Still have not got to plant yet...?

[split toe]

So the weather in Arkansas had been dry. I have yet to have a chance to plant my WI clover/chicory plot and sew with oats and there is no rain in the forecast for the next week. My question is should I continue with my plan for this plot and plant when rain is in the forecast, even if the is middle of October?

 

[Mennoniteman]

I would plant the oats for sure. Maybe the clover. Once rain is forecast. Or switch to wheat or rye if it gets too late. The grain will pop up fast with moisture. You could frostseed the clover in early spring rather than risk losing your seed this fall. Pennsylvania is dry too. Plots are hurting for rain.

 

[X-farmerdan]

In case you haven't guessed I'm a total contrary contrarian. Seed in a bag does no good. It rains. It doesn't rain. It's how the game is played. If you want perfect conditions, find another game.
Same thing here in central Virginia. I have planted, and will continue to plant. If I wait, I'll be week(s?) behind.
Timing planting in anticipation of rain is like trying to time the stock market. I might hold back on the fertilizer if any's required, but I want the seed in the ground sufficiently ahead of any coming rain. I'm I going to lose sometimes? Sure, but I'm going to lose if I wait. Just another way of thinking.

This is old, but relevant....
http://kimscountyline.blogspot.com/2012/10/sow-whats-up.html

 

[SwampCat]

Being from AR - you have plenty of time to plant. I planted all of my plots twice last year and some three times. I am not doing that this year. If I have to wait until Nov 1, I am going to. You can plant both wheat and clover Jan 1 in AR and it will grow. I have not planted any of my forty acres this year. I have a dozen or so plots waiting for favorable weather conditions - with none predicted in the next two weeks. Hasnt rained here in four weeks.

 

[Chainsaw]

I planted two weeks ago ad not a drop of rain. The seeds germinated anyhow and came to the surface. If it stayed dry they would be toast. No rain was predicted. However it started raining this evening and still is. We are three hours into it and that ought to seal the deal. It is best to plant and let the cards play out. Usually here we get lucky as this year and the rain bails us out yet again.

 

[SwampCat]

I planted two weeks ago ad not a drop of rain. The seeds germinated anyhow and came to the surface. If it stayed dry they would be toast. No rain was predicted. However it started raining this evening and still is. We are three hours into it and that ought to seal the deal. It is best to plant and let the cards play out. Usually here we get lucky as this year and the rain bails us out yet again.

If I was further north, i would be more concerned. My next door farmer neighbor aeiral seeds 600 acres of wheat around Thanksgiving. We have plenty of time here for it to grow. The bigger concern is if we can get a stand of something before deer season opens. If I was planting a two acre food plot, I would plant five times if I have to. I plant 3000 lbs of wheat. I bought 3000 pounds twice last year and 1500 lbs the third time. I am not doing that again.

 

[cutman]

I will plant when the conditions are perfect. My whole seed order was $2000+. Fertilizer is another $1500. I’m not going to throw all that on the ground and hope it works out...I will wait for the sure thing.

 

[Chainsaw]

I will plant when the conditions are perfect. My whole seed order was $2000+. Fertilizer is another $1500. I’m not going to throw all that on the ground and hope it works out...I will wait for the sure thing.

My seed and fertilizer orders are about two thirds of yours;rain here though is normally expected and predictable. Extended dry times are very rare. Normally perfect conditions in the fall are only one to three weeks away.

 

[dogghr]

Yea I really enjoyed the 80+ days w/o a drop of rain last yr after planting my brassica on " schedule". Plant w good chance rain in forecast and play that odds, not the other way. Besides I plant WR early Nov so I'm sure it would work in AK. Good luck.

 

[DocHolladay]

I only plant a few acres at both the lease and private land. We plant on a schedule and let things play out. Most of the time when it rains or is going to rain, it is when everyone is at work and/or can't get up there. I planted last year about a week late and ended up losing a 1 acre brassica plot, but had a fantastic grain plot. I planted towards the end of September, missed a rain the week prior and never got another drop until December. WW,WO,AWP were in full force come spring. I say, unless you are planting "large" acres, go ahead and plant. If your luck is like mine, when they call for rain, you will be on vacation and can't get out to plant.

 

[THE LLC]

Problem is, in our part of the world, once it does rain around Thanksgiving (our autumn droughts last from late September to mid November every year) the cool air comes with it and though things will germinate they won't grow well in the cooler soil. Here if you want a good plot you have to plant in late August or early September to get both the necessary moisture and warmth to get your stuff to grow and survive 60 days without rain. So, not sure about Arkansas, but east of there you're screwed until Thanksgiving.

 

[Someday Isle]

My most recent experience - I disced, seeded oats, rye, winter pea cultipacked and seeded clover the last weekend in August. There was rain in the forecast. I'm in south central/southeast Missouri. We got no rain that week followed by five more weeks where we missed all of the rain that came through. Temperatures were in the nineties with several days as high as 98-99 degrees with heat indexes in the 100s. I got some germination anyway and it all burned up. I started calling them my dust plots. It was a little over an acre.

In early August I tried my first brassica plot. Total of about 1/3 of an acre. Rain poured down as I was finishing. It continued to rain off and on for a week and it looked like the pictures in a book. They're all dead now.

Fast forward to this week. We got a surprise shower and cooler temperatures starting Tuesday. I decided I'd just redo everything. I have right at an acre and a half total to plant. I hunted Wednesday and yesterday. Yesterday my cereal grain plots had a hint of green as the sun came up. At 10:00 I got down and walked around. I have some decent germination of both rye and oats in spite of the hot, dry conditions. It's thin but there's stuff growing for sure. There's lots of little purple shoots coming up too. That's the rye for sure. My plan now is to redo the brassica plot with a mix of rye and winter wheat and then I'll just overseed the rest of the plots with a little more rye and wheat.

So I timed both plantings with the forecast. The one that worked out according to the forecast was a complete failure in the end. The cereal grains that were packed at least just stayed there and waited for rain. They're not like I planned. They'll be thin and the peas didn't make it but I'll have food and the surprise shower that made it work out wasn't even in the forecast.
I don't have any advice to offer but maybe my results can add to your decision process. But if the cereal grains weren't in the ground I'd have nothing growing right now. I'm hoping the harder clover seed is still just sitting there too and has started it's germination process as well.

 

[Jason Broom]

...It is best to plant and let the cards play out.

I've heard all the reasons why guys don't plant on a timely basis; "it's too dry still", "the ground is too wet to work", "if I plant it now, it will get too stemmy by deer season", "it's too late now, I won't get any bulb production". I heard a new one, today...I spend too much money on this stuff for the conditions to not be "perfect". Well, God and Nature have a different plan, and neither have any respect for yours. That's just how it is, so I plant by a schedule that aligns with the attributes of the plant and the typical conditions one will see in their area. The biggest problem with waiting is this: As sure as you put off planting until a high-percentage rain event is on the way, something will come up to keep you from getting the seed in the ground at that time.

Know the science behind what you're doing and plant in a timely manner, but then trust in a higher power to take it from there.

 

[cutman]

I've heard all the reasons why guys don't plant on a timely basis; "it's too dry still", "the ground is too wet to work", "if I plant it now, it will get too stemmy by deer season", "it's too late now, I won't get any bulb production". I heard a new one, today...I spend too much money on this stuff for the conditions to not be "perfect". Well, God and Nature have a different plan, and neither have any respect for yours. That's just how it is, so I plant by a schedule that aligns with the attributes of the plant and the typical conditions one will see in their area. The biggest problem with waiting is this: As sure as you put off planting until a high-percentage rain event is on the way, something will come up to keep you from getting the seed in the ground at that time.

Know the science behind what you're doing and plant in a timely manner, but then trust in a higher power to take it from there.

I do know the science behind what I’m doing, which is why I won’t plant until conditions are perfect. If you think finances don’t play a role in it then you either don’t plant much acreage or you’ve got enough money for it to not matter.

Numerous people on this very forum planted their fall plots much earlier than usual because August was wet and cool. Well, September had a hurricane early and now not a drop of rain in the three weeks since. If I had planted back then I would have wasted the time, effort, and $2000 worth of seed.

The planting window for fall plots (not counting brassicas...I plant those Labor Day) is October through November in the South Carolina lowcountry. I suspect a large part of the South is the same way. When the weather pattern looks favorable, I’ll get out there and no till it all into the ground. Until then, I’ll continue to wait.

 

[THE LLC]

I don't know Cut, we got a ton of moisture in the ground and a good growth in those early-planted plots. Now, since we aren't disturbing the soil, the moisture is still in the ground and things are growing. If I'd waited til now, it wouldn't grow to Christmas because we'd lose all the available moisture in plowing.