Food Plots Green manure

[megalomaniac]

All the rain made for some incredible summer growth in TN. Dried out enough to get these 3 acres of pearl millet, buckwheat, sorgham, and forage beans bushhigged. LOTS of organic matter going back into the dirt this fall. Going to burn down in 7 to 10d, then drill fall blend before a rain.

New plot, 1st year for summer planting here.

 

[megalomaniac]

View from the base of the stand... we left the summer blend in front of the stand to hopefully screen our approach.

The far back hill is native browse and not planted. (coralberry, blackberry, etc). Just bushhogged a few strips in it for fresh growth by Nov. It's my insurance policy in case of total plot failure

 

[Popcorn]

Right there with you! Been mowing same today on some clear cut ground that really needs help.

 

[BSK]

I would kill for green manure like that!

 

[TNTreeman]

I cut some 10' tall green manure today. Hope to disc next week and plant days before potential rain. Poor armadillo was a casualty today.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Looks good and I like the plan!

We sprayed yesterday and today with gly and 2-4D, because weeds were coming up and starting to form seed heads. Wanted to terminate before that happened. Then moved several stands and checked for wasps in the shooting houses. It is fast approaching!

 

[BSK]

Finished mowing plots yesterday. Will spray this coming week. Still no real rain in the two-week forecast.

 

[tellico4x4]

Did some spraying yesterday & a lot of our plots are still very wet. One of the guys was planning on disking a few of our creek side plots today & I told him not to waste his time going down there as too wet. Great problem to have in late August!

 

[DoubleRidge]

Got all of our plots mowed. Also been working cleaning up several logging roads, cutting up fallen trees, box blading ruts, etc.
In one area of shoulder high old field growth I bush hogged a new 1/2 acre area to create some early successional growth and add some diversity in an area that was lacking...still have spraying to do...but holding off planting plots for now with forecast this week being super hot and dry....very satisfying to make progress.

 

[BSK]

I can't believe how much growth we've seen this summer. Roads that I bushhog every year couldn't be found due to all the new growth. Have a road running through a 10-acre clear-cut (mowed it tight to the ground last fall), and the growth of blackberry and pokeweed was so high I had to raise the tractor's bucket as high as it would go to push the growth down to where I could drive/mow over it. Had to inch my why through the cut because I literally couldn't tell where the road was. When a tire hit a stump, I knew I was off course and had to try a different direction. I actually saw pokeweed easily 12-feet tall and with a stalk the size of my wrist.

 

[BSK]

OK Mega, I'm sold on sorghum as a fantastic green manure plant. Even in my rockiest plots sorghum was more than waist high and growing out their seedheads. And wherever the sorghum did best, there were ZERO weeds underneath. Just bare ground.

Next year, my summer plots are just going to be buckwheat and sorghum, broadcast, mowed and sprayed. No ground turning.

 

[megalomaniac]

OK Mega, I'm sold on sorghum as a fantastic green manure plant. Even in my rockiest plots sorghum was more than waist high and growing out their seedheads. And wherever the sorghum did best, there were ZERO weeds underneath. Just bare ground.

Next year, my summer plots are just going to be buckwheat and sorghum, broadcast, mowed and sprayed. No ground turning.

It's hard to beat sorgham for improving soil in summer plots... easy to grow, tons of biomass, great weed suppression, great root system to aerate the soil, easy to terminate, and cheap (can prob go 25lbs per acre if broadcast... so around $35 per acre). It's also great to leave on the edges of your fall plots as an edge buffer. Showed this pic somewhere else, but I left 20y buffer all around what will be the fall plot

 

[megalomaniac]

And the rain in TN has provided the best growing conditions one could ever ask for. Even my clover plot was 8in tall last week!

But jeez... we are now over 5 weeks without rain at my house in south MS...trees are shedding leaves, grass is dead, and shrubs are dying.... totally different weather pattern than we are used to (normal summer weather close to the gulf is HOT, HUMID, with afternoon clouds and pop up tstorms.... this past 6w has been hot, west winds, no clouds, and 100+ temps more often than not. I think we are supposed to get 10 days in a row over 100 deg during this 'heat dome'

 

[BSK]

It's hard to beat sorgham for improving soil in summer plots... easy to grow, tons of biomass, great weed suppression, great root system to aerate the soil, easy to terminate, and cheap (can prob go 25lbs per acre if broadcast... so around $35 per acre). It's also great to leave on the edges of your fall plots as an edge buffer. Showed this pic somewhere else, but I left 20y buffer all around what will be the fall plot

That edge buffer is a great idea. I have little food plot acreage to spare, but leaving a bushhog width or two wouldn't be taking away too much acreage.

 

[BSK]

And the rain in TN has provided the best growing conditions one could ever ask for. Even my clover plot was 8in tall last week!

But jeez... we are now over 5 weeks without rain at my house in south MS...trees are shedding leaves, grass is dead, and shrubs are dying.... totally different weather pattern than we are used to (normal summer weather close to the gulf is HOT, HUMID, with afternoon clouds and pop up tstorms.... this past 6w has been hot, west winds, no clouds, and 100+ temps more often than not. I think we are supposed to get 10 days in a row over 100 deg during this 'heat dome'

Luckily, our upcoming "heat dome" is only forecast to last 4-5 days. A front coming through late on Saturday will drop the temperatures.

 

[megalomaniac]

Luckily, our upcoming "heat dome" is only forecast to last 4-5 days. A front coming through late on Saturday will drop the temperatures.

We don't get the cool down until next Tuesday :(

 

[JCDEERMAN]

OK Mega, I'm sold on sorghum as a fantastic green manure plant. Even in my rockiest plots sorghum was more than waist high and growing out their seedheads. And wherever the sorghum did best, there were ZERO weeds underneath. Just bare ground.

Next year, my summer plots are just going to be buckwheat and sorghum, broadcast, mowed and sprayed. No ground turning.

Sorghum is great to plant for sure

 

[JCDEERMAN]

It's hard to beat sorgham for improving soil in summer plots... easy to grow, tons of biomass, great weed suppression, great root system to aerate the soil, easy to terminate, and cheap (can prob go 25lbs per acre if broadcast... so around $35 per acre). It's also great to leave on the edges of your fall plots as an edge buffer. Showed this pic somewhere else, but I left 20y buffer all around what will be the fall plot

$75 per year for a quail forever membership. You get sorghum $15 a bag. I'll be ordering some soon. At that rate, it comes to about $1.50 per acre

 

[tellico4x4]

It's hard to beat sorgham for improving soil in summer plots... easy to grow, tons of biomass, great weed suppression, great root system to aerate the soil, easy to terminate, and cheap (can prob go 25lbs per acre if broadcast... so around $35 per acre). It's also great to leave on the edges of your fall plots as an edge buffer. Showed this pic somewhere else, but I left 20y buffer all around what will be the fall plot

Feeds the birds too. I busted a covey of quail yesterday at one of ours that must have had 18-20 birds in it. Majority were 3/4 grown & great to see. Decided then that I'd leave some in every plot that had it. I had seen two pair there since turkey season & they raised a bumper crop!

 

[Creek bottoms]

Are y'all just broadcasting sorghum late spring? No ground prep?

 

[megalomaniac]

$75 per year for a quail forever membership. You get sorghum $15 a bag. I'll be ordering some soon. At that rate, it comes to about $1.50 per acre

I did that membership a few years ago... they couldn't get most seed varieties and didn't have it available until late May. Too unreliable as a source for seed when it counts

 

[Boll Weevil]

Burnin this field down in a couple of weeks and then drill a cover crop blend right into it before a forecast rain. Green manure and cover cropping practices work. takes a few years but I got earthworms where I didn't before.

 

[megalomaniac]

Are y'all just broadcasting sorghum late spring? No ground prep?

Mine was no till drilled

 

[Popcorn]

Sun Hemp is a legume that can grow with sorghum and has a great soil penetrating root system. It also produces a lot of matter. Just let it die and mow in the fall.

 

[BSK]

Sun Hemp is a legume that can grow with sorghum and has a great soil penetrating root system. It also produces a lot of matter. Just let it die and mow in the fall.

Amazing plant. Just don't EVER try to till that green manure into the soil! Drill through it, yes. Till it, no! If you try to till it, you'll find out real fast why they make such strong rope out of hemp.

 

[BSK]

Burnin this field down in a couple of weeks and then drill a cover crop blend right into it before a forecast rain. Green manure and cover cropping practices work. takes a few years but I got earthworms where I didn't before.
View attachment 191507

What I would give to have soil like that.

 

[Boll Weevil]

What I would give to have soil like that.

Chenneby soils in that particular bottom will grow 45-50bu beans depending on plant date, rainfall, and competition control. I'm curious if yields will go up the more it's covercropped.