Food Plots Planting time

[JCDEERMAN]

I hit my clover with cleth 10 days ago , looks great. I almost want to mow high just to get rid of the dead tops of the grass. My grass got knee high bc of flat tire , rain, then worried about fawns.

I just hate mowing clover June-September. I know as soon as I do, a drought will hit and dry it all up. Happens almost every time

 

[BSK]

This will be my first attempt at spraying Clethodim mid-summer. Last year, the grasses didn't take over and choke out the plots until August. However, Clethodim works best when grasses are short and rapidly growing. I'll be monitoring my plots closely this summer to find when these grasses really start taking off, and when the best time to spray occurs.

 

[deerhunter10]

I just hate mowing clover June-September. I know as soon as I do, a drought will hit and dry it all up. Happens almost every time

I hear you on that. Mowed our last year and then the drought from hell came the same week. In fact we have had to frost seed heavy the last 3 years due to drought.

 

[TNTreeman]

I just hate mowing clover June-September. I know as soon as I do, a drought will hit and dry it all up. Happens almost every time

It's safe to mow high now or maybe mow half of it, then other half. Rain all next week they say. Been a weird year.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Thanks, does the co op in Waverly or Dickson carry the Clethodim?

Rural king typically has the best price on clethodim. You will need a crop oil to mix in with it.

 

[BSK]

Rural king typically has the best price on clethodim. You will need a crop oil to mix in with it.

Thanks backyardtndeer.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

It's safe to mow high now or maybe mow half of it, then other half. Rain all next week they say. Been a weird year.

Weird year for sure! I'll take it over the heat and humidity. It's been relatively cool and really wet.

 

[BSK]

Weird year for sure! I'll take it over the heat and humidity. It's been relatively cool and really wet.

The Climate Prediction Centers forecast for the summer were above average temp but average rainfall. So far, that hasn't been true. But we still have a long way to go.

 

[Ski]

Weird year for sure! I'll take it over the heat and humidity. It's been relatively cool and really wet.

I planted corn three weeks ago and not a single blade popped up. Super frustrating because I was really hoping to ride the rain wave. Not sure why it didn't germinate but the clover is thicker than I've seen in years so I'll take what I got. Actually everything except my corn looks fantastic this year. Thinking about planting corn again to see if maybe I just had bad seed???

 

[tellico4x4]

Best clover in years, but doing maintenance on it has been tough this year, but NOT complaining about rain. We worked Thursday again on it, but late afternoon was a washout, probably wasted spray on 3-4 of them. Finally got 31 plots out of 34 mowed at 12" tall, and 14 of them sprayed.

Started adding Durana to our mix a couple years ago & loving it! At same time added Dynamite Red to it as well, but disappointed with it. Probably just stick to Durana/Arrowleaf/Crimson mix going forward.

 

[lightfoot]

Rural king typically has the best price on clethodim. You will need a crop oil to mix in with it.

Thanks for the info on crop oil, ordered clethodim and butyrac a coulple of days ago from Keystone, picked up crop oil this morning at co op in murfreesboro. Already had surfactant for butyrac.

 

[BSK]

Those clover plots look GREAT Tellico4x4!

 

[BSK]

This is two weeks after broadcasting, mowing, and spraying:

 

[megalomaniac]

New experiment this year...

Went with super hot gly at 3.5q per acre to burn the crap out of the plots. Turned right around the next day and drilled my milo, beans, pearl millet, and buckwheat. Just skipped the bushhogging altogether.

Reason for skipping bushhogging... making it harder for the deer to pick out all the beans when they are 2in tall. Makes for an ugly plot, but so far im very pleased with germination and survival of the planted seed.

 

[tellico4x4]

So many ways to do what we do !

 

[BSK]

New experiment this year...

Went with super hot gly at 3.5q per acre to burn the crap out of the plots. Turned right around the next day and drilled my milo, beans, pearl millet, and buckwheat. Just skipped the bushhogging altogether.

Reason for skipping bushhogging... making it harder for the deer to pick out all the beans when they are 2in tall. Makes for an ugly plot, but so far im very pleased with germination and survival of the planted seed.

Fascinating idea. I'm just hoping our increased food plot acreage and low summer deer density will allow some of my plots to make it through summer. But yeah, deer can absolutely hammer plots when the plants are just up in the two-leaf stage.

But if you look at the pictures I posted of my plots after two weeks, you'll notice an extremely high seeding rate. And that is purposeful. I overseed so much knowing deer are going to wipe out at least half the plants in their earliest stages of growth.

 

[BigAl]

This is two weeks after broadcasting, mowing, and spraying:

So is this your fall plot or a summer plot? Will you do this again in the late fall?

 

[BSK]

So is this your fall plot or a summer plot? Will you do this again in the late fall?

Summer plot. In mid-September, I will spread another round of buckwheat and fill any thin spots with crimson and then mow again. But I have so much crimson seed on the ground that I won't have to use much crimson clover seed in fall. After this mid-September seeding/mowing, I will spray Clethodim to kill grasses. In mid-October, I will broadcast about 100#/acre of wheat into the standing buckwheat and crimson clover as my fall plots. I'm just amazed how much of the standing dead crimson that is mowed down in spring will germinate in fall.

So I broadcast summer seed, mow, and spray glysophate in late May or early June (I simply wait until last year's fall/winter crop of crimson and wheat seeds out and dies), then probably spray Clethodim once during the summer to fight off foxtail, Johnson grass, and fescue. Then I broadcast my fall crop (just more buckwheat and a little crimson to fill in bare spots) in mid-September, mow, and spray a second round of Clethodim (I don't spray gylsophate because some of the crimson will germinate during summer and I don't want to kill it). Then add wheat in mid-October. I wait on the wheat because deer like it best when it is young, and wheat broadcast in mid-October will just be coming on when MZ opens in early November.

The summer crop (buckwheat, cowpeas, soybeans and sunflower) will try to grow back after I broadcast and mow mid-September, but that's OK. It will take browse pressure off the crimson which will come on very strong in September/October. All of the summer crop, and second round of buckwheat, will die with the first freeze, leaving just the crimson and wheat.

 

[BSK]

One interesting thing I've noticed about my broadcast/mow/spray technique is that the broadcast seed has the highest germination rates where my tractor tires have run over the seed and mowed thatch. This lends credence to the idea of running a cultipacker over the field after broadcasting and mowing. I may invest in one.

 

[BigAl]

One interesting thing I've noticed about my broadcast/mow/spray technique is that the broadcast seed has the highest germination rates where my tractor tires have run over the seed and mowed thatch. This lends credence to the idea of running a cultipacker over the field after broadcasting and mowing. I may invest in one.

I do not have a cultipacker. While it takes longer, I just run my tractor (or 4 wheeler or riding mower) multiple times across the plot to compact as much as a I can. Of course, thats after tilling. Might be harder to see where the tires have run in just mowed grass.

 

[rem270]

BSK, I believe I'm going to try your tactic of broadcast, mow, and spray this year. I'm wanting to get 3 or 4 established clover plots at my hunting property and I know this would save a lot of time vs tilling and planting.

Plan to plant clover and oats and then probably frost seed clover again in the winter. The hopefully get some good green up on the clover next spring.

 

[BSK]

BSK, I believe I'm going to try your tactic of broadcast, mow, and spray this year. I'm wanting to get 3 or 4 established clover plots at my hunting property and I know this would save a lot of time vs tilling and planting.

Plan to plant clover and oats and then probably frost seed clover again in the winter. The hopefully get some good green up on the clover next spring.

That should work well.

 

[Ski]

One interesting thing I've noticed about my broadcast/mow/spray technique is that the broadcast seed has the highest germination rates where my tractor tires have run over the seed and mowed thatch. This lends credence to the idea of running a cultipacker over the field after broadcasting and mowing. I may invest in one.

It's true. The cultipacker works very well for that. It also works really well for laying down vegetation like a mat over broadcast seed. I even use it on freshly tilled ground to make a smooth surface.

I built my own. It's framed with rough cut oak 2x4s and uses a 12" plastic culvert tile filled with concrete and a piece of PVC pipe though the center to spin on a piece of galvanized pipe. Weighs several hundred pounds but pulls easy with a 250cc ATV. I had no experience with a cultipacker before & didn't want to spend so much money on an experiment so I tossed something together for cheap. It surprised me how well it worked and how much weight I could get by filling it with concrete.

 

[BSK]

It's true. The cultipacker works very well for that. It also works really well for laying down vegetation like a mat over broadcast seed. I even use it on freshly tilled ground to make a smooth surface.

I built my own. It's framed with rough cut oak 2x4s and uses a 12" plastic culvert tile filled with concrete and a piece of PVC pipe though the center to spin on a piece of galvanized pipe. Weighs several hundred pounds but pulls easy with a 250cc ATV. I had no experience with a cultipacker before & didn't want to spend so much money on an experiment so I tossed something together for cheap. It surprised me how well it worked and how much weight I could get by filling it with concrete.

I would like to buy/make one that has wheels that can be used for transport between fields.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I would like to buy/make one that has wheels that can be used for transport between fields.

I've seen small pull type disk and cultipackers with wheels added on top of the frame...flip over to transport between plots...great idea.....I've pulled my buddys cultipacker between plots through logging road....slow and aggravating....wheels on top would be a nice improvement.

 

[Ski]

I would like to buy/make one that has wheels that can be used for transport between fields.

Would be easy enough to build i think. Here's the one I built. Would be simple to add an riding mower axle and wheels on top so you can flip it whichever way for use or transport.

 

[BSK]

I've seen small pull type disk and cultipackers with wheels added on top of the frame...flip over to transport between plots...great idea.....I've pulled my buddys cultipacker between plots through logging road....slow and aggravating....wheels on top would be a nice improvement.

I've looked at those. Tractor Supply sells them. They are 48" wide and weigh around 300 lbs.

 

[BSK]

Would be easy enough to build i think. Here's the one I built. Would be simple to add an riding mower axle and wheels on top so you can flip it whichever way for use or transport.

View attachment 282240View attachment 282241

Nice homemade set-up.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I've looked at those. Tractor Supply sells them. They are 48" wide and weigh around 300 lbs.

Yeah, I've seen those...but the one I mentioned was homemade and the cultipacker my buddy has was originally a dual gang cultipacker 8' (or 10') wide...and the back section was removed. Hes offered the back section for a project...so we're hoping to have a frame fabricated with wheels on top....only for plot to plot transport (not highway)....we haul cultipacker on trailer to the property....last time we set it on the trailer with front end loader......concern is weight and being able to flip it over...tounge legnth will be a consideration during the design phase of the frame.

 

[BSK]

Yeah, I've seen those...but the one I mentioned was homemade and the cultipacker my buddy has was originally a dual gang cultipacker 8' (or 10') wide...and the back section was removed. Hes offered the back section for a project...so we're hoping to have a frame fabricated with wheels on top....only for plot to plot transport (not highway)....we haul cultipacker on trailer to the property....last time we set it on the trailer with front end loader......concern is weight and being able to flip it over...tounge legnth will be a consideration during the design phase of the frame.

Yeah, if it's too long or too heavy, flipping it over would be more than a one-person job.