The last week of July into the first week of August has seen some very cold mornings across the farm. Combined with the sub zero temperatures is the number of consecutive days in which we have seen these temperatures.
Unfortunately this has had a few negative effects on our crops. Firstly, frosts dry out the upper layers of soil very quickly. As a result, plants growing on soil where their roots are unable to follow the receeding moisture band are showing signs of stress. As you travel further west from us, some farmers are about to place their stock on paddocks in an effort to graze them before they die of moisture stress, just to try and get some value out of them.
Secondly, frosts can damage the actual plant by freezing parts of it. This is especially true of flowers and forming seeds. Remember, it the crop doesn’t set seed, then it is a ‘disaster’. The freezing effect is more pronounced on plants which are moisture stressed. So by combining a series of consecutive frosts with the severeness of the frosts, significant damage can occur. Check this report out…Severe frosts damage grain crops – Weatherzone
Using Canola as an example, this is the sort of thing you start to see…
The flower and forming seed pod are the most sensitive parts of the plant and are the most susceptible to damage in prolonged subzero temperatures. The flower and juvenile pod in this photo have ‘frostbite’ for want of a better term. And while canola may try and compensate with the production of more flowers, moisture permitting, this is still lost production. Some crops such as lupins or flowering wheat crops which suffer this level of frost damage would be significantly damaged to the point of being written off.
So with the string of frosts and ground rapidly drying, many farmers are looking to the sky for rain. So the BOM forecasted rain across inland NSW this weekend will be watched very closely. One of my friends who is a Machinery dealer offered to do a rain dance in his birthday suit if it would help… hmmm,
I think, I will pass on that one. 😉
For me, instead of worrying, I remember a bible verse 1 Peter 5:7
Cheers
Neil K