Drought and Survival
- Thread starter dogghr
- Start date
We got nothing…again…
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
You know you need rain bad when you are jealous of a severe thunderstorm !
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
Yep Drycreek, your handle checks out and I know that feeling all too well.
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
We did wind up getting a half inch some time this morning, which will be good for my food plots.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
Looks like you got some moisture down that way this morning Okie!
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
Within a week I'll have to begin watering the bigger trees again for the first time this year, I've already been watering the new seedlings for a couple weeks now. I was REALLY hoping to get a break this year, but oh well I guess... Also brassicas will be another fail I'm guessing, but I'm at least going to try in a couple weeks.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
Some of you are getting flooding right now, from upper midwest to se; I'm afraid we will never get that privilege again. Some say it's cyclical, but I've seen others say the dry line is very quickly moving east and Kansas has begun its transformation into a desert. I sincerely hope they're wrong, but the evidence the last 4 years say otherwise. Those of you who are in floods, COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!!!! That is MUCH more appealing than drought. Water is life!
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
We’ve experienced big floods, they can wreak havoc for sure and endanger lives. But they don’t come close to having the same long term impact as drought. Drought is DEVASTATING on a worldwide level, it kills in a third world environment in a way floods never could (not counting THE flood). Give me floods over drought ANY day of the week.
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
I’ve never been to KS. How is the land being managed? Is it all tilled from coast to coast?
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KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure the actual percentages — there is more pasture land than ag ground though. Eastern KS is dramatically different than western. Western KS has not been managed well at all for decades. There is a reckoning coming legislatively, because they have all but drained the huge aquifer by irrigation, trying to row crop in a place that it isn’t feasible. Irrigation isn’t a thing here in the east; here we have much more timber, including hardwoods. You’d be hard pressed to find any hardwoods in the western 1/4 of the state; about all you’ll see are cottonwoods with some elms sprinkled in, AND cedars of course.
The point I was trying to make above, and didn’t do a very good job of it, was that I would be very grateful to live in a place that still floods and has the potential to flood somewhat regularly. And I’m not talking about measly little flash floods. I can’t imagine getting flooding rain around here anymore, and I’m afraid this has become the new normal. If that’s so, it will affect EVERYTHING negatively. Aerial flooding serves a purpose, like most other weather phenomenon. We still have ponds and reservoirs needing filled. Those huge rains also replenish ground water.
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MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
I have had to master two major problems since I bought my place almost a decade ago. First, I managed like it would never quit raining and it would never dry out. I couldn’t drive on trails until almost August because they were flooded and would rut. I couldn’t grow rye because of standing water in plots. I couldn’t plant most trees because of how wet it was.
I got to work moving dirt like a mad man on a small budget. I dug ponds and ditches and used spoils to fill in holes to get me some dry ground. I had to do weeks of work fixing logging ruts and horrible grazing tactics. Hard to do when u get maybe 3 days a year with equipment.
The moment I finished, it quit raining, and I didnt get a meaningful amount of moisture for three years. I had to immediately switch from oxygen management to moisture management. I adapted my plan and actions to assume there would be no rain.
I shifted to whatever I thought would do best with no moisture. Tillage and spraying were off the table. I quit buying trees, and got serious about managing my own native forest. Every food plot I planted got every single thing I could think of thrown into it to try to find that drought enduring poly culture synergy.
I promoted weeds (thistles, ragweed, listed invasives) others spend crazy amounts of money to kill. I looked to the dakotas to find out what they grow where there’s no moisture. I gobbled up every bit of knowledge I could find on drought strategies for growing stuff.
It was a big change, but I had no choice. The water shut off.
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I got to work moving dirt like a mad man on a small budget. I dug ponds and ditches and used spoils to fill in holes to get me some dry ground. I had to do weeks of work fixing logging ruts and horrible grazing tactics. Hard to do when u get maybe 3 days a year with equipment.
The moment I finished, it quit raining, and I didnt get a meaningful amount of moisture for three years. I had to immediately switch from oxygen management to moisture management. I adapted my plan and actions to assume there would be no rain.
I shifted to whatever I thought would do best with no moisture. Tillage and spraying were off the table. I quit buying trees, and got serious about managing my own native forest. Every food plot I planted got every single thing I could think of thrown into it to try to find that drought enduring poly culture synergy.
I promoted weeds (thistles, ragweed, listed invasives) others spend crazy amounts of money to kill. I looked to the dakotas to find out what they grow where there’s no moisture. I gobbled up every bit of knowledge I could find on drought strategies for growing stuff.
It was a big change, but I had no choice. The water shut off.
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KSQ2
Well-Known Member
That’s what I worry about happening here. It’s a frightening thought. Even without considering the potential environmental changes, I LOVE rain!
T-Max
Well-Known Member
Where are you in this picture? I thought you were down by that red?
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KSQ2
Well-Known Member
We are east of it and it’s not getting to us. Unfortunately, if it does the precipitation will be negligible. When a line is coming and the wind is coming from the north, the line dies before it gets to us. Has happened almost every time since 2021. Guess what started turning i and slowing down wind in 2021???
Btw, I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
