Food plot and wet ground question

[Western]

You can also just wait and plant those types in the fall, September is usually the time here in the South. Worst case, plant something like Milo or Sunflowers, then plow that in in last week of August.

 

[Smallplot]

Mudding in plots can cause many problems. Crusting and compaction jump to mind. Another consideration with wet soil is the development of air pockets in the soil structure. The dirt won't crumble as it does when it is dry causing large pockets of trapped air. Applying some amendments to wet soil can be detrimental also. Inconsistent mixing at incorporation.

You never want to work ground that is too wet! If nothing else you can cut it with a disk once to let it dry out but you will end up with large clumps when it dries out.

 

[mhoun]

I am trying to get my spring plots in. The cutoff for most of the seed in my zone is 2nd week of March. However, the weather has not cooperated. I have 5 plots that I am planting smaller seed such as alfalfa and clover as well as some chicory. The plots are so wet when I disked it turned very good and the ground is staying muddy to the point my tractor causes ruts. I broadcast my lime a few weeks back and disked it in as well as my fertilizer. When I went to sew seed today my cultipacker turned into a mud roller and was not useable.

My land is 1.5 hrs away so I can't waste trips and I don't have that much time. So today I just packed 2 fields as best I could given the soil condition then broadcast seed with hand spreader and left it. I was planting clover. The reason for not doing a follow up cultipacker was the mud clumping and sticking to my packer. I did not want to just rearrange seed. To compensate for the potential poor germination rate I added a little more seed.

The question is did I do the right thing here?

The next problem is that it is going to rain 2 more days this week and the 3 fields that were so bad I left them alone have to be planted next weekend. They have already been limed and disked as well as fertilized so I am just going to hit them with a packer and or pull behind fence drag then seed them and leave alone. I plan on upping my seed again.

How does that plan sound and can I still expect good results?

Thanks

Don't worry about the date, you can plant a little later and every thing will be ok. I planted corn last year and in Michigan we got a ton of rain, I had to replant, so my advice would be to wait, to much mosture will drowned the seed. My father one year planted corn on the 4th of July weekend, he used it to feed cattle in teh fall and winter.