And then there was rain....

lakngolf

Well-Known Member
I planted food plots on Sep 19. Until yesterday they had seen no rain, but then the flood gates opened. As a farmer my Dad used to hope for a disturbance in the Gulf to send us some rain. Hurricane Nate was that disturbance this time. Appreciate the rain but hope all in the path are safe and power is restored soon.
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Well, we got poo pooed at the farm. Shoulda kept my seed in the bag yesterday. Never seen a hurricane come in at Biloxi and head north and northeast and not rain in northeast Georgia.
 
We planted night and day trying to be ahead of the rain that surely Nate would bring. We got 1/10. Forecast went from 80% to 50% to 20% to nada.

The good news is...just how incredible elbon rye is!. We started planting it a week ago in dust and most of it is up and going. Amazing.
 
Hate that for you guys. We didn't get any either. My wheat is doing well in some places, others, not so much. I really need it in Trinity Co., where I have a little over half an acre planted in GRO's Mass Builder. It's my primary plot for rifle hunting there. It lets me watch deer most all day, even if I don't pull the trigger :)
 
Well, we got poo pooed at the farm. Shoulda kept my seed in the bag yesterday. Never seen a hurricane come in at Biloxi and head north and northeast and not rain in northeast Georgia.
It is crazy how much it rains in some places but not in others. Gotta be about 50-100 miles on East side. Still a LOT of moisture and activity in the Gulf. Maybe some will come your way
 
We planted night and day trying to be ahead of the rain that surely Nate would bring. We got 1/10. Forecast went from 80% to 50% to 20% to nada.

The good news is...just how incredible elbon rye is!. We started planting it a week ago in dust and most of it is up and going. Amazing.
It is amazing how some seed will just take off no matter what. The rain in these storms pours down on the East side of the eye. For so long the eye was predicted more toward your area, once it got to the marshes it turned toward Biloxi. I have an update from Farmlogs on my area. Shows more than 7 inches at farm, only 2+ at lake. I am at the lake and my gauge says 4 inches, so go figure.

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Looks like you guys got a good one out of Nate. We are hoping for a shower tonight. 90's for a high today and 50's for a high tomorrow and back into the 80's by Thursday...weird weather continues...
 
Before 7 inches of rain......
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After 7 inches of rain....

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Thats what I don't like about culverts. I've gone to scalloping out ditches in the roads with gravel.
Create a "low water crossing".....I think that would work better.

I hear you. And know from years on the farm that getting down to some decent base and then covering with rocks or good gravel will make a decent crossing. Issue here is the Sandy Loam (with emphasis on Sandy) soil. The bull pen area has HUGE gulleys from the washing over the years. Don't think I can get down far enough in this area to get a good base.
The area never had a good crossing into the woods until I had pines cut about 10 years back. The logger put several junk trees in the ditch to create his crossing. I think my next step will be to move the culvert more to the center and put some junk tree trunks on either side. That will work for awhile.
Fortunately, I have the wood plot planted for this year and we can try to get some of these guys. They seem to want to stay on the other side of the crossing!

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Before 7 inches of rain......
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After 7 inches of rain....

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Uh, I think you going to need a bigger boat Lakn! 7 inches, can't imagine. We got half what predicted but an inch didn't do much for drought.. Soaked it like a sponge. I broadcast rye and RC into my burned brassica plots before it came and hope they can rebound.
And I have an old pipe like yours that I've tired of fooling with. Every hard rain in fall it washes leaves down creek and packs it full. I was always cleaning out the drain and finally let nature do her stuff . One less thing for me to do.
Good luck on nice bucks.
 
maybe need a second culvert right next to it. I have seen that township roads around here doing that more and more.
 
Thats what I don't like about culverts. I've gone to scalloping out ditches in the roads with gravel.
Same here. Just scallop the drainage out, add a few rocks / gravel and drive thru it. Last culvert we put in lasted about a year before washing out.
 
You don't have to go to bedrock to get a good low water crossing. Get down to something halfway hard (be sure and go a couple to three feet deeper than the creek bed), then put a couple feet of rip-rap rock in there, walk it in with a dozer, then fill the voids with oversize rock, (3"/5" rock). Walk that in also. Top that with whatever you want and you'll have a great crossing. I have several on one of my places that held up log trucks just a few weeks ago. It sounds harder than it is. Initial expense may be more than a culvert, but you're not likely to ever have to worry with it again. Just don't build up higher than the normal creek bottom and you're good. These work especially well in situations where a heavy rain gets the creeks out of the banks for a little while and then runs off. Most places culverts just won't carry that runoff. I've put in lots of culverts in fifty years doing oilfield construction, and culverts are a pain in the butt !
 
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