A24—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 7,1981
Weekend rain is only drop in water deficit
LANCASTER Sunday’s and
Monday’s rainfall did little to
appease southeast Pennsylvania
farmland’s thirst for water
According to state specialist,
the area is averaging a 12 inch
deficit in rainfall the teasing
precipitation experienced here
early in the week onl> put one inch
in the more-than-ernpty rain
barrel
According to Jane Smith, en
vironmental planner with the
Bureau of Resources Program
ming, Department of En
vironmental Resources, that one
inch of precipitation, falling as
snow, sleet, and ram, piovided 4
million gallons of runoff water per
square mile under the low soil
moisture conditions existing in the
state.
Hydraulic engineer Steve
Runkle explained the one inch ram
produced 0 2 inch direct runoff In
layman terms, Runkle stated this
amount of runoff would provide
“about four days worth of water in
a good sized community, like the
Hazleton area ”
Current figures show the water
shortage to be a regional problem
DER reports Allentown has a 14-
inch deficit, Harrisburg has a 9-
mch deficit, Chester County comes
in with a 10-inch shortage, while
Selmsgrove has a 12-mch deficit
“We’ve had two severe months
of virtually no precipitation,”
observed Runkle We’re still waj
Sheep 9 wool growers to meet
MECHANICSBURG - This
Thursday, February 12, is the
deadline for tickets for the annual
meeting of the Cumberland
Cooperative Sheep and Wool
Growers meeting
The 12th annual growers banquet
will be held Monday evening,
February 23 at 7 p m
The location will be the First
United Methodist Church, on the
corner of Frederick and Simpson
Ferry Roads, Mechanicsburg
The directors decided that a
banquet should be held in con-
junction with the annual meeting
again this year. Of course, the
meal will feature lamb
Tickets for the banquet will run
$4 25 for adults with the
cooperative making up the dif
behind the norm, and it will take
several months of above normal
precipitation to catch up ”
The DER hydrologist pomted out
this water shortage is following a
trend started last year in May
We were behind in precipitation
from last May on, he tmd Wc
were ahead going into Mav But
each month s shortage produced a
(emulative effect, and now wc u;
feeling it There was only one
month with normal precipitation
since last May ”
Will we catch up in time to have
a normal crop year' Said Runkle,
It’s too early to predict ciop
t .i „s
Just looking at corn, of all the
factors that affect production,
water is most important From
emergence to harvest, corn
generally requires 16 to 26 inches
of water, according to DeKalb
agronomist Wayne Fowler
Total water required for a
successful corn crop varies from
season to season and from area to
area, he noted. Even in the corn
plant’s growth cycle, water intake
vanes
"During the first 45 days when
plants are growing to waist high,
water consumption increases from
essentially zero to about 0 15 inch
per day
“Then during the rapid plant
growth state, moisture demand
increases sharply to a maximum
of abot 0 35 inch per day during the
fernce Tickets for 4-H members
who completed a sheep project in
1980 will be $2 25
Children under 10 also are
welcome for $2 25
In addition to the banquet there
will be a brief business session, the
election of two directors and one
auditor, the president’s report, and
recognition of 4-H members
Dr Lester Gnel, the
veterinarian for the Penn State
sheep flock, will be on hand to
discuss “A health program for
your flock ”
Any grower who pooled wool at
the 1980 Cumberland Cooperative
wool pool automatically is a
member of the Cooperative and is
welcome to attend the annual
meeting
pollination period. Under hot, low
humidity conditions, this
maximum has been reported to be
as much as half an inch per day
Moisture demand tapers oft
aftei pollination and is down to
roughly 0 65 inch per day when
giain 'caches physiologic
maturity
Any time these moisture
demands cannot be met, plants
suffer With corn, the most critical
growth state is from a few days
prior to tassehng to a few days
alter pollination is completed This
is a time ot extreme demand tor
both water and nutrients ”
A lot can happen precipitation
wise between now and next fall’s
corn harvest, but what about the
small grains that are out there
competing for survival now’
According to Arnold Lueck,
Lancaster County Extension
Agronomist, the 24 hour ram that
fell on February 1 and 2 was a life
saver for small grams
“Things were just starting to get
critical,” he said. “But after the
ram, the picture changed
drastically.” ‘
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Lueck pomted out wheat, barley
and rye were undergoing a stress
period for the past couple months
Fortunately, they’re dormant and
don’t require a lot of water, he
pomted out
Luckily, we haven’t had a lot of
wind recently,” Lueck exclaimed,
‘which would have dried out the
plants dehydrated them ”
The Lancaster agronomist noted
the small grams did not benefit
much this wmter from the in
sulating effects of snow cover since
the snows that fell ‘ didn’t lay ”
"You didn’t have to look far from
the field to see brown snow drifts
where the soil had blown,” he said.
Lueck predicted the small gram
crop to "be all right” this summer
It was a timely ram, he concluded
Along with the small gram
growers, several other Lancaster
County farmers welcomed the
ram Among them was Philip
Crouse, 21, son of Galen Crouse,
Ephrata.
Since last September, the
Crouses have been hauling water
to their farm to supply the water
for domestic needs as well as for
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"Last November we buried a
12,000 gallon tank which has helped
a little bit, but we still had to haul
5000 gallons of water two weeks
ago,” Phil recalled
The farm’s seven wells and
spring started going dry last fall
which necessitated hauling 1200
gallons of water every day to meet
the livestock and human needs
"We’re blaming the weak water
supply on the weather,” said Phil
“The wells have never gone dry
before in my life tune, although
Dad talks about it being dry one
other time in the 1950’s ”
Phil said the snow melt seems to
have helped to revive the sluggish
spring and wells. But even at best,
two of the wells flow at only a half
gallon-per-minute rate while the
other three push only a gallon or
two per minute, according to Phil
‘We’re not in the best place for
water or well drilling,” he noted,
revealing two additional wells had
been dug which were both failures
The Lancaster County Soil and
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