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Farmer Roy's Random Thoughts - I never said it was easy.
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<blockquote data-quote="Farmer Roy" data-source="post: 5717064" data-attributes="member: 71668"><p>we will see what happens.</p><p>it was planted with no moisture, purely for soil health reasons. I had bare ground ( which is an anathema to me ) that I needed to get a cover on. We always retain stubble & groundcover, it is the basis of our whole farming systems, predominately to conserve soil moisture, but there are other benefits such as reducing soil temps ( on a 35 C day, bare black soil may have a surface temp of 50 C or more. ) & being good for soil biology. Howeveer, this was following dryland cotton, which once picked & the bushes mulched, leaves very little residue. The plan was to plant oats & vetch immediately after the cotton for a green manure / cover or forage crop, but the season didn't allow that. Very common to plant wheat or barley double cropped after cotton, just to get some groundcover again, even if yield expectations will be very low ( due to lack of soil moisture )</p><p></p><p>anyway, coming into summer, with high temps & high evaporation, we weren't able to capture & hold any rainfall with bare soil. 30 mm of rain just evaporates away quickly, the subsoil is so dry & the surface so exposed, it just disappears & is completely ineffective. We talk about "effective" rainfall as being distinct from actual rainfall.</p><p>Plus, hot dry bare soil isn't much good for soil life & microbes <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite44" alt=":banghead:" title="Bang Head :banghead:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":banghead:" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite10" alt=":oops:" title="Oops! :oops:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":oops:" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite26" alt=":unsure:" title="Unsure :unsure:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":unsure:" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite25" alt="(n)" title="Thumbs Down (n)" loading="lazy" data-shortname="(n)" /></p><p>we were starting to get a few small falls, but as above, completely ineffective</p><p>so, I just wanted to plant anything that was relatively cheap & would provide cover. If it grew & then died, at least it was providing some protection to the soil, pumping a bit of carbon during that period & hopefully encouraging the microbes</p><p>if it rained a bit more & kept growing, all the better.</p><p>if it kept growing & I harvest it, that's a bonus</p><p>there is still no moisture under it, it is only growing on some rainfall events, so realistically, I don't expect it to have enough moisture to carry it through to grain production.</p><p>but, while its growing, its pumping carbon, feeding biology & utilising what moisture is available, which would otherwise just evaporate</p><p>millet is very quick maturing ( hence doesn't require as much water as longer season plants ) & would be harvested around Feb / March if it survives</p><p>from a cash crop point of view, the next crop here would be a "winter" crop ( wheat, barley, chickpeas or canola ) planted around June</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Farmer Roy, post: 5717064, member: 71668"] we will see what happens. it was planted with no moisture, purely for soil health reasons. I had bare ground ( which is an anathema to me ) that I needed to get a cover on. We always retain stubble & groundcover, it is the basis of our whole farming systems, predominately to conserve soil moisture, but there are other benefits such as reducing soil temps ( on a 35 C day, bare black soil may have a surface temp of 50 C or more. ) & being good for soil biology. Howeveer, this was following dryland cotton, which once picked & the bushes mulched, leaves very little residue. The plan was to plant oats & vetch immediately after the cotton for a green manure / cover or forage crop, but the season didn't allow that. Very common to plant wheat or barley double cropped after cotton, just to get some groundcover again, even if yield expectations will be very low ( due to lack of soil moisture ) anyway, coming into summer, with high temps & high evaporation, we weren't able to capture & hold any rainfall with bare soil. 30 mm of rain just evaporates away quickly, the subsoil is so dry & the surface so exposed, it just disappears & is completely ineffective. We talk about "effective" rainfall as being distinct from actual rainfall. Plus, hot dry bare soil isn't much good for soil life & microbes :banghead::oops::unsure:(n) we were starting to get a few small falls, but as above, completely ineffective so, I just wanted to plant anything that was relatively cheap & would provide cover. If it grew & then died, at least it was providing some protection to the soil, pumping a bit of carbon during that period & hopefully encouraging the microbes if it rained a bit more & kept growing, all the better. if it kept growing & I harvest it, that's a bonus there is still no moisture under it, it is only growing on some rainfall events, so realistically, I don't expect it to have enough moisture to carry it through to grain production. but, while its growing, its pumping carbon, feeding biology & utilising what moisture is available, which would otherwise just evaporate millet is very quick maturing ( hence doesn't require as much water as longer season plants ) & would be harvested around Feb / March if it survives from a cash crop point of view, the next crop here would be a "winter" crop ( wheat, barley, chickpeas or canola ) planted around June [/QUOTE]
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