SD how late can you plant ysc and if it doesn't germinate this year would thevseed still be viable next spring. On the flip side what about frost seed next spring ladino with all the grass or possibly rye that could still germinate yet this year. SD I can't imagine your plots not in tip top shape
SD, like to hear a bit more about this sweet clover? It play well with other clovers? Sandy soil? Got a 1/2 bag of crimson clover to go through. Looking to provide good food for deer spring and fall, then summer build soil quality with somewhat less appealing options.
SD how late can you plant ysc and if it doesn't germinate this year would thevseed still be viable next spring. On the flip side what about frost seed next spring ladino with all the grass or possibly rye that could still germinate yet this year. SD I can't imagine your plots not in tip top shape
I'd still try it now. For as warm as it's been and looks like it'll continue to be, I'd throw 4 lbs/ac and see what happens. Its definitely getting late, but if it means I'd have a chance to head off spring and summer weeds next year, I'd go for it.
A backup plan would be a spring seeding of white sweet clover. I had a few rogue white sweets hit 7' on my place this year. You could also frost seed, but I'd still try it in fall. It won't go big until it does the winter vernalization. Waiting until spring would put you a year behind and you'd miss out on the big biomass that I'm recommending to break the drought and no-residue cycle.
My oat plots look like hell. It stayed too warm for too long. My good patches did get waist high and stemmy, and the deer ate most of those down to the core of the stem. I spread a backup blend of YSC, alfalfa, balansa, and more. I won't have a spring grain coming up, so I'll be broadcasting forage oats or barley again in spring. I just don't know if I'll get seed to soil contact with the residue layer there now, so I'll also throw in some jap millet and flax which should have a better chance at shaking down through.
SD, like to hear a bit more about this sweet clover? It play well with other clovers? Sandy soil? Got a 1/2 bag of crimson clover to go through. Looking to provide good food for deer spring and fall, then summer build soil quality with somewhat less appealing options.
Number one place sweet clovers grow is drought prone areas, heavy clays with no topsoil, sandy gravel road shoulders, driveways, and abandoned lots. It's a hero in tough soil conditions. My deer will browse YSC through the second year when it's getting big and woody, but they won't wipe it out.
I’ve been at this for 21 years. I’ve had white clover every year. I think I am finally ready to kill it all. I’ve not been able to overcome the smothering effects of WC, and because of that, I haven’t been able to punch in a stand of rye to hold back the grasses with the equipment and methods I...
Number one place sweet clovers grow is drought prone areas, heavy clays with no topsoil, sandy gravel road shoulders, driveways, and abandoned lots. It's a hero in tough soil conditions. My deer will browse YSC through the second year when it's getting big and woody, but they won't wipe it out.
I’ve been at this for 21 years. I’ve had white clover every year. I think I am finally ready to kill it all. I’ve not been able to overcome the smothering effects of WC, and because of that, I haven’t been able to punch in a stand of rye to hold back the grasses with the equipment and methods I...
I think the idea was that I was holding back my triticale lot (only bought enough to do my acres once) in case the throw and roll was too thick to let it through. So I tried the oats heavy in case it might work as a way to box out any would-be grasses. I missed the mark tremendously and now I'm stuck with no winter cereals to come up in spring in those two plots. I did spread trit on my main two plots in the back of my property.
Those two plots have other challenges I'll have to address next year, but that was the prevailing wisdom at the time.
SD I am wondering if we should start a new 2024 thread of how each of us planted this year and the results we got. I believe it could be interesting and beneficial
I've been trying to make early spring forage barley happen for at least six years. One year, I caught lightning in a bottle and it took very well in a well established ladino/dutch white plot. There are a whole host of reasons why it didn't work in other years: Broadcasted too soon, too wet, too dry, too many turkeys, broadcasted onto 6" of snow in March. Amazingly, some of that snow seeded barley did survive, but the percentage was so low, I haven't tried it again.
I think it all depends what's going to chase it naturally at spring green up, and how well you can get it germinated early, but not so early it's trying to root into frozen ground. When it worked, it was nothing short of herbivoral art.
I did barley this year because I couldn't get wheat or rye. Huge disappointment. I think there is a reason no one uses it for deer. This was for red deer in Norway, but since they are more inclined to eat grasses than whitetails, I think this will be my first and last time planting barley for deer. Probably a great crop for building soil though.
I've never had rye fail with any kind of rain (>.25"). That being said, since I planted my fall plots in MN, 95% hasn't germinated due to zero appreciable rain. We've had 3 or 4 storms predicted to hit us and dissipate during that time. I hope tonight's storm doesn't miss us too.
I'm just going to broadcast the rye seed instead of drill it this afternoon.