The Throw n’ Mow Method

[Catscratch]

My rye is now covered with about 2-3 inches of snow. The deer simply do not dig through the snow to get at rye by me, even when it's just a couple inches. They will dig deep to get at turnips but I don't have any this year. The rye won't shine for me again until early spring when the snow melts.

Wheat is king here for pretty much the whole winter (hardly any snow though). Rye gets very little use. Turnips rot in the ground, radishes get some use but it doesn't last real long.

 

[bueller]

Wheat is king here for pretty much the whole winter (hardly any snow though). Rye gets very little use. Turnips rot in the ground, radishes get some use but it doesn't last real long.

Funny you mention wheat. I was just thinking about how I planted wheat years ago before being sold on rye but I don't recall what the winter usage was like. I may have to do a side by side comparison next year to see if they will dig through the snow for wheat or not. I'm not so concerned with feeding them over the winter, but I do need to feed them through our gun season. When we get an early snow before or during our season the activity on the rye plots shut down.

 

[Catscratch]

Funny you mention wheat. I was just thinking about how I planted wheat years ago before being sold on rye but I don't recall what the winter usage was like. I may have to do a side by side comparison next year to see if they will dig through the snow for wheat or not. I'm not so concerned with feeding them over the winter, but I do need to feed them through our gun season. When we get an early snow before or during our season the activity on the rye plots shut down.

I can't comment on the snow thing other than they will dig through 3 inches to get to wheat (I imagine you are getting more snow than that). If I was concerned about keeping deer through rifle season I would leave standing beans that had been broadcast with wheat right before the leaves yellowed and fell. With that you have a green draw, a grain draw, and a vertical draw with beans that might not be buried in the snow.

 

[bueller]

I can't comment on the snow thing other than they will dig through 3 inches to get to wheat (I imagine you are getting more snow than that). If I was concerned about keeping deer through rifle season I would leave standing beans that had been broadcast with wheat right before the leaves yellowed and fell. With that you have a green draw, a grain draw, and a vertical draw with beans that might not be buried in the snow.

We do get much more snow than that but it only takes about 2" to kill the activity on the rye plots. Beans are going to be tough with my largest plot only being 1/2 acre but I'm going to give them a shot next year. Hopefully the neighboring farmer plants beans again in his field to be a bigger draw allowing mine to grow. I want to plant mine as the farmers are peaking out of the ground already so they find them first.

 

[Big Snow Man]

We do get much more snow than that but it only takes about 2" to kill the activity on the rye plots. Beans are going to be tough with my largest plot only being 1/2 acre but I'm going to give them a shot next year. Hopefully the neighboring farmer plants beans again in his field to be a bigger draw allowing mine to grow. I want to plant mine as the farmers are peaking out of the ground already so they find them first.

My biggest plot is about a half acre I wouldn’t Plant beans without a e fence maybe a year or two down the road before I can afford that. As for rye or wheat I just mix it all together and it gets mowed down to the ground.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Several inches of snow is not a problem by me, takes more like 6-8 inches to slow them down. This is mostly weedy clover, not rye though

 

[Big Snow Man]

My deer give up on plots after 3” of snow. Mine must be lazy

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Mine gave up, but I have about a foot.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Started with a "clean" field in May of 2015. Here it is in buckwheat, July 2015.

Mid August 2015 I overseeded with rye, clover, and radish. Spring of 2016 rye and clover looking good.

July of 2016 the rye has matured and the red clover is about a foot tall.

Recently overseeded with some turnips and urea. More winter rye goes in about a month from now.

Did you throw the clover, rye and radishes in the standing buckwheat, or did you roll the buckwheat first?

 

[EarthySpirit]

Nature is gonna try and cover any bare ground. It doesn't look like you're overwhelmed with it from the pics...I'm sure it's like you said in the other post and just coming up where your drag scratches up the bare dirt. Does it seem to be getting worse, better, stay the same?

I just created two new plots on my land last week. Right now it is just bare soil. What would you recommend I do in spring? I'm planting buckwheat for cover crop in spring, then putting clover and wr in the fall. Should I just put buckwheat straight down on the bare soil with no prep (other than lime, fert, I'm testing soil)? Or should I let whatever comes up, grow, kill with gly, then put down buckwheat, or some other option? Obviously, I have some rocks to get rid of too. :)

 

[LEWI B]

Rye Rye Rye
Two bushels to the acre
This southern fellow has been converted

If concerned about washing before germination or birds use straw(wheat rye oat )
and cover bare ground like a new lawn has been seeded.

 

[EarthySpirit]

I did the throw and mow a little different then some of you but so far it seems to be working. We have 2 plots that equal about 1.5 acres and at the beginning of July we mowed the 4-5 foot tall grass and weeds. We were gonna spray a week before we planted but rain prevented us from doing so. Then we were gonna spray and throw the seed the same day, well we barely got the seed down before we had a 10 hour soaking rain. Went back the next day and sprayed the plots and hoped for the best. I checked on them yesterday and the turnips and radishes are growing now. The only thing I did was run a drag over the area before we planted. I'll continue to keep planting turnips and radishes like this. The last picture is the stand view with the brassica plot in front.

Just to confirm, are you guys spraying gly the same day you put your seed down? It won't harm the seed?

 

[chucker66]

Just to confirm, are you guys spraying gly the same day you put your seed down? It won't harm the seed?

That's correct. Gly kills the roots by going through the leaves. No leaves on seeds haha

Chuck

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[seadonist]

No harm whatsoever in applying gly and seeding on the same day but wait to seed if you think weeds will require more than one application of gly.


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[Big Snow Man]

Patrick did they root rake that area ?

 

[EarthySpirit]

So phase one of my T&M consisted of spreading Buckwheat (BW) and Sunflower(SF) into 6ft tall weeds. an area that has been overgrown/untouched for about 6+ years. Sow,mow and spray back in May. Aug 2, I limed and 10-10-10'd, sowed clover, brassias, radish, chicory and Winter wheat., then I mowed again and sprayed again.

We have not had much rain so germination has been slow but its showing promise, there are some volunter BW popping up as well. we need more rain!!

View attachment 10370 View attachment 10369

The beer can made it worth it!! Looking good!

 

[EarthySpirit]

Patrick did they root rake that area ?

Sorry, I don't know what root rake is...?

 

[Big Snow Man]

A blade in front of the dozer that leaves the dirt behind but takes out the tree roots and stumps and rocks.

 

[EarthySpirit]

A blade in front of the dozer that leaves the dirt behind but takes out the tree roots and stumps and rocks.

Oh. Yes, thats what he did.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Ok, I have another question. By the way this forum is so helpful. Thanks guys for all the help. Here's my question: Earlier I uploaded two pics of two brand new fields of bare ground cleared from stands of cedar. If I let whatever weeds come up in the spring to be the original layer of thatch, what are the chances there will be enough material there to provide a sufficient thatch for the seeds I want to broadcast? Or will I need to bring in some hay and spread it after I broadcast? Hope my question makes sense. Thanks in advance for the help. By the way, I'm planting buckwheat.