Frost seeding?

[gunther89]

We have about half an acre of winter rye that I didn't get a chance to plant clover with last fall. Can I go in this spring and frost seed it into the rye and will it grow good?
Also can we have a brassica field that didn't get touched by the deer. Could we frost seed clover into that field as well or would it be better to disk it up and plant it the normal way?

 

[wiscwhip]

I would recommend a medium red clover for the frost seeding with the rye, it worked the best on our sandy plots(it all still burned up in July though). Any other clovers that we frost seeded were a waste of time, at least on our soils. We never tried to frost seed into a brassica plot, but I would think it would work like any other plot. Are you planning on keeping it in clover after that, or will you be putting in another fall planting in that area?

 

[Terrific_tom]

I have frost seeded into both with great success. My brassica plot was completely cleaned up though. I used a mix of clover consisting of white dutch, medium red, alsike and ladino. I also added chicory as I was planning on keeping the clover in these plots for a few years. If you plan on replanting later this year than medium red clover would be best.

 

[Terrific_tom]

Here is a couple pics of clover frost seeded into winter rye.

 

[Terrific_tom]

A couple of pics of clover frost seeded into brassicas. Don't know what happened but it posted the same pic 3 times

 

[Terrific_tom]

Here is another pic of clover that was frost seeded into brassicas.

 

[wiscwhip]

This was about the best we could hope for on our sand, your other plots are far and above what we could do on our soils.

 

[Terrific_tom]

This was about the best we could hope for on our sand, your other plots are far and above what we could do on our soils.

That pic was in early stage and real close to woods.

 

[Ogemaone]

This year I planted brassica on my dyke leading out toward my tower stand overlooking the creek/ swamp. After I spread the brassica seed I went back over it with a ladino and white clover mix. My thought was the brassica grow so quick that it would keep the clover at bay and come spring I should have a nice clover crop until I plant brassica again. Plus some free nitrogen. You can see in the pic the clover under the brassica.

 

[Ogemaone]

There is all nice clover under the brassicas, I'll see how it turns out come spring

 

[wiscwhip]

That pic was in early stage and real close to woods.

At our place that was one of the best looking areas of the plot! lol

 

[scott44]

Like Whip said I would go with a red clover on the rye, I usually seed some crimson clover and oats into my last year brassica plot not frost seeded but as early as I can. I have lightly disced the plot and I have just broadcast into it and cultipacked depending on how wet it was and had decent plots both ways. My brassica plots are usually bare dirt by this time but I think yours should be ok.

 

[gunther89]

Okay thanks everyone. Our option is either frost seed or wait till mid to late May when the farmer who rents our land will disk up our bigger food plots for soybeans. I just don't want to wait that long to plant clover.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

I have not started a field from scratch with frost seeding but I have used a WR, Oats, Ladino clover field the first year and then came back and frost seeded the second year with Ladino and Medium Red Clover to fill in the gaps. It worked fantastic in both cases. The Winter Rye will look like nothing in May but by late June it will be tall and shade the clover enough to keep some moisture hiding below it for the clover to use. A month later it will pretty much just dry up and wilt over or you can mow the field and have a great clean stand of clover.

Long story short with Ladino and Medium Clover you are good to go with frost seeding. Go a little higher on the seeding rate though. Check the pictures below for some results. 3 different areas with totally different PH, sunlight and moisture levels and they all ended up pretty dang good.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Traditional Plowring and planting of straight Ladino Clover resulted in this the next Spring so I used the leaf blower to peel that wet mat of junk away.


After I got most of the leaves off I frost seeded into this late March or early April as soon as the snow was gone from the plot. One week earlier there was snow and some ice in this plot, I hit it just perfect for timing.


This is 4-6 weeks later.


This is getting later in summer. Notice how the woods has exploded around the plot as well.


Same woods, different spot, slightly different plant.
The first year was plowed and spread Winter Rye and Oats then lightly dragged. Spred Ladino then row planted peas over the top and cultipacked. The 2nd year we frost seeded Ladino and medium red and it filled in nicely.


Same field in a spot with a little better sunlight.


Different property. This was Rye, Oats and Ladino in year one planted with some tillage.
Year 2 I frost seeded a 50/50 mix of Ladino and Medium Red and walked away.


Same spot different angle. Brassica strip in the middle. At this point in summer (July) The winter rye had dried up and wilted in the clover leaving a nice stand of clover.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

There is all nice clover under the brassicas, I'll see how it turns out come spring

View attachment 4174

This looks nice! Well done buddy.

 

[chummer]

I just realized how bad my plots suck. Those are some awesome plots.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

Chummer that was not my intention. 5 years ago I was planting the wrong seeds at the wrong depths with no idea what my soil was. Lime, added sunlight, the correct seeds for the mix of soil and amount of sun and now I have nice plots. That being said my plots are not the golden ticket! I absolutely love plotting but the deer do not flock to them or at least not in daylight. If it wasn't for a ton of reading and some trial and error I would still have 4.5 ph soil with nutrient deficiencies planted in brassicas with minimal sun. Might point is make smart decisions on what and where you plant. Get soil test, lime like crazy, plant something that will grow in the soil you have and pray for rain! It's not rocket science but it is science.

 

[chummer]

I should not have put it that way. I am very proud of my plots. They have come along way in three years. If only I had deer to eat them. I was just trying to say how great yours look. Maybe it is because they are so green and I am so sick of white.

 

[Bluecollaroutdoors]

The green does look a little better wt this point of the year. Keep building they gotta show up sooner or later.