Food Plots Sunn Hemp
- Thread starter BSK
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BSK
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And that's in soil so poor and acidic it wouldn't grow Buckwheat or Cereal Rye. The saving grace was that I turned those plots as deep or our new industrial strength tiller would go. 32 HP 4x4 tractor could barely keep it turning. This allowed what little moisture we received to sink in deep. But that growth in such terrible soil during a severe drought? Amazing.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Looks great. I'd be THRILLED with that. We planted it and didn't get rain for 7-8 weeks. Meant to take a picture, but forgot. It's about 24" in some places.
tanasirivertea
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- Jan 15, 2022
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That's awesome! What brand or company is that sun hemp seed from?
BSK
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Ordered it through our local Co-op. Seed bag looks like this:
www.seedworldusa.com
Didn't pay that for it though! Wasn't cheap, but in 50# bags, somewhere around $1.70/lb
Sunn Hemp Seed - 1 Lb.
Variety: Crotalaria Juncea Sunn Hemp Seed is fast-growing, warm-season legume which produces significant amount of biomass and fixes nitrogen.
www.seedworldusa.com
Didn't pay that for it though! Wasn't cheap, but in 50# bags, somewhere around $1.70/lb
BSK
Well-Known Member
And it isn't "food" for deer, just a soil builder. It's a big drought-tolerant legume that adds nitrogen to the soil and will produce a lot of organic matter once it's turned into the soil.
BSK
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Will add to list next year for half dozen landing areas we pushed out. Looks great 
Good informative thread with pics, thanks for sharing.
BSK
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And that's what those plots were, just big log-loading decks. TERRIBLE soil.Will add to list next year for half dozen landing areas we pushed out. Looks great
TheLBLman
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Considering so many other forage foods suffering from the drought, did the deer eat your sun hemp?
DoubleRidge
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We've never planted sunn hemp....very impressed... especially considering the lack of rain fall....zooming in on pics it also it appears to be effective for weed suppression.
Not to go off topic....but while zooming in to look at the weed suppression I noticed something that caught my eye... considering your location...do you every find any arrowheads? What's in the pic may be a leaf? Sorry...back on topic....can't help but look when I see dirt.
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BSK
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No browsing that I could see.
BSK
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Weed suppression is amazing. Under the Sunn Hemp canopy, just bare dirt.We've never planted sunn hemp....very impressed... especially considering the lack of rain fall....zooming in on pics it also it appears to be effective for weed suppression.
Not to go off topic....but while zooming in to look at the weed suppression I noticed something that caught my eye... considering your location...do you every find any arrowheads? What's in the pic may be a leaf? Sorry...back on topic....can't help but look when I see dirt.
Yes, we find arrowheads. Unfortunately, found one that cut through the steel belts of one of my truck tires!
Was perusing through the history section of our local library and found big books detailing the histories of various counties in TN. Flipped through the history of Humphreys County and there were many stories about the Settler/Indian battles in my area. In the late 1700s, the Duck River was the dividing line between Settler land (north of the river) and Indian land (south of the river). Apparently, the steep hills and hollers of the Paint Rock area (Paint Rock Rd along the river) was the primary area of contention and there were lots of small battles and killings along that section of the river. First, I had no idea the Indians painted Paint Rock long before the todays teenagers spay-painted it! Second, my place is very close to that, on the "Indian side" of the river, so they were actively living and hunting the area right up until the early 1800s.
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megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Slam dunk for sure! Let me know how it chops up this fall...
My big reservation is the stems will become so fibrous they will wrap up in the axles of the disc or get wrapped up in the bushhog blades. After all, hemp was used for some tough rope for centuries.
What I really find appealing is the open ground under the plants... perfect for baby and young turkeys to move around in to bug, yet be hidden from avian predators.
My big reservation is the stems will become so fibrous they will wrap up in the axles of the disc or get wrapped up in the bushhog blades. After all, hemp was used for some tough rope for centuries.
What I really find appealing is the open ground under the plants... perfect for baby and young turkeys to move around in to bug, yet be hidden from avian predators.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I'm curious about that as well. I plan on bushhogging and spraying a week before tilling the ground. Have no idea how tough those stems are going to be for the bushhog and tiller. Will they chop-up or wrap-up?
TheLBLman
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BSK
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Ha! Those darn seeding eating feather rats!RUH-ROH
No More Sunn Hemp for BSK!
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
LOL I kind of understand where you're coming from. But I love turkeys and seeing them around. This idea of sunn hemp @megalomaniac is referring to being a turkey and poult Mecca is interesting. Fawns tooHa! Those darn seeding eating feather rats!
BSK
Well-Known Member
I remember when I had to be very careful about when I planted because I needed near immediate germination. Otherwise, flocks of turkey would work across the plot sucking up all the seed. However, with the recent reduction in local turkey population, I haven't had the problem in a couple of years.
