There was quite a bit of talk on sunn hemp the last couple of years and some of y'all were giving it a try. How did it turn out for y'all?
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I planted some in a blend I made at our lampasas place. I was thinking it would get a little taller, but the deer hit it hard and then it stopped raining and it never got much more than a foot tall. The deer definitely eat it well, I was hoping to use it more as a soil builder, but I don't think that concept would work at our place without irrigation or exclusion fences to keep the deer out of the plots. We have a really high deer density.
This is how it looked in one of my plots on April 30 last year:
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Originally posted by BrandonA View Post686 How many acres did you plant?
Dr. Deer says spring deer plots west of I-35 are a lot harder to get good results on vs. east Texas, and I agree. Fall/Winter plots are where we can get some good return on the dollar invested west of I-35.
I planted about 10 acres of fall plots in September, and about 8 acres of the 10 is doing great. Instead of trying to spray/disk those plots and plant them for spring, I think I'll just let them go to seed and I'll plant spring dove mix on about 6 acres of other open area.
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Last year, I planted about 2 acres of it specifically to see if it could withstand the grazing pressure of my local herd. Normally I/C peas or anything with a growing point above the ground would be killed if only 2 acres on my plots. It grew well and the deer hit it hard. My exclusion plots showed a differential of about 3-4 ft by September, so I know the deer were getting their fair share. The results were conclusive for me to plan on planting about 8 acres over 2 plots this year. I already have my seeds in the garage to plant.
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I tried it last year on 1 acre. Planted mid April in north Texas. Took quite a while to germinate. I think it needs pretty warm soil temp before growing.
It was a thin crop about 3' in height, but the deer browsed it pretty hard thru October.
Will be trying again this year, but will plant May 1st at double the rate.
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I been planting it, it has several benefits. It is a soil builder and will grow anywhere on my place. Deer will graze it till I shred it. It is still growing right now and over 8 ft tall, very hardy plant.
The deer never touched it the first year, but I guess they figured it out cause they will strip the leaves off of as high there neck will stretch.
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