Food Plots Rain

[BSK]

Looks like we're going to get some decent rains over the next two weeks, starting Tuesday. I guess I will go ahead and plant my summer plots Sunday-Monday.

 

[eyeseeker]

I just planted mine Thursday. I'm very much looking forward to the rain.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Looks like it. Our soybeans, corn and sorghum are about 5" tall now. We are headed to co-op to get 2 buggies of fertilizer to spread today

 

[kevin mays]

Spread fertilizer today on Corn and it is about 2in tall
Planted them both 8 days ago
Also fertilized my beans
They aren't up yet
Hated to do it today yr best window I had I could get it done before the rain gets here

 

[deerhunter10]

Putting our beans and millet in tomorrow, finishing up corn either tomorrow or Monday. Ill believe the rain when it falls, but hope it does.

 

[BSK]

I'm planting today and tomorrow. Hope to get it done in 48 hours.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Yeah, it's gonna rain good the next two weeks. Been watching the extended forecasts on a couple sites. Pool crew is scheduled to start our fiberglass pool on the 26th, figures.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Got all fields fertilized and 5.5 acres of clover sprayed. Hoping for the rain now. Trapped 3 coons. Seen several hens with 4-6 poults that were 5-8" tall each.

 

[BSK]

Seed is down and I'm bushhogging now. Hope to have everything sprayed by this evening. Forecasts are going bigger on the rain now. Conservative models are suggesting 4+" for much of West and Middle TN over the next two weeks.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I've got my fields planted and fertilized. Fingers crossed

 

[ShortMountain91]

Just broadcast some buckwheat and soybeans this evening into my plot from the fall. Gonna try and get it bushhogged tomorrow before the rain gets here. Just getting into food plots so experimenting and learning. Fall plot came in awesome but trying to do it now without herbicide or ground disturbance. Don't have much confidence in the beans but hoping the buckwheat takes to surpress the weeds. Figure I'll eventually have to set the weeds back to zero with herbicide and discing but hoping to get maybe 3 years before having to do so. Maybe wishful thinking but it has been a lot of fun trying it out and learning

 

[deerhunter10]

Corn will be finished up tomorrow. Some fertilizer on plots and a couple hay fields tomorrow as well and besides some spraying and fertilizing some corn we will be done until the fall. Besides clover maintainace.

 

[BSK]

Got my seed down and everything bushhogged, but when I went to spray gly, found the batter on my ATV was dead. New battery won't be in until Thursday or Friday, after the rains have started and seed already germinating. Guess I will have to wait a couple weeks and spray Clethodim for the grasses instead of gly for everything.

 

[BSK]

All the models have shifted to A LOT of rain over the next two weeks - possibly flooding rains. All the models now have 5-6" in West TN, and somewhere around 4" for East TN over the next 2 weeks.

 

[tellico4x4]

Mowed weeds on 30+ acres of clover Sat & Sun in prep of spraying this weekend. Looks like it'll be a while now, lol. Glad you guys got planted You are welcome

 

[DoubleRidge]

Nice rain started hour ago. Northern middle TN. Nice and steady. We need it.

 

[Ski]

Just broadcast some buckwheat and soybeans this evening into my plot from the fall. Gonna try and get it bushhogged tomorrow before the rain gets here. Just getting into food plots so experimenting and learning. Fall plot came in awesome but trying to do it now without herbicide or ground disturbance. Don't have much confidence in the beans but hoping the buckwheat takes to surpress the weeds. Figure I'll eventually have to set the weeds back to zero with herbicide and discing but hoping to get maybe 3 years before having to do so. Maybe wishful thinking but it has been a lot of fun trying it out and learning

It is for sure fun. Im constantly trying different methods and different seeds.

I've got one plot in particular that hasn't had ground broken in about 8yrs. It's just now getting to a point where it can grow things other than clover, grain, and weeds. Buckwheat, beans, etc really struggle. When I was tilling it everything grew very well, and now inching close to a decade of no tilling it's getting close to that again.

Another plot gets tilled every year. It has never failed to produce. I keep waiting to see the catastrophic failures everyone says will happen due to compaction & erosion & soil depletion. But thus far it continues to be the best producing plot and it's not even close. I have yet to see deterioration. In fact I'm seeing more black dirt every year. It was pale clay when I started.

That's not to say tilling is a better option than no till. It's very much site specific. What i experience on my place apparently isn't what everyone everywhere experiences because there are lots of folks on here who experience completely opposite of what I do. For me the jury is still out. My experimental no till plot is indeed getting to a pretty good place. But 8 years of poor and gradually improving performance is/was a lot of wasted seasons where it could have been a much better plot if I had tilled. Now the question is whether it will ever surpass the quality of a tilled plot? I have my doubts.

Also to clarify I'm talking broadcast seed, not drilled. There's a HUGE difference between no till drill and no till broadcast. That distinction isn't always made clear so there's often some conflation & confusion, or at least there was for me. I'm not a farmer. I don't have a seed drill, nor could I get one into most of my plots. I'm just a deer hunter trying to figure out how to get seeds to grow in the woods. As you say, it's a lot of fun. But don't be afraid to try as many methods and seed types as you can because your mileage may very well vary from others'.

 

[BSK]

1.46" at my hunting camp yesterday. Models still indicating 4-6" over the next two weeks.

 

[redblood]

1.46" at my hunting camp yesterday. Models still indicating 4-6" over the next two weeks.

i hope we get every drop. not just for my corn.......mainly for the lakes and rivers

 

[JCDEERMAN]

1.46" at my hunting camp yesterday. Models still indicating 4-6" over the next two weeks.

We got less than .1" just south of you

 

[BSK]

We got less than .1" just south of you

Only got 0.26" in SW Nashville.

 

[megalomaniac]

I'm not sure I've ever seen it this dry on my farms in middle TN in May. Several ponds almost dried up.

I got down 2500lbs of fertilizer on a couple of established plots severely lacking in potassium before these rains.

Ag corn planted mid April is about 12in tall, was looking drought stressed this weekend.

How much are we behind for 2026? 15 inches of rainfall?

 

[redblood]

This yr, they just arent panning out. Tomorrow is the last day of school - 2 hr day. I run home the last day of school each yr. About 14 miles…….i guarantee you it will rain like cats and dogs tomorrow …yall are welcome

 

[flyinpro]

Among other things, does anyone toss out some clover?

 

[tellico4x4]

How much are we behind for 2026? 15 inches of rainfall?

2.09 past 72 hrs
6.73" MTD
-8.54 below YTD

Wayne/Hardin

 

[backyardtndeer]

All the models have shifted to A LOT of rain over the next two weeks - possibly flooding rains. All the models now have 5-6" in West TN, and somewhere around 4" for East TN over the next 2 weeks.

I'd guess we are really close to 4 inches of rain this week now. I hope we don't get as much next week.

 

[Andy S.]

2.3" here at my house in last 96hrs. Much needed and spread out enough to soak in some.

 

[BSK]

I'd guess we are really close to 4 inches of rain this week now. I hope we don't get as much next week.

Supposed to rain every day from now until next Friday. But then a week of drier and cooler weather May 30 - June 6.

 

[Andy S.]

Supposed to rain every day from now until next Friday.

Local weather guy showed isolated areas that had received 4-5" in last 4 days, and mentioned some areas will likely finish with 8-10" by the end of next week.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Local weather guy showed isolated areas that had received 4-5" in last 4 days

I haven't watched any local weather, but where we are, north of Jackson, we have probably gotten 4 inches in that same time frame.

Supposed to rain every day from now until next Friday

Yeah, the forecasts I have been watching show the same. Hopefully it won't be as heavy as what we got today.