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Throw N Mow This
- Thread starter SwampCat
- Start date
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
As long as it is not turf grass where seed can't hit the ground, I would try T&M. I'm not sure what the weed is but as long as it responds to gly I think you will be fine. Seed will trickle to the ground when you broadcast. I'm reluctant to T&M if there is some kind of grass the forms a mat like fescue can. I see nothing in the picture that would deter me from T&M.
Good Luck,
Jack
Good Luck,
Jack
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
If he doesn't crimp or roll, I think I'd mow. I like the idea of the dead vegetation forming a mulch to help hold in moisture.
I have had success with browntop millet there in the past. Not last year - too wet. Jap millet would probably do great. Beans always do well if the hogs dont eat the seed. Last couple years have been wetter than normal. It is actually too wet now to till - but I could tnm and bush hog. If it doesnt do any good - will just plant wheat in the fall.
I’m trying to use TnM a good bit and this comment caught my eye. Will I not always have a mat of decaying thatch if I don’t use tillage to incorporate it, if I’m only mowing? Are you referring to certain types of plants that decay more slowly and, therefore, form a different ‘type’ of mat? I’m wondering if this mat is a reason I’m not doing so well.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
One key is good seed soil contact. I you go out to your lawn (fescue), you don't see dirt. It forms a mat. Even if you kill it, very few seeds would contact the soil. Compare that to WR or a weed field or bunch grasses or most crops. If you go out in a field and look strait down, you will see bar dirt between the plants. Their vegetation may canopy and cover the soil, but when you spread it you see plenty of bare soil below.
So, when I broadcast in to one of these fields, much more seed will fall immediately off the vegetation on to the bare dirt. If you crimp, roll, or mow, much more of the seed will fall on to bare soil and with rolling or cultipacking it gets pressed into the soil. You don't want to mow before you broadcast the seed in most cases because if the vegetation is thick, it can form a mat and keep seed from contacting the soil. If you mow after you broadcast, the vegetation will fall on top of the seed. It now acts as a mulch holding in moisture for the seed.
You are right that some vegetation breaks down faster than others. Take corn stalks and buckwheat as an example. I will often mow corn stalks in the winter if the corn is gone just to get them in contact with the soil for faster decomposition. Buckwheat, by comparison decomposes very quickly when mowed or rolled releasing the nutrients it scavenged.
Soils play a role as well. T&M works better on some soils than others. For example, I have heavy clay with low OM. When I started, if I did T&M only, the field would struggle. The issue turned out to be the clay forming a crust on the surface. When I first started, even drilling soybeans was an issue because they had a hard time breaking through that crust. As we build OM top down with T&M and no-till, that problem as diminished. My solution was min-till. I would take my 3-pt tiller and raise it so high that the tines barely hit the top inch of soil and I would move quite fast. This helped me get started. It was just enough to break this crust and it also helped harder to decompose vegetation like corn stalks decompose faster.
I am now able to do straight T&M and get good results.
Hope this helps,
Jack
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Exactly! That is what I want. With the right mix of C & N you are essentially composting and building OM from the top down. This supports the microbiom that improves nutrient cycling and reduces (or even eliminates) the need for fertilizer. A good balance is important for decomposition. That is why we mix or rotate legumes and grasses.
Unlike a farmer who is trying to maximize yield to maximize profit, objectives for deer managers are quite different. Food plots are a small part of a deer's overall diet. We are trying to select crops that provide good nutrition for deer during times when nature is stingy to even out the dips. In late spring when things are lush in my area, it doesn't matter if a deer is eating my food plots or native poke berry. In the middle of the summer when native foods dry up in my area or the dead of winter when only low quality browse is available, food plots can play an important role.
With a good mix of grasses, legumes, native forbs and weeds, decomposition will occur building OM. Let's start in the spring. I will soon be T&M a mix of buckwheat, sunn hemp, and then using a no till drill to drill sunflowers into that mix. That will cover our summer stress period. By fall, these warm season annuals will be dying naturally. I when then broadcast a cover crop mix of Turnips, Winter Rye, Crimson Clover the summer crops will still be standing. There will be plenty of bar soil under the canopy. I will then spray and mow the field. That just mowed will form a mulch for the seed just broadcast and have all fall, winter, and early spring to decompose. Next spring when I plant some of the fall crop, the previous years summer crop should be decomposed. The fall planted crop will need to be terminated.
What I do the follow spring depends on what happens over the winter. If we have a good mast crop and deer don't eat all the turnips, I'll probably use a tiller set high so it barely touches the top inch. Turnips don't terminate well with gly, but the tiller terminates them easily. This is not enough to disrupt the Crimson Clover or Winter Rye. They will continue to grow and provide food in early spring until I'm ready to plant again in may. WR and crimson will terminate easily. If we don't have a good mast crop I will not need to terminate turnips, the deer will have done that.
If for some reason you don't get the decomposition you want with your crops, you can do the same thing with a tiller. On the old QDMA forum this min-till technique was written about an a thread called "Thirt" - a mix of thatch and dirt. Microbes in the soil speed decomposition. It takes very little soil thrown on dead vegetation to speed decomposition.
Match your technique to your tools and situation.
Thanks,
Jack
