Food plot and a little work today

[unclefish]

I have a small water hole I plan on expanding to make it an irrigation pond. So right now no but hopefully will be able to soon.

Keep us posted on your results too! I hope this works for us all!

[EastTx]

I placed my order today for Sunn Hemp and Eagle Brand Soy beans. I am not going to plant cowpeas this yr because the soybeans have 5 times the forage and the deer walk over the peas to get to the beans, so no peas this yr. if I spend all the $$ and energy to work a spring/summer food plot, then I want the most forage available for that given area. And I think it will be the same with the SH, it puts a lot of forage out there, along with high protean like the soybeans. look forward to your reports this spring and summer. UF can you irrigate?

School me on the Sun Hemp and why I should plant it. I'm love experimenting with new to me plants in my plots.

[unclefish]

EastTx - it's a tropical heat loving, drought tolerant, fast growing legume that fixes over 100lbs of N per acre.

It's 30% protein and the deer really like it. Since its fast growing it will keep up with heavy browsing.

It will grow 10 + feet tall so it makes for great a screening plant.

That's all I got.

[texas bound]

Do yall plan to cut it if it gets to tall or just let it grow?

[unclefish]

Cutting it promotes tender young growth that deer love. I will cut most of it but leave some standing for screening.

[EastTx]

EastTx - it's a tropical heat loving, drought tolerant, fast growing legume that fixes over 100lbs of N per acre.

It's 30% protein and the deer really like it. Since its fast growing it will keep up with heavy browsing.

It will grow 10 + feet tall so it makes for great a screening plant.

That's all I got.

Thanks. I was pleased with my Sorghum Sudan screen around my plot last year but I may give this a try this year.

[deer farmer]

My plans will change as the summer progresses, but I plan on using a brush hog or a 3 pt. finishing mower held at maybe the 3 to 4' level of Sun Hemp. I will irrigate one of the SH food plots but not the 2nd food plot. We will see how it works out. And my clover's will get irrigation this summer. It really helps the clover in the summer.

[unclefish]

Irrigation would awesome to have and would make a summer plot an oasis!

[unclefish]

So my little experiment is interesting.

After 3 days I had sprouts almost an inch long with the thatch covered seeds. And most importantly all 10 sprouted.

After 4 days the uncovered seeds....3 out of 10 have sprouted that I can see and they are barely visible barely poking through the surface. all of those that sprouted managed to settle into the soil from watering. The rest that remain on top of the soil have still not sprouted....and probably won't until they work into the soil better.

Now look at the comparison with only 2 full days of planting difference.



The thatch planted group is 5-6 inches tall with 100% germination and the uncovered group looks pitiful with only 3 barely sprouted seeds out of 10. Same exact conditions.

Amazing how covering the seeds with thatch helped germination and growth when both groups were placed in top of the soil.

Looks like broadcasting and then covering with thatch works great for SH.

[Nailhead]

God I love science. Now thats a result!

[elgato]

cool stuff!

[EastTexun]

Fish, that picture of the thatch growth compared to bare ground has me almost willing to forgo my grain drill and instead broadcast and simply brushhog to cover. Depending on how my clovers look, I may try a mix of both. I got 50 lbs so I might be able to do a side by side comparison with the SH, both drilled and simply broadcast and mowed over.

[unclefish]

Fish, that picture of the thatch growth compared to bare ground has me almost willing to forgo my grain drill and instead broadcast and simply brushhog to cover. Depending on how my clovers look, I may try a mix of both. I got 50 lbs so I might be able to do a side by side comparison with the SH, both drilled and simply broadcast and mowed over.

Sounds like a good plan. If I had a drill I would definitely drill some since that way you ensure good germination.

[Backwoods101]

Its all fun and games till your kids go to school and tell the teacher "my daddy's growing h*mp inside the house"

[unclefish]

Its all fun and games till your kids go to school and tell the teacher "my daddy's growing h*mp inside the house"

We need to come up with another code name for it....