Failed Corn Plot

[roymunson]

Planted a 1.5 acre pasture field in corn this year. The food aspect of it was a complete flop. The soil wasn't ready, that said, I did grow stalks and in august broadcasted some brassicas into it and they did really well. I have a box blind on the edge of it and being up high, it makes for a really good gunning stand. I really like the spotty corn as the deer seem to like it as a cover/edge to work, but it's still spotty enough that I can shoot into it without issue. This year I'd like to possibly do something similar, but corn isn't a good option for various reasons. What would you guys suggest as an annual to put in. I'm not sure I wanna commit to the CIR or MG as I may wanna amend the layout in the future and am still learning how they work this field.

I thought about egyptian wheat or sorgum, but I know those flatten out a lot once winter sets in and am afraid I'd love all the height/cover side of things.

 

[swat1018]

Sorghum works well and they eat it well on my farm. It's a full season annual that needs planted late spring/early summer. You'll have to figure what to mix with it, I've done beans.

 

[scott44]

Maybe try and e-wheat, sorghum sudan grass mix.

 

[Bill]

I agree sorghum because it will be the cheapest.
The problem is you won't have a weed free bed to broadcast brassica's into if that's the plan. May have to use roundup corn again if you can find some cheap left over seed. That or plant the sorghum in spokes and then till what isn't sorghum to put in your brassica's.

 

[Telemark]

I would definitely plant SOME corn, for the late cover if nothing else. Can you give it a boost with a bit of fertilizer?

A friend of mine had a similar problem with corn up in Ontario. The soil just didn't let the corn thrive. However, he had planted some kind of pea along with it, which grew up the corn stalks. The deer loved it.

 

[roymunson]

I could fertilize and lime my way out of the poor corn production. Just thought there may be something better somewhere else.

 

[Dukslayr]

I could fertilize and lime my way out of the poor corn production. Just thought there may be something better somewhere else.

I have seen the spotty corn do very well with vining forage beans (such as some Eagle varieties and other brands). I have heard people with mixed results with forage beans producing pods but the only two years I planted them we had great pod production...they were a phenomenal year long food source for the deer and the field edges held up well to the browsing pressure allowing the rest of the field to really take off.

 

[roymunson]

Another thought, if it's about 1.5 acres in size, what if I planted sunflowers early and heavy. I can't imagine they'd mow the entire thing down as theyre coming, especially if I plant it in june when there's a lot of other browse available. Then come august, i'll broadcast some sort of fall plot into the remaining and thinned sunflowers.

If the deer mow everything off, i'll just do a completely new fall plot.