Interseeding success stories - what works what doesn't.

[Foggy47]

I've been doing some searches for methods to "interseed" some crops (vertical cover) into my clover plots. I use clover as the basis for all my plots as I can intercede rye (drill) and sometimes brassica into the clover.....but usually I need to set the clover back chemically to get brassica to perform. It's hard to find much information via google or YouTube. There is one nice piece on interseeding grass pasture.

But I am looking to gain some vertical cover and diversity in parts of my clover plots to encourage daytime activity. Thus looking for ideas from others.

I think next summer I will try to interseed Sorghum Sudan Grass, Milo, and perhaps Millet. Anyone with some success on these or other interseed ideas?

 

[Foggy47]

^ Kinda forgot.....I may have found the "holy grail" of a vertical cover with the yellow sweet clover that SD brag's on. I planted quite a bit of it this fall.....and if it pans out as thought.....it could be a solution to vertical cover.....if only for every other year. Too bad it's a biennial. Just perhaps......I can interseed some Sorghum Sudan Grass to get me through year one?

 

[SD51555]

I've had ok luck with flax and japanese millet. It's always tough into white clover, and I'm still working on that. In the sweet clover plot, I got a lot of flax to punch up through all of that after mowing. Zero brassicas came. Flax is no game changer for forage, tonnage, or cover, but I think it's very important for soil conditioning and breaking up compaction and getting all your rain into the soil. The japanese millet is a good forage source for early to mid October by me. Last year, I watched a doe snap off seed heads for what seemed like 90 minutes, and japanese millet leaves behind a little residue. Can never have enough residue if you ask me.

 

[SD51555]

If you're planting brassicas in July and you're looking for cover, food, and some soil improving goodies, consider throwing a >> dwarf BMR sorghum << in there. I had my trial plot going in my asparagus bed this summer. I was really impressed with the growing habit of the dwarf BMR. It made it about 3' tall, put out a ton of wide and edible leaves, and tillered quite nicely. I couldn't believe the biomass on one plant. It's like 11 feet of corn plant forage packed into 3' of plant.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I'll coat-tail onto SD's post above. We've had good luck with dwarf sorghum too, mixed lightly into a plot. It seems to give deer just enough cover to get some daylight activity. We didn't seed it too heavily into the plot, because we wanted the other crops to get enough sunlight for growth. But it worked for us.

Not familiar with the "BMR" tag though. Here the dwarf sorghum (milo) is tagged "WGF" ....... wild game food. Deer will eat it when it's green, and mature seed heads feed ALL KINDS of birds - grouse, turkeys, and doves among them.

 

[Telemark]

coat-tail onto SD's post above. We've had good luck with dwarf sorghum too, mixed lightly into a plot. It seems to give deer just enough cover to get some daylight activity.

Sold! I'm a big fan of structure in plots. I'll try some of this next year for sure. Thanks for the tip, guys.

What is a good rate per acre?

 

[Skeeter]

I suppose it depends on when you are planting. The Milo and sorghum sudan would be a spring or early summer planting. Millet would be good in your late July planting. At least that has been my experience a little further south of you.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Sunflowers, Sun hemp, Milo, Corn.

All would need to be planted in the spring at the same time as clover (id use annual)

or mount a sprayer boom to your drill to spray the newly seeded rows in perennial clover

 

[Terrific_tom]

When I had clover plots, I frost seeded chicory seed at a heavy rate. The chicory shined when it got hot and dry. Chicory got 3 to 5 foot tall. Deer loved it and would feed in it all day long.

 

[SD51555]

I'll coat-tail onto SD's post above. We've had good luck with dwarf sorghum too, mixed lightly into a plot. It seems to give deer just enough cover to get some daylight activity. We didn't seed it too heavily into the plot, because we wanted the other crops to get enough sunlight for growth. But it worked for us.

Not familiar with the "BMR" tag though. Here the dwarf sorghum (milo) is tagged "WGF" ....... wild game food. Deer will eat it when it's green, and mature seed heads feed ALL KINDS of birds - grouse, turkeys, and doves among them.

The BMR is 'brown mid-rib'. It's an indicator that the plant has a lower lignin content, making the forage more digestible and palatable to animals. A good contrast for this would be modern field corn. It is almost all around in-edible, so much to the point that forage varieties of corn have become a thing. I keep trying to grow forage sorghums because I've seen my deer eat the entire plant later into the fall/early winter.

Here's a good video on the BMR sorghums.

 

[SD51555]

If you go back and look at that picture I posted of mine, you can see two tillers coming out from the base. I think that plant may actually have 4 additional tillers. The amount of leaves coming from one seed is probably 2-3x that of an 11' corn plant. I've got my fence down on that garden bed, and a camera on it. I'm impatiently waiting to see if and how much of those 4 different sorghums they end up eating. They've all got seed heads now. I know they'll eat those. I wanna see which plant they mow to the ground.

I ended up mixing WGF and super sugar sorghum sudan into my fall plot. None of it came up though. If I had a flail mower on a 3 point, I'd be planting super sugar where I could get it going. I couldn't believe how fast that stuff came back after cutting.

 

[Foggy47]

If you go back and look at that picture I posted of mine, you can see two tillers coming out from the base. I think that plant may actually have 4 additional tillers. The amount of leaves coming from one seed is probably 2-3x that of an 11' corn plant. I've got my fence down on that garden bed, and a camera on it. I'm impatiently waiting to see if and how much of those 4 different sorghums they end up eating. They've all got seed heads now. I know they'll eat those. I wanna see which plant they mow to the ground.

I ended up mixing WGF and super sugar sorghum sudan into my fall plot. None of it came up though. If I had a flail mower on a 3 point, I'd be planting super sugar where I could get it going. I couldn't believe how fast that stuff came back after cutting.

After cutting what? The ss sorghum or cutting back the plot? ?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

What is a good rate per acre?

Our plot wasn't pure dwarf sorghum - it was mixed in with other crop varieties. I have no accurate amount, but based on what we saw come up in the plots, I'd say 2 to 3 lbs. per acre. The sorghum was spread kind of evenly throughout the plot. You can always plant a line of sorghum around the edges of your mixed plot as well as IN the plot to give extra security cover.

 

[SD51555]

After cutting what? The ss sorghum or cutting back the plot? ?

The super sugar. I cut it about 10" above the ground with a scissors, and it came roaring back with regrowth in no time. Like a foot in two weeks, and it's back to probably 6' tall now.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The BMR is 'brown mid-rib'. It's an indicator that the plant has a lower lignin content, making the forage more digestible and palatable to animals. A good contrast for this would be modern field corn. It is almost all around in-edible, so much to the point that forage varieties of corn have become a thing. I keep trying to grow forage sorghums because I've seen my deer eat the entire plant later into the fall/early winter.

Here's a good video on the BMR sorghums.

THANKS for this info, SD!! I never heard of "brown mid-rib" sorghum. Always trying to learn. The lesser lignin content would be ideal for deer. Gonna look for it locally here. The WGF - "wild game food" sorghum we've planted would only get eaten by deer when it was green & the tops were soft & "milky." We spring-planted those plots.

 

[Foggy47]

The BMR is 'brown mid-rib'. It's an indicator that the plant has a lower lignin content, making the forage more digestible and palatable to animals. A good contrast for this would be modern field corn. It is almost all around in-edible, so much to the point that forage varieties of corn have become a thing. I keep trying to grow forage sorghums because I've seen my deer eat the entire plant later into the fall/early winter.

Here's a good video on the BMR sorghums.

I sure like the attributes of this crop......great idea for winter food in MN. I'm going to try a few different varieties next summer......gotta make a plan to include this next summer.

I'm trying to understand why you would cut this? Does that encourage the growth??

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Wouldn't the sorgum just turn brown and dry out after the first frost? I've never seen deer eating anything like corn stalks in winter, but maybe this stuff is different. Brassicas get more deer usage with cold temps, so perhaps this is the sorghum version of that.

 

[SD51555]

I sure like the attributes of this crop......great idea for winter food in MN. I'm going to try a few different varieties next summer......gotta make a plan to include this next summer.

I'm trying to understand why you would cut this? Does that encourage the growth??

Cutting it sends the root mass development into overdrive. It's in your book.

Sorghum Sudangrass Cover Crop - SARE

Sorghum Sudangrass Hybrids (Sorghum bicolor x S. bicolor var. sudanese) Also called: Sudex, Sudax Type: summer annual grass Roles: soil builder, weed and nematode suppressor, subsoil loosener Mix with: buckwheat, sesbania, sunnhemp, forage soybeans or cowpeas See charts, pp. 66 to 72, for...

www.sare.org

 

[Telemark]

How do you prevent deer from being poisoned with prussic acid?

 

[Telemark]

Our plot wasn't pure dwarf sorghum - it was mixed in with other crop varieties. I have no accurate amount, but based on what we saw come up in the plots, I'd say 2 to 3 lbs. per acre. The sorghum was spread kind of evenly throughout the plot. You can always plant a line of sorghum around the edges of your mixed plot as well as IN the plot to give extra security cover.

Sounds good, I think I will try that.