First year with no till, looking for advice on prepping for fall planting

[Farmsteader]

I used my new 606NT great plains drill to plant my summer cover cops. I am in central Wisconsin Zone 4B with sandy soil. I ended up planting the summer over crops the second week of May, A little earlier than I wanted due to leaving for a month vacation.

The plot below is planted in Alberta Lee’s Summermax CC6 cover crop. This field is my oldest field and over the years due to my heavy tilling practices has resulted in a loss of organic material. Years ago I had a very nice stand on white clover. Now after planting round up ready corn and soybeans I have been struggling to get clover to make it through the summer heat. I did spray the field with round up to kill the weeds before I planted, but you can see I have a all full lot of nasty grasses competing with the cover crop. I’m planning on planting a mix of winter rye, Austrian winter peas, crimson clover and hairy vetch some where around August 15th . My questions are do I drive my UTV and spray the field with roundup, wait a week then mow it with the flail mover and then plant with the no till. Or do I plant it while it’s still standing then spray.

 

[Farmsteader]

Here is a plot planted in Buckwheat. This is the best results I have ever had. Not sure if it’s due using the no till or just all the rain we have had. I planted it into a nice plot of clover that died over the winter due no snow cover. I got to think planting into the clove thatch did help. I’m planing on drilling in a Brasicus mix. Due to how thick it is I don’t know if I need to spray the whole field. I think I’ll just spot stray where I missed with the drill. I might try and get this planted a little earlier ( maybe August 1st ) to limit the number of volunteer buckwheat.

 

[Westwind]

Are you 100% sure they are grasses? I see that mix is 20% oats, 10% Japanese millet and 10% sorghum sudan grass.

I personally wouldn’t be worried about buckwheat reseeding. It will, but maybe not the worst thing that can happen on year 1. You will get more input from experienced people here but I would spot spray the places you missed and stick to your recommended brassica planting dates. Too early isn’t good for palatability.

I think you have a good start there.

 

[Farmsteader]

There definitely is some grasses growing in between the rows. I think if I could have sprayed the field later and planted when the soil was a little warmer, the cover crop would have been able to out compete the weeds better.

 

[bigboreblr]

I like everything I see in there.

IF you have enough land to feed your herd, a little extra less palatable plants is not a bad thing. PRovides more residue and nutrients to next year or two's crops.

I agree see oats, sudan or surghum. All good stuff. Clethodim would likely whack all of that if you really want to.

Put some sprayer jets on the back of your no till drill. Do it in 1 pass.

Mowing then seeding may cause problems with the seed drill. Even more so with shallow seedings, if youre going 1/2" or less. Some drill have issues with tall stuff. Some guys cultipack then drill in the same direction of travel. Culd put a bumper bar on the front of the seeder to help the tall stuff from getting hung up on the higher parts of the seed drill. Could put the front bucket down low or attach something to it to keep it down.

Some seed then mow too.

Northern folks have trouble with crimson clover making it through the winter. Some people report wildlife not using crimson clover much either.

 

[Farmsteader]

I like the idea of putting spray jets on the drill. I don't have time to mess with it this year but it might be a good winter project.
I might try doing the methods you mentioned on different sections of the field to help determine what works best and see just what the drill is capable of.
I'm not too concerned with the crimson clover not making it through the winter. I read about the mix I'm using in a book. I want to try out using the small seed box and the seed was cheep. It is a legume and if it adds some nitrogen it's got to be good right.

 

[omicron1792]

Just drill fall plants directly into that mix and do nothing else. Looks fantastic.

If you want to no till and do regenerative, you have to get past the wanting field to look like a perfect monoculture. You are adding OM which you said you wanted. I would say you are doing great.

Look up grant woods and growingdeertv. He does three passes a year, and many of us do the same. Plant in spring. Crimp in spring. Plant in fall. That’s it. The weather change will kill all that summer stuff and you will have some vertical height left that deer love.

Drill heavy rye and clover with some brassicas at your normal fall planting time. That’s it.

 

[omicron1792]

Volunteer buckwheat is a great fall crop too. Deer like young buckwheat. It is also a short lived crop and peters out in 60 days.

If I lived where you do I would plant once a year in late summer with rye and clovers with a few brassicas. Easy peasy.

 

[Farmsteader]

Maybe I am overthinking this fall planting. I just worry about generating too much weed seeds or whether the grasses will over take and ruin the planting. I guess right now focusing on increasing OM is the goal. Weed control will come later.

Using the no till has really got me excited on how and what to plant. Just the concept of being able to put the seed I want in the ground over top of what is there gives me goose bumps. It just opens up a whole other world of possibilities. I haven’t been this excited about planting since the first plot I did over 20years ago. I just with I would have bought it 10 years ago.

 

[bigboreblr]

With the seed drill and tall plants, perhap take a few car tires and bolt them together in a row, then take some chains and drape it off the the front bucket. Would push the tall stuff down while seeding.

Walked my little 1/2 acre plot at home. Snipped out the 20 or 30 red aramath left in the food plot.

Wondering If I should do something before fall planting. Rye n wheat grew up well and produced seed. Looks all dead now. Got the typical pasture weeds in there. catchweed, buttercup, some goldenrod. Cut the seed heads off a few mullein too. ONly 2 or 3 ticks on my clothes.

I see deer eating the seedheads daily in there. Down the road, the farmer hayed their rye field. Have plenty of rye seed for this year, but wondering if he will sell his own rye at the feed store. usually sells another farms seed for feed.

 

[omicron1792]

Maybe I am overthinking this fall planting. I just worry about generating too much weed seeds or whether the grasses will over take and ruin the planting. I guess right now focusing on increasing OM is the goal. Weed control will come later.

Using the no till has really got me excited on how and what to plant. Just the concept of being able to put the seed I want in the ground over top of what is there gives me goose bumps. It just opens up a whole other world of possibilities. I haven’t been this excited about planting since the first plot I did over 20years ago. I just with I would have bought it 10 years ago.

Read the throw and mow thread. You are def overthinking it. Weeds heal soil better than anything.

 

[bigboreblr]

Weeds take time to tolerate..... Try the good old exclusion cage if your getting steady deer traffic in there over the summer.

If you consider weeds your enemy, know your enemy. ID specific weeds your having trouble with.

Perhaps atleast get a good closeup of a bit of the field. Then circle what plants you think might be a problem. Some folks might be able to ID on here as weed, what weed, or perhaps voluteer seed from a past crop. I judge this more by my trail camera than looking at the plot. Deer are happy, so am I. Been many times hunting hundreds of acres of soybeans, corn, rye, and alfalfa and the deer want to eat the weeds n shrubs on the field edge instead... Even seen them nitpick a certain weed between the rows too.

Weeds can ID soil problems too. Not only chemistry, but signs of soil compaction. Tillage is a reallty for many of us after a few years, if we still want decent crops for our wildlife. 3-7 years is the norm in clay soils.

Don't sell the discs or bottom plows just yet.

 

[Farmsteader]

Weeds take time to tolerate..... Try the good old exclusion cage if your getting steady deer traffic in there over the summer.

If you consider weeds your enemy, know your enemy. ID specific weeds your having trouble with.

Perhaps atleast get a good closeup of a bit of the field. Then circle what plants you think might be a problem. Some folks might be able to ID on here as weed, what weed, or perhaps voluteer seed from a past crop. I judge this more by my trail camera than looking at the plot. Deer are happy, so am I. Been many times hunting hundreds of acres of soybeans, corn, rye, and alfalfa and the deer want to eat the weeds n shrubs on the field edge instead... Even seen them nitpick a certain weed between the rows too.

Weeds can ID soil problems too. Not only chemistry, but signs of soil compaction. Tillage is a reallty for many of us after a few years, if we still want decent crops for our wildlife. 3-7 years is the norm in clay soils.

Don't sell the discs or bottom plows just yet.

Right now my number one weed I'm dealing with is wild Buckwheat or also call Black Bindweed. I've spent way too many hours hand picking this vine weed from hell at my place. Once the seeds are in the ground it's nearly impossible to get rid of. The only thing that slows it down is thick overhead cover. The seeds seam to germinate all summer long. If they get above the canopy they spread out like an octopus smothering everything in a thee foot radius dumping seeds for next year. Tilling it might slow it down but if there are seeds there they will come back.