Birds and seed

[BobinCt]

I helped a buddy do a plot about a week ago with Buckwheat and Peas. We planted it the day before it called for 80 per chance of a good rain. Of course it never came then it took 4 more days to rain, luckily. We got good rains since, but he said there was lots of birds( lots of crows)in the plot prior to it raining. I lightly disced the Peas and just broadcasted the Buckwheat ( obviously sprayed prior to kill existing field). It’s been about a week and he said there are definitely some bare spots. I told him to just over seed the bare spots with Buckwheat. I don’t think the problem was from missing from broadcasting. Not a big deal cuz it’s just a summer planting. I’ve never had a problem with birds in all my years doing plots, but I’ve read how people have had some problems with them. My questions are, is there one seed the birds like more than others that you really must make sure you cover when planting? I’ll be planting the LC Mix in late August to early Sept here in Connecticut and also will be doing a brassica . I never covered my brassicas, clovers or GHFR. I just broadcast and run my cultipacker over them. As for the Peas, Oats, Rye, I always cover and maybe the GHFR too this year . Will the brassicas be ok or do birds like those seeds as well? What have people done to combat the birds? Increase seeding rates? If it rained when expected, I prob wouldn’t be posting this. I know brassicas, oats and rye are very fast to germinate too as well as Buckwheat so if I plant the day before a rain or day of, I should be fine. I’d still like to see what people do who can’t plant the day of or before. Any input would be great.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I don't generally find birds a big problem. Probably the worst bird issue is when you try to frost seed on top of snow. That makes the seed very visible at a time with birds have little else. That is not to say birds don't eat the seed we broadcast. They do. It would take an awful lot of birds to put a dent in hundreds of thousands of seeds broadcast into a field with dead or dying vegetation and pressed into the ground with a cultipacker.

I often find bare spots in fields and they can come from all kinds of reasons. In some cases they are caused by deer or something else feeding on the newly germinated plants before they get established. They can pull them out of the ground or the seedlings were so small when browsed they die quickly and rather than looking like a browsed area, it is just empty. I had some bare circular areas one year only to find there was a groundhog hole in the middle of the circle.

I can see where a huge flock of birds getting ready to migrate could cause a problem, but you don't have that at this time of year.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[BobinCt]

Thx Jack. I drove up there today and discovered the problem. I noticed all the peas did not germinate. They were sitting on top of the soil. Keep in mind it’s a heavy slope and the rain was down pours. I mixed the peas with Buckwheat with 35 -25 favoring peas. They popped but were sitting on top of the soil. If it wasn’t such a big slope, I would have disced the peas in. I disced them in on the flat part of the plot and it came out fine. Live and learn. I’m sure the birds had little to do with it, but it was the mistake on my part. I knew I was gambling with the peas bec it’s a bigger seed. I will lightly disc in the fall horizontally .

 

[yoderjac]

Yes, I don't find peas a good choice for throw and mow or min-till. Peas/Beans/Corn/sunflowers don't do well on my soil. I have to drill them. WR/CC or any clover for that matter/PTT/Buckwheat/ Sunn Hemp /millet/sorghum all do well with T&M or min-till, especially if I cultipack. I avoid planting slopes like that. When I do plant them, I typically do a long-lived perennial clover with a WR nurse in the fall so I don't have to min-till again for many years.

Thanks,

Jack