Drought and Survival

[KSQ2]

My in-laws got 1.8” last night. That’s the best rain they’ve had since May ‘22. When we have gotten decent rain, they usually get about half. It’s just a literal drop in the bucket, but I’m happy for them. Hopefully it’ll keep everything afloat a little while as we are looking to enter another significant dry spell.

 

[TX-Aggie]

I second MyRadar - it is what i have used for good success in the path, it goes the other way, even when raining it will tell you "less than half an inch possible" just to hedge their bets.

it has only let me down one time in the past - well not me precisely, i had my deer and was in the house with the heaters, but the app said the front would blow through by 3:30 pm, so i told everyone they would want to be in their stands before that time. "when the snow/wintery mix ends, the deer will move." the storm had a "swirl" to it, and the radar wasn't picking it up for me - everyone got in their stands at 2:45-3 pm, to have an afternoon of 20 degree wind-chill and a wet snow/wintery mix falling until 5:30 pm. Ooops - hahahaha, one buddy finally forgave me after 5 years, the other 5 haven't so far.

 

[Drycreek]

I second MyRadar - it is what i have used for good success in the path, it goes the other way, even when raining it will tell you "less than half an inch possible" just to hedge their bets.

it has only let me down one time in the past - well not me precisely, i had my deer and was in the house with the heaters, but the app said the front would blow through by 3:30 pm, so i told everyone they would want to be in their stands before that time. "when the snow/wintery mix ends, the deer will move." the storm had a "swirl" to it, and the radar wasn't picking it up for me - everyone got in their stands at 2:45-3 pm, to have an afternoon of 20 degree wind-chill and a wet snow/wintery mix falling until 5:30 pm. Ooops - hahahaha, one buddy finally forgave me after 5 years, the other 5 haven't so far.

Hey, even the weatherman can be wrong……..most of the time…….and still have a job !

 

[KSQ2]

I cannot really think of a profession with less accountability, except politician of course, specifically a member of the house or senate.

Edit to say we better throw the current president in there as well.

 

[ansayre]

I finished mowing Sunday and it was calling for rain Sunday night/Monday but then 10 days of dry, 90's so I held up. How many days of a soaking rain should I shoot for having the seed sitting there is killing me.

 

[KSQ2]

It's about to get VERY ugly in the midwest -- oh joy! Our only hope for rain in the next 45 days is a MAJOR hurricane to hit Texas far enough west to bring the rain up through the center of the country. The high pressure ridge that has kept almost all the rains away from us in SE Kansas, is about to move farther north and center right over us for the foreseeable future. I'm going to have to forget t&m into the buckwheat, it's not going to work. I'll be tilling up ground AGAIN, breaking the rules of regenerative plotting. I guess my experiment with it is going to only be about three years, if the weather pattern doesn't change next year.

 

[KSQ2]

Looks like this high pressure dome could grab ahold of a few of you over east of us the next month. I sure hope they’re wrong about it.
My tag line for a while will be “Hoping for a hurricane!”

 

[OkieKubota]

High pressure dominates our area...keeping the heat dome in place…

 

[KSQ2]

Yep……… watered trees Sunday and will be back at it again in a couple days.

 

[MarkDarvin]

If it were me...

I would try to get a dump truck load of wood chips, or even some old square bales of hay and get to mulching those trees. Given the streak you've been on, I think it's time to shift to a long term drought mitigation strategy, and put 6" of mulch around those trees. I live in forest country and we've got wood chips coming out our ears, so that's probably easier said than done in prairie country. The only problem we have is getting a warm body to pick up the phone and actually deliver them.

Plan for the worst and adjust accordingly if it doesn't happen. Those chips could/should cut down on your watering chores once you've got it placed. I still act as if I'm going to get severe drought and epic floods at all times, and I usually get both each year.

 

[KSQ2]

If it were me...

I would try to get a dump truck load of wood chips, or even some old square bales of hay and get to mulching those trees. Given the streak you've been on, I think it's time to shift to a long term drought mitigation strategy, and put 6" of mulch around those trees. I live in forest country and we've got wood chips coming out our ears, so that's probably easier said than done in prairie country. The only problem we have is getting a warm body to pick up the phone and actually deliver them.

Plan for the worst and adjust accordingly if it doesn't happen. Those chips could/should cut down on your watering chores once you've got it placed. I still act as if I'm going to get severe drought and epic floods at all times, and I usually get both each year.

Something I might consider in the future. Heading back over tomorrow to water again.

 

[KSQ2]

I’d managed to stay away from the weather apps for a few days. Since the heat broke some this weekend, it might only be temporary, I decided to take a peak at the extended forecast. There is still no relief in sight…. 458 days now without a 2” rain. I’m now fully convinced, only God will break this drought. I expect when He does, it will be unexpected, so maybe soon to make a liar of the forecast??? We can only hope and pray.

 

[Drycreek]

Raining here now, first since early July. It won’t be enough to call off the burn ban but it helps my feelings a little.

 

[BoneCrusher20]

Humbled by mother nature.....20 years planting food plots and I not only had my 1st failed spring planting (no rain from 5/5 to almost July 4th) but also my 1st failed fall planting, as it is starting to show wilting and with the heat returning and no rain in sight not likely to make it.

Can't replant here in WI, September is way too late for brassica mixes. Looks like I'm heading to feed mill to stock up on pallet of winter rye to try and overseed to save it

Clover plots might be my savior and glad I diversify. Need more fruit trees for the drought years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[T-Max]

I planted my brassicas August 12th and got .6” of rain that night. Thankfully most of it didn’t germinate since we got 7 days with ~105. Then got .25” Friday and as of today, still hadn’t germinated thankfully because it looks like 10 more 100+ coming up later this week…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MarkDarvin]

Times like these require a whole new set of thinking to get through. I'm not as dry as I've ever been, but I am losing ground to dry conditions, and it's getting into multiple years now. I had a record setting drought in 2021. I think I got 4" of rain the entire growing season. 2022 was better as I got enough rain to keep the upper horizon of the soil moist, but didn't get any groundwater recharge (IMO anyway). 2023 we're back to drought and we're getting behind.

My perennial plots are the only thing keeping me in business. Nearly everything I've planted has failed, except for stuff I could get underneath some duff to protect from predation, provide some relief from the sun, and hold onto what little moisture I did get to get stuff germinated.

Knowing there is a chance that this continues for a long time, I'm shifting tactics to ensure my chances are as good as they can be going forward. So what am I doing differently?

-Not planting any new trees
-Mulch and mulch and mulch - The key to outlasting the heat
-Shifting focus to managing native browse and cover via chainsaw subtraction
-Caging high value natives that would otherwise get gobbled up by deer so they can produce seed and be dispersed by birds
-Focus on the soil first. Getting a high duff crop in, protecting my residue, protecting the mycorhizal fungi, staying green
-Use the dry conditions to dig ponds and move dirt to where it needs to be when moisture returns
-Waste nothing. Did a bunch of plot work this year. Kept every scrap of wood and brush and buried it in my plots.

 

[KSQ2]

Native browse is a very big deal. Last year everything suffered, but this year there has been enough rain to keep the browse viable and the deer are hammering all of it. Forbs/weeds are SO tough as well and deer are hammering them too.

 

[Drycreek]

I managed to get a half inch last night. It won’t help much, but I’ll have to mow my yard soon. My food plot here at home still looks pretty good considering but as it was a soil builder mix, I’m afraid there’s not too much in it for a deer to eat. That’s another reason to feed protein. My deer still look pretty healthy to me, good antler growth for our area, but poor fawn recruitment as far as I can tell.

 

[KSQ2]

My goodness we’re drying up to nothing! We hung stands at the in-law’s the last couple of Saturdays. Their hill is just under 500 acres with a lot of timber and valleys. I’d say conservatively, they’ve lost at least a couple hundred red and white oaks, along with some blackjacks. Some of these trees are huge.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Times like these require a whole new set of thinking to get through. I'm not as dry as I've ever been, but I am losing ground to dry conditions, and it's getting into multiple years now. I had a record setting drought in 2021. I think I got 4" of rain the entire growing season. 2022 was better as I got enough rain to keep the upper horizon of the soil moist, but didn't get any groundwater recharge (IMO anyway). 2023 we're back to drought and we're getting behind.

My perennial plots are the only thing keeping me in business. Nearly everything I've planted has failed, except for stuff I could get underneath some duff to protect from predation, provide some relief from the sun, and hold onto what little moisture I did get to get stuff germinated.

Knowing there is a chance that this continues for a long time, I'm shifting tactics to ensure my chances are as good as they can be going forward. So what am I doing differently?

-Not planting any new trees
-Mulch and mulch and mulch - The key to outlasting the heat
-Shifting focus to managing native browse and cover via chainsaw subtraction
-Caging high value natives that would otherwise get gobbled up by deer so they can produce seed and be dispersed by birds
-Focus on the soil first. Getting a high duff crop in, protecting my residue, protecting the mycorhizal fungi, staying green
-Use the dry conditions to dig ponds and move dirt to where it needs to be when moisture returns
-Waste nothing. Did a bunch of plot work this year. Kept every scrap of wood and brush and buried it in my plots.

I didn't know that you were dry up north as well, I thought your land is in a very wet swampy area and you would never get dry? We've had 6 weeks centered on May that didn't rain at all, then good rains during the summer, but now we're dry in late August and September. The big problem with these two dry spells is that it's exactly the times when we grow most of our deer plots for the whole year. So our plots have been depressing this last while, to the point that I've given up for this year. A lot of inputs and nothing much to show for it besides a nice corn crop.