To plant or Not To plant before storm?

[Corbin.clay]

I had planned on planting either next weekend or the following. With the tropical system approach eastern NC and the rain being almost guaranteed, should I plant this weekend?
Pros- guarenteed significant rain
Cons- could be heavy rain, earlier than predicted

Plot 1 will be Winter Rye and Crimson Clover
Plot 2 will be cereal grains mix and durana clover
Plot 3 will be Brassicas

Have a cultipacker that will be used after spreading to limit runoff and erosion of seeds.

Yes plant this weekend?
Plant just plot 3, wait on others?
Wait to plant all 3 plots?
What do you think

 

[mglenn005]

What's your planting method? disc, broadcast, pack? Can you disc perpendicular to the slope (if any)? Can you drag before you pack?
What's your terrain type? flat, some slope, low spot, ridge, etc.?
Is there any vegetation on the ground?

 

[Corbin.clay]

Flat bottomland ground, Sprayed, mowed, sprayed last 3 weekends. Plan to drag, broadcast, pack, broadcast clover, pack.
All vegetation is dead, with some thatch left.

 

[mglenn005]

In that scenario, I would definitely plant. Heavy rain will help the seed settle.

 

[bueller]

How well does your ground soak up water and is this plot in a spot likely to flood if you get several inches of rain?

 

[bbcoach]

CC, I would wait. I've planted right before a big, big rain in the past and most of the seed floated and wash out or away. They are predicting 5 to 8 inches here in Eastern NC and I've learned my lesson in the past and that is to wait. I'll probably look at next week or the week after. We have plenty of time till our first frost in November so we're OK.

 

[Gilly]

The storm should be gone by noon on Saturday. I was planning on planting as soon as it stopped raining. Granted I will just be broadcasting seed into my existing plots and wont be using heavy equipment.

 

[Corbin.clay]

thanks for the feedback, I dont have experience with the land to know how well seed will sustain 5 to 10 inches in 2 days. Ground does hold water fairly well despite being close to the beach. Organic matter is pretty high.

 

[mglenn005]

5-10'' of rain is much more than I was thinking. I was thinking 2-3''.

 

[Corbin.clay]

Looks like the initial wont be too bad, but lots of projections have it stalling off the NC/VA border and dumping the rain. I think I am going to wait, I doubt my helper will be allowed to come out in the storm (7 year old daughter).

 

[bbcoach]

We have just started with Hermine's rain here in Eastern NC. I have .55 inches since around 5AM this morning and as it moves up the coast it will only intensify. Unless it picks up speed, it won't slide out of here until noon tomorrow. Tonight into tomorrow, we will see lots of rain. I'll keep you guys posted on how much we get here at my house.

 

[Corbin.clay]

I may ride by the farm and set a bucket out as a rain gauge and do a very small test plot of rye, just to see how it handles to rain for future reference. Science teacher in me wants to know for future tropical systems plantings.

BBcoach what county are you in? I am in New Hanover and Pender

 

[bbcoach]

Craven county (Havelock) but hunt in Jones county. Just played your young men from New Hanover High last night in football. I'll keep you posted on the rain we get here. .99 inches as I type this.

 

[bbcoach]

As of this post, we have had 2.95 inches of rain today and it is suppose to continue until around noon tomorrow. Wind is picking up as the center gets closer. I will update again in the morning.

 

[Corbin.clay]

I coached basketball at nhhs for 6 years, then found some hunting land and gave that up. Yall be safe up there, I know that flat land floods easy

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[strawhead]

Hope all you folks out east weather the storm safely.

 

[bbcoach]

OK folks, as of this post, Hermine is due east of us around Cape Lookout lighthouse and has dumped 6.38 inches of rain here at my house. Winds have been light but plenty of rain to deal with last night. We are still experiencing light rain but as she pulls away I expect maybe another .25 of an inch. Ground is totally saturated. CC, this is why I recommended that you wait on planting your plots. We get this about every year and it's SOOO hard to time your plantings to get a little rain and get a great crop or get everything washed away or drown. I suggest looking at the long range forecast and plant when we don't have another storm in the forecast but be advised make sure you keep some seed on hand or be able to get additional seed because we normally will get additional tropical storms with tons of rain in September and October. Good Luck with your plantings but BETTER luck with timing the weather.

 

[Corbin.clay]

So I got my seed and everything loaded and went to the farm this farm. Steady rain that was supposed to clear around 12. I ran the drag over my 3 plots and had my seed ready to go. Ground was soaked. Waited til rain had all but stopped and got my big seed out, (oats wheat, rye and sunflowers). Cultipack after. Then small seed as the rain moved on. Hopefully soil moisture and a good packing will be enough moisture to germinate.

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[bbcoach]

With the rain we got CC, you can go back in 4 or 5 days and the seed will have germinated.

 

[Corbin.clay]

Checked on plots today real quick

mulch pile rye with sunflowers

middle plot with rye and crimson clover

White clover with light crop of rye for nurse crop

crimson clover and rye

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