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Soil Moisture Foiling Farmers' Planting Plans

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Marsha Moulder, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Mar. 5--In some area counties, farmers can't plant until they receive substantial rainfall, in some, farmers have enough moisture to plant, and in others, farmers are waiting for the soil to dry out some before they can plant.

But the variance in planting conditions isn't only from county to county, it's also within counties.

Victoria County farmer Vincent Rippamonti has some corn plants up already in a field on Farm-to-Market Road 2615, and on 1,500 acres the other side of Bloomington he planted Feb. 15.

He planted some corn in a field on Berger Road where he had to knock the rows down some more in order to plant in moisture.

Last Thursday he was in his third day of planting grain sorghum.

The field he was planting on Guadalupe Road was borderline as far as moisture content, he said. "I'm planting deeper than normal."

And he has another field that needs a 3-inch rain before there will be enough moisture to plant, he said.

"If we get rain in the next couple of weeks, I'll plant more corn. Or I may plant mostly milo if we get rain," he said.

"Last year, we planted in mid March because it was too wet. This year, we're doing what we can do when we can do it," he added.

Rippamonti said the thing about rain was, it can't be stored up. "You can take a big jar and put a penny in it every day, and it will eventually fill up. But if you've got moisture down 4 inches from the top of the soil, and you get a 10th of an inch of rain, if that moisture doesn't meet, that 10th of an inch dries out and you lose it."

Bee County farmers usually start planting corn the second week of February, but so far only a couple of farmers have put any seed in the ground, Donnie Montemayor, Bee County extension agent, said Friday.

"There will be a lot less corn, if any, planted this year. A lot of seed has been returned for sorghum seed. A lot of producers are looking at planting cotton even though they haven't planted it before," he said.

But before the farmers do anything, "We need as much as 4 inches of rain to do any good. Two inches would get us started, but then once the crop is planted, we'd need another 2 inches," he said.

"Most farmers are juggling their insurance benefits with prevented planting dates. Some companies have said they will rebate a portion of the seed cost if we have a disaster," Montemayor said.

The first week of March is typically when Karnes County farmers start planting, so they aren't as pressed to get seed in the ground as farmers to the south.

"I don't see anyone right now wanting to dry plant, and there no subsoil moisture," Dennis Hale, Karnes County extension agent, said.

"We need a 2-inch rain to get started. If they could get a 2-inch rain, that would let them say 'We'll put some seed in the ground." My biggest concern is, if we get 2 inches and the farmers plant, the seed may germinate, but if we don't get timely rains thereafter, we have no reserve moisture there at all."

Hale noted he has been in Karnes County 13 years, and this past fall and winter was the driest he can remember.

"It was the first time we had winter pasture failure with wheat and oats."

Karnes County's last measurable rain -- 2.5 inches -- fell on June 1.

"I think we're in an intense short-term drought," Hale said.

"What will kill us is if we go through another spring and summer with no water. It's just brown everywhere. It looks like someone sprayed Roundup over the entire county. We're very rural here so you can see it even in people who don't farm or ranch, everyone is feeling a depressed emotion."

San Patricio County farmers aren't much better off, according to Jeff Stapper, San Patricio County extension agent.

"There are not many folks that have moisture to plant into. A lot of guys are trying to decide what they should do. They're looking at their crop insurance options, and there are a lot of options. I've been telling these guys they need to get with their insurance agents. In most cases, it will probably pay a little more if they do go ahead and plant."

San Patricio County farmers typically start planting corn Feb. 14, grain sorghum the week after than and then cotton is usually planted now if soil temperatures are warm enough.

"We've got guys just now planting corn this week under a center pivot. The cold blasts dropped the soil temperature down, so they had to wait until the soils warmed back up," Stapper said.

The extension agent noted that west of U.S. Highway 77 there is no moisture, but east of Highway 77, there is enough moisture to get a stand, but once it comes up, it would run of out moisture really quick if it doesn't rain.

In Calhoun County, there is a lot of planting activity going on, Zan Matthies, Calhoun County extension agent, said. Some soybeans are already being planted.

"We could use a little rain, the soil moisture is slipping away," Matthies said. In Colorado County, it's a little early for farmers to plant, but the southern part of the county is too wet anyway, Dale Rankin, Colorado County extension agent, said.

"If they can have a little bit of dry weather, they'll be getting started really soon," he said.

Amounts of rainfall in Colorado County have varied. The northern part is very dry.

The southern part where most of the row crops are grown has had from 2 to 3 inches since the first of the year.

"We had some showers that came through the southern part of the county over the weekend. I was in the southern part of the county earlier in the week and didn't see any tractors running," Rankin said. "They're waiting for the next cold front."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Victoria Advocate, Texas

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Source: Victoria Advocate, Victoria, Texas

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