotting experience. My expectations are obviously quite low, it will be interesting to see how the plots perform with a worst case scenario.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The rain forecast for southwest VA is terrible. Looks like my only hope now is to throw down some more winter rye and wheat if the rain chances improve in the next month
 
Native your situation is much like mine, except I haven’t planted anything, and don’t intend to until I see some fronts coming in. Our long range forecast looks pretty dang grim.
 
Dang, just got back in town from work travels and it’s drizzling a little bit. The ground will soak it up quick. Should know in a few days if it’s enough to germinate the plots. If so, hopefully get another shower in a few days but that looks unlikely. Heck, I’ve got about 10# of buckwheat and may just sling it out tomorrow at my bowstand plot since my clover will not be ready for opening day
 
Thanks for the update on your plots. I chose not to plant this week (right before a storm) due to the fact that it was suppose to go right back to the 90's and dry for at least a week. I'm planting a lot of clover and your results have me thinking maybe I made a good choice. Thanks!
 
Thanks for the update on your plots. I chose not to plant this week (right before a storm) due to the fact that it was suppose to go right back to the 90's and dry for at least a week. I'm planting a lot of clover and your results have me thinking maybe I made a good choice. Thanks!
You did make a good choice by not planting. I did overseed some this morning in a slight drizzle. More rain is forecasted later today too. Beyond that, no significant rain chances for 10 days. I’m limited in plot play times from now to October. Praying for some measurable rain soon
 
Whitetail Institute clover, this is a pipeline in a creek bottom, some of that moist dirt and half shade Native mentioned. FEEF263E-5594-47B7-8BFA-0D7EB8D91ACA.jpeg Triticale and MRC1B167941-26B4-46DB-85D2-014591D2EEC3.jpeg Wheat and MRC0DC99A74-ADA1-4DD5-BA63-7557BE76BF61.jpeg
We got a half inch from a pop up shower yesterday so I used that moisture to lightly disc four plots on our lease today. The ground has been as hard as a rock but I didn’t have much trouble discing it up today. I started at daylight and finished up by 11:00 a.m. That should make my plot prep a little easier come time to plant.



Triticale and MRC98BE311F-55BC-4752-B20D-893F83469587.jpeg
 
Finished my plantings up Friday afternoon and then it came a miracle rain of TWO AND A HALF INCHES. Now most of my stuff is coming up in the down at Triple C's farm. No more in sight for 15 days, but I'll take what we got. Thank God for His abundance.
 
You did make a good choice by not planting. I did overseed some this morning in a slight drizzle. More rain is forecasted later today too. Beyond that, no significant rain chances for 10 days. I’m limited in plot play times from now to October. Praying for some measurable rain soon

I will just dump this in here...
Virginia, places with no measurable (not even a little) precipitation prior to September 14. First column is the location. Second column, the number of days without, and the third column the record number of days.
streak.jpg

You can do your own here:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/streaks/mapping
 
I will just dump this in here...
Virginia, places with no measurable (not even a little) precipitation prior to September 14. First column is the location. Second column, the number of days without, and the third column the record number of days.
View attachment 16994

You can do your own here:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/streaks/mapping

That's a nice link Dan, and thanks for posting it. This should help lots of people who live a long distance from their farms. Unfortunately, they don't have a dot within about 90 miles of me, but I still like the link.
 
That's a nice link Dan, and thanks for posting it. This should help lots of people who live a long distance from their farms. Unfortunately, they don't have a dot within about 90 miles of me, but I still like the link.
That means you are not in the middle of nowhere but you can see it from your place!
 
Thanks. That will get you to "extremes" and "streaks."
This will get you to daily (or monthly) observations.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-acce...ed-datasets/cooperative-observer-network-coop
For what I do, I like the "COOP Data With 24-Hour Lag."
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/search

Pick your data set: Daily Summaries
Pick the date range: Today or the entire year or years.
Search for: How about Counties? A county might have none, one, or multiple coop stations. You'll get whatever is available.
Enter a Search Term: Duh? The county name.

Here's where it gets weird. Click SEARCH and a new window opens. On the left side is the return from the search. All well and good. But click the little orange button, ADD TO CART.

To continue, go to the opposite side....the right side....and click the other orange button....or, first hover your cursor over CART - FREE DATA. Then, a popup appears. Click the link in it.

Now you have more choices to make related to output format. I'd recommend pdf (example attached) until you get familiar with the data layout. The other choices are text and .cvs, both good for dumping into other software - like Excel.

But, wait, order now and get more options! Sorry. I got carried away! Hit the CONTINUE button at the bottom. And then, one more orange button....look for it...SUBMIT ORDER.

If you selected another output option, .txt or .cvs, you'll have more options. You're on your own there.

You'll get two emails. One is about the receiving the order. The other comes when the order gathering is complete.

It usually doesn't take more than a couple minutes, and the ordering process isn't as excruciating as it might sound.
 

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