Fall planted clover and chicory

[Native Hunter]

I had pigweed sprout in this last fall not long after I planted. My stuff was still low so I mowed the pigweed with a lawn mower before it went to seed. Looks like it worked out pretty good. But at this spot my guess is that I will be fighting more weeds later on. This is a place where we used to feed hay to cattle. Rich dirt but lots of weed seed in the ground.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Great looking patch, Native. Is it drawing much attention ??

 

[leexrayshady]

How did you plant it?

 

[Native Hunter]

Great looking patch, Native. Is it drawing much attention ??

Yes they are already hammering it. Turkeys are in it too

 

[Native Hunter]

How did you plant it?

I did a gly kill and cut it a little with a disk. With all the cow manure over the years I didn't bother with fertilize.

 

[scott44]

Great looking clover plot!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

You mentioned the turkeys being in the plot too, Native. I see the same thing at our camp. I think they eat some of the young greens early in spring, but when the bugs come out and are in the plots, we see flocks of turkeys running around chasing the jumping/flying bugs. They look crazy & drunk !! Crickets, grasshoppers, beetles - whatever they're chasing and grabbing at, it's a party out in the plots. Plots not just for deer, that's for sure.

How much did you disc that plot before seeding ??

 

[Native Hunter]

I had a light disk so I ran over it multiple times just so I could get a little bare ground showing. Some of what I killed with gly was fescue, so the old stools had to be cut fairly hard to get to bare dirt. I might have had a decent stand without the disking, but I don't think it would have filled in as quickly as it did.

I wish I had more turkeys. The way my place lays, I only get turkeys from one direction.

 

[tooln]

Looks good.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks everyone. I had another small spot nearby that I didn't gly kill and only disked. I wanted to see how much difference it made. Well, it made a heck of a difference. The grass has already recovered and there is very little clover coming up.

My next plot job will be to spray some cleth on orchard grass that came up in a plot I planted 2 years ago. The clover and chicory are strong in it, but the orchard grass is making a lot of clumps. I think I can drive through the plot in my pickup and spot spray the grass clumps without having to spray the whole thing. I will let you know how that comes out.

 

[bwoods11]

I believe fall planted annual clover (if timed right) will turn into a great plot for several years.

 

[nwmn]

I absolutely love your clover plots, so lush!

 

[Native Hunter]

I absolutely love your clover plots, so lush!

Thanks. I cheated a little by planting it on the most fertile ground I had.:) Saves on fertilize.

 

[nwmn]

If you aint cheatin, you aint tryin!

 

[Native Hunter]

Thought you might like to see an update as of 5-12-15. A few days makes a heck of a difference. In the second pic I jerked one of those big chicory plants out of the ground and ate some myself. Pretty tasty to a hungry redneck!

 

[Native Hunter]

Another update. Clover, alfalfa and oats have gone to seed and chicory flowering. Thought this end of the plot with a few BES was nice.