I've been finding that rye doesn't need to be terminated when you plant into it. In fact, it's better to leave it. I'll say it again, we're not farmers. Farmers need to terminate the rye so it doesn't interfere with the harvest of their crop. Food plotters don't. The allelopathic effects of rye are overblown. Rye is coming to the end of it's like so it demands little moisture, letting your current crop grow into it's massive root system. Taking advantage of the soil moisture the roots are holding. The tall rye helps conceal deer, especially big bucks, making them feel safer feeding in our plots.
The tall rye also forces deer to work for their food a little, which is criticial in high density areas. This isn't anything new for many people who prefer broadleafs in their soybeans. Heavy browse isn't as intense.
Steve B-if you are looking for a "new" topic to write about I'd be happy to show you some things. I've been preaching about loosing a "farmers" mindset when we plan and manage our foodplots. We don't have to play by their rules. We don't have the same handicap of "harvest" a farmer does. So we can do different things to benefit our crops and encourage increased deer usage.
It isn't fully accepted in the consultant world, but they do talk about just providing food plots during the hunting season. I see the pros and cons of the strategy, because I know what it's like to attract too many does. I also see some things "the fall plotter" can do make things easier and cheaper for himself. 1-when you are only planting plots late summer, you leave alot of time for weeds and nasty grass to invade, you need to supress them. One of my clients makes me till his plots multiple times during the spring and summer, so he can plant his brassicas in July. Having the bare soil exposed for months. He only wants brassicas and he wants them his way. The customer is aways right, so we do it his way. Now if that was my plots, at a minimum I'd be planting spring oats. That way the soil is protected/ unwanteds supressed. When the oats matures, a light discing, and you have a free fall oats crop to accompany the brassicas. Your saving money and protecting your soil, who doesn't like that?
What I'm getting at is, food plotters don't always need to buy seed. They can grow the right crops at the right times of the year to take advantage of the seed.
These are just some quick things I think about when I'm on my tractor, day dreaming. I'm glad to see guys are "opening up their minds", and always thinking of better ways to get things done. For me, that's the challenge and it puts more fun into it. I never seek advice from a salesman, and this case follow the directions from a BOB company.
