I'm heading to the cabin this weekend and was hoping to plant a screening plot of sorghum/millet/sunflower. It's on newly turned ground. It's been disked and later sprayed, so it's pretty clean. The plan was to light disc it, spread the seed/fertilizer, and then cultipack. If I can come up with a way to create one, I may drag after the seeding but before the packing. Ma' Nature is throwing me a bit of a curveball. It's looking like a very good chance of rain before/during my visit. So what are the chances of just broadcasting the seed/fertilizer on the wet ground and then cultipacking? I'm not sure I will have the time to get back to get this planted before it's too late.
Wet planting?!?
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John-W-WI
Administrator
Rain does a pretty good job of driving seed into the soil.
The bigger the seed the less rain will help, but if I were a bettin' man I would say you'll be fine.
Hopefully the ground is a little fluffy from your previous discing so the rain can cover the seed a little.
If it were mine in your circumstance, I would sure go for it.
-John
The bigger the seed the less rain will help, but if I were a bettin' man I would say you'll be fine.
Hopefully the ground is a little fluffy from your previous discing so the rain can cover the seed a little.
If it were mine in your circumstance, I would sure go for it.
-John
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Planting before a rain is great. After a rain, not so good. Depends on your soils, but with my clay, I do more harm getting equipment on wet soil than any benefit gained by planting. Clay compacts easily.
As an example, we have had a considerable amount of rain lately. As of Tuesday evening the forecast for Wednesday was very low chance of rain until the evening when rain was likely. I headed to the farm Tuesday night driving an hour and a half. We got considerable rain Tuesday night which I expected. I presumed things would dry out Wednesday morning and I would be able to spray my soybeans in the afternoon and the gly would have an hour to be rainfast before the rain came in the evening. Well, I got up Wednesday morning and things changed. They were now calling for rain chances to increase starting at lunch time. I headed out to check the fields in the morning and they were too wet for equipment. I spent the morning grafting and we had an on and off mist all morning. Nothing dried out. I quit about noon as I could see the clouds building for rain and headed home. So, it was 3 hours of driving for about 4 hours of work and my beans still need to be sprayed.
The point of this little story is that I've learned that no matter how tempted I am to "get it done now", I'm better off in the long run waiting or not doing it at all rather than putting equipment on soil that is too wet.
Thanks,
Jack
As an example, we have had a considerable amount of rain lately. As of Tuesday evening the forecast for Wednesday was very low chance of rain until the evening when rain was likely. I headed to the farm Tuesday night driving an hour and a half. We got considerable rain Tuesday night which I expected. I presumed things would dry out Wednesday morning and I would be able to spray my soybeans in the afternoon and the gly would have an hour to be rainfast before the rain came in the evening. Well, I got up Wednesday morning and things changed. They were now calling for rain chances to increase starting at lunch time. I headed out to check the fields in the morning and they were too wet for equipment. I spent the morning grafting and we had an on and off mist all morning. Nothing dried out. I quit about noon as I could see the clouds building for rain and headed home. So, it was 3 hours of driving for about 4 hours of work and my beans still need to be sprayed.
The point of this little story is that I've learned that no matter how tempted I am to "get it done now", I'm better off in the long run waiting or not doing it at all rather than putting equipment on soil that is too wet.
Thanks,
Jack
That's kinda where I think I'm at. It's just a 1/3 acre, so I figure I can't mess it up too much. The other poster cautioned about equipment on wet soil, but mine's a UTV. Can't imagine it'll rut it too bad. Besides, the cultipacker should smoosh the ruts flat... :D Maybe I'll get lucky and the rain will hold off for me to get it done before it starts.
NWWI
5 year old buck +
I've had good luck seeding into a plot and letting the rain drive it home. It not so good luck using equipment. Chances are your packer will turn into one big mud ball and you could gather up a fair amount of seed in that mud. I would either do it without the equipment this weekend or better yet just wait for it to dry up. It's hard to do, but will save you some frustration later.
Well, I got the seed on/in the ground. It rained hard Friday night, but cleared up by Saturday morning. The soil was, according to my uneducated SWAG ;) , too wet to disc, so I opted for plan B. A fair amount of stuff had grown in the 4 weeks since I had been there. I broadcast the fertilizer/seed, then ran the cultipacker over it. I then hit it with a dose of glyphosate. When I say, "I" the work was done by my 9yo and 6yo! I was just supervision. :D They have a good time "farming" for the deer. This was all done by 10:30AM. Rain came about 6pm, so I think I should be good. It's the best I could do with the time and timing I had. I'll be back down for a very short stop over in a couple of weeks and will report on the results. This was a screening plot that is a mix of sorghums and millets.
I had another small project that I am sort of using as a test. A couple of the plots needed expanded. Not as much for more food, but for line of sight. The grass/weeds get tall enough that it blocks the views and shooting lanes, especially for the kiddos. These expansions had been sprayed 2X previously. While there were some stuff growing there, it was a bunch less than the non sprayed parts. I wanted to plant these areas to buckwheat, but costs and difficulty of getting it curbed my enthusiasm, so I decided to try something. I bought a BOB clover mix that I've had luck with in the past. It's got a good amount of berseem and crimson, so it usually comes on pretty fast. So, I broadcast some of that on the previously sprayed ground, sprayed it with some gly and cultipacked it. Be interesting to see how this works. If it's a complete failure, I'll replant the two spots this fall with cereal grains and clover.
I had another small project that I am sort of using as a test. A couple of the plots needed expanded. Not as much for more food, but for line of sight. The grass/weeds get tall enough that it blocks the views and shooting lanes, especially for the kiddos. These expansions had been sprayed 2X previously. While there were some stuff growing there, it was a bunch less than the non sprayed parts. I wanted to plant these areas to buckwheat, but costs and difficulty of getting it curbed my enthusiasm, so I decided to try something. I bought a BOB clover mix that I've had luck with in the past. It's got a good amount of berseem and crimson, so it usually comes on pretty fast. So, I broadcast some of that on the previously sprayed ground, sprayed it with some gly and cultipacked it. Be interesting to see how this works. If it's a complete failure, I'll replant the two spots this fall with cereal grains and clover.
Ben Glantz
5 year old buck +
What is too wet for seed germination or is that even possible? I broadcast clover seed into an area that I had previsouly sprayed and had good standing thatch(was going to comeback and broadcast WR in a few weeks). The ground was wet but not wet enough to have standing water but It was pretty 'gooy'. I checked the plot 2 weeks later and I didn't see a clover sprout. Clover was a mix from a seed supplier, had 4 different varieties and chicory. Should I just wait and see or count this as a loss and try something different?
Finally made it back to the cabin on Labor day weekend. I was down there 2 weeks after planting and was a bit disappointed. Very spotty and low germination. With a bit of rain and some heat, the screen came in great I think!
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr
From the county road. There's about a 1ac foodplot directly behind it.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr
From 1/2 way up the drive.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr
On my way back the cabin from the other side of the foodplot, there were 3 deer in the plot adjacent to the screen all the while my BIL and his kids where 100yds away at the cabin!
The experiment of broadcasting spring clover did okay. The clover came in nice enough, but the weeds! Oh, the weeds!
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr
That part got a good dose of WR and red clover/chicory then cultipacked flat. Fingers crossed on that part.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on FlickrFrom the county road. There's about a 1ac foodplot directly behind it.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on FlickrFrom 1/2 way up the drive.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on FlickrOn my way back the cabin from the other side of the foodplot, there were 3 deer in the plot adjacent to the screen all the while my BIL and his kids where 100yds away at the cabin!
The experiment of broadcasting spring clover did okay. The clover came in nice enough, but the weeds! Oh, the weeds!
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on FlickrUntitled by Tyler Staggs, on FlickrThat part got a good dose of WR and red clover/chicory then cultipacked flat. Fingers crossed on that part.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Mow the weeds and you have a clover plot.
A mower is at the top of my wish list. I'm too lazy and time constrained to use the weedeater, but it may come to that.
