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EC SD | I have had a couple of inches of rain since the ground thawed. That is enough to get the crop started and it currently looks excellent.
Most years, we have a full moisture profile in early May and that is why so many fields have drain tiles installed, at significant cost. Yes the recent rains are making some tiles run a bit, but mine are just trickling, not gushing. With our rolling fields, those tiles are generally only in the low spots on most area fields. Mine are in the areas that were historically too wet to allow planting full 1/2 mile or more rounds in April or early May. Before tiling, I often had to patch in the low spots in late May or even early June. A little trickling coming out from the tiles is not meaningful to me.
My real worry is that the soil profile (below the top foot) is completely empty, to way below any crop rooting levels. My soils generally can hold 15 inches of crop available moisture, so I strongly disagree with the NASA maps showing we are 70% full at this time. I would guess we are more like 25% full, leaving a deficit of about 11 inches. That soil profile moisture is what gets us through the hot, fairly-dry summer where often we have multiple weeks in a row during July/August without a drop of rain.
It will take very regular rains to recharge the soil profile to normal levels. 11 inches in two days would not be helpful. We need 11 one inch rains, or 5 two inch rains over a month or two. Normally the best chance for rain like that is in the next 6 weeks. It is unlikely to happen, but yes it is certainly possible.
A lot of talk about dry in May helps the plants root down, and I do agree in most cases that is true, especially in states where surplus rain can be counted on in mid-summer. Around here, we need a full soil profile to get through the dry months, and hope for rains to resume in August before too much yield damage occurs... | |
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Story going forward....
