Drought and Survival

[OkieKubota]

Posting these photos pains me...this is the driest our place has been since we purchased it in 2014. I have never seen the waterhole anywhere near this low since we built it. This plot was lush deep clover until the rains stopped back in July. Mid August we had several days showing good rain per the forecast and since the clover had completely dried up I tried to put down wheat and turnips only to get a total of 1/10th” of rain and then the faucet completely shut off again. That 1/10th came on August 13th and here it is the 14th of September and we have had 0 since and none in the forecast for at least 2 more weeks...

For reference this is what it looked like a couple months back...

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[KSQ2]

That’s tough Okie, hope the rains come soon. It’s dry here too, but nothing like that!

 

[dogghr]

Wow that is really dry. How are acorns your place this year??
I agree worst drought effects I’ve seen since buying 2009. I thot ‘18 fall drought was bad but this one crazy. My bottom plots have recovered some but upper ones still dirt. First time not having brassica since owning.
And I suspect acorn drop will be very early this year due to stress.


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[Mennoniteman]

Posting these photos pains me...this is the driest our place has been since we purchased it in 2014. I have never seen the waterhole anywhere near this low since we built it. This plot was lush deep clover until the rains stopped back in July. Mid August we had several days showing good rain per the forecast and since the clover had completely dried up I tried to put down wheat and turnips only to get a total of 1/10th” of rain and then the faucet completely shut off again. That 1/10th came on August 13th and here it is the 14th of September and we have had 0 since and none in the forecast for at least 2 more weeks...

For reference this is what it looked like a couple months back...

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That's a shame, especially since I've seen your pics of that field in the most beautiful clover. Hopefully the rains come, but it looks like it's a little late for your fall plots.

 

[weekender21]

It’s DRY in western NC. Not more than a few tenths since Ida. Slight chance this week but nothing substantial.


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[OkieKubota]

Wow that is really dry. How are acorns your place this year??
I agree worst drought effects I’ve seen since buying 2009. I thot ‘18 fall drought was bad but this one crazy. My bottom plots have recovered some but upper ones still dirt. First time not having brassica since owning.
And I suspect acorn drop will be very early this year due to stress.


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White oaks are aborting but the deer are still all over them...green and all. Gonna be a tough year I think...

 

[OkieKubota]

That's a shame, especially since I've seen your pics of that field in the most beautiful clover. Hopefully the rains come, but it looks like it's a little late for your fall plots.

I fear you are right. Rain is a really scarce commodity here.

 

[KSQ2]

Last night there was a 120 mile wide swath of storms about 40 miles deep. They came right to our doorstep and just disappeared. I’m hoping Catscratch got some good rain out of them. I’ve never seen the Verdigris river so full and the ground cracks so large at the same time. The heavens just keep opening up north of us but not down here.

 

[KSQ2]

Can’t put off getting the plots t&med a lot longer. Schedule is full in October, so I’m planning to get them done next Thursday regardless of the forecast. We don’t have any rain forecasted as of right now for at least 3 weeks.

 

[weekender21]

Finally looks like a few days of rain for western NC (Monday-Wednesday). We’ll see if the forecast holds.


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[dogghr]

Rain on way. Clover seed pickup at my fav place. Luckily no 50# bags to get on bike. Support your local.

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[KSQ2]

We have a slight chance for rain this evening, not enough of a chance to make me take a vacation day though. On a positive note, the high is supposed to be 74 tomorrow and we have so upper 40s this week forecasted as lows.

 

[KSQ2]

It missed us again, this time it went east of us. This is getting really old. A good buddy who lives 55 miles NE of us is complaining about how fast his lawn has been growing the last two months. We’ve mowed once in the last month and a half, and then it was only the part of the yard above the lateral lines.

 

[dogghr]

It’s not right because I know many of you are struggling w drought but we finally got a drought breaker rain. 1.5” last night and another round of showers tonight.
I thru mix of RC/WC and grains in to my ridgetop desert yesterday. Hopefully timing was good.
My low field clover and wheat seed had broke ground planted few wks ago on a hope and prayer. No rain but was counting on shorter, cooler days and heavy dew. Seems to have worked.
I’ll post pics from couple wks ago showing advantage of having multiple plots under different conditions to help weather cold, heat, monsoon and drought. Each serves its purpose in different years.
Hopefully you other guys get rains soon.


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[KSQ2]

I headed to the Massey last night after dark (to avoid running any deer on the neighbors during muzzleloader season) and I was very pleasantly surprised to see the condition of everything from young trees to the brassica plot. Everything looked no worse for the wear, the brassicas are 8-10” tall and look great. I picked up the trail cam and saw that the last rain was September 3rd, but it was a doozy. Unfortunately, it was also very localized, which all the rains since early July have been like that. It’s been a feast or famine type of late summer and early fall. I went ahead and watered the trees and hope to not have to do it again, but the forecast is still looking pretty bleak.

 

[MarkDarvin]

I hooked 2.25" a day or two ago. That outta put me over the top for the fall at least, but there's work to be done to rehydrate the subsoil. I got japanese millet germinated around July 20th. I'm hoping I picked up enough heat units to put on a seed head by October 1st. I think I'll make it now that i got one more rain. I won't know until i get into the blind next weekend and get the binocs out to take a look.

 

[weekender21]

September really is hit or miss. We lucked out with 1.5”+ this week, hopefully that will be enough. The cool mountain mornings and heavy dew certainly help us, even when it’s otherwise dry.


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[KSQ2]

My father-in-law told me today they’ve had 2/10s in the last 11 weeks. This is only 4 miles from our farm. We have 2.5” in that time, not exactly a monsoon, but it has us in much better shape than them. The beans all around us are toast as far as any kind of harvest, some the double crop beans barely made it out of the ground.

 

[Kurt]

Forecast in central KS is calling for some rain chances in a week. Could really use one more soaking on the rye and brassicas.

 

[KSQ2]

According to the forecast anyway, things are beginning to look up later this week. We’ll see what happens.