Help Me Determine Seeds in a tall cover "STRIP MIX"

[Foggy47]

I have about ten acres of clover and rye plots. I plan to plant two different mixes in long 5' wide strips in my plots. About 2 acres of brassicas and two acres of the "screen mix". One of the mixes will be a variety of brassicas. The second strip will have taller vegetation and act as screen with some forage values as well. In many areas I will have these two strips running side by side and have a third area of clover too. May be double width in other areas.

I want the screen to provide some vertical cover in hopes the deer will have a better sense of security......and use the plots in more daylight hours. Some of these seeds I have as left overs (*) from previous planting and I want to use them up in this mix. I will plant it about Mid July into clover / rye that has been terminated with Gly.

Looking for experience and advice with a mix like this. Here are the seed varieties I plan to mix and drill and the rate considered in parenthesis ( XX). How many lbs/ acre would you put into a mix like this?
"Screen Mix"
(5) Sunflowers *
(5) Buckwheat *
(3) Milo
(3) Pearl Millet
(8) AW Peas*
(8) Field Corn *
(8) Soybeans *
(5) GCC View Blocker (Egyptian Wheat, Sorghum / Sudan Grass / Milo) *
____
(45) lbs/acre drilled about 1" deep. All will be broadcast-overseeded with clovers and WR in September.

Where would you add or cut rates to this plan?

Edited mix lbs.

 

[Foggy47]

crickets?

 

[bwoods11]

A potential screen would be tall Sorghum variety planted in early June ?

 

[omicron1792]

I have about ten acres of clover and rye plots. I plan to plant two different mixes in long 5' wide strips in my plots. About 2 acres of brassicas and two acres of the "screen mix". One of the mixes will be a variety of brassicas. The second strip will have taller vegetation and act as screen with some forage values as well. In many areas I will have these two strips running side by side and have a third area of clover too. May be double width in other areas.

I want the screen to provide some vertical cover in hopes the deer will have a better sense of security......and use the plots in more daylight hours. Some of these seeds I have as left overs (*) from previous planting and I want to use them up in this mix. I will plant it about Mid July into clover / rye that has been terminated with Gly.

Looking for experience and advice with a mix like this. Here are the seed varieties I plan to mix and drill and the rate considered in parenthesis ( XX). How many lbs/ acre would you put into a mix like this?
"Screen Mix"
(5) Sunflowers *
(5) Buckwheat *
(3) Milo
(3) Pearl Millet
(8) AW Peas*
(8) Field Corn *
(8) Soybeans *
(5) GCC View Blocker (Egyptian Wheat, Sorghum / Sudan Grass / Milo) *
____
(45) lbs/acre drilled about 1" deep. All will be broadcast-overseeded with clovers and WR in September.

Where would you add or cut rates to this plan?

Edited mix lbs.

Looks like you nailed it

 

[Turkey Creek]

Honestly no 1st hand experience with planting anything that late. However, from living in farm country all my life you arent going to see enough growth by planting in mid July to create a screen. Maybe if it was irrigated.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I think it will be tough to plant something in a mix that will compete well enough to make a strong visual screen with a July planting.

I planted a full season kale in July that got 6’ tall in a mix, but it wasn’t thick enough for a good visual screen.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

It seems like if it’s just 5’ strips it’s not going to be a wall anyway. Kind of hard to visualize but are you thinking that there will be enough strips that there will be enough sightline impairment that they are more comfortable even if it’s not a complete wall?

Maybe plant mid June instead and do 2 or 3 passes (10-15’) instead?

 

[Foggy47]

A potential screen would be tall Sorghum variety planted in early June ?

I did plant a screen mix made by Green Cover last year in late June. I still have some of that seed left and it includes Egyptian Wheat and various Sorghums/sudan grasses.. Despite it being in partial shade....it grew like gangbusters and was 10+ feet high by fall. I have that seed as the last item in the mix. I ran these over the GCC seed mix program they offer.....and made a few slight adjustments. I guess time will tell how this works out. Thanks for opinions by all.

Perhaps I will plant this a bit earlier than stated.....and then follow with my brassica mix a bit later. Never had these options until getting a drill. Anxious to plant a "maze" like this.

 

[Foggy47]

It seems like if it’s just 5’ strips it’s not going to be a wall anyway. Kind of hard to visualize but are you thinking that there will be enough strips that there will be enough sightline impairment that they are more comfortable even if it’s not a complete wall?

Maybe plant mid June instead and do 2 or 3 passes (10-15’) instead?

The 5 foot strip I planted last year was quite dense....and was nearly a "wall" from a sight perspective. I suppose a few feet wider would not hurt.....and I do have some thoughts about doing that as well as a few spots that will just be 5'. Seems to me the deer focus on whatever is closest to them and have difficulty with depth in those situations (or am I making this up? Grin).

I think I will do as you say and get this underway in June and make my brassica wait until a few weeks later. Just don't want to give weeds an opportunity to get started. Once I spray the clover there is little else I can do to prevent weeks due to the diverse mix.

 

[Bill]

Of those choices I’ve only ever planted tall sorghums. But I always tried to plant in by June. My only problem wit it was by mid November if there where high winds it would break in half. Maybe if you planted some corn with it? Never tried it.

 

[Foggy47]

Of those choices I’ve only ever planted tall sorghums. But I always tried to plant in by June. My only problem wit it was by mid November if there where high winds it would break in half. Maybe if you planted some corn with it? Never tried it.

Yep....Agreed. Mine was breaking down pretty fast by November (our deer season). I did think some corn and milo could help it stay standing a bit better. Maybe the Egyptian Wheat too? Gonna find out. Even if it has 5 feet of vertical cover....from a deer's standpoint....that is quite tall....and may provide a measure of cover? If it lengthens the cover needed by another 1/2 hour at dusk....that is all I am asking of it. One can hope.

 

[Foggy47]

Yep....Agreed. Mine was breaking down pretty fast by November (our deer season). I did think some corn and milo could help it stay standing a bit better. Maybe the Egyptian Wheat too? Gonna find out. Even if it has 5 feet of vertical cover....from a deer's standpoint....that is quite tall....and may provide a measure of cover? If it lengthens the cover needed by another 1/2 hour at dusk....that is all I am asking of it. One can hope.

Gonna add this here.....I also think the corn and milo could provide some decent early winter food for deer, grouse, turkeys, and other critters. I may "up" the corn and milo rates a bit.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

The 5 foot strip I planted last year was quite dense....and was nearly a "wall" from a sight perspective. I suppose a few feet wider would not hurt.....and I do have some thoughts about doing that as well as a few spots that will just be 5'. Seems to me the deer focus on whatever is closest to them and have difficulty with depth in those situations (or am I making this up? Grin).

I think I will do as you say and get this underway in June and make my brassica wait until a few weeks later. Just don't want to give weeds an opportunity to get started. Once I spray the clover there is little else I can do to prevent weeks due to the diverse mix.

Yeah I was picturing narrow strips of spray too. I can see why you wouldn’t want to spray the brassica area a month before planting.

 

[Foggy47]

One thing I am thinking....is that if I were to spray just a 2 qt / acre of Glyphosate (with Synergy) and a "dose" of 2-4d......I could drill my screen mix (above) at a dept of an inch or so a few days later.....and feel comfortable in doing do. Then a week or ten days later drill my strips of brassica.....thus keeping my time for weeds to develop to a minimum. A few days here and there can make a big difference. As usual, so much becomes weather dependent......but less dependent.....without tillage and with a decent armor on top of the soil.

 

[SWIFFY]

I drilled in a similar mix last year but we had such a bad drought. I think you’re wasting your time with corn. I just think in a mix like that it’s too much competition. You’ll get stalks but no cob. Put the energy into sunflowers, sorghum, and beans. That stuff can still do well in competition imo. And I’d also Plant it earlier. Why would you wait until July?

 

[SD51555]

This is something I've only started working on myself, so I'm just spitballing ideas here. I would worry that #1 forages in there might cause the whole screen to get trampled early by deer going in after the peas and beans. I might add a white sweet clover to that to see if you get some extra structure and cover out of it. I've been trying to grow white sweet clover for years at my place and haven't been successful because I never have a blank slate from whence to commence.

I'm trying for a similar concept with rye/hairy vetch/yellow sweet clover. I'm almost certain mine is going to fail from a cover perspective because the vetch will vine up the rye and clover and pull it to the ground like the World Economic Forum is doing to the west.

Now I'm going to have to find a way to get that hairy vetch out of there, and I'm not sure if I'm gonna like what i need to do to make that happen.

 

[bigboreblr]

I'd pass on the soybean and go with something that make vines like vetch or cowpeas. The plant ties all the stalks together for rigidty.

 

[Shearwood Forest]

I plan to try some power plant in strips and blocks for added "food" cover not as my primary screening just to give more vertical cover to break up sections of food plots

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[Tree Spud]

I have played around with mixes like this for a while. Hard to have both food and cover crop goals met. The tall plants will shade out the soy beans. From my experience, winter wheat is the weakest tall stem grass. I like a mix of sudan sorghum & milo. You can consider adding cow peas & sunhemp for nitrogen fixation.

I have tried sunflowers and the deer destroy them.

I am doing a mix early spring of sudan sorghum, sunhemp, and cowpeas. Will terminate around July and then plant fall mix. I had overseeded last fall with hairy vetch so looking to how that performs this spring warm-up.

 

[TenPoint]

If you’re going for a screen I’d plant pure screen items. I’ve done Egyptian Wheat by itself with great results. Planted early June or Memorial Day. Depends on how warm it is that early. I planted a game bird mix one year with millets, sorghum, sunflowers and beans. They ate the food right away. The millets grew almost 6’ tall. Great rainfall all summer.