Spring/summer plots?

[EastTexun]

I have let tine get away from me, march and half of April have flown by. Haven’t even prepped my new plots yet. Got all my seed delivered last week but really need to get after it asap before the heat of summer hits and we get dry.

You are not the only one! Lucky for me we have gotten some timely rains and my place is still super green, but I need to get seed in the ground. Was thinking this weekend, but the rain chances are only getting bigger, which may preclude planting.

[EastTexun]

I plowed my oats under with a 3 bottom plow at 12 inches deep, then ran a disc over the plots and planted. No herbicide sprayed, trying to plow to suppress the weeds and build up the organic matter but I also know that plowing is hard on the soil structure. There seems to be more discussion on plowing again and using less herbicides in some ag articles.

Any thoughts on planting directly into the oats and letting them burn while the other plants come up vs plowing or spraying herbicide? My place is super sandy, and any time that I have to disc, I can see the difference in the soil for about a year or two.

[Radar]

Any thoughts on planting directly into the oats and letting them burn while the other plants come up vs plowing or spraying herbicide? My place is super sandy, and any time that I have to disc, I can see the difference in the soil for about a year or two.

I done no till for quite a few years, last year the soil developed hard pan so bad that an offset disc could not bust it up. I always plant oats, daikon radish and turnips in the fall but the past few years with very little rain and high heat the clay gets compacted.

I have never had much luck without herbicide in no till, the weeds will eventually take over.

[txbowman12]

I done no till for quite a few years, last year the soil developed hard pan so bad that an offset disc could not bust it up. I always plant oats, daikon radish and turnips in the fall but the past few years with very little rain and high heat the clay gets compacted.

I have never had much luck without herbicide in no till, the weeds will eventually take over.

Might want to mix in some elbon rye and see how that impacts your weeds. Oats are great, and the radish should help with your compaction, but the allelopathy of the cereal rye may help you. I had crab grass, goatweed, and god knows what else so thick you couldn't walk through the field. Rye has done a tremendous job knocking it back to extremely manageable levels. Even when I have a spring plot failure (like last year), by the time the weeds can get past the rye they don't get too far until temps start to cool

I still usually spray one time in the fall before planting, but hoping I will be able to mow without spraying this fall.

[Radar]

Might want to mix in some elbon rye and see how that impacts your weeds. Oats are great, and the radish should help with your compaction, but the allelopathy of the cereal rye may help you. I had crab grass, goatweed, and god knows what else so thick you couldn't walk through the field. Rye has done a tremendous job knocking it back to extremely manageable levels. Even when I have a spring plot failure (like last year), by the time the weeds can get past the rye they don't get too far until temps start to cool

I still usually spray one time in the fall before planting, but hoping I will be able to mow without spraying this fall.

The heat will kill off the Elbon rye here early, I have tried it multiple times. Most varieties I plant are drought tolerant including the oats.

[txbowman12]

The heat will kill off the Elbon rye here early, I have tried it multiple times. Most varieties I plant are drought tolerant including the oats.

Killing it early as in right after you plant or killing it off in the spring? I'm planting 60 miles east of you and about 30 miles more north. I plant 2nd weekend of october and have never had an issue. Got about 8-10" of rain from October to 3 weeks ago. When I crimped it the rye was all 4.5 to 5' high.

I can't ever plant it in September though, army worms and heat are not nice to it. Usually I will plant brassicas and clovers in september, then come back in October with the elbon to fill in any gaps. Just broadcast it in front of a rain and it will come up.

[Radar]

Killing it early as in right after you plant or killing it off in the spring? I'm planting 60 miles east of you and about 30 miles more north. I plant 2nd weekend of october and have never had an issue. Got about 8-10" of rain from October to 3 weeks ago. When I crimped it the rye was all 4.5 to 5' high.

I can't ever plant it in September though, army worms and heat are not nice to it. Usually I will plant brassicas and clovers in september, then come back in October with the elbon to fill in any gaps. Just broadcast it in front of a rain and it will come up.

Your area gets more rain than mine, and a different soil type. We received 5.5 inches of rain since November of last year and the soil varies from red clay to sandy clay. I have tried Elbon rye twice in 10 years, it never could take the heat in the spring and could not make enough thatch to prevent weeds from germinating for a spring plot. As far as clover goes, I have tried many times to get it established but the heat gets it. Used to be we got rain and could plant in early March but that has changed in recent years.

I had to adapt to what I can and cannot grow now or maybe what not to waste time and money with. Oats, wheat, IC peas, Sunn Hemp, soybeans, daikon radish, purple top turnips will last the longest here.

[txbowman12]

Your area gets more rain than mine, and a different soil type. We received 5.5 inches of rain since November of last year and the soil varies from red clay to sandy clay. I have tried Elbon rye twice in 10 years, it never could take the heat in the spring and could not make enough thatch to prevent weeds from germinating for a spring plot. As far as clover goes, I have tried many times to get it established but the heat gets it. Used to be we got rain and could plant in early March but that has changed in recent years.

I had to adapt to what I can and cannot grow now or maybe what not to waste time and money with. Oats, wheat, IC peas, Sunn Hemp, soybeans, daikon radish, purple top turnips will last the longest here.

For the record I wasn't arguing, I couldn't get the same results I have a few hundred yards from me much less that many miles, just would have thought we would have similar spring temps.

That's fascinating, see I can't get oats to take, the rye tends to dominate it in my mixes. Going to bump up my wheat levels this year now that the soil is in a better spot.

I wonder if chicory would take in your soil. At a certain point though you need the right rain at the right time. Sounds like you are fairly dry when soil temps are in the 60s

[Radar]

For the record I wasn't arguing, I couldn't get the same results I have a few hundred yards from me much less that many miles, just would have thought we would have similar spring temps.

That's fascinating, see I can't get oats to take, the rye tends to dominate it in my mixes. Going to bump up my wheat levels this year now that the soil is in a better spot.

I wonder if chicory would take in your soil. At a certain point though you need the right rain at the right time. Sounds like you are fairly dry when soil temps are in the 60s

I will plant oats only or wheat only, but not together because one will kill out the other and you are wasting money on seed. I do not have much experience with Elbon rye but I would say it would be the dominate plant in a seed blend, it shades everything else out. Turnips and radishes do better with oats than they do with winter wheat in a fall mix for me. Winter peas, clover, alfalfa and Chickory will grow for me in December and January if there is moisture and no competition from other plants.

I have not fertilized in several years now because of the lack of rain and price, custom blend fertilizer is 900.00 a ton. My last soil test showed that the organic material was extremely low, the soil was very compacted in some areas especially where the clay is dominate and that is the main reason for moldboard plowing all my plots. I run a depth of 12 inches to rollover the soil and bust up the hard pan, in some spots the plow was rolling over hard chunks of dirt that were very large. I was worried that some of the chunks would get lodged in between my discs . I had to run the disc over some areas twice but I got it smooth enough to run the grain drill over it.

[txbowman12]

What a difference this year has been from last year in terms of rain. 6" on 4/6-7, and picked up another inch and a half last night.

Cowpeas poking up through the rye thatch. Haven't seen any deer so hoping they actually get to grow up a bit where they can handle grazing.

[Radar]

Planted last Saturday, we finally got 1.7 inches of rain. Looks like a drunk was running the rig, with them crooked rows .

[RMW]

Got 1.25 inches of rain last night on my eagle seed soybeans and deer vetch, 4 inches 2 weeks ago, going to turn the deer loose in 3/4 days and let them go to town on it.

[Gunnyart]

Got four little plots of Turner seed Deer & Turkey blend planted a couple weekends ago. Still waiting on the first rain.

[cehorn]

We got a little over an inch this morning. Hoping for more the next few days but I'm excited to see what comes up. We already had a little coming up without the rain.

[Gunnyart]

Good once in Gouldbusk today too