Everything's flooded

[23tony]

New user here, hi everyone!

This is my second year trying to do any commercial growing, and my second year with major failure. Last year it was a late-season hailstorm that killed ~80% of what I had planted.

This year it's been REALLY wet and I'm losing almost everything because the roots can't breathe. I had a trial of ~150 super-hot peppers, I've got maybe 20 left (peppers usually grow like mad here). Only about 1/4 of my corn even came up and what's left was leaning sideways today after the storm we just had. The soil is completely waterlogged, totally flooded between the rows, the rows themselves feel more like the bottom of a lake.

I doubt I can salvage much this year, but I'm wondering if anyone might have suggestions for next year?

Location is just outside Raleigh NC

 

[Wildlife]

Indeed its been strange weather year, we're entering drought already not even end of July.

 

[OhSusanna]

It's hard to plan for when the climate is acting so sporadically. I hate that's happened to you. Can you add a pond as a way to hold excess water and keep your fields from flooding? Nothing you can do about the hail. Can you diversify? Maybe rely on livestock and crops, then if one fails, the other will hold you over? I'm so sorry you're going through this.

 

[jjp8182]

If you aren't already using them, my first thoughts would be raised/shaped beds, and adding in ditches (or even just intentional furrows) to help the water flow out and (potentially) into a holding pond (depending on how much area you're trying to drain). Perhaps an approach similar to what this equipment is used for: Buckeye Tractor Online Catalog Page 03-01 Bed Shapers -or: Raised Bed Shaper, Row Disc Bedder for Raised Bed Farming | Kennco Manufacturing

Sometimes the land just needs a little help to drain properly and prevent becoming waterlogged...and it's generally helpful to look and find out what others in the local area are doing to offset/prevent such issues given how much farming practices can vary by region (or even by field location within a region).

One of the other big things to consider with water management (beyond just getting excess off the field) is making sure it's not also causing erosion and carrying off top soil/nutrients.

Just my thoughts though....

 

[23tony]

Thank you for the responses. Sorry for the late response, apparently the notification went into spam folder.

So here's a couple of pictures of the problem (end of post). I made some furrows between the rows exactly for that, but maybe I need a more appropriate tool to make them - I used a cultivator with wide blades, maybe a hiller would work better.

I was thinking addressing drainage would be the approach, too.

Best I can think of is maybe to cut some cross-ways ditches at the ends of the furrows to drain them out the ends and direct away, downhill? I've got areas there I can catch & spread the water, and farther down there's a stream.