Would spraying or tilling be best for LC Mix Rotation?

[Whitetaildeer13]

Hi guys-

I planted LC's mix last fall...half the plot was brassicas blend and the other half was cereal grain blend. I frost seeded red clover into the cereal grain section this winter and the rye and clover really came in well. I read that the clover really builds up the nitrogen level. I will be rotating the brassicas blend into this section in August. Would I be best to hire someone with a tiller this August and just let the clover and rye go or would I be better to spray now and then a couple of more times this summer and use the no till method? Would the green manure I would get from tilling add more nitrogen than spraying. Also, do you think I would have to mow the clover and rye if I wanted to have it tilled. Thanks for your help.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

One thing if you have sandy soil, tilling will do more damage then what it is worth.

 

[Bill]

Either way works but as mentioned not in sandy soil.
Personally my disc hasn't moved in years. I'd leave it grow until you're ready to plant. broadcast your seed into the clover before a hard rain and spray the plot hot with gly. I say hot because clover is sometimes hard to kill.

 

[Whitetaildeer13]

I am lucky to have excellent soil in this spot. It very fertile in the bottoms and not sandy. Thanks for your responses.

 

[yoderjac]

It really depends on your soil. The better soil you have the more abuse it can take from tillage. Some clay soils with low OM may require minimal tillage to overcome crusting. Tillage will provide good short term results with a long term cost. Minimizing tillage will help maintain soil tilth and improve water infiltration. To learn more about the benefits of minimizing tillage, check out some of the "Ray the soil Guy" videos: https://vimeo.com/channels/raythesoilguy/52284015 Start with infiltration.

To learn how to apply some of the concepts Ray talks about with small equipment for food plots, read some of the Crimson N Camo threads.

It is an individual decision based on a lot of factors. I'm moving to minimize tillage but I'm not full no-till yet. I use a tiller when needed rather than a disc and set it so high that it is chopping vegetation and maybe hitting the top inch of soil at most. Just enough to break up my clay. I also choose crops that let me minimize tillage. Many of the crops we plant don't require much tillage. I did buy a Kasco no-till drill for large seeds that need to be planted deeper like beans and corn for my warm season plots.

One more consideration is herbicide use. If you are in farming country where Gly has been used for may years, you may have glyphosate resistant weeds. Without glyphosate, no-till and min-till are more difficult.

There is no one right answer, and there are a lot of things to learn about and consider when making your decision.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I have watched so much of Rays stuff i just cant get enough. I didnt see him on the link but there is also a heavy set farmer from Ohio i believe that ray has on some of his videos. Lots of good useful info.

 

[scott44]

I use the LC rotation and last years cereal rye and clover I let go until July broadcast my brassicas into into it and roll it down while spraying gly all in one pass.

Before



after



This is my set up for the one pass roll and spray.

 

[ToddG]

Nice roller. I would like to get a setup like that