Keep your own weather data for foodplots.

[WTNUT]

You can create the best see bed ever, buy the bust coated seed every produced, lime and fertilize to perfection based upon your soil test results and get little to no growth without rain. Yep, weather data is everywhere on the web. But, is it correct for your farm and do you have a feel for what it will do this year.

My farm(s) are all in a section of the state and county that can really be avoided by the rain clouds in some years. The good news is I have been watching and making notes about our weather patterns for at least 15 years. This year is a prime example. I took a bit of a gamble and planted my brassicas earlier than ever, but not too much of a gamble. Every year in which we have had a "normal" spring and a dry period in late May that extended through July, we have got good rain in August. Well, I planted July 30 and 31 and we have had some rain every day in August so far :). So for you young folks with new farms, start making some notes about your weather patterns.


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[yoderjac]

Personally, I think that is an example of the human brain wanted to see patterns in a data set far to small to have statistical significance. Using sophisticated modeling running on supercomputers and taking measurements from a vast array of sensors, professionals are pretty good at predicting the weather a few days out. Get more than a week and their accuracy drops greatly. Go out months and they can't provide more than broad brush generalizations and those are very unreliable.

I can't see how weather data collected at a local farm by itself has any real predictive value.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[WTNUT]

Jack,

I tend to agree with you and the smarter side of my brain certainly agrees with you. But the practical side that has watch storm after storm break apart and


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[WTNUT]

Sorry premature send signal : But the practical side of me has seen storm after storm approach the mountains and break apart giving us no rain late May through July in many years, or we seem to have the opposite in that we have a very wet summer and dry fall. It may have to do with El Niño patterns. I don't know, but our county can be bone dry when everything is green all summer just 40 minutes north and 40 minutes south. We are probably an anomaly, but I wasted a lot of seed over the years planting after it rained all summer waiting for it to dry up and then getting NO rain in the fall.


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[WTNUT]

One other comment that is pretty funny. 16 years ago an old farmer that is my neighbor, and I mean really old, told me the same thing about rain and when to plant that area and I thought he was an old fool. He is a lot older now, but damn has he gotten a lot smarter ha ha.


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[yoderjac]

Don't get me wrong. Local weather can be important to know. For example the general direction weather moves can cause rain on one side of a mountain or another. Knowing what to generally expect in your area is important. Keeping records like when you planted and how the crop performed can be helpful. However trying to predict whether it is best to plant on the 3rd of the month one year and the 15th the next year is more of a roll of the dice.

Personally, I do things like picking a date (like labor day weekend for a fall plant) and then start watch the local weather forecast. When I see a significant chance of rain in the next few days I'll plant. If I don't get those conditions within 2 weeks, I'll plant at the end of 2 weeks. Picking that date comes from my general location and actual planting is based on local conditions.

Thanks,

jack

 

[meyerske]

Take a look at Farmlogs.com. They have an app too. Free and very cool. I use it for plotting info. It will track your work activities (when and what you planted, when you mowed, etc) and the rain too.

 

[Longleaf]

I have been using Farmlogs for a few years now and I love it. I do agree with what Jack is saying; however I will say I am also guilty of looking at the Farmlogs 10-year history and making some assumptions similar to what WTNUT is saying.

 

[wiscwhip]

In a situation like that ^^^ I wouldn't say you are making "assumptions" so much as observing long term trends, and that can be helpful if you notice a distinct pattern has developed. Should you always plan on planting your fall brassicas on July 15th? Maybe, maybe not, but if you notice good rain tendencies the final 2 weeks of July and then consistent drought conditions the first 2 weeks in August it sure beats waiting. I sure wouldn't wait until July 31st to plant them if I saw any kind of trend like the one mentioned above! Is it Swiss watch accurate? Heck no, but it absolutely can give a guy a starting point to set plans by.

 

[bueller]

Don't forget to take into account the past. Soil moisture conditions can be in good shape even during "dry" periods. And vice versa. You may think that multi inch rain did a lot more for the long term soil moisture than it really did. Think like a local farmer when deciding when and what to plant. Their lifestyle depends on growing successful crops.

 

[bbcoach]

I'm another Farm Logs user as well. I've been using it for the last 3 or 4 years now. It allows me to track the estimated rainfall at all my food plots and it's pretty accurate. I also input the activities for each plot, ie mowing, planting, fertilizing and liming. It allows me to track the progress from year to year and make adjustments.

 

[WTNUT]

For those NASCAR fans, you have heard the announcers make fun of the "vortex" at the track that keeps rain away. I think that is funny, but dang there does seem to be a vortex over our county at times ha ha. Earlier this summer, the entire Midwest was green. It showed dark green everywhere in our county and we did not get a drop. Fast forward to this week, no rain was shown anywhere on the radar and we got a decent shower lol.


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