farm hunter

Well, Tonight was the last of spring planting...... we put in 2 acres of soybeans and about 1-1/2 acres of corn was disked up and replanted in 85 day corn.

The spring has been extremely wet, and very cold. Both have contributed to crop loss this spring. We got an early jump on plowing, and had most everything plowed by Mid May. Then the rains came, and an average temp of below 60 degrees for MAY and the 1/2 of the corn we did get planted did very poorly. I' m sure some rotted in the ground, but worse - alot germinated and turkeys and geese walked up and down the rows plucking the 1" seedlings that lay dormant because it was too cold for growth. One 3 acre plot of corn was on a hilltop, and so far is doing OK, the rest is fair at best.

On the bright side, the clover plots are STRONG with the cool weather and rain. To make the situation better, the abundant rains in May and so far in June will DEFINITELY contribute to better than average antler growth this summer. In fact, food is everywhere and even the lush clover is often passed up now for abundant browse/forbs everywhere. The underbrush is VERY thick, and the hayfields still are uncut (more fawn survival as a result). The deer had a great spring.

I' ll have pictures to post as the summer goes on, but I don' t think I' ll have the bumper corn I had last year to show you all.

WV Hunter

FH....I was just thinking this morning, " I wonder how everyones planting and plots are doing this spring, with all the rain" ....

Man I can' t remember a wetter year. We' ve had rain pretty much 5-6 days a week for the last 2 1/2 mos, and the last 16 days straight! No one has made any hay here either...but when they finally can, man is it gonna be the mother lode. Many of the fields have fallen over they are so tall. Alot of the farmers around have just recently gotten their corn in also. It' s definitely late.

I was planning on extending my clover plot this spring, but that hasn' t happened...way too wet to get in there. Hopefully it will dry up and I can get it in for the fall. I do agree with you though...the clover is booming! I mowed mine once 3 weeks ago, and it needs it again already.[] It also has gotten very thick this year.

What you said about the undrbrush...no doubt. We had a bumper mast crop last year, and I' ve got 3' sapplings growing everywhere already this year!!! The deer have so much browse it' s unreal. They haven' t been in my clover a whole lot so far this year(compared to last year). Too much to eat I guess. Definitely should be a fantastic year for the deer! I just hope this precipitation pattern we' ve been in since Dec...changes by the time fall comes around. I really don' t want to have to hunt every day in the rain.

Let us know how your corn does...hopefully it will do ok.

RonM

Farm hunter it has been a terrible year on farming , we planted 2400 acres of corn and about 800 needs to be replanted, we got in about 100 acres earl soybeans out of about 1800 acres, we planted 2100 acres Wheat and probably 300 acres of it got drowned out..over the winter and spring. Better days have to be ahead. My Dr. buddy told me Wed that we are only supposed to have 11 fulls days of sunshine this summer according to the old farmers almanac....The lguys I work for l have entirely too much work now in such a short time....

BuckAlley

I' m not really surprised by all the rain. Not when you think back to the past 3 summers, and how dry it was. Mother nature has a way of straightening things out! I recall a yr like this back in the 1980' s, when it rained almost every wknd all summer. That too was after a few dry spells. But like farm hunter says it' ll have benefits for the deer, and the much needed rain in the forests. Heck I saw sections of woods last summer by the end of July, early August where the leaves on the tree' s were all dried up, and wilted. I wasn' t sure if those tree' s would even make it. So even though it seems overly wet right now, its probably actually really needed! But I do feel for the farmers trying to get their crops going.

Pro-Line

I planted a combo of Imperial, red, and ladino clover. It rained for the first month it was in the ground. It is the weediest dang food plot I' ve ever planted. If I can get it mowed off here shortly and fertilize/reseed if this fall, it should be salvageable. Just too much stinkin rain! Better than a drought, though.

farm hunter

I' m still trying to take the Abundant rain in stride - You know, you kind of get in a habit of having plantings turn out like you expected, at least nearly so - then you have a rough year and crops fail, things don' t go as expected, etc. I can tell you this ---- If you are new to food plots - and have had alot of rain and cool temps this spring, this is nearly as bad as it gets. Try not to get discouraged, and learn fom your endeavors.

I imagine should you be a first year planter - and run into a year like this, you would think - WHY BOTHER!!!!!. Trust me - its not always this rough - and knowledge is the key to making the best of bad situations - in bad planting conditions - my advice is to think small, or think ahead (towards a fall planting). Lunchbucket always says - " don' t be in a hurry to fail" - and this is a case where that philosophy is right on.

Good luck to everyone planting this spring/summer - especially on the East Coast.

ostdc

I wish you all could send some of that rain up here. In Northern WI it is sooooo DRY. I took the quack digger to my winter wheat plot last weekend because the disc was not doing the job. Later that day, I took the disc to it and after going over it twice I had about 6" of fine dusty powder on the ground. We need rain badly!
I' m waiting to have a bit more moisture in the ground to plant my clover mix.
Brian