AWP and Oats, when to plant?

Mike O

5 year old buck +
I have had great luck with Cereal grains planted around Labor day here in Michigan. The one time I mixed AWP's with oats the AWP did not grow more than a few inches before cooler weather slowed them down. The logical solution would be to plant the AWP earlier in say August but if I were to do so I fear any Cereal grains planted at the same time would get too mature and lose its appeal before hunting season. Is my experience unique or do the peas simply grow too slow when planted that late in the season?
 
Daylight and temps are decreased every day, so you're likely to not get the "tonnage" from a later planting. I plant peas, beans, oats, radish, and buckwheat mix around labor day every year in SE MN/SW WI and am happy with the mix. Radishes don't always produce the hard pan shattering size and the deer keep the peas mowed down. It's highly attractive in October and mid Oct I will overseed with 50-100# of winter rye for a green carpet until snow flies. Works great, suppresses weeds, deer love it, wish I could keep the turkeys off the mix.
 
Planted the above mix last year after my brassica crop got decimated by grasshoppers (of all things) that were coming from the edge of my switchgrass. So basically I planted brassica early August, by Labor Day weekend I noticed the edges along switch were eaten by grasshoppers, so I rescued it with the oats/peas/beans/radish/buckwheat and this lush carpet was the result in mid October when I overseeded rye. 20231010_164049.jpg
 
Planted the above mix last year after my brassica crop got decimated by grasshoppers (of all things) that were coming from the edge of my switchgrass. So basically I planted brassica early August, by Labor Day weekend I noticed the edges along switch were eaten by grasshoppers, so I rescued it with the oats/peas/beans/radish/buckwheat and this lush carpet was the result in mid October when I overseeded rye. View attachment 66582
That’s beautiful
 
I'm in zone 4a and I like to plant a Peas/beans/oats/brassicas/clover late July/Early August then overseed with rye in sept so it stays palatable during hunting season. The idea is that oats will frost kill and the young tender rye will take over on the cereals front later in the season. Last year I planted too high of an oats component, I think i'll leave more space for the peas and brassicas this year. With Peas, unless you have an exclusion cage or a huge plot, it can been hard to know how much growth you actually got because they get hammered. So while you may not see them get huge, it's because the deer keep coming to eat them which means they did the job IMO.

I don't know how important the beans component is in my mix. I just happen to have beans on hand most years to throw a few in.
 
Peas never get over an inch or two in my neck of the woods and they're gone...
 
I did a plot of 50# oats/50# peas/50# rye around Labor Day last year and it did pretty well. Mild winter though. Here is a post about it.

 
I almost think theres never a bad time to plant oats. I've plnted them in april and the deer are still nibbling onthem in october.
though they may be volunteer seed 2nd crops. Ive planted oats july august and a week or two after labor day, all enjoyed by deer. Oats die on a night with several hours of 15 deg temps. Used to plant a mix of oats and wheat with clover and peas for years. Like most said its the cream of the crop in the mix.

I'd throw a little medium red and or ladino clover in there.

Winters in the NY adirondacks have been more mild they they used to be. However, the thing I focus on is spring greenup. It attracts more doe groups on my lease, which makes bucks visit the lease moreo ften during the rut. Clover and rye are great green up.
 
In south east Minnesota I plant my peas mid August and my cereals late September-early October.

I finally figured out last fall albeit mild I had been planting cereals way too early.


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