Farming may be considered a form of gambling. Risk and potential disaster loom everywhere. Mother Nature is the boss and our survival is in her hands as well as ours. She can punish us at will with bad weather, weeds, vermin, pestilence and other uglies. With this in mind, planting no matter when, has its risks as well as benefits. Traditional plantings are made in the spring or late-summer and early fall. Excessive moisture which prevents early planting, and weed competition are the risks of spring. The big benefit is that the seedlings have sufficient time to establish to reduce the risk of winter kill. The opposite is true for late-summer and fall planting. Although the fields are usually dry enough for timely seed bed preparation, lack of timely rain may delay seed germination to the point where it places the emerging seedlings at risk of winter kill. Farmers with irrigation don’t face this problem as they can provide their own moisture. Those that live in areas with mild winters can wait for the rain to arrive with low risk. The benefit of fall planting is that you get a big jump on having early use of pasture or a full hay production season next year.
There is another system of planting called fall dormant. It is a compromise between spring and fall planting. This is really the way Mother Nature does it. With this method, planting is delayed until the onset of cold weather, which drops and keeps the soil temperature below 40° F, thus keeping the seed dormant. The seed sits through the winter and awaits spring warmth. This method normally gets a big jump on spring planting, gets ahead of some weeds, and largely eliminates the winter kill problem, but can have drawbacks. Unusually warm late-fall or early-winter weather could cause the seed to germinate and then freeze. Soils prone to runoff and erosion may not be good candidates for fall dormant seeding.
Previous chapter:> How To Plant
Next chapter:> Soil Fertility