Food plot and a little work today

[doublebfarms]

hope all goes well, and that rain chance sticks around! Ours look good still, mkght fill the sprayer up and dust them with some moisture lol

[kenfa03]

Cereal rye, arrowleaf and crimson clover.

[unclefish]

Yep hopefully even if it rains tomorrow I can't spray on Friday!

[unclefish]

That's a great looking seed bed kenfa....very firm!

[Nailhead]

Whew. Just got done reading this whole thing. Thanks for keeping this going Unclefish. Definitely going to use some of your ideas. Going to try and plant my first real plot this year. Might be a little late, but will see how it goes. Got about an acre spot picked out on the edge of the pasture to try it out. Sandy soil. Need to pull a sample and send it to ATM. Did a PH test last weekend with an old kit and got a neutral reading. Hopefully its right. Im a complete noob at planting or broadcasting anything so have more research to do. Take care and keep up the good work. Definitely jealous of your deer population.

[DUKFVR]

My stack looks the same as yours Steve except for the chicory & kale. Gonna plant some rye, oats & clover this weekend. Also gonna spread a sack of rye grass on the new pond dam. Good luck on yours!

[unclefish]

Good deal David. Is your pond full?

[Moose]

Y'all's seed beds look a lot better than mine did last weekend in Wood county, it was super dusty. I went a different route this year and mixed two seed blends together. One blend had wheat, elbon rye, Dixie Crimson clover, turnips and AWP. The other blend had triticale, oats, berseem clover, essex rape, and a different variety of AWP. I ended up mixing in 150 lbs of each blend with 1020 lbs of 21-0-10 and spread over a 3-4 acre plot.

[unclefish]

That should be awesome Moose!

[unclefish]

Bought a new pump motor and its working great now. Will hunt in the morning and then spray the plots.

[Nailhead]

Have a noob question. In the area of the pasture I plan to put the plot, it's mostly weeds from what I can tell. I believe it is were one of the previous owners may have had a garden or watermelon patch or something. The hay from the rest of the pasture hasn't made its way thick back into this spot. It's very sandy, but the ground seems to be fairly compact under a very thin layer of top soil.

Would you recommend discing it the first time around? I assume I should spray it with Gly or Roundup prior to planting to give the plot its best chance. I don't have a cultipacker. Just a bushhog and a small disc to pull behind the 30hp Kubota. Family picked up a 20-25 gallon sprayer not long ago so that should come in handy with the Gly. Then as far as a spreader goes all we have currently is the push thrower. Might have a hand held one someone around or can pick one up if it would be handy.

Here is the area I am working with for now. Also have a spot or two in the woods I want to try as well, but those spots aren't very big. You can see further out in the picture where I mowed to get a visual of how big I wanted to start with.

[dubba drop]

very niice looking place. you are doing it right! love the pics and progress updates. thanks.

[DUKFVR]

Good deal David. Is your pond full?

Not yet. Need a couple of gully washers up there. been almost a month since I saw it last. We will see it hopefully this weekend.

[unclefish]

Have a noob question. In the area of the pasture I plan to put the plot, it's mostly weeds from what I can tell. I believe it is were one of the previous owners may have had a garden or watermelon patch or something. The hay from the rest of the pasture hasn't made its way thick back into this spot. It's very sandy, but the ground seems to be fairly compact under a very thin layer of top soil.

Would you recommend discing it the first time around? I assume I should spray it with Gly or Roundup prior to planting to give the plot its best chance. I don't have a cultipacker. Just a bushhog and a small disc to pull behind the 30hp Kubota. Family picked up a 20-25 gallon sprayer not long ago so that should come in handy with the Gly. Then as far as a spreader goes all we have currently is the push thrower. Might have a hand held one someone around or can pick one up if it would be handy.

Here is the area I am working with for now. Also have a spot or two in the woods I want to try as well, but those spots aren't very big. You can see further out in the picture where I mowed to get a visual of how big I wanted to start with.

Here is my personal opinion that some may disagree with....and that's ok.

To me discing's only purpose is to "loosen" the soil enough to ensure the seed is planted at the proper depth. For some very small seeds like clover, chicory, brassicas, and cereal rye the proper depth is right on the surface. Rainfall will take care of the rest and sink those seeds just under the surface so they will germinate and grow. So for small seeded plants discing is not needed at all. Just kill whats growing there now and broadcast on top.

Example: Golf courses down here in the south do this every year with rye grass or blue grass seeds.....they just broadcast over the top of the bermuda and will have green grass all winter long. Those seeds will work their way down into the soil.

Every time you disc you kill the good stuff in the soil that makes it effective. Beneficial microbes, bacteria, and worms....all are killed when they are exposed to sunlight. You will never see worms in a field that is disced every year.....whereas un-tilled soil has all the goodies! I used to till or disc the soil in my plots but after the drought of 2011 I started to change my thinking and now will leave the soil covered year round. It holds way more moisture and has much much organic matter than disced soil.

If you are planting large seeded plants like corn, beans, and peas then those seeds must planted deep enough to germinate. Unless you have a no-till drill the only way to plant deep enough is to disc and cover it up....I get it.

So if you want my opinion you don't need to disc for most cool season plants that have tiny seeds like cereal rye, clover, chicory, and brassicas (turnips, radishes, kale). Just spray/broadcast or broadcast/spray...either one should work ok...especially in sandy soils. Those seeds will work down to the proper depth and will come shooting through that thatch!

Good luck!

[doublebfarms]

Glad you got your sprayer pump working, excited to see how your season plays out!