Advice, opinions

[SD51555]

these are what my plots look like in the spring. I’ve found growing season is just to short to mess with terminating them and putting in a summer plot. I leave stand as is. the rye and clover will just terminate on their own and brown down and somewhat disintegrate. In late summer I will cut it down and chop up with a brush hog and start a fall plot of my choosing. A lot of times the same stuff. I like to add a little radish to that plot . It just really puts the icing on the cake. You can do these plots in perpetuity or convert them over to a perennial white clover plot for a few years.

That’s my area too. I’d like to get viable seed in my winter rye or winter wheat, but I also need to get all that mowed and restarted at a certain point to get fall tonnage built back up, before winter. So far I don’t know if I can even do it. I mowed with a brush hog last year in early august, and it didn’t shred the heads. So I got no volunteer rye.

I gave it the hand thresh and it sure didn’t seem to come loose very easily. So I had to buy wheat and put it in. Frankly, I don’t need the volunteers. I really just want the straw and the weed block thru Summer. I like being able to have room for a tonnage cereal. I’ve got a feeler out for some improved awnless triticale that might blow the doors off on fall tonnage.

We’ll see. 2022 is gonna be a wild year.


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[Snoop]

Alright, option 1 just let it go thur the summer & plant again in September

Or go ahead & terminate this & plant the Green Cover seed I have. This is the way I’m leaning since I have the seed.
whats the best route to plant.

Spray with glyphosate, seed, cullipack.

Seed, cullipack, mow.

Seed, mow, cullipack.

 

[Tree Spud]

Ok, this my first attempt at cover crops. I planted the 2 acr last September with WR & some clovers I had laying around.
it came up maybe about 3” or so & it looked like it eaten pretty hard over the winter.
Around the first week in April came back to see it and it looked like a total failure.

My plan was to spray and start over with Green Cover’s Summer Release. Now this is what it looks like 5 weeks later.
How would some of you let this play out.

Let it go & terminate late summer & do a fall blend?
Spray it and go ahead with the Summer Release?

I think you are on the right path.

This is what my fields look like in spring. I broadcast white clover mid summer, and WR & red clover in the fall. I then typically mow in late May before planting summer crops.

This creates great spring food and fawn cover.
This year I am trying to plant plants directly into the standing WR and terminate it with the FEL on my tractor and cultipacker.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I like both options, but is there a huge detriment to letting the rye and clover underneath grow? I was thinking the only thing might be it’s hard to get pics with a cam in a plot that’s 5 or 6 feet tall with rye. I’m in the same boat as the OP minus I was only planning to add to the plot in the fall but my plots right next to a 1.5 acre hayfield that I’m not going to cut so I’m more worried about the food than the cover in my plot. I think I’ll mow in early to mid June to terminate the rye and perhaps again when I add some brassicas and more perennial clovers in the late summer.

 

[yoderjac]

I like both options, but is there a huge detriment to letting it grow? I was thinking the only thing might be it’s hard to get pics with a cam in a plot that’s 5 or 6 feet tall with rye. I’m in the same boat but my plots right next to a 1.5 acre hayfield that I’m gonna let alone so I’m more worried about the food than the cover in my plot. I think I’ll mow in early to mid June.

I mow small sections in front of cams specifically to get better pics.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Most of the time I just use clover and winter rye. I just plant winter rye and clover in August, then leave it alone until next August. Now if I am planning on planting something in summer like radish or turnips, then I mow down the winter rye and plant them around July 4th. But I am in Zone 3b

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I

I mow small sections in front of cams specifically to get better pics.

like that idea a lot..then I could aim the camera straight down the “corridor” and still have cover on the sides of the plot and free seed from the rye I didn’t mow and I would know where I have to overseed later in the fall.

 

[Rit]

If I already had the seed I would plant. I really enjoy planting and tractor time. If you don’t replant it will be fine, save you some time for other task. I always found that once the WR matured and died off in the summer that weeds start to creep in because the clover also can go dormant. Also I tended to windrow the rye with my rotary cutter. I kill the WR now once it starts forming seed heads.

I just drilled my field on Saturday which was three weeks earlier than last year. I drilled green covers Summer soil builder last year in June, and followed up with the cool season soil builder mix in the fall but added, beans, sunn hemp, and sorghum to the mix. I liked the root structure of the hybrid sorghum so much that on Saturday I drilled the summer soil builder again but this time I added in Egyptian Wheat and 3 types of sorghum including a dwarf variety to help the sorghums stand during the fall.

Last year the stalks stayed up all winter until I mowed them down in February. You can’t pull up a sorghum stalk out of my field without a clump of dirt and worms coming with it. Between 15+ species per planting, gypsum, and no till I am trying all I can to fix this soil. I have heavy clay and that stuff just tillers right through it. I plant 2 acres in the summer then mow down an acre of the field and plant it in the fall. The extra cover from all the sorghums did wonders for daylight movement and activity around the plot. I don’t think you can go wrong either way. As others has said just make sure you can manage the 5’ WR stalks if you let it go.

 

[Snoop]

Do you guys think I can broadcast a summer blend into this and then just roll over with the cullipacker?

Will do that terminate the rye, make a good mulch & get good germination?
I’m thinking about doing this weekend before a rain.
Thanks

 

[TreeDaddy]

Do you guys think I can broadcast a summer blend into this View attachment 43164and then just roll over with the cullipacker?
View attachment 43165
Will do that terminate the rye, make a good mulch & get good germination?
I’m thinking about doing this weekend before a rain.
Thanks

Dayem!!!!

Now, THAT's a cultipacker!

bill

 

[SD51555]

How old is that picture of your plot?

 

[Snoop]

10 days ago

 

[SD51555]

10 days ago

If that's the tool you've got I'd try it. Worst case scenario, you're out a bag or two of seed. I would roll it two ways to be sure you get as much as possible, laying it one way, and then hitting it perpendicular to the way the first pass laid it down. Decent chance your rye has stretched out and started getting stemmy enough to crimp. I don't know what that clover will do though.

 

[yoderjac]

Do you guys think I can broadcast a summer blend into this View attachment 43164and then just roll over with the cullipacker?
View attachment 43165
Will do that terminate the rye, make a good mulch & get good germination?
I’m thinking about doing this weekend before a rain.
Thanks

That field looks perfect for T&M

 

[Foggy47]

From what I have read and seen via videos......The time to terminate that rye is at the "dough stage" - where you can squeeze some "milk" from the seed heads and they have not yet hardened into seed. At this point the stems are becoming more brittle and you stand a better chance of crimping them to terminate that seed making process. Timing seems somewhat crucial to a good kill. Perhaps a ten day window?? Too early and the rye will rebound from being laid over and spring back to stand....too late and the seed heads will be viable and you will have a shit ton of rye on your hands.

I think that SD has some good advice above given your cultipacker..... and would do that with what you have. (SD is no "ordinary dummy"....tounge in cheek....lol).

I'm still learning too....but I have watched countless videos describe what I say above. My roller / crimper delivers tomorrow. Kinda excited to have this implement available. :).

 

[Snoop]

I went ahead & brodcast into the standing rye & clover, then ran over it with my cullipacker as SD suggested.in his scetch.
I think it layed down pretty good. We shall see. We’ve got rain in the forecast for the next couple days.

 

[Wild Thing]

Good job Snoop. Looks great!

 

[Tree Spud]

I went ahead & brodcast into the standing rye & clover, then ran over it with my cullipacker as SD suggested.in his scetch.
I think it layed down pretty good. We shall see. We’ve got rain in the forecast for the next couple days.

Looks like a good layer of thatch created.

 

[SD51555]

I went ahead & brodcast into the standing rye & clover, then ran over it with my cullipacker as SD suggested.in his scetch.
I think it layed down pretty good. We shall see. We’ve got rain in the forecast for the next couple days.View attachment 43301View attachment 43302

That looks like a hell of a good crimp job! Please keep us updated. I'm excited to see how this turns out.

 

[Snoop]

That looks like a hell of a good crimp job! Please keep us updated. I'm excited to see how this turns out.

I’ve got a roller crimper ordered.
Like everything else it’s delayed. Supposed to have been delivered first of May. Now they say July.