Parched Farm Ground......

[Lawdwaz]

Ended up doing about a 110 mile loop through Genesee, Orleans, and Niagara Counties tonight seeing some fantastic soil with not much happening due to the lack of rain.  I'm no farmer and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night but to my untrained eye it sure looks bleak!

I did see some fine looking corn crops up on Rt 104 in Niagara County (Harris Farms) but they're irrigated heavily and some of the earliest sweet corn around.

So all you farm savvy guys, what are your thoughts on things? 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Lawdwaz

[Bucksnbows]

We need rain. Not all at once either. We need months of off and on rain. This is the second year of below average rainfall and below by far in places. 

[Wolc123]

I’ve never seen a spring drought this bad.  I have been watering my early sweetcorn (planted in our front yard) every other day, using a lawn sprinkler and a 75 ft garden hose.  It looks pretty good, but all of my corn out back (where I can’t water) looks dismal.        

I have also been watering some zucchini and summer squash, along the back of the house.  That looks ok too, but all would be much better with rain water than with chlorinated city water.  
 

Most of the area farmers are cutting their hay early.  I have not cut our grass in over a week.  If and when we get some rain, I’m going to plant a couple more acres of corn.  
 

Oddly enough, my little 1/4 acre pond out back (on the lowest spot here) is still full to near-capacity.  I mowed around it yesterday, and the water is still backed up into the ditches to it.  Maybe I’ll get a gasoline pump and irrigate my last corn plot from that.  I have a shit ton of 1” schd 80 pvc pipe, that I could run to it.  There is also a little water in the creek out back.  
 

I think I’d be better off saving that pond water for the deer later this summer, when it will be of more value to them than any food.  

I just took down the double ladder stand from the front of my woods (I’m replacing it with a barnwood sided, nylon-decked tree blind).  I was going to put that ladder stand up at the back of the food plots over on the edge of my parents woods.  I think maybe I’ll put it up near my pond instead. 

The drought is very widespread.  I drove down a little south of Pittsburgh PA for work last week and it is just as bad or worse down there.  
 

One big surprise (much like my little pond) is the St Lawrence river and Lake Ontario water levels.  Both are near normal, compared to the last several years, when they were way low.  Apparently, they have regained the handle on the downstream damn this year.  

[blackbeltbill]

   The Black Dirt Farmers are constantly  irrigating their Fields now in Orange County with devices that Jet the water High and Far. Onions are King here and We Need Rain!!

  Just weird how we had Summer Temps for 2 Weeks in early to mid April and no Rain. " Driving the Gobbling and Breeding earlier then usual "- Then overcast and Rain for nearly 2 weeks. Then back to Chilly early Morning Temps for nearly 2 Weeks.

  We are back to near normal Weather- but we need the Rain. The Black Dirt Farmers may not make much of a Profit  despite all the Field Hands working out there right now as,I Type.

 

 

 

 

 

[Robhuntandfish]

With the lack of winter and the dry summers it seems to be some sort of climate shift/change. We haven't had a real winter in a few years and then the summers are hot and dry.   

We haven't had rain in like two weeks. It seems like when we do get rain it's in the form of thunderstorms and not all day easy rains.  

Lawn is brown, where we hunt is a swamp and right now one of the ponds there could be sopped up with a roll of bounty.  

 

 

[Cabin Fever]

The farmers rushed to get seed in the ground right before the last rain ~2 weeks ago, but we haven’t had a drop since. Right now, they’re saying rain here Tues and Wed, but haven’t heard how much.

[grampy]

Mrs and I took a ride out to Syracuse yesterday. Lots of brown grass and fields from the Thruway could be seen. Up at out farm the peas and beans are up. But looking parched. My lawn at home is burnt, and hasn't been mowed in two weeks. 

Need rain badly. Forecast says we may get a little bit this week. But not the soaking rain we really need.

[G-man]

Hoping the 30% chance for rain here on tues wed thursday materializes.  Food plot in just before last rain 2 sat ago  it  popped up but is gonna dry out if we dont get some moisture soon.. no dew  either.. its bad..   people dont realize how  much water the dew provides  in the am..  heck mowed  the lawn at 7 am as its  bone dry...

[Robhuntandfish]

We had rain in the forecast for most of this week. They just updated it and said expect very little in the amount of rain but just a stray shower here and there. 

[Stubborn1vt]

It worked out that I got a chance to plant a strip of corn and a strip of oats/clover yesterday.  Hoping we get the rain they forecasted.  I don't think it's a dry here as what you guys are reporting, but it's dry enough.  Chance of rain Tuesday - Thursday.  We could use an inch of steady rain, but anything would help.  Gman is right about the dew.  We've had so much wind lately that it's dry in the morning.  I need to go water my raised beds.  It's been good weather for making hay, but I don't know what there will be for second cut at this rate.

[phade]

We’re happy we bailed on any spring plot activity. 
 

It is indeed dry. Amongst other problems it causes, dry springs are correlated to lesser antler growth too.

[2BuckBizCT]

Dry spring = less inches of antlers?

[dbHunterNY]

39 minutes ago, 2BuckBizCT said:

Dry spring = less inches of antlers?

drought effects everything they eat. less nutrient rich browse. just like anything else that walks this earth they need to stay hydrated. less moisture in everything and less water sources means less water intake to produce more tissue (antlers) that's mostly water. Not only smaller antlers either.... antlers are less dense from a dry spells like this, so they're more susceptible to break tines and/or beams. fawns get a crap start in life too. less milk production and again nutrients going into that milk.

[dbHunterNY]

another issue with drought that we have in southern hudson valley is EHD. concentration at water sources only puts deer around biting midges more often and longer.

[dbHunterNY]

because the sun was shining we pulled first cutting of hay off a lot of fields. corn is growing but some farms who crimp roll cover crop and plant over it are doing alright. helping the ground retain a little moisture anyway.