Irrigate???
Whitetail Deer
Against the advice of An expert I planted this week to beat the big rains that were forecast. Those rains never came and now the extended shows no rain. At least I only planted one 1/2 acre plot. I have a 250 gallon water tank, do you think it's worth the effort to water it?
You could if you have a lot of time. It'll take 54 tankfuls to put 1 inch of water on 1/2 acre.
My neighbor rigged up a full irrigation system that taps out of a nearby river to water his food plots. Expensive, but it works.
Thanks for doing the math, I won't waste my time hauling and spend it dancing instead
Sticksender is correct, it takes 27,000 gallons to put an inch of rain on 1 acre.
I am in awe when I look at the irrigated crop fields and know that many wells are pumping 1,000 gallons a minute and those wells run for days at a time and there are thousand of wells all going at the same time in the county and then tens of thousands of wells going in the state, and then hundred of thousands of wells all going at the same time in the Midwest...
Lets say 128 acres are irrigated on a quarter section by a pivot and they put an inch of water on every week. That is 3,456,000 gallons of water for that week alone. Lets say the irrigation season is 12 weeks long, that is 41,472,000 gallons for that 128 acres alone for the growing season. See what I mean?
Sadly you may experience what's called crop failure. Maybe not. Depends on what you planted and frequency of rain. The worst is one rains they super dry for weeks. Crop failure. If it has been dry with no rain sit back have a beer and let nature do its thing. I'm always amazed about the fact that mother nature wants things to grow. Dry seed on dry soil is fine assuming the critters don't eat it all. Worse case, come mid to late august if nothing starts planning you fall seed planting.
The forecast has changed dramatically in 24 hours, I'm quite certain we will get something in the next 5 days. It's strange to not get the rain here. I lost my spring planting because it was to dry....it's never dry here in the spring!! This year I spent more than I ever have on food plots....with zero to show for it yet!
"The forecast has changed dramatically in 24 hrs"!!!!!!
Grubby, they've been telling me that since the end of May here! One year, I drug 600' of garden hose out to a 1/2 acre sugar beet plot that I planted near my house. It sat in dry dirt for a month without sprouting. I spent 4 days moving the sprinkler around to get the seed out of the ground. it all sprouted but we went about 3 more weeks without any rain and I didn't have the time to try and irrigate it again. Most of it shriveled up and died before it rained again.
I have a four acre field that would be nice to irrigate, but it isn't going to happen! The creek can't supply that kind of water and I not paying to have a well drilled.
After a couple of years of trying to grow something during the spring and summer, I figured out that about a foot below the surface was a sandstone layer and once the surface dried out NOTHING would grow.
Since I figured out the water problem, I work the ground and plant wheat and whatever else I feel like the first part of September. If there is moisture, it grows, if not, it sets there until there is moisture. When it comes up, it's still the only green food in a two mile radius and attracts deer from who knows how far. Have seen as many as twenty different Bucks at one time.
Beans look great, Pat! Being too wet here in Iowa can be a problem in the spring here as well. In fact we were very wet here in April-May, then things just shut off. We did get an inch last Thursday, but before that, we've had a total of 2" since mid May. Exact same thing happened last year as well, however, it finally started raining again in late July and things turned out pretty decent.
At least when it's super dry here, we don't have to worry about raging wildfires burning up 100s and 1,000s of acres of land and houses like out west. Really feel for those guys.
It is never dry here! Usually have to deal with drowning out. Yesterday I looked out at work and it was pouring. A real nice soaker...25 miles away at my place....bone dry.
I can irrigate from my water well, after a fashion, but I can tell you that the way I have to do it is a pain in the butt and a half inch rain beats an all day soaker of well water. I use a water cannon of a sort that will water 360* or anything in between, but I have to drag the plastic two inch line around with my cart. I mostly use it for my clover plots, as obviously you can't drag the line through standing beans or peas without flattening them. Luckily, I haven't had to use it in two years.
I just went out and checked it. I was pleasantly surprised to see good germination in half the plot. We haven't got a drop of rain on it. We have had heavy dew every morning so I'm sure that helps along with the high humidity. it looks to be brewing up a storm right now so I'm hoping it gets some rain on it!!
