Food Plots *Final Update* Summer plot...crazy question?

[DoubleRidge]

The plot pictured was planted late last summer with a fall blend....picture attached was taken recently....good stand of oats with some wheat and crimson clover.....so the question is could we broadcast a warm season crop into the stand oats as pictured....then instead of bush hogging.....lay it down with a sickle mower....this would no doubt create a layer or a blanket of thatch over the seed to hold moisture, suppress weeds, create organic material, etc.....just curious if anyone has every tried something similar with a warm season crop? I've sprayed, sowed and mowed in the fall with cool season blend....but watching the crimpers on line lay down a blanket I thought I could lay down a blanket with a sickle mower....catch is I don't have a no till drill...which is what brings me to the question.... broadcast seed then lay blanket down and pray for rain.....crazy idea? Waste of seed? Or go hook to the disk and get busy?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I would just worry about the mower not terminating the existing crop and the new seed competing with the existing crop already established.

Do you have a cultipacker? If so, you could sow, spray (or vice-versa), then wait a week or two and then cultipack. Basically laying everything dead down onto your seed (that has hopefully germinated in that time period). Just have to use a post-emergent like glyphosate

We sprayed two weeks ago, came through a couple days ago and drilled. The drill lays most dead duff down on the ground.

 

[BSK]

Also depends on the seed. Large-seeded plants (beans/peas) will do better covered with a layer of grass mulch than small-seeded plants like clover.

 

[Popcorn]

The oats and wheat will self terminate when seed heads are ripe. Crimson clover will pretty much die out from summer heat but will have seeded back by then. Oats and wheat seed will get eaten by mice, birds, turkey, and more. Mow before seed stage and it will not die. Success also largely depends on what you plant. Knowing that will allow better suggestions. I would suggest considering broadcast then crimp, injure by way of disking lightly. This will also get a lot better seed to soil contact

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Also depends on the seed. Large-seeded plants (beans/peas) will do better covered with a layer of grass mulch than small-seeded plants like clover.

Yep - those bigger seeds have a lot more energy than small seed.

If I remember correctly DR, last year you planted a mixture of beans and peas. Those have a lot of energy and should be easy to grow if it can get some dirt on it

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Mow before seed stage and it will not die.

If you are just mowing, this is key

 

[DoubleRidge]

Yep - those bigger seeds have a lot more energy than small seed.

If I remember correctly DR, last year you planted a mixture of beans and peas. Those have a lot of energy and should be easy to grow if it can get some dirt on it

Yes last summer we did a soybean and pea blend but those plots we're disked and cultipacked.

Just reading about "building soil" got me to thinking about different ways to preserve some of the organic material in a similar way as they do with a roller style crimper....but I do have a disk and access to a cultipacker.....just don't have a drill.

Original thought was sow RR soybeans into the standing oats....then lay thatch down....then later spray what weeds and grasses come up through the thatch. Honestly wasn't sure if this would even work or if it might be worth a shot?

Appreciate all the replies....I gotta get busy on the plots.

 

[BSK]

Original thought was sow RR soybeans into the standing oats....then lay thatch down....then later spray what weeds and grasses come up through the thatch. Honestly wasn't sure if this would even work or if it might be worth a shot?

Yes, it will work, but germination rates would be lower than with a drill hence you will need to overseed.

 

[Popcorn]

Hopefully the beans will canopy quickly and weeds will be minimized by that and the rye mat.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Update to original post.....local co-op did not have Eagle RR soybeans in stock...but they did have Allen RR soybeans so I got a couple of bags and today broadcast 100lbs over 1½ acre of standing oats and crimson clover....started raining....bush hog was on tractor so I slammed the bush hog and chopped / mulched the standing oats and clover....couple of weeks I'll return and hit it with glysophate to kill any new grass or weeds...the rain was steady in area for 2 to 3 hours....fresh cut mulch is wet and matted.....it's a bit of an experiment.....so we'll see how it goes.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Update to original post.....local co-op did not have Eagle RR soybeans in stock...but they did have Allen RR soybeans so I got a couple of bags and today broadcast 100lbs over 1½ acre of standing oats and crimson clover....started raining....bush hog was on tractor so I slammed the bush hog and chopped / mulched the standing oats and clover....couple of weeks I'll return and hit it with glysophate to kill any new grass or weeds...the rain was steady in area for 2 to 3 hours....fresh cut mulch is wet and matted.....it's a bit of an experiment.....so we'll see how it goes.

Keep us updated. You didn't spray at all right? If you didn't, I'm really interested in how it turns out. Was it just oats and crimson?

 

[DoubleRidge]

Keep us updated. You didn't spray at all right? If you didn't, I'm really interested in how it turns out. Was it just oats and crimson?

Hadn't sprayed yet but will ..... mostly oats and crimson plus some weeds.....plot was sprayed last summer before fall blend was broadcast....zero doubt I'll need to spray in next week or two....also went above recommended broadcast rate knowing all won't germinate.....but at least the rain timed out right..... we'll see.

 

[BSK]

As an experiment, I didn't spray my wheat and crimson plots before tilling them under and broadcast planting. We'll see how much weed competition I get this summer.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Update on the "sow, mow then spray RR soybeans"....they are coming through the thick thatch....some areas better than others...but they are present throughout the plot.... digging around I also found some just germinating.....also as expected a few weeds and grasses poking through the thatch...plan is to get this wet week of rain behind us then hit it with glysophate to hopefully knock the grass back.....we'll see.

 

[Jcalder]

Any reason you went with RR beans over something different. Local coop here suggested stonewall beans which are not RR. Last year was a bust so I changed my methods and sprayed, disked, and sowed the beans. Another bust this time as I dumped 140# of seed on 3/4 of an acre, instead of the 2.5 acres I planned on lol. Was going to drag my seed in but I ended up having tractor troubles and didn't get to. I'll be interested in keeping up with updates as your method would definitely save me a lot of time.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Awesome! Love seeing that coming up through the heavy thatch. This week of rain should definitely serve as steroids. Spray accordingly and you should be in business. Just hope the deer don't annihilate it.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Any reason you went with RR beans over something different. Local coop here suggested stonewall beans which are not RR. Last year was a bust so I changed my methods and sprayed, disked, and sowed the beans. Another bust this time as I dumped 140# of seed on 3/4 of an acre, instead of the 2.5 acres I planned on lol. Was going to drag my seed in but I ended up having tractor troubles and didn't get to. I'll be interested in keeping up with updates as your method would definitely save me a lot of time.

Last year the beans we planted were not RR and they got up to about knee high then the deer got on them and hit them hard then weeds and grass came on and it went down hill from there.
Hoping on this "experiment plot" that the thick thatch will supress weeds and grass some....then being RR I can spray the weeds and grass that does come up....also the thatch holds moisture....I had planned on eagle forage type beans but co-op didn't have them in stock but they did have the Allen RR beans at $38 per 50lb bag....per what I read online they are a bushy type medium size soybean....so we'll see how it goes.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Awesome! Love seeing that coming up through the heavy thatch. This week of rain should definitely serve as steroids. Spray accordingly and you should be in business. Just hope the deer don't annihilate it.

No doubt....the deer hammering them is a concern.....to make matters worse this location has never been planted in beans so when they find them I'm sure they will hit them hard .....time will tell.

 

[Jcalder]

Last year the beans we planted were not RR and they got up to about knee high then the deer got on them and hit them hard then weeds and grass came on and it went down hill from there.
Hoping on this "experiment plot" that the thick thatch will supress weeds and grass some....then being RR I can spray the weeds and grass that does come up....also the thatch holds moisture....I had planned on eagle forage type beans but co-op didn't have them in stock but they did have the Allen RR beans at $38 per 50lb bag....per what I read online they are a bushy type medium size soybean....so we'll see how it goes.

Thanks! Makes sense. I'm hoping the deer don't wipe out what I have planted. Do you have any plans in the fall with this plot? My goal was to plant beans and sow wheat/oats this fall leaving the beans standing but the spreader wasn't set correctly so it may not work as planned.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Thanks! Makes sense. I'm hoping the deer don't wipe out what I have planted. Do you have any plans in the fall with this plot? My goal was to plant beans and sow wheat/oats this fall leaving the beans standing but the spreader wasn't set correctly so it may not work as planned.

If you have a good stand of beans, then sow your fall seeds into the beans when they are turning yellow and right before a rain, should be golden. Just add a few more pounds an acre than normal.