Food-plotting without herbicide...

[weekender21]

Anyone doing it successfully?

I planted a .6 acre cleared plot last September with WW, WR, Oats, MRC, CC, PTT, DR and Rape. It came in great this spring and isn't weed free but it's not bad. I'm planning to let it grow all summer then "throw and mow" in September. No herbicide application.

I had a dozer expand the plot above in March, It's between 1.25 and 1.5 acres now. The dozer also cleared a few new plots in March, those total ~1 acre.

The March cleared areas were planted in WW and MRC to get something growing. Some of those areas are very weedy. I had the dozer leave small saplings to prevent pushing top soil off the site. I'm planning to throw/mow BW in June to get some additional growth and to provide a little competition to the weeds.

Anyone doing this successfully without herbicide?

 

[weekender21]

The September planting:

March planting 1, already added 10 pounds BW to this 1/4 acre May 3rd:

More March plantings:

Obviously some more weedy than others. Nothing really to lose from skipping the herbicide as deer eat weeds too. I’ll keep those interested posted.


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[S.T.Fanatic]

I havent had any problems establishing clover plots without chicory. I start by planting a brassica plot and then top seed it with winter rye later in the year. The next year I let the rye mature and then do a TNM of clover and chicory. The following year I mow Mem. Day weekend and again Labor Day weekend. I have some weeds but I find it to be an acceptable amount. If you get the moisture you could mow it between the two dates i've stated but I havent found the need. The weeds start to take mine over the third year (no herbicide applications) and I do a TNM in early August of brassica and start the cycle over again.

Like I said my plots do have some weeds but the deer don't care and I've learned to live with it.

I am going to do a mix here in a few weeks without any herbicide. The mix will consist of a tall bushy soybean, grain sorgum, field peas, sun flowers, kale, pumpkins, and if I feel like spending a bit more money on seed I may throw in some iron clay cow peas. The plot is currently last years mix which now is mostly winter rye with a few peas that survived the winter which I find amazing in our climate (icicle winter peas) I'm planning on mowing the rye, seeding and running my tiller over it to incorporate it into the top couple of inches of soil.

Will it be able to out compete the weeds? I don't know but i'm willing to try.

 

[Ed Brodt]

When we started out I kept trying to get perfectly weed free plots because that is what all the magazine photos showed. Very frustrating. Now we do some throw and mow and occasionally disc up and start over. We have weeds and I am OK with that. The only time we use herbicide is when we are doing a complete burn down on a plot to start over.

 

[SwampCat]

I have almost all durana clover plots. Mow them a couple times a year in the summer and plant wheat into them in the fall. In my area - that makes a year round green patch with high protein food source in the summer. No herbicide and no disking

 

[TreeDaddy]

I never use herbicide for fall planting throw and mow

I reason that mowing will get the broad leafs and grasses( stray bermuda,etc) are near dormancy anyway

bill

 

[weekender21]

When we started out I kept trying to get perfectly weed free plots because that is what all the magazine photos showed. Very frustrating. Now we do some throw and mow and occasionally disc up and start over. We have weeds and I am OK with that. The only time we use herbicide is when we are doing a complete burn down on a plot to start over.

I guess that’s really my question. Can I start over or in this case start from scratch without doing a complete burn down. My fall planting was very successful without herbicide but due to the odd timing of my March plots, the weeds got a good jump.

I’m planning to throw/mow BW in mid June. Guess we’ll see!


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