Just Enough to Get By

Went to the farm this morning to check on the food plots.  And while things are still dry at Chaplin Bend, last night's rain helped a lot!  Thank you, Father, for giving me what I needed!

First, the sunflowers.  For the most part they seem healthy and vital.  A few leaves are curled and brown but most are full and green.  Nearly every plant now has a flower and the bees were busy doing their thing all over the place.

A few plants, especially at the edges where they are more exposed to the sun and the heat, look a little the worse for wear, but even those look like they'll make it if we get the rain we expect tomorrow and Monday.

I probably planted these sunflowers too densely, which exacerbates the drought problem--too many plants competing for too little water.  But an inch or so tomorrow should give all the flowers more than enough.

Just down the ridge from the sunflowers I planted about an acre of "wildlife mix" that I got for free from Brandon Campbell at NRCS.  I supplemented that with some Browntop Millet I had bought earlier in the Spring for another plot that I didn't have time to prepare, filling in a few empty spots. Well, that patch is thriving now.  The wildlife mix included corn, milo, millet, sunflowers, and soybeans, and at least the grains have come up well.  There are a few sunflowers, none anywhere close to making flowers, and a few soybeans, but the deer are hammering those.  The second seeding of millet is also coming in nicely, filling in around the mix.

 
In the bottoms by the small creek that forms my southern boundary, I planted two legumes, Alyceclover and Deer Vetch.  I planted those spots on May 12 and replanted again in mid-June when it appeared that the first crop had failed to germinate.  Finally, I'm beginning to see some progress, but both varieties are just beginning to grow past the seedling stage.  I planted these as warm-season plots and thought that they would be well along by now.  I had read that these varieties were slow to establish but...  Unfortunately, the slow progress of the desirables has allowed significant weed growth in the plots.  Oh, well, we'll see what happens over the coming weeks. Maybe next year we can do better.

Finally, the corn.  Most of the corn seems to be doing well:  tall and green with ears and tassels.  Other areas are not as healthy.  I'd say that maybe 80% of the crop looks good, with 10% looking stressed and maybe another 10% really looking bad.  The areas of stress seem to be in the west field, which I guess is more exposed to the afternoon sun and, in the wider places, has less direct exposure to the river.

Here's a view of part of the west field.  Notice the brown areas.

Here's a closer view at some of the worst parts of the west field.  Don't know if this can be saved, even if we get more rain tomorrow.

Here's an area further around to the south.  Everything looks healthy here.

And here's a section of the east field.  Looking good!

So it appears that the corn harvest will be mixed.  Perhaps the stressed areas will come along if we get some rain, but I doubt they'll yield much.  We'll see.

Next week we'll start mowing the fields where we planted native grasses to knock back the weeds and prevent them from seeding.  Should take a day or two to mow the whole thing.