For the new plots, soil won't be in shape for a year or two, so I will plant them in all Buckwheat this spring. Established plots will be a mixture of Buckwheat, Iron and Clay cowpeas, and Lerado soybeans.Gamey looking spots. What crop did you decide to put in?
Too wet at my place too, but loggers are trying to finish clean-up so they can move on to the next job. Some of the roads are total quagmires from all the skidder traffic.Looking good! Way too wet at our place for any type of equipment work. Will take a couple more days, and of course, that's when the next line of rain is expected to come in
For the new plots, soil won't be in shape for a year or two, so I will plant them in all Buckwheat this spring. Established plots will be a mixture of Buckwheat, Iron and Clay cowpeas, and Lerado soybeans.
Are you going to double crop it this summer or let it go to seed?For the new plots, soil won't be in shape for a year or two, so I will plant them in all Buckwheat this spring. Established plots will be a mixture of Buckwheat, Iron and Clay cowpeas, and Lerado soybeans.
Buckwheat is an excellent soil builder. Plus, it will grow OK in very poor soil, and the soil of my new plots will be pretty acidic until the lime has time to activate, which can take 6 months to a year.For the two new plots we added last year we went ahead and limed & fertilized then planted soybeans, cowpeas and sunflower and they did ok...but looking back I believe we jumped the gun and want to now focus on building organic material....building soil....so for this spring is buckwheat the best choice to build organic material? .....in the fall will you broadcast a cool season blend into the buckwheat?....some of our older plots we recently sowed imperial whitetail clover ....then on the other older established plots we will be planting soybeans and cowpeas.....but on the two new plots I want to build soil... appreciate any suggestions or ideas.
I will wait and see how it does. Buckwheat is a 10-12 week crop. If I plant in late April, it will last until sometime around the 4th of July. Not sure if I will plant again since I'll be planting my fall plots in mid-August, just 6 weeks later.Are you going to double crop it this summer or let it go to seed?
Buckwheat is my favorite. I don't think it's a coincidence the stuff farmers plant to improve soil is the same stuff deer eat. Smother the weeds, fibrous roots, residual fertilizer. It's a terrific plant.
Buckwheat is an excellent soil builder. Plus, it will grow OK in very poor soil, and the soil of my new plots will be pretty acidic until the lime has time to activate, which can take 6 months to a year.
Also look into sorghum. That will establish a lot of green manure.We applied fertilizer and lime last year per the soil test....but we used pelletized lime....tried to get the longer lasting ag lime but the big spreader trucks in our area were book up on bigger jobs so we rented the buggy from co-op....we have several other established plots for the deer to eat on plus all the native new growth from the timber harvest... so on these two new "ridge top" plots we are wanting to focus on improving the soil quality....thanks for the info.
Pelletized lime will definitely activate in soil much quicker than ground limestone, but it also won't last as long. I suspect this first year I will use pelletized lime in my new plots just to get the rapid activation. Of course, the other downside to pelletized lime is cost. Cost of pelletized lime in bags is much higher than bulk agricultural lime.We applied fertilizer and lime last year per the soil test....but we used pelletized lime....tried to get the longer lasting ag lime but the big spreader trucks in our area were book up on bigger jobs so we rented the buggy from co-op....we have several other established plots for the deer to eat on plus all the native new growth from the timber harvest... so on these two new "ridge top" plots we are wanting to focus on improving the soil quality....thanks for the info.
Yea, the bulldozer guy is working on that plot but it got too muddy. Waiting on a little drier weather.excellent, very exciting! But I'd get those stumps out of the last plot, they will be a headache for a decade if you don't.