CROSS COUNTY — Rain has been falling this week in Cross County. Jenna Martin, Cross County Extension Office – Staff Chair, said any rain is good – to a point.
“The rain was good. It could have been a little bit slower and timed out, spaced out a little bit more would have been more beneficial,” Martin said. “There’s probably going to be some replant situations on some beans it’s looking like on the lower ends of the fields. I’ve even seen some rice fields where the water is still completely over the levees. It’s just a matter of drainage and getting that water off quick enough.”
Martin said ideally a slower rain is best.
“If we would have had even two or three inches spread out over a week, a week and a half, been a slow, gentle rain, that would have been a lot better,” she said. “Anything that comes in a hard downpour like we’ve had can be too much at once because the water just has nowhere to go.”
Martin said this year’s rainy season cannot compare to the big rains in April of last year.
“We started off pretty strong last year even until that complete flood happened. That was what really put us behind,” she said. “Last year, the rains kept dragging out until June. That was really abnormal for us.
“Everyone seems to be further ahead this year. A lot of people have got their rice in the ground, corn and beans at the same time. Rice was planted pretty early in the year. A lot of people were done even by the end of March,” Martin added. “As far as the timeline goes for planting, we’re pretty good. There’s still going to be some people on the east side of the ridge that are still trying to plant. That can be an issue over there is just trying to get everything sprayed. A lot of these ground rigs they’re not going to be able to get in there and get things sprayed as wet as it is.”
