My streak of not putting a kernel in the ground in June is still holding. Finished May 31, @ 11:55pm.
Cereals all seem to be germinating fine, peas are anywhere from just poking the ground to 3 nodes. I've never quite figured out why some peas drag their ass, but others are out immediately? Last meaningful moisture event was May 19th, so i suppose that was what it took to get them going, but it seems like they do this every year!
Mustard was the last crop done... It could be my best decision, my worst decision, or perhaps my timing really doesn't matter. It's all up to mother nature here now. There was a pile of 3 leaf buckwheat, lots of kochia, and a carpet of russian thistle in places at burnoff, so hopefully that's all that decides to come for the year. I got most of it into moisture, but would imagine that I'll have patchy germination until such time as mother nature figures we've suffered enough and can bless us with some moisture.
There's been a total of 3.6" of moisture since sept 1 of last year, which leaves us nearly 3" behind normal. Realistically there has only been about 1.25" of meaningful moisture as the rest of that came during the winter (which nuked off 2 or 3 times with chinooks), or was a series of little more than heavy dews measuring 0.1" or less.
The grass here shows it. Ditch grass is burning down already. Can't say I've ever seen crested wheat not head out, but this will likely be the year. It'll be thoroughly cooked before any forecasted rain decides to show up. Brome grass is heading out just above your ankles. Native prairie appears to be heading back into dormancy. It's done until something meaningful shows up.
Early seeded crops are REALLY going to take it on the chin this next couple weeks. There is extremely limited soil moisture and those seeded the middle or end of april are starting to really add above ground mass. Root systems will be digging for whatever they can find, and these cloudless windy days are going to transpire alot of moisture even though it isn't 80*f out there. Later seeded crops stand a slightly better chance of holding out till the middle of June, but if we don't see significant moisture by then we'll be out of the game until next year.
Hoppers are getting hungry, the gopher population is wildly increased over last year (thank you ag canada for banning strychnine!), and insecticide is flying off the shelves fighting flea beetles.
Good luck everyone, we're sure as hell going to need it!
Cereals all seem to be germinating fine, peas are anywhere from just poking the ground to 3 nodes. I've never quite figured out why some peas drag their ass, but others are out immediately? Last meaningful moisture event was May 19th, so i suppose that was what it took to get them going, but it seems like they do this every year!
Mustard was the last crop done... It could be my best decision, my worst decision, or perhaps my timing really doesn't matter. It's all up to mother nature here now. There was a pile of 3 leaf buckwheat, lots of kochia, and a carpet of russian thistle in places at burnoff, so hopefully that's all that decides to come for the year. I got most of it into moisture, but would imagine that I'll have patchy germination until such time as mother nature figures we've suffered enough and can bless us with some moisture.
There's been a total of 3.6" of moisture since sept 1 of last year, which leaves us nearly 3" behind normal. Realistically there has only been about 1.25" of meaningful moisture as the rest of that came during the winter (which nuked off 2 or 3 times with chinooks), or was a series of little more than heavy dews measuring 0.1" or less.
The grass here shows it. Ditch grass is burning down already. Can't say I've ever seen crested wheat not head out, but this will likely be the year. It'll be thoroughly cooked before any forecasted rain decides to show up. Brome grass is heading out just above your ankles. Native prairie appears to be heading back into dormancy. It's done until something meaningful shows up.
Early seeded crops are REALLY going to take it on the chin this next couple weeks. There is extremely limited soil moisture and those seeded the middle or end of april are starting to really add above ground mass. Root systems will be digging for whatever they can find, and these cloudless windy days are going to transpire alot of moisture even though it isn't 80*f out there. Later seeded crops stand a slightly better chance of holding out till the middle of June, but if we don't see significant moisture by then we'll be out of the game until next year.
Hoppers are getting hungry, the gopher population is wildly increased over last year (thank you ag canada for banning strychnine!), and insecticide is flying off the shelves fighting flea beetles.
Good luck everyone, we're sure as hell going to need it!
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