Well- you know my Ohio deal- I have been putting more chicory down than clover and reliant on rye/ww/trit board casted at 100-150 per ac. I spread it two days ago and am hoping. Strategy is great until you keep tearing pages off the calendar and seeing your plots look the color of the soil/cement theyre planted in.
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Lack of rain, what do you do
- Thread starter Howboutthemdawgs
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Throw n Mow just doesn't work reliably without rain. I've been doing it for decades in a place that might not get a rain in July/August/Sept. Lots of failed attempts. Personally I'd want 2-3 rains predicted over a week's time to get to excited this early in the fall. Germinating then dying in the dry heat is a real thing.
Cool Hand Luke
5 year old buck +
We’ve had a terrible year for rain here too. Somehow all my plots, grass and tree plantings have thrived. I was usually waiting til I saw rain clouds on the horizon or broadcasting in the rain. The other thing I will say is temp swings making for heavy dew really does something. I have one fall plot I planted about a month ago. It’s seen maybe one rain but the cool temps at night and heavy dew has it all green and up and running! I feel for you south/west guys.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Came out of a multi week drought yesterday afternoon with an inch of rain. Good chance of another on Thursday and again on Saturday. After that forecast shows back into another drought. My last plot got put in the ground two days ago.
Where I live the Weather Channel is very accurate, but Accuweather is horrible. For instance, Accuweather is showing 50% ever hour today for the next 8 hours and no rain is anywhere around. There will be days that they show 90% when the Weather Channel is showing 10%. Just an extreme difference.
Where I live the Weather Channel is very accurate, but Accuweather is horrible. For instance, Accuweather is showing 50% ever hour today for the next 8 hours and no rain is anywhere around. There will be days that they show 90% when the Weather Channel is showing 10%. Just an extreme difference.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
Weather Channel only shows 1 chance of rain in the 15 day forecast, and it's tonight for a small amount. Shows 8 days in the low to mid 80s on the back half of the forecast. Haven't even bought cereal rye yet. Maybe later in the fall will provide opportunity for spreading rye.
farmlegend
5 year old buck +
FWIW where I live, TWC is no better than the others.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
if it is just grass - like millet - it just withers to nothing. Where the picture was taken is open area in middle of dried pond. The dead water lotus you can still see at far back side of picture.
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Anybody see any articles on seeding rye and waiting for rain. Like germination rate. You plant it when dry and starts rainging 3 weeks later.
Doing an experiment this weekend. 1/3 of my plot seed then lightly disc, disc then seed, and 1/3 just thorw n mow. All of it will be rolled in afterward, possibly mowed too depending how it looks. smidge of rain maybe thursday and scatter thunderstorms saturday, but thats it in the forecast here in hudson valley NY.
MY plot is already 1/3 several year established foodplot letting the wheat n rye do its things all year, center 1/3 is mowed clover n plantain, other 1/3 is year 2 of a foodplot extension. Stirred in woodschips when I made it. standing rye n wheat more weeds in it than the established. Doing the experiment 90 degrees across the strips of different plots, so see what it does in each situation.
Not sure how I will seed for sure. Got wheat, rye, oats, clovers, and brassicas. Went heavy on wheat last year, and who knows what seed is in there. Deer been picking the heads well this year.
I could water a corner and see the difference. Hose reaches and I'm in the general area watering young apple trees like 30ft away.
Doing an experiment this weekend. 1/3 of my plot seed then lightly disc, disc then seed, and 1/3 just thorw n mow. All of it will be rolled in afterward, possibly mowed too depending how it looks. smidge of rain maybe thursday and scatter thunderstorms saturday, but thats it in the forecast here in hudson valley NY.
MY plot is already 1/3 several year established foodplot letting the wheat n rye do its things all year, center 1/3 is mowed clover n plantain, other 1/3 is year 2 of a foodplot extension. Stirred in woodschips when I made it. standing rye n wheat more weeds in it than the established. Doing the experiment 90 degrees across the strips of different plots, so see what it does in each situation.
Not sure how I will seed for sure. Got wheat, rye, oats, clovers, and brassicas. Went heavy on wheat last year, and who knows what seed is in there. Deer been picking the heads well this year.
I could water a corner and see the difference. Hose reaches and I'm in the general area watering young apple trees like 30ft away.
Theres nothing more fun than when you've wiated forever and seed that lime to watermelon colored blob on radar split and go everywhere but your place. Ah yes- a real gem from the plotters diary.
bigboreblr- due to a so many failures and calendar mess I have had rye out long enough that when it grew the seed mayve been old enough to to buy beer. lol. Birds, esp turkeys and blackbrd flocks have been the biggest killer. Whiel I cant throw a fancy percentage at take- Id say "most of it" grew.
This year was another "chock full of life" where i didnt get to mow my NY or OH places until a couple and last week's ago (respectively....and sorry for the poor grammar). Its also not the first go round with a single mowing. Two big take aways- regrowth of natives and clovers is not bad. Yes- ill nneed cleth for grasses. On the selfish side- it scares the hell out of the deer to have large fallow areas cut. Just my places but (in terms of deer numbers and quality) Harpers take to let it ride and just spot treat bad chit is solid. This said...i had some areas of mulched privet and friends come back thicker than the bearded ladys backhair.
bigboreblr- due to a so many failures and calendar mess I have had rye out long enough that when it grew the seed mayve been old enough to to buy beer. lol. Birds, esp turkeys and blackbrd flocks have been the biggest killer. Whiel I cant throw a fancy percentage at take- Id say "most of it" grew.
This year was another "chock full of life" where i didnt get to mow my NY or OH places until a couple and last week's ago (respectively....and sorry for the poor grammar). Its also not the first go round with a single mowing. Two big take aways- regrowth of natives and clovers is not bad. Yes- ill nneed cleth for grasses. On the selfish side- it scares the hell out of the deer to have large fallow areas cut. Just my places but (in terms of deer numbers and quality) Harpers take to let it ride and just spot treat bad chit is solid. This said...i had some areas of mulched privet and friends come back thicker than the bearded ladys backhair.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Rye sed will lay in the soil quite some time and still have good germination if a critter doesn't consume it. Can't speak to exact germination rate. That would be information that would have to come from a scientific experiment to honestly know other than a casual observation. Doubt that experiment has been done as there wouldnt be any real benefit from it.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I've had abundant rains all summer. But even in other years (like last year) when things were quite dry.....drilling seed through the rye mulch (created in preceding years) has served to work quite well.
Clover and rye seem to prosper through the toughest droughts - if you do not till them to remove the armor on the soil and preserve what moisture you have. Even morning dew will keep some crops alive in tough conditions. Same goes for brassicas.
Of all that I have learned in my 15 years of plotting......one thing remains foremost to me. Find a way to buy an affordable grain drill and stop tilling your soil. The drill simply slices a slot in your soil to deposit seeds and then closes that slot with a packing wheel. That's it. Butter.
In the pic below....I am drilling 112 lbs of rye / acre.....and a few lbs of red and white clovers and some radish. The rye is for late this season when the clover is diminished.....and for next year to provide food....then cover for fawning......then mulch when its rolled or mowed. Near perfect solution for many of us.....IMO.
At either side of these crops is switchgrass I planted in June. It is hoped that the switch will serve to "tighten up" this area and provide a visual barrier that forces bucks to investigate the plots....during the daytime hours.
Clover and rye seem to prosper through the toughest droughts - if you do not till them to remove the armor on the soil and preserve what moisture you have. Even morning dew will keep some crops alive in tough conditions. Same goes for brassicas.
Of all that I have learned in my 15 years of plotting......one thing remains foremost to me. Find a way to buy an affordable grain drill and stop tilling your soil. The drill simply slices a slot in your soil to deposit seeds and then closes that slot with a packing wheel. That's it. Butter.
In the pic below....I am drilling 112 lbs of rye / acre.....and a few lbs of red and white clovers and some radish. The rye is for late this season when the clover is diminished.....and for next year to provide food....then cover for fawning......then mulch when its rolled or mowed. Near perfect solution for many of us.....IMO.
At either side of these crops is switchgrass I planted in June. It is hoped that the switch will serve to "tighten up" this area and provide a visual barrier that forces bucks to investigate the plots....during the daytime hours.
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Foggy47
5 year old buck +
In June I planted switch grass around the permitters of most of my larger food plots....in an effort to provide better security for the deer...and provide a visual barrier from other deer (like huge bucks chasing does) so the deer must enter to get a visual of whom is present in the plots. I thought my switch efforts were a bust....until just a few weeks ago. Since then the switch is coming on like gangbusters nearly everywhere I drilled it. Strange crop for me.
Check out the rye straw "mulch" that is keeping my plots moist....and preventing weed growth in otherwise bare areas. Golden! More rye and clover and brassica being drilled here into the brassica plot I planted a few weeks ago. I did four acres today in about four hours of time total.
My foam markers make it easier to see where I have been....and the added walk-board / step lets my old body crawl up to check the seed boxes in the field.....while the extra weight makes a minimum till drill into a bonafide no-till drill on my light soils. Perfect set up for me with a 38 hp tractor.
Of special note I bought the RC Chippewa Switchgrass from Jon at Northern Whitetail in Michigan. His advice remains worth allot to me and his products and knowledge and integrity are super. His video content on YouTube is spot on.
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I have had a trace of rain at best since the 4th week of July. I never got a single drop the whole month of August. Watched it always go around me or dissipate right before it got to me. Put 3 plots in on 2 properties with good chances of rain during that time and got none of it. And there is nothing in the extended forecast. Most years seem to find me just overseeding rye in early October just to try and salvage something. Gets old honestly.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Drill baby....DRILL!
farmlegend
5 year old buck +
Tend to agree. Even with a good chunk of mowed residue, I’m thinking a good two rain events within 10 days of planting, minimum, maybe more if it’s hot and sunny the rest of the time. This is shaping up as two consecutive years of miserable throw-and-mow August-Septembers in my neighborhood.
I’ve got a new hypothesis - the amount of precipitation after planting is inversely related to your expenditure of time, seed, and diesel fuel.
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TreeDaddy
5 year old buck +
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Few things... rolling / cultipacking seems to work better than mowing. Shade, more surface area for collecting dew. Good base of clover and plantain is cheap insurance against drought.
Been some good souther summer drought resistant threads on here over the years.
Been some good souther summer drought resistant threads on here over the years.
farmlegend
5 year old buck +
Depends on circumstance and what sort of vegetation you’re dealing with.
With the frequency of these August-September-October dry spells in recent years, I’m getting a bad attitude toward the investment in these fall planted plots. This time I’m not going to bother with another seed dump. Screw it, I’m getting tiredofthisshit. Definitely getting a drill in ‘26.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
What kinda land you got farm legend? Sandy? Tractor size?
You will never regret it. Buy once / cry once. Grow your own mulch. Conserve moisture. Life is short....buy a drill.
