Following a Field from Hayfield to Food Plot

[Derek Reese 29]

Thought I would chronicle my newest ~half acre plot...so the beginning of this tale will be easy, my neighbor mowed it last week on 7/7.
Plan is to spray either Thursday or Friday then broad cast on Saturday. Will be broadcasting the following mix of clovers: Whitetail institute, WI fusion, jumbo ladino, alsike, aberlasting, mammoth red along with some GRO forage brassicas and winfred brassicas. Going for a mix of annual/biennial/perennial so that some good clover will pop early next spring and provide some tonnage with the brassicas/grains for this year.
I will also be broadcasting Oats/WR closer to Labor Day.
Full mowed field looking towards existing plot (picture taken in the NW corner of the plot looking SE)

 

[Semisane]

Derek, if that field is on your property and you know its history, you're good to go.

However, if you don't know its history, I suggest that you find out if it has been treated with an aminopyralid herbicide at any time in the last two or three years. If so, don't waste your money on brassicas or other broadleaves. Go with pure wheat/oats. Aminopyralids are used to control broadleaf plants in hay fields and have a very long-lasting effect.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Derek, if that field is on your property and you know its history, you're good to go.

However, if you don't know its history, I suggest that you find out if it has been treated with an aminopyralid herbicide at any time in the last two or three years. If so, don't waste your money on brassicas or other broadleaves. Go with pure wheat/oats. Aminopyralids are used to control broadleaf plants in hay fields and have a very long-lasting effect.

I don't have much of a history on the field, other than that it has been a hayfield with decent white clover in it the past couple years....but I grew a pretty good brassica plot in the 0.5 acre right next to it last year so I'm guessing it should be alright. Thanks for the info though! I tried to top dress with a combo of WR/WW last year on that plot but only the WR came up..hence the WR/Oats topdressing that is coming for the current plot.

 

[omicron1792]

Derek, if that field is on your property and you know its history, you're good to go.

However, if you don't know its history, I suggest that you find out if it has been treated with an aminopyralid herbicide at any time in the last two or three years. If so, don't waste your money on brassicas or other broadleaves. Go with pure wheat/oats. Aminopyralids are used to control broadleaf plants in hay fields and have a very long-lasting effect.

What about clover?

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Update 12 days post mowing..greening up enough for my taste...will be spraying either Thursday or Friday and broadcasting Saturday

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Got the field sprayed last night with Gly at 2oz/gallon. Will be broadcasting on Saturday and then let the rain dances begin.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Broadcast and cultipacked yesterday morning onto a heavy dew soaked field (it was still dry underneath), then watched a thunderstorm slide 3 miles south at night. Rain dances initiated…

 

[Derek Reese 29]

The Good Lord has seen fit to bless my weekend of sweating with an abundance of rain! 1.5 hours of storms last night then storms began this morning before 6 and its just finishing up....couldn't ask for too much better...now hoping it continues in the weeks ahead....will post some pics once I see some clover/brassica sprouting...

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Finally seeing some germination on the plot...have only gotten maybe 1/3 of an inch of rain since planting and it has been hot and dry (not great conditions for sure).
But even though I had to look pretty hard, there were some brassica and clover sprouts starting. I am beginning to think my sprayer was not quite adequately purged also, as there is still some surviving grass (also I sprayed during a dry stretch which probably didn't help).
See below for some pics of the progress:
Couple little brassica sprouts and some clover that survived the spraying.

Couple little clover sprouts starting (probably the berseem or mammoth red if I had to guess)...the rain dances continue and it appears they will be rewarded later this week...

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Finally got some good rain every day this weekend...saw some small clover sprouts and 2-3 leaf brassicas continuing to emerge...will get some pics later this week..
On a side note: my line to the herbicide concentrate tank on my sprayer must not have been fully primed when I sprayed this field, as there is still a little bit of grass and alot of already-existing clover still in the plot. I am thinking I just gave that field a little bit of irrigation with a hint of gly in it (some places look like they got whacked, but it coulda been the mowing too).

 

[buckdeer1]

You got rain?We are dryer than in last 5 years. The cracks are 1 inch wide and who knows how deep.Your clover looks good for this early

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Finally got some good rain every day this weekend...saw some small clover sprouts and 2-3 leaf brassicas continuing to emerge...will get some pics later this week..
On a side note: my line to the herbicide concentrate tank on my sprayer must not have been fully primed when I sprayed this field, as there is still a little bit of grass and alot of already-existing clover still in the plot. I am thinking I just gave that field a little bit of irrigation with a hint of gly in it (some places look like they got whacked, but it coulda been the mowing too).

tons of clover sprouts and a few brassicas popping up (brassicas not pictured)..the whole field looks like this...if even 1/2 of these grow, we are in business!

 

[Derek Reese 29]

You got rain?We are dryer than in last 5 years. The cracks are 1 inch wide and who knows how deep.Your clover looks good for this early

yep we got a couple good drenching T storms, a few of which just popped up from basically nothing...we are supposed to get more today (kinda up in the air, pardon the pun), then the temps drop with overnight lows in the 50s and sunny with highs in the 70s-80s...that should get that clover jumping!

 

[Derek Reese 29]

~4 week update: Lots of germination going on and some actual growth. Lack of rain has slowed the progress for sure, but we got some this week and are calling for more later in the weekend and early next week. Large green spots are grass that somehow did not get killed by the spraying. My thought is that it was kinda dormant after the mowing and no rain. Theory #2 is that the sprayer wasn't quite working as it should (first use with new pump). I think the field is about a week (or more) behind, as I had about the same amount germination and growth last year after 3 weeks.
Bottom of the field, where it is shaded and wetter:

Grass towards the top of the pic was not hit with gly spray at all due to proximity to apple/crab trees.

Full field view looking towards the other food plot

Close up view of some brassicas starting to leaf out
Adjacent field last year after 3 weeks (with a similar mix of seeds spread)..this field was also sprayed alot better so all of the green was either clover or brassica...

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Couple more brassicas showing up (and so is the grass....still mad about the spraying issue)..

 

[PatinPA]

Couple more brassicas showing up (and so is the grass....still mad about the spraying issue)..
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It'll take a while to get rid of all the grass. I'm still fighting it in my camp yard plot

 

[Derek Reese 29]

It'll take a while to get rid of all the grass. I'm still fighting it in my camp yard plot

lesson learned...dont spray during a drought...if i had waited a week it woulda been greened up alot better and I coulda killed it off way more before seeding...hoping the brassicas, clover and grains will shade it out enough that it won't be too big of an issue next spring...also to note...the above pics are ~1 month post-planting with nominal amounts of rain (some T storms but no real steady days of rain)....

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Finally got some good rain every day this weekend...saw some small clover sprouts and 2-3 leaf brassicas continuing to emerge...will get some pics later this week..
On a side note: my line to the herbicide concentrate tank on my sprayer must not have been fully primed when I sprayed this field, as there is still a little bit of grass and alot of already-existing clover still in the plot. I am thinking I just gave that field a little bit of irrigation with a hint of gly in it (some places look like they got whacked, but it coulda been the mowing too).

Do you have one of those mix on exit sprayers that allow you to avoid getting chemicals in your main tank? That sounds like an awesome idea and I wanted one for watering new trees but read about issues of insufficient chemical quantity getting mixed or other issues and figured I'd rather clean tanks more often and know the chemical got put down especially since i don't always more water handy to fill the tank again if I caught it not spraying.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Do you have one of those mix on exit sprayers that allow you to avoid getting chemicals in your main tank? That sounds like an awesome idea and I wanted one for watering new trees but read about issues of insufficient chemical quantity getting mixed or other issues and figured I'd rather clean tanks more often and know the chemical got put down especially since i don't always more water handy to fill the tank again if I caught it not spraying.

yep I have a chapin 25 gallon..i have 3 seperate "concentrate" tanks, one for gly, one for cleth and one for a liquid fertilizer from GRO...thinking about getting another for a fruit tree spray...the only issue is the concentrate tanks are like 2 gallons or something...so you have to buy your chems in bulk....cleaning the system is super easy...just set the amount of concentrate desired to the highest level (I think its a level 7 or 15oz/gal) and run water through there and whichever part it went through (boom or wand) and run it for a few minutes...i really like this system and except when I installed a new pump and not primed all the air out of it it has worked very well

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Another update after some rain and hot temps (and more rain expected today)..
Brassicas are gaining size/spread, weird note though, not seeing much clover...wondering if it is due to the heat (though it has been spread for over a month?)
Last year I remember it taking a while to grow, but once it did it grew very well and very fast..
The amount of grass/hay/weeds that are in this plot continue to prove that there was a spraying issue and that all of the things I wanted to kill with spray were not actively growing when sprayed.
Top view looking towards last year's existing plot (looking almost due West)

Looking up from the bottom (due North)

Close up of some brassicas, clovers and weeds