The Throw n’ Mow Method

[roymunson]

Yeah, there is a lot of OM in SunnHemp but it can also be a bit difficult to break down if it is allowed to fully mature. The deer loved my hemp so they kept it browsed down. Which kept the stocks younger, more tender and quicker to decompose. But since it was browsed so heavily, it never reached it's full potential for OM production.

I'll have to find a happy medium. Good news is the garage where the brush hog and tractor are kept are literally on the edge of this field. We'll just keep it knocked back to where we want it.

Should make a good T&M thatch

 

[Bowman]

I'm planning on using sun hemp as well this year instead of buckwheat. Had a habitat guy tell a friend of mine that the tonnage of organic matter is wild compared to even buckwheat.

Planning on turning that spot into a clover field this fall, but for the summer, I'm going to try sun hemp.

Sun hemp needs heat to grow and a soil temperature of 65 degrees. I am on sandy ground and have not done well with it. I have done much better with Sorghum sudangrass. Supposedly, when mowed at about 3' to about 1', the plant regrows and really puts out a bunch of roots for OM. It could be mowed again to seed the clovers into.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I would suggest planting it in a mix or maybe planting something else in your situation. If you were going to be doing a TNM brassica or cereal plot great but I dont think you need or want to plant a legume cover crop in front of another legume. For weed control reasons I'd be wanting to plant something that would use up as much of the available N I could before trying to establish a clover plot.

 

[Tap]

I would suggest planting it in a mix or maybe planting something else in your situation. If you were going to be doing a TNM brassica or cereal plot great but I dont think you need or want to plant a legume cover crop in front of another legume. For weed control reasons I'd be wanting to plant something that would use up as much of the available N I could before trying to establish a clover plot.

Very good point. And I believe something that produces a less course thatch will hold soil moisture better than Sunn Hemp.
I'm not knocking Sunn Hemp. I will continue to plant it, but I'm not sure it's the best choice for producing thatch for TnM, especially if you have a high DPSM. The stuff was kept browsed down pretty well here. There wasn't much left for thatch. I think something in the grass family would make more effective TnM thatch.

 

[yoderjac]

I'm planning on using sun hemp as well this year instead of buckwheat. Had a habitat guy tell a friend of mine that the tonnage of organic matter is wild compared to even buckwheat.

Planning on turning that spot into a clover field this fall, but for the summer, I'm going to try sun hemp.

Sunn hemp is a legume and buckwheat is not. They seem like they will complement each other well if I get the ratio right. Buckwheat breaks down very quickly and makes the nutrients it scavenged available for the next crop. As Tap says, deer can hit sunn hemp hard. My deer use buckwheat but they don't abuse it like the do beans. I'm hoping that the buckwheat has a protective effect on the young sunn hemp. Even if deer wipe out the sunn hump they will still have buckwheat through the summer.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Rit]

I’ll be planting sunn hemp towards the end of May. I’ll also be throwing in quite a few other seeds. The more the merrier. Sunn Hemp, buckwheat, pearl millet, berseem clover, cow peas, sun flower, field peas, and anything else I can find that peaks my interest. Just hoping I have enough thatch when I decide to terminate last years WR.

 

[35-acre]

I'm ready for spring!!!!!!!

I just ordered all of my seed for the first half of this year.
I used Welterseed.com.
I would be interested to hear where you get your seed if you can't find it locally.

Just so you an idea of my setup:
I have a 2 acre field and this is my 4th season doing T&M (throw and mow).
However, my field is in the middle of the woods and I don't have a mower.
So I use my 220cc ATV and a drag harrow rake, a 2 gallon pump sprayer and a hand spreader.
Because I'm still early in the process, I am still trying to build soil and OM.
Last year, throughout the season I put in 1500 lbs of lime based on the soil sample along with what I had planted.
My pH is still low, so I will be liming and fertilizing as needed throughout the year. I bought a test kit to stay on top of it.

SPRING PLANTING (for summer):
(Planting as soon as I can - in April/early May)
Planting method:
I will broadcast, spray, drag with my harrow and then compact it by driving my ATV over everything systematically to make sure I roll over the entire field (every square inch).

• Lacey Spring Barley (50 lbs)
• Spring Triticale (50 lbs)
• Horse Oats/feed (50 lbs) - Yes! It's odd. They grew great last year.
• Lime and fertilize

SUMMER PLANTING (for fall):
(Planting in late July/end of August)
Planting method:
I might try a little bit of fencing (Plot Saver) to see how that works. My stuff never gets to maturity.
I plan to do this in TWO different plantings. This is really so I don't knock the entire field down at once. I did that last year and regretted having a period where nothing was standing for a period of time.
I will broadcast, spray, drag with my harrow and then compact it by driving my ATV over the planted area.

• Big Buck Brassica Mix (CORRECTED - 25 lbs)
  • Purple Top Turnips
  • Multi-crowned Pasja Hybrid Brassica
  • Ground Hog Radish
  • Dwarf Essex Rape
• Lime and fertilize

FALL PLANTING (for winter):
(Planting in mid-September)
Planting method:
This is going to scare me!!!
I plan to just broadcast the entire field, NO Spray, NO Drag and NO Compacting the seed.

• Winter Rye (100 lbs)
• Horse Oats/Feed (50 lbs) Yes! It's odd. They grew great last year.
• Lime and fertilize

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Looks like a winner. I'd go a little lighter on the Brassica mix though. LOL

 

[35-acre]

(S.T. Fanatic) Thanks - I corrected that - it was just a copy & paste error on my part. I bought 25 lbs. I'll put down less than that in a couple of sections.

 

[Barndog56]

35 - acre, I would suggest more diversity. Your spring planting is barley, triticale, and oats, which all do roughly the same thing. I would definitely plant an annual legume at this time to fix nitrogen for your upcoming brassica planting. I would go with either crimson clover, or peas, depending on soil temp at planting time. I'd probably use buckwheat too for it's soil building properties, it's a great phosphorous accumulator.

 

[35-acre]

35 - acre, I would suggest more diversity. Your spring planting is barley, triticale, and oats, which all do roughly the same thing. I would definitely plant an annual legume at this time to fix nitrogen for your upcoming brassica planting. I would go with either crimson clover, or peas, depending on soil temp at planting time. I'd probably use buckwheat too for it's soil building properties, it's a great phosphorous accumulator.

Thanks Barndog. I've still got barespots (just soil) in some places so I'm really trying to heavy on plantings that will produce thatch/OM.

I did buckwheat last year and it came in awesome but the problem with BW is that it doesn't leave much OM after it gets knocked down. So I'm looking for something to build the soil. I may take your suggestion and grab some BW and mix in.

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[Rit]

Thanks Barndog. I've still got barespots (just soil) in some places so I'm really trying to heavy on plantings that will produce thatch/OM.

I did buckwheat last year and it came in awesome but the problem with BW is that it doesn't leave much OM after it gets knocked down. So I'm looking for something to build the soil. I may take your suggestion and grab some BW and mix in.

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Something to consider since you said your plants never make it to maturity would be to add a few species that deer don’t feed on to give you the desired result. Maybe add something like millet.

 

[35-acre]

Well, I got my seeds in. I didn't end up anything different to supplement like you mentioned Rit.

I really need to get something growing that will last through the winter so that I'm planting into something green in the spring. But I planted what I had in the best way I know:

1. I worked/raked the thatch that I have been able to grow over the past few years (via harrow rake on the back of my ATV). It was fairly matted so I wanted to move it around a little to expose the soil a little before broadcasting the seed.
2. The I broadcasted with my hand spreader the barley, oats, tricale and some 10-10-10.
3. I followed that up by rolling the field with a roller that I just built (see other thread about building a 40" cultipacker here if you're interested).
4. Lastly, I followed all of that up with a nice rain (prayers answered).

I forgot to soak the plot saver before I left so I didn't put it around half of the field that I had planned. I guess I'll be making that 3 hour trip again next weekend. I'm very curious to see how the things inside the plot saver grow compared to the things outside.

This pic shows the difference between raking and not raking:

 

[Rit]

Last years TNM WR looking fabulous this Spring. The deer are wearing it out all times of the day.

 

[WeedyJ]

My problem is Georgia red clay that gets baked. Haven't had much thatch due to deer hammering the plots. Hopefully will be better this year. Had pines thinned late last summer, so no browse got to grow. Hoping for good browse this year to hopefully slow them down on the plots. Loggers pretty much destroyed the place, and I'm making reparations slowly. Man it's work. Got a tractor finally, but gotta get rid of some stumps. Laid pipe for irrigation, but haven't hooked up the pump yet. If it doesn't get the water to my fields, it's gonna be an expensive waste of money and time :-)

 

[35-acre]

RIT - that is a great field setup!

I'm trying to do something very similar with the shrubs and trees inter-mixed into my plot (I've got pear, apple and chestnut that are going to be in and around my plot - but they are still in tubes). It looks like I'm at least 5-10 years behind you on that aspect. I've got some pines that I am trying to use to block the deer from being able to see the entire field, to give them a little cover and make them have to move around. I am envious of the stem count that you have on the edges to soften up the plot to the woods and inter-mixed in the plot. That's awesome!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

My problem is Georgia red clay that gets baked. Haven't had much thatch due to deer hammering the plots. Hopefully will be better this year. Had pines thinned late last summer, so no browse got to grow. Hoping for good browse this year to hopefully slow them down on the plots. Loggers pretty much destroyed the place, and I'm making reparations slowly. Man it's work. Got a tractor finally, but gotta get rid of some stumps. Laid pipe for irrigation, but haven't hooked up the pump yet. If it doesn't get the water to my fields, it's gonna be an expensive waste of money and time :-)

You should consider planting something like sorghum sudangrass that the deer wont eat as a summer annual to build thatch for the future fall TNM plot.

 

[HabitatMGR]

I've had good success doing tnm with clovers, cereal grains and brassicas. I just got access to plant my neighbors field (approx 3 acres) and I'd like to plant sorghum. It's mostly goldenrod and grass. I mowed it late last summer and plan on spraying it dead next weekend. I was then going to chisel plow, disk and plant but was wondering if I could spread fertilizer and the sorghum seed and then mow it. Has any one ever tried planting sorghum that way? Any experiences or advice would be appreciated. I'm in eastern PA if that matters.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Yes,

I did it just as you described with good results

Sorghum x sudan will quickly out compete all other growth "IF" you get adequate rain

bill

 

[35-acre]

Well, I got my seeds in. I didn't end up anything different to supplement like you mentioned Rit.

I really need to get something growing that will last through the winter so that I'm planting into something green in the spring. But I planted what I had in the best way I know:

1. I worked/raked the thatch that I have been able to grow over the past few years (via harrow rake on the back of my ATV). It was fairly matted so I wanted to move it around a little to expose the soil a little before broadcasting the seed.
2. The I broadcasted with my hand spreader the barley, oats, tricale and some 10-10-10.
3. I followed that up by rolling the field with a roller that I just built (see other thread about building a 40" cultipacker here if you're interested).
4. Lastly, I followed all of that up with a nice rain (prayers answered).

I forgot to soak the plot saver before I left so I didn't put it around half of the field that I had planned. I guess I'll be making that 3 hour trip again next weekend. I'm very curious to see how the things inside the plot saver grow compared to the things outside.

This pic shows the difference between raking and not raking:

View attachment 23578

I got up my plotsaver. Need some warmer weather to get those seeds popping. I just did about 1/3 of the field to see how it works.

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