Food plot and a little work today

[birddoggin]

Fish,
Like you i have planted chicory and clover as my perennials in the fall and along with that oats. they did pretty well. i have about 1 acre total and trying to expand to two this spring and fall. we are in sandy loam down in Wilson County.
Question: do you think that I need to do some sort of spraying for the spring in those particular plots? Will the spring weeds over grow the C/C? curious as to your thoughts


In a different plot I'm gonna try my hand at sunflower again but first time doing the fall plot for the chicory and clover and it was pretty awesome.

thanks sir

Joseph

[unclefish]

Fish,
Like you i have planted chicory and clover as my perennials in the fall and along with that oats. they did pretty well. i have about 1 acre total and trying to expand to two this spring and fall. we are in sandy loam down in Wilson County.
Question: do you think that I need to do some sort of spraying for the spring in those particular plots? Will the spring weeds over grow the C/C? curious as to your thoughts


In a different plot I'm gonna try my hand at sunflower again but first time doing the fall plot for the chicory and clover and it was pretty awesome.

thanks sir

Joseph

Yes grass will likely creep into your plots. Clethodim is great for it and won't harm your broadleaf plants....its a grass specific herbicide. I sprayed mine with Cleth last spring and it worked great!

Post up some pic of your plots if you got 'em.

[unclefish]

Funny how critters show up that aren't supposed to be there. We have no turkey season and have never heard of anyone having turkeys on the places around me.

[texasdeerhunter]

There are spots where I am going to plant that has thick grass, other spots are currently planted with oats/wheat, so there isn't much thatch material. I may have to do a combination of throw/mow and also use a drag where there is bare dirt it sounds like

For the nitrogen fixation, if I am going to fertilize with a triple 13 at the time of planting, is the inoculation still important? I am basically starting with an area that hasn't been planted before, so it will take some time to get it right

[unclefish]

There are spots where I am going to plant that has thick grass, other spots are currently planted with oats/wheat, so there isn't much thatch material. I may have to do a combination of throw/mow and also use a drag where there is bare dirt it sounds like

For the nitrogen fixation, if I am going to fertilize with a triple 13 at the time of planting, is the inoculation still important? I am basically starting with an area that hasn't been planted before, so it will take some time to get it right

Later on in the spring the wheat/oats will get much taller and should provide pretty decent thatch.

I would go ahead and inoculate your summer legumes (peas, beans). It costs about $8 and it provides "free" Nitrogen fertilizer for the plot for future use. The triple 13 is a good idea because it will be used right away by the developing plants.

[unclefish]

This joker has been a regular just about every evening for the past 2 weeks. Gonna try to sneak in tomorrow and put an arrow in him.

[Sergio_III]

Good luck UF. Post up the LDPs.

[Christianhuff]

Clover question

Hey brother, doubled my clover plot. Looking forward to spring lake plot. The clover looks great but is being kept low to the ground. After reading some of this and after planting in the fall. Looks like I'm going to spray, just disc up the thatch, and plant some soybeans, peas, sorghum, and border it with Egyptian wheat. Should I spray the clover if it was the first planting last fall? Here are some pics of the clover plots.

[Christianhuff]

[unclefish]

Hey brother, doubled my clover plot. Looking forward to spring lake plot. The clover looks great but is being kept low to the ground. After reading some of this and after planting in the fall. Looks like I'm going to spray, just disc up the thatch, and plant some soybeans, peas, sorghum, and border it with Egyptian wheat. Should I spray the clover if it was the first planting last fall? Here are some pics of the clover plots.
[ATTACH]777851[/ATTACH]

Hey Chris. What are your goals for the clover and what type is it? Are you trying to make it last into the summer or just wanting it to come back this fall?

It looks amazing.

[Christianhuff]

It is a mix of Crimson and white, wanting it to last a couple of years. I will keep it watered through the summer and thought about over seeding with wheat and oats in the fall.

[unclefish]

My pig friend was a no-show tonight.

The groundhog radishes are bolting.






The chicory is getting browsed and clover is starting to spread big time.




Some of the oats is starting to get tall which means the deer are about done with it. The rye is still getting hit.

[unclefish]

I wanted to do a check on my soils to compare the 2nd yr throw & mow vs the 1st year throw & mow.

These areas are about 15 feet apart.
1st year.....hardly any organic matter at all.


2nd year....look at the black streak at the top.


That's the good stuff. Water infiltrates better, more microbes/worms, better drought tolerance than tilled soil. Keeping the soil covered year round will just make it better and more productive every year.

Look at this side view of a section I removed. Notice how the thatch breaks down and turns into rich organic matter. It doesn't take long either...especially in our hot humid summers.





The switchgrass is starting to pop so I should have a decent plot divider this year.

[elgato]

Thats really neat. Visual proof cover crops are working. Makes me want to go out tonight and dig some holes. I'm seeing some grazing on the radish bolts. Are you seeing that?

[unclefish]

Thats really neat. Visual proof cover crops are working. Makes me want to go out tonight and dig some holes. I'm seeing some grazing on the radish bolts. Are you seeing that?

I looked at them yesterday and didn't notice any grazing on the radish flowers. The previous time I planted them I never noticed any either. Very interesting that they eat yours. I have only planted radishes twice so they may not have enough experience with it yet.

I've never seen so many butterflies and bees as I did in those radish flowers yesterday.