RWW Upland Blend

Yep sure does.. Looks to be a nice hunting spot!
 
Aug 1st, 2021

First few Milo plants sending up seed heads. Was hoping these would get a little taller but the WGF variety is rather short, maybe 30" or so total in height. Perhaps a little "thick" with competition.. The Japanese millet is over 6' tall for comparison.

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It’s tough to see but a ton of Japanese millet seed heads were out last weekend.

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Looking good!
 
Updated pic from today. Looks like the pearl millet has headed out.

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Updated pic from today. Looks like the pearl millet has headed out.

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Where you located at? I was thinking about trying millet next year in central il
 
Where you located at? I was thinking about trying millet next year in central il
South central Wisconsin
 
South central Wisconsin
Looks like pearl will grow in sandy soil that I have. I have to soil test again next year after 2 lime treatments. And will try then. What was your planting rate?
 
Looks like pearl will grow in sandy soil that I have. I have to soil test again next year after 2 lime treatments. And will try then. What was your planting rate?
It was a 5 lbs mix from deer creek seed. I screwed up the seeding trying to use my atv spreader. I overseeded for sure.
 
It was a 5 lbs mix from deer creek seed. I screwed up the seeding trying to use my atv spreader. I overseeded for sure.
Good to know I'll have to use a hand spreader like I do for the brassica we plant
 
DiSc - What is your soil CEC? Mine is 9.9 range.. I’m in MO, you’ll do fine with Millet in IL.
 
Good to know I'll have to use a hand spreader like I do for the brassica we plant
Yes I’ll be using my bag seeder next year. The only problem is like none of the sunflowers, beans, or buckwheat made it. It was terribly hot and dry when I planted. Little to no rain. I’m surprised it’s looks as good as it does. I think the deer cleaned up the broadleaf plants in the mix. They were there early.
 
DiSc - What is your soil CEC? Mine is 9.9 range.. I’m in MO, you’ll do fine with Millet in IL.
Honestly, not sure. It isn't on my last soil test. At the start of last year when we bought it (June) the ph was at 4.8. We put lime down at the end of deer season and we will lime again next month and retest end of season.
 
Yes I’ll be using my bag seeder next year. The only problem is like none of the sunflowers, beans, or buckwheat made it. It was terribly hot and dry when I planted. Little to no rain. I’m surprised it’s looks as good as it does. I think the deer cleaned up the broadleaf plants in the mix. They were there early.
We broadcast 50# of sunflowers when we spread the buckwheat. A lot of the buckwheat came up with a few early rains but when we went back to check the field there were no sunflowers. After the week of rain it just dried up like it did for so many others here
 
I had the same issues when I planted. Very few of the sunflowers survived..
 
Glad I didn’t plant straight sunflowers. For $22 I didn’t think this much was too bad. I’ve had good luck with deer creek seed.
 
that looks cool. Wonder how it looks in November. That'd be a great buffer/feathered edge from woods to plot
 
Aug 15th, 2021 (Approx 70 days growth)

Now about 95% of all the Milo plants have seed heads. Japanese millet is starting to dry down from the bases. Hearing doves all over when I'm out in the field now, jumped a pair out of the more "open" sections of millet. Can see they're finding it quickly now.. :emoji_slight_smile:

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My japanese millet is gonna produce a great crop this season. I planted August 1st and most all plants hold heavy heads today. I've grown it for years in a spot that is subject to ponding. It works well in that spot whereas nothing before did....unless we had a dry summer. Ducks & turkeys do love it. It seem all birds do. And deer will readily eat the heads off of the stalks. Have seen no evidence of foraging yet.....about 48 days after planting. But it will come.

I am also trying pearl millet this year, simply out of curiosity. That was planted July 22nd and heads are just beginning to emerge. We'll see what the reception is by the local wildlife.....birds, deer, turkeys, what-have-you. I was intrigued about the prospect of sorghum, but......but posts here on HT indicate it is sort of a here-today-gone-tomorrow forage, very short term. That's not encouraging,

Regarding sunflowers. They are Hershey's kisses at a 6yr-old's birthday party. Gone in a blink. Gone as soon as they germinate and emerge.

In 2012 my part of Michigan suffered a really severe EHD outbreak. The herd numbers plummeted. So in the spring of 2013 I planted an acre and a half of birdseed black oil sunflowers. it was a beautiful crop. And critters of all kinds used it.

And then our herd began to recover. Today, I couldn't grow an acre of sunflowers without putting a prison fence around the whole thing. I do grow 'spot' stands of sunflowers simply because they look terrific, they are cheap ($40lb bag - $12....it's friggin' birdseed), and easy to grow with just a bit of urea on 'em. But, these 'spot' stands have 47" field fence with a chicken wire wrap to hinder the deer. They are maybe 10' in diameter. I do it because they are pretty and they make my deer-dirt more interesting. And believe me, the birds will get all of the seeds out of those heads.
 
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