2017 season off to a wet (flood) start

[Dave5264]

Hi folks, well, not started taking any Hay off in Northern Ontario yet, and so much rain I doubt my usual 1st 2 weeks of July haying will happen either.

The question of the day is this:

Is my newly planted hay a total loss?

Friday and Saturday I spent 20 hours seeding several fields with hay and oats (My first every attempt at seeding). I was using an old massey harris seed drill and pulling some drag harrows.

End of day Saturday I was well pleased and it looked like a manicured work of art.

Sunday rolls round an the heavy rain hits , and i do mean heavy, almost biblical. I have a creek running through my property and my fields are on a flood plain. Rain stopped by mid day but the creek was rising fast. By Monday morning I had 80 acres under water. Its starting to recede now, but the 10 acres I seeded will have been under water for a few days.

My hope is the seed drill and drag harrows buried the seed sufficiently that it wont have floated away in the flood, but I guess i wont know for a few weeks till i see whats going to grow (or not). I was quite upset on Monday morning, lots of work and $ washed away by mother nature.

thoughts?

 

[radioman]

first -- i feel you . im sorry things might be a total loss , but then it might not me. its just a waiting game now im afraid. it certainly has been a very wet and cold start of spring this year, even down here in nys. i live so close to the lake ontario - i have seen many homes damaged or have docks, land and whatnots being damaged from the unusual high lake levels. i for one have NEVER planted my garden this late into the summer-- its mid july when i finally planted and it was too cold and wet before. my soil was so soggy i couldnt even turn it over for several months. when i planted everything -- since my garden is on incline -- im afriad many of the seeds have washed away from the really heavy rainstorms recently. smh.
so like you its a waiting game. its not a reason to give up though .

 

[Dave5264]

Thanks radioman, I agree, just got to pick up and move ahead, cant control mother nature. On the bright side, I'm glad I didn't get to plant the second 10 acre patch on Saturday, lucky for me i ran out of time, so the damage was limited.

by the time the second 10 acre field is dry enough to get back on to harrow up before seeding, I should see if anything is going to come up in the first 10 acre parcel. We're pure blue clay once you get down 6-10 inches below the top soil, so it stays wet along time in any low areas of the field.

 

[Goose69]

My sad honest opinion is that it is gone.
Not that it helps, but you are not alone.
... I recently lost a few acres of clover, fertilizer, and lots of sweat equity, due to getting 4" of rain in an afternoon right after planting.
Ground was on a sloped hill and
It rained so hard it washed all the seed out, even with cultipacking, and covering with straw.

 

[Dave5264]

Yes Goose, im preparing myself for the worst, anything else will be a bonus I guess.

 

[mjw357]

I think it depends on if your land is mostly flat, and the creek water jost rose and fell, or was water flowing swiftly across them?

 

[Dave5264]

Just rose and fell for the most part. land is pretty flat. The water is receding now, two thirds of the fields are now free of water, the ridges and furrow marks left by my drag harrows are still visible (according to my wife, im away for a few days on business), so im hoping thats a sign that my seed may still be underneath the dirt.

we will see.

 

[cat fever]

Dave if it's any help, I seeded my field and then fertilized. Then came the worst rain I have seen in 20 years. I had mud (seed&fertilizer) running out of the field. My whole field slops gently to the west. All said and done everything grew just fine and I had a great crop.
So good luck and I hope the best for you.

 

[newbury]

Why don't you just go out and drag a hand rake across several small patches in each field to see if the seed is there?
Sort of a quasi-scientific sampling.

 

[Dave5264]

Yes, if it stops raining long enough here, its a good idea to rake up some ground and see if i can see seed. Neighbour tellsme, even if the see is still there, hay seed doesnt like being soaked for a long time so may be total loss anyway...we will see. Thanks for the ideas and encouragement.