Indiana Good Place to Dry Wood

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Huntindog1

Minister of Fire
Dec 6, 2011
1,879
South Central Indiana
A'int going to worry about the wood getting Dry this year.

Its so dry this summer that on a good day you can hear the wood cracking.
 
Yep, about perfect drying conditions for us. Not so good for the lawn, which has been brown & crunchy since May. Been giving our young trees & shrubs a drink every week or two since about April.
The big (60 year old) Sliver Maples in the front yard have started dropping leaves like crazy. I assume they're trying to conserve water, but don't know.
I don't think I can afford to start watering those things!
 
I gave up on watering the seedlings I planted this spring (norway spruce). It is more work to water than it will be to replant later in the fall or next spring. I'm keeping a few new fruit trees alive by giving them a can of water every so often.

Hasn't rained more than a couple sprinkles here since the first week in May. The corn is so bad I doubt they'll even cut it for silage...it is two feet tall and completely brown. Sad really.
 
Most of the established plants don't suffer outside of the garden, but the tree that I see suffer in a time of drought that I have plenty of and want to keep are the Dogwoods.
 
Dumped a hundred gallons on about half a dozen small trees last night. It looked like they were starting to get stung a bit. I have a hundred gallon tank on a trailer with a small electric pump that I run off of the garden tractor. It waters at a pace that allows it to soak in pretty well.
 
We have had a couple 1/2+ in rain falls in the last 4 weeks. Pop up quick storm.
Farmers got the crops in in early april this year. The corn is tall
enough to shade the ground but the beans are in trouble.

If we dont get anything this weekend it is probably over for us too
The north side of the city seems to always get just a bit more then the South.

I have been Watering every evening. The Garden is in good shape.
a few spots of lawn close to the house were we sit is good too.
The wood is drying nicely.
 
Yep, no problems drying firewood here.
I'm keeping some small shrubs, small trees, perennial flowers, and the garden watered. The grass will come back. It did the last couple of years. At least we got a little break from the 100 *F temperatures.

Cheers
 
A'int going to worry about the wood getting Dry this year.

Its so dry this summer that on a good day you can hear the wood cracking.


Seems like the humidity level is a little lower than usual here. We have a dead crunchy yard here also 13" shy of normal rainfall for the year. Corn is a complete loss this year.
 
Hot and dry down here to. We lucked out with 3/4 of an inch monday, so I went and cut some burned up fescue and still managed to start a small fire. Stupid rock! Corn chopping starts next week.
 
Hot and dry down here to. We lucked out with 3/4 of an inch monday, so I went and cut some burned up fescue and still managed to start a small fire. Stupid rock! Corn chopping starts next week.

Ohio is good for drying wood this year to. I think the white oak I cut last fall and this spring will be under 20% by fall.
We've had one 4 tenths of an inch rain and two, two tenth rain falls since april or may. The cracks in the ground are about big enough to loose a small cat in. Unless we get rain in the next day or two, most all crops here will be a total loss. I also have a couple of maple trees that are sheding there leafs.
 
Ohio is good for drying wood this year to. I think the white oak I cut last fall and this spring will be under 20% by fall.
We've had one 4 tenths of an inch rain and two, two tenth rain falls since april or may. The cracks in the ground are about big enough to loose a small cat in. Unless we get rain in the next day or two, most all crops here will be a total loss. I also have a couple of maple trees that are sheding there leafs.

The cracks are HUGE..... Never seen them so big. Grass is brown.

Great for drying wood. The Oak I split last August is about 25% now. I was gonna wait until next yr to burn it. But may be burning me some Oak a yr early. I only have Ash, Cherry, and Honey Locust the racks by the house for this year :( A shame, ain't it? ;)
 
They said that we had .59" in June, but all of that missed our house. We've had virtually nothing since May. April and May were both 3" below normal, so this drought had a running start here. They will have good rain chances forecast but the chances always seem to drop, then we get nothing. We are now classified as D4.
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
Haven't checked any stacks yet for MC but as hot, dry and windy as it has been, I'll bet that a lot of the stuff that I stacked earlier in the year is getting pretty dry...maybe even some of the Oak that was dead. Humidity has been super-low for most of the Summer.
 
Hot and dry down here to. We lucked out with 3/4 of an inch monday, so I went and cut some burned up fescue and still managed to start a small fire. Stupid rock! Corn chopping starts next week.

Is the corn chopping planned or forced?
 
Funny that we got 1 3/4" of rain the first week of July. Looking at the crops and lawns, it looks as if we got nothing. It was so dry it got soaked up fast. Dig down 15" or so and it is like powder.
 
After having record yearly rainfall last year, being in a drought is kind of nice in some aspects. My paper birch has been dropping leaves, a lot of leaves but that happens every time it gets dry. As far as watering, I sprung a hole in the line from the central air furnace to the outside, I have been too cheap or lazy to replace it so I leave the water fill up 5 gallon paint buckets from work. They need emptied and the plants need water, free water is the best. PITA carrying upstairs full then downstairs but it works.
 
Is the corn chopping planned or forced?

It's forced, I think it would make about 20bu per acre. It will make a good amount of silage, which I need due to the poor hay year and I've been feeding sense the 25th of may.

I did some moisture testing, found it odd the white oak was so much lower than the walnut s/s on the same day. 2012-07-07_20-00-39_706-1.jpg 2012-07-03_15-26-38_80-1.jpg 2012-07-03_15-23-57_122-1.jpg
 
I think it would make about 20bu per acre. It will make a good amount of silage, which I need due to the poor hay year and I've been feeding sense the 25th of may.
That's about how big the best ears look here. Some plants don't even have ears, or they look about the size of those baby ears you see at a Chinese restaurant. :( I only saw them get one cutting of hay here.

I did some moisture testing, found it odd the white oak was so much lower than the walnut s/s on the same day.
Yeah, that is strange. Now, maybe if the Oak was dead standing for years when cut and the Walnut was alive...
 
Dairyman, at least you can make silage. Have to look on the positive side.


Lots of corn looking stressed here but nothing like down south or SW of us.
 
Yep, great fire wood drying weather. They are plowing crops under in Southern IL.<>

Wow. Are you serious Steve?!! Is it just the corn or beans too?
 
May be good drying fire wood fast but the prices we all will see at the grocery store will be more than the offset the burning of dry firewood.
Another good thing; maybe they will smarten up & not add corn ethanol to the gasoline. :)
Don't hold your breath though. Gov't subsidized.
You guys went from "the winter that wasn't" to serious heat & drought.

Time for a serious "naked around a bon-fire" rain dance. LOL :)
No pictures plez:eek:
 
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May be good drying fire wood fast but the prices we all will see at the grocery store will be more than the offset the burning of dry firewood.
Another good thing; maybe they will smarten up & not add corn ethanol to the gasoline. :)
Don't hold your breath though. Gov't subsidized.
You guys went from "the winter that wasn't" to serious heat & drought.

Time for a serious "naked around a bon-fire" rain dance. LOL :)
No pictures plez:eek:
Oh, come on BD, there are some I think would probably look good "naked around a bon-fire";)
 
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