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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Drought is broken

Cattle continue to graze in a partly flooded pecan grove near Chetopa
  Last summer we suffered through heat and drought. In several posts, I shared photos of the soil in our pecan grove cracked open by dryness.  After a warm and dry winter, it has rained every day for 5 straight days dumping around 7 inches of rain on the Pecan Experiment Field and the surrounding area. The heavy rainfall has caused our first flood of 2012 (photo above). As floods along the Neosho River go, this week's "average" flood is more of a nuisance than a disaster. I'm just glad, I was watching the long range forecast and made the decision to delay our March fertilizer applications. With urea costing over $600 per ton, I wanted to make sure our trees received the fertilizer rather than watch all that nitrogen wash down stream. Once things dry up next week, we will get the fertilizer buggy rolling.