The scurs are concerned that the Weather Eye will keep the dry spell going. Has dry weather become entrenched or are we likely to see changes soon? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with a fair chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the low 50’s. Sunny Thursday with highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the low 50’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the low upper 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a modest chance of forenoon showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 50’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms late in the day. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the low 60’s. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. On July 7th, we start losing daylight at over one minute per day. The scurs are rejoicing. Farm and City Days parade candy is upon us.
Another week of wondering when it will rain although the forecast cooler temperatures should help stretch our subsoil moisture for a while. Waterhemp worries continue for area farmers in the soybeans. With the sporadic nature of the precipitation that’s fallen and uneven distribution of waterhemp infestations on a field-by-field basis, worrying is about all anyone can do. There simply haven’t been widespread runaways, yet. Still, for many the plan is to spray after the 4th and that’s probably not the worst plan. There are small waterhemp emerging here and there and those will do only one thing: produce seed. Aside from cultivation, it offers the only opportunity to stop them. Corn tassels were evident already on some ultra early, early planted corn on Monday. Likewise with some fresh market sweet corn. Expect to see more widespread corn tassels by next week. Soybeans continue flowering with most of the earlier planting firmly in full bloom. Widespread beneficial rains are welcome anytime.
Terrorizing Canada thistles in both pastures was high on my agenda this past weekend. It was another of those things I couldn’t get to last year There are three main species to contend with, primarily Canada thistle, plumeless thistle and bull thistle. All are introduced from Europe and Eurasia. They’ve been a thorn in our side for generations, no pun intended. They compete with the forage in our pasture and are not palatable to sheep or livestock in general. Still remember baling first cutting new seeding that had been infested with bull thistles as a lad. The skin on my forearms was loaded with bull thistle spines by the time we finished. Since that time, few things give me more pleasure than seeing a bull thistle folded up after a herbicide application.
My good-to products for thistle control are those containing aminopyralid. It’s effective on all of those species, and better particularly on Canada thistle than any other pasture weed control herbicide. It also has some soil residual to help prevent seedlings from reestablishing the infestation, at least for a while. Care must be taken however as the product is not metabolized by livestock and passes through their digestive tract into the manure. More than one farmer has encountered a nasty surprise the next year in their soybeans as a result. At the ranch, one particularly heavy patch of plumeless thistle was already being scoped out by the goldfinches. The patch hadn’t produced any seed that I could determine but they were ready when it did. Have some bad news for them. After the pounding I gave that thistle patch, seed production will be severely limited.
Birds in the backyard continue transitioning. There are young orioles appearing at the jelly feeder routinely along with the usual compliment of brightly colored males. A few orchard orioles have made their way as well. The hummingbirds have been less evident than they were at first. Suspect they too are dealing with young nestlings. I did see one appear shortly after I’d cleaned out their favorite nectar feeder so hopefully that’s a good omen. The pleasant surprise has been the loyal goldfinch contingent. I sometimes think their numbers are starting to wane until I look at the thistle feeders and realize they’re here a lot of the time when we’re not. I don’t have a problem with rewarding their loyalty with clean feeders, clean fresh water, and even though it’s not cheap, a fresh supply of seed to eat.
The garden at the ranch makes an excellent barometer for pigweed species. With the watering necessary earlier, all one needs to do is look in those areas and the red carpet of redroot pigweed and waterhemp is starting to develop. Recent rains amplified the situation and the fact the garden is on a south facing slope probably speeds up their appearance as well. It certainly is making the vegetables grow. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, pumpkins, and gourds are loving heat with a little rain added as well. Decorative sunflowers are among my favorites. Another heat and dry loving plant, I cut my teeth on sunflowers as a consultant in ND back in the early 80’s. Fascinating crop that could stand the heat yet flourished with some beneficial rains. They could also be disease prone with white mold (sclerotinia) capable of torching entire fields within a matter of a couple weeks. Losses neared 100% at times. Good thing rent was cheap and there was an act of God clause in those confection sunflower contracts.
Poppy continues her full discovery mode. She’s fond of the morning and evening gardening tour, making the rounds in typical Corgi fashion. In other words, diddling and dawdling as much as possible with her short stature making it difficult to see her much of the time. Something she has suddenly become serious about however is chasing squirrels. When unwinding on the patio after a day’s work last week, I heard something rustling up in the tree. Poppy heard it too and was trying to catch a glimpse of it. Just like that, the fox squirrel came down the tree trunk and started running across the backyard. The chase was on, and Poppy was after it like a chicken on a June bug. She overran it and the squirrel floundered momentarily. It made it back to its feet and to the safety of the nearest tree. Great exercise program for both of them and fun to watch for me. Can’t buy better entertainment that that.
See you next week…real good then.