Food plot sits in dust for 5 weeks, one good rain and....

I knew the seed would sit, but really wanted it up and going good for opening day. Well started raining last Friday as you N Texans know, so 5" of rain and 5 days and the plot is off

Did notice the surface and sub surface seed up 2-3", should even get thicker when the deeper seed reach the top. A couple days for the roots to get the fertilizer and it's off to the races.

1st photo is my primary plot, second really has me stoked since it is only been in use since last summer, really good dirt on top, but dries out easier. Deer have trampled my main plot in anticipation I suppose..My inspecter checking on things as well.




Top plot

Going to look really great in 2 weeks. I got 3.08" on Saturday so I am waiting for mine to start out of the ground. I drilled it a bit deeper this year with the hope of hitting enough deep moisture to sprout, but that did not work. I hope mine did not sprout and then die

Same plots as last year? Pretty flat iirc, you should do great and probably pass me with longer warm temps. BTW, deepest I have ever got away with, as far as wheat and oats, is about just over an inch, have had beans, lab lab and peas down to 2" and they did great after about 10 days.

I have planted in mixed sandy land 3" or bit more with great results. Here I planted 2-2.5" like last year. Some might have been 3" in spots. Same plots as last year with 2 having a gentle slope to one end and one being mostly flat.

Never went that deep, you probably beat the odds with the sand.

Of course seed size plays a big role in the plants vigor and ability to beat the dirt. The one alfalfa plot I had in Erath Co, was in black clay with small sand layer on top (old cotton farm land) I did better nearly planting on top in that thick stuff, even oats and corn I could get real shallow. Crap would dry like concrete.

125#/acre of oats and peas is a lot of seeds on 6" centers. So it has a lot of plants emerging at the same time. Sandy soils is never really a problem since you can't get a hard packing rains or get crusty soils. Here I took a chance going about .5-1" deeper than last year. Luckly it did not rain hard and should not crust over. If I get rain Friday, Sat and/or Sun then it will really help the deeper seeds. I did not roll and pack the fields either this year like I did last year. So it was not a firm seed bed.

We are getting more rain this weekend, may come up from your part of the world, IDK.

I have been thinking about building myself a cultipacker, I think I could use less effort discing deep and just disc 3-4", drag and pac. I have such an erosion problem in my main plot it is a PITA.

Good to see you guys having good results. We planted a little deeper this year, but seeded heavy. We probably got 6-7" of rain last weekend. I believe we'RE good to go.

My food plot was in the same situation, sitting in dust since last weekend of September. Got some good rain last weekend, about 2 inches, so I am hoping to have some germination by this weekend when more rain is supposed to hit. Should give those young roots something to drink. Should have some good green stubble this weekend.

Glad your plot is coming up well.

Looking good. The rain and morning dew point will really help get that plot up quick!

Western your plot is starting to look good

Chicokid and I planted Oct. 3rd. (Jacksboro) Chico had his fields all tilled way before planting and used a seed drill to plant. I on the other hand disced the heck out of my now weed field then spread using a fertilizer buggy then rolled it in.

Needless to say Chicokids fields starting coming in about 2 weeks ago, I only had a few sprouts as of last weekend. Got our first rain since planting 4.5" so hopefully it will look good opening weekend.

With the amount of rain we got, I think we will all be OK, I'd have been happy with 1", but glad we got more. It was getting pretty dry around here again.

Looking good. Should be really good in a couple weeks

Good to see your results considering I've been in the exact same situation. Weeks of seeds out in the dust without any rain at all, then just over 8 inches in three days that turned everything into a swamp. I was out there yesterday and didn't see any sign of life yet, but I'm hopeful. All my peas have worked their way to the surface, so I'm doubtful they will do anything. Too muddy to drag or disk them back into the dirt, and it's supposed to storm again this weekend.

Eddie, those peas may surprise you, they just need to stay moist until they sprout. Been awhile since I was at your place, but if I recall, moistly flat'ish and good red sandy loam? I personally wouldn't touch it with an implement, it is growing I'd bet, just not through the surface yet. BTW, it is easy to get peas to sprout, just by keeping them moist between a folded paper towel, so.

Much of mine, is seed that was on the surface, or just sub surface, I know what is deeper will be up within 7 -10 days like normal

Is that a black panther?

Didn't think anyone would notice! Seems I get photos of it every time I go get TC cards, or just out goofing around. My area must be covered up in black panthers!

We have a good chance of rain starting Thursday night into Sunday now and another chance starting Tuesday next week. It will make everyones late emerging food plots pop. Let it rain.

I hope I didnt miss the window, but I think for me the tempatures are still a bit warm. I am waiting for the ground to dry a little bit more so I can get in my plot with a tractor and disc,fertilize and seed all in a morning.

We have a couple of smaller plots that got disked about 6 weeks ago but didn't get planted before the 8"s of rain. What kind of results do you think we can still get if we use hand spreaders with oats. Probably to wet to get a tractor in them now.

Depends on your dirt, I had 5" of rain and it was so dry, I drove mine in to look around a day later. If you can get the seed down, you may be surprised at how the tractor can get it (if you can do it before the rain Friday) It wont take much since you disked already and you wont need as much cover to get it started as wet as the soil will be now.

I used a 3pt spreader, I have even dont it by hand in tight places. May be able to use an ATV and pull something heavy enough to stir the seed into the top.

One this is certain, you wont get anything if you don't give it a shot, wont cost much on a small plot as well.

Looks great! Mine are taking off much better than I anticipated also.

Looks like it's going to come on. My two plots popped after this last rain, got 12". Looks like five days of sun then another batch of rain.

Ours sprouted before the rain a week or two, not sure if they held up good to the heat or not, haven't been down to check. We only got about 2 inches of rain, but it should put our plots in good standing for a while if they didn't burn up already!

Fingers crossed.

New photos just a couple days older, I think the fertilizer is kicking in. Also a close up of seed that was sitting on the surface, with the ground staying damp for so many days, you can see the wheat and oat seed has sent out a tap root and started to dig in, you can also see some of the sub-surface sprouts. I know there is some seed deeper and expect they will show soon. Right now it looks like I have about 60% up

Good work!

Looking great Western Mine is starting emerge pretty good right now also. 80% chance of rain tomorrow should make it pop if I get any rain. If you get some more rain, yours will really look great.

That is good news STX, You get any measurable rain and I bet you're baling hay in 30 days

I think the timing of the rains, though late, may actually help many of us go through winter with a good source of browse for our deer. I am hoping I have to shred the tops off a couple times to keep it young and tender. Not doing the 4' tall thing like last year again, it was fun and I got tons of seed, but it was tough for the deer to utilize much.

We are at 90% for rain tomorrow through Saturday, so that should get my roots down deep and take me through much of the winter.

Are you seeing a lot of deer activity in the field?

Oh yeah, covered in tracks and photos on TC. Started seeing them on the upper field after it was about 2" tall. Feeder is next to the main plot, so no really fair, but they have been all over that one as well.

BTW, Still have acorns falling.

Did you get any rain yet?

Oh yeah, I was just fixing to update this thread. At 8am I dumped 1.24" and more on the way. Havent been up to look yet and it is killing me. I like to see it during run-off to help me decide different ways to tackle the run-off. So far the "dikes" i added over the past 2 years of digging out the small pond have made huge improvements.

You get some? Looks like all this is coming from S Texas??

Your plots will jump now. If it rained slow I bet there was very little run off.
Nothing here yet but light mist for a few minutes when some showers built up right over me, then moved NE. I drove around to check TC and plots just about 30 minutes ago and I have a really good stand. As long as I get another shower or two more will be coming up over the next few days I am sure. I just hope the army worms won't make an appearance

Did you check the moisture at depth?, I bet you have good moisture below the roots right now, just from your last rain. Anything else should be a huge bonus.

We are getting run-off now, just because the ground was still pretty saturated, I slept through it, so not sure if it came down over time, or at once. I do know the dry stream is running good.

10-4 on the army worms, I have only had to deal with them a few times in my coastal fields years ago, bastages cost me probably 15-20k one year in spent and lost revenue

I had deep moisture when I lightly disc to kill the weeds the day before I planted. I know I have really good moisture now after the 24 hours slow rain total of 3.08". Anymore rain will start to run off unless it is slow soaking. I have had close to 40" year to date so far.

You should be in much better shape this year over last for sure! I just checked my totals this morning when I added today's data online, just over 47"!! Expecting palm trees soon LOL

I'm sure as long as you have done this "planting thing", you fertilized, can you tell how it fared sitting dry for a few weeks? I was able to find mine fairly easy from 1"-4" deep, nitrogen still in crystal form

I am going to start raising mushrooms. I have learned over the past 5-6 yrs to wait on fertilizer till after the army worms threat is over and I have gotten enough rain to get a good stand started. I then fertilize with part and then add more after the first of the year depending on what I planted. Right now based on the stand of oats it did okay sitting in the ground, the winter pea mix is going to need another week before I know how it faired.

I think I would have ended a bit late for winter peas, they would have came up, but doubt I'd have got much growth.

Last week my field only had a few shoots barely sprouting, most of them were peas.

I only got .13" total out of this 80% chance of rain....

My field has all kind of fresh sprouts right now....after sitting since sept 27 without any rain. The rain last week and this week should allow my plot to grow into a nice stand.

Had deer in there this am chowing away at the fresh stuff. Didn't stay long enough to shoot...

I ended up with a tad over 3" from this last front!, checked the fields this morning and they are 3" at least. TC photos showed greater deer use, pulling in more does than has been normal.

Got a few pics of my plots this evening. Had some showers build up the SW of me and moving my direction. Hope they move in a drop a bit more rain this evening.

Yours is coming up great, I think it is taller than mine

Now that is a nice sized plot! I could find arrow heads in there I bet!

Went out for a little walk in the mud yesterday to see if anything had sprouted and I was pleasantly surprised to see the Rye Cereal seed has taken off. I have Rye grass seed next to it and it's nowhere near half as tall as the cereal seed is!!! My other stuff is just barely breaking through the ground and in some areas, you have to look close to see anything. I'll have a food plot by opening day, but it's not going to be much.

More importantly, I noticed acorns everywhere!!!! It's impossible to walk without stepping on them in areas. The ground is blanketed with them. I only saw one doe on my game camera, which tells me they are out after the acorns. Hopefully all the rain will make them sour quickly and the deer will come back to my food plots

Eddie, the acorns may buy your plot a few days growing time before the deer start mowing it down.