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The Massey
- Thread starter KSQ2
- Start date
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I’m quite sure it won’t last, but I’ll never again complain about too much rain; even when it didn’t allow us to get the alfalfa in the ground.
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
Hey, it’s ok to bitch about no rain, too much rain, just right rain, or whatever. We’re humans, that’s what we do ! I’m glad you’re finally getting some rain though. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust, and I’m not gonna judge, but you did get yours last.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
The chestnut & persimmon project is continuing to go well I believe. Every tree has awoken now and they all appear to be very healthy. Since none of this crew has tried this before, I’m not sure when the appropriate time to move them into the 3 gallon containers will be. Will I begin to see root ends through the sides of the root makers when it’s time?
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
It had been a couple weeks since I’d visited the barn at the Massey, so I took the spotting scope over this evening. I was fortunate to see the biggest buck of the early deer watching season. They’re growing fast enough now that I’m not sure if I’d seen him before. Body wise, he dwarfed all the other deer and he was kind of a loner. Looks like he could turn into a wide heavy deer. We’ll see I guess. Saw a lot of deer about an even split of does and bucks, no fawns yet, but I’m guessing the mommas that have dropped are keeping them bedded up still.
I really need to get the tractor and mower over there soon, the winter rye in the lower barn plot looks to have fully matured now, so it’s time to mow, it’s hot enough now, it should set on the ground until fall. Johnson grass is really starting to get going so, soon after mowing I’ll be trying to help the clover/chicory out with some clethodim. The subsoil moisture is awesome right now, I’m really hoping the plots can keep going this year when the faucet turns off. It would be the first summer clover in a LONG time.
I really need to get the tractor and mower over there soon, the winter rye in the lower barn plot looks to have fully matured now, so it’s time to mow, it’s hot enough now, it should set on the ground until fall. Johnson grass is really starting to get going so, soon after mowing I’ll be trying to help the clover/chicory out with some clethodim. The subsoil moisture is awesome right now, I’m really hoping the plots can keep going this year when the faucet turns off. It would be the first summer clover in a LONG time.
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Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Nice buck coming along there. We've been seeing fawns but not out in the fields yet. Be careful if you mow this time of the spring, the danger of mowing over a fawn is pretty big. I did that once and it's a sickening feeling.
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
Yes, I did it once too. It hurt worse when I saw mama out there looking for her baby. Now I don’t start mowing until July or August.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I’ll be putting off the mowing of the bigger field a while yet, for just this reason.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I went back over to the barn yesterday evening; the bigger buck was a no show, but this pretty fella came out early with 3 buddies. 8 more bucks came out later, but it was too late for the spotter to be very clear. It was a fun evening with about 20 deer spotted. The neighbors beans are offering pretty strong competition. The rain has kept our farmer from getting his in as of yet. He hasn’t even been able to spray; I’m very nervous about that, after our pear trees got nailed last year. I’m not sure they would survive another dose this year.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
It's tough to compete with neighboring soybeans...
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Everything looking good, and very promising deer.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I spent some time over at the Massey this last Wednesday evening. There was almost 3/4 acre of ag ground that is cut off from the future alfalfa field by a low area. I was thinking about putting it to milo, but decided against that, and traded the milo for bean seed. I got two bags and broadcast it extremely heavy. I mowed it first, then lightly disked, seeded, and VERY lightly disked to cover the seed. We got a toad strangler last night of over 2”, so we’ll see what that does to germination.
It’s amazing what rain does, I’d forgotten!
I last planted clover in this area 7 or 8 years ago, somehow after years of drought, it’s back. Here’s a few pics from the evening.
A look back at the barn from the lower barn plot, this would be from the perspective of the deer we see in the plot regularly.
The future bean plot, hopefully there’s enough food around, including the ag beans which should be going in soon, to keep the deer from completely wiping it out.
One of the 4 Blue Hill trees from this spring is struggling mightily, I reached out to Ryan to see what he suggests, it’s a Sweet November Crab. The other 3 look great.
It’s amazing what rain does, I’d forgotten!
I last planted clover in this area 7 or 8 years ago, somehow after years of drought, it’s back. Here’s a few pics from the evening.
A look back at the barn from the lower barn plot, this would be from the perspective of the deer we see in the plot regularly.
The future bean plot, hopefully there’s enough food around, including the ag beans which should be going in soon, to keep the deer from completely wiping it out.
One of the 4 Blue Hill trees from this spring is struggling mightily, I reached out to Ryan to see what he suggests, it’s a Sweet November Crab. The other 3 look great.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I spent a pretty good portion of the day working at the Massey. Before I headed over though, I took advantage of having my permethrin clothes being on tended to the callery pear graft behind the house. Looking good so far.
The bean experiment looks to be going well so far too, it looked like about 3/4 of the beans are well out of the ground with the remaining just beginning to poke through, prolly the symptom of disking them in rather than planting.
Now for the eventual alfalfa field, a 5’ mower behind an old tractor without much range in gearing makes for a long afternoon mowing a 10 acre field.
But 5 hours after starting, I took this pic.
The deer will be disappointed for a while, although they have PLENTY to eat with as much rain as we’ve had this year. The field was full of weeds they apparently love and volunteer beans. Since we worked the ground in the spring, this field was a little more tame than the other ag ground. The farmer better get with it, if he’s gonna beat the deadline for crop insurance. All of the farmers are behind the eight ball right now with the lack of windows we had in late spring and early summer. There is still a significant amount of wheat in fields, and fields with double crop beans are going to be few and far between. On the plus side, my father-in-law had a 160 make 92 bushel wheat!!! His prior biggest yield since 1976 was 72. I believe he had an AVERAGE of almost 70 bushel wheat on all of his ground. That’s crazy for our part of the state!
The bean experiment looks to be going well so far too, it looked like about 3/4 of the beans are well out of the ground with the remaining just beginning to poke through, prolly the symptom of disking them in rather than planting.
Now for the eventual alfalfa field, a 5’ mower behind an old tractor without much range in gearing makes for a long afternoon mowing a 10 acre field.
But 5 hours after starting, I took this pic.The deer will be disappointed for a while, although they have PLENTY to eat with as much rain as we’ve had this year. The field was full of weeds they apparently love and volunteer beans. Since we worked the ground in the spring, this field was a little more tame than the other ag ground. The farmer better get with it, if he’s gonna beat the deadline for crop insurance. All of the farmers are behind the eight ball right now with the lack of windows we had in late spring and early summer. There is still a significant amount of wheat in fields, and fields with double crop beans are going to be few and far between. On the plus side, my father-in-law had a 160 make 92 bushel wheat!!! His prior biggest yield since 1976 was 72. I believe he had an AVERAGE of almost 70 bushel wheat on all of his ground. That’s crazy for our part of the state!
M. R. Byrd
Active Member
Wheat streak mosaic hit hard in much of SW Kansas. I had one dryland field that was totaled out. Two dryland fields that had it but it was cutable, although very poor, 50# test weight and big dock at the elevator. The irrigated field made 70 bu. with 60# test weight.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
I haven’t heard of that, but just did a little reading on it.
KSQ2
Well-Known Member
Well, major fail at the Massey today -- I never retaped the supports at the base around the trunk, I can't believe I made this mistake. A year's worth of good growth down the drain.
Other projects are looking better. The trees from the oak planting a couple years ago are looking good. These two are the winners so far, I'm not sure what variety of red oak this is, but it's doing well. The second is a swamp white that is doing well also. I'll begin replacing the trees that didn't survive the drought and moving the cages to them in another year or so when some of them will be tall enough to just need the trunks protected from rubbing. I believe we planted 26 total in an acre of reclaimed crop ground, 13 remain right now. Several still have shorter cages on them and are getting browsed pretty heavily -- yet another future project. I really hope to be living out there within the next 10 years, as long as we can get the water situation solidified. These projects will be so much easier to accomplish if/when we're there!
We haven't seen clover like this in a plot since 2020! I was planning to start completely over this fall with all of our small plots on various properties, but at least the lower barn plot looks to be in good shape for throw and mow. I do need to get the golf cart sprayer over there soon with some clethodim -- another project...
I put a LOT of chicory down last fall, and I don't see much of it in the clover. That could be a result of the deer, or perhaps the clover is crowding it out some. This plant was the only one I saw that was sticking out above the clover.
I'll put this pic on the callery thread. I THINK this is a callery pear; but it is WILD looking, it's a mess of intertwined branches, thorns and waxy leaves. It did NOT have blooms last spring, but I'm not sure all of them do. I'm HOPING it's a callery, even though it's precariously close to the field edge in the waterway and vulnerable to ag spray, it's a good location otherwise.
The north waterway, that was hayed every year before we purchased the place, is getting wilder each year. This year, with the ample rain, it's a jungle. As hard as I tried, I couldn't locate all of the short tubes we've put oaks in the last couple years; they were completely engulfed with vegetation. The red circle below is not only the location of what I hope is the callery pear, but I also jumped a doe out under a cedar nearby. That's the first deer I ever jumped in daylight out of the waterway. You can see the future alfalfa field to the right, which would mean I came within 60 yards of her yesterday on the tractor mowing and she never budged, assuming she was bedded there on Saturday too. This pic also gives an idea why I'm so excited about the possibility of building there one day, the views are spectacular, especially with a thunderstorm brewing like in this pic.
One last pic of the milkweed seed I picked up for wind testers from the stand this fall. It's time to get it, if any of you do the same.
Other projects are looking better. The trees from the oak planting a couple years ago are looking good. These two are the winners so far, I'm not sure what variety of red oak this is, but it's doing well. The second is a swamp white that is doing well also. I'll begin replacing the trees that didn't survive the drought and moving the cages to them in another year or so when some of them will be tall enough to just need the trunks protected from rubbing. I believe we planted 26 total in an acre of reclaimed crop ground, 13 remain right now. Several still have shorter cages on them and are getting browsed pretty heavily -- yet another future project. I really hope to be living out there within the next 10 years, as long as we can get the water situation solidified. These projects will be so much easier to accomplish if/when we're there!
We haven't seen clover like this in a plot since 2020! I was planning to start completely over this fall with all of our small plots on various properties, but at least the lower barn plot looks to be in good shape for throw and mow. I do need to get the golf cart sprayer over there soon with some clethodim -- another project...
I put a LOT of chicory down last fall, and I don't see much of it in the clover. That could be a result of the deer, or perhaps the clover is crowding it out some. This plant was the only one I saw that was sticking out above the clover.
I'll put this pic on the callery thread. I THINK this is a callery pear; but it is WILD looking, it's a mess of intertwined branches, thorns and waxy leaves. It did NOT have blooms last spring, but I'm not sure all of them do. I'm HOPING it's a callery, even though it's precariously close to the field edge in the waterway and vulnerable to ag spray, it's a good location otherwise.
The north waterway, that was hayed every year before we purchased the place, is getting wilder each year. This year, with the ample rain, it's a jungle. As hard as I tried, I couldn't locate all of the short tubes we've put oaks in the last couple years; they were completely engulfed with vegetation. The red circle below is not only the location of what I hope is the callery pear, but I also jumped a doe out under a cedar nearby. That's the first deer I ever jumped in daylight out of the waterway. You can see the future alfalfa field to the right, which would mean I came within 60 yards of her yesterday on the tractor mowing and she never budged, assuming she was bedded there on Saturday too. This pic also gives an idea why I'm so excited about the possibility of building there one day, the views are spectacular, especially with a thunderstorm brewing like in this pic.
One last pic of the milkweed seed I picked up for wind testers from the stand this fall. It's time to get it, if any of you do the same.
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