Millet then winter crops plan?

[Catscratch]

I have a field that is grass right now. I'm looking at planting it to Proso millet (spray, disc, broadcast, then drag) in May or June. Then spray, broadcast, and mow in my fall crops of wheat, rye, and clover in late Sept.

Any issues with this plan, or alternative (better) ways of doing it?

 

[wiscwhip]

I'm assuming you want the millet for dove hunting? I think if you were to get an early to medium variety of proso millet like Sunup or Sunrise, your plan would be fine. A later maturing variety like Huntsman may not work as well, so watch the maturity dates. Your plan is sound, as long as you get your fall crops in early enough to see beneficial growth, is late Sept early enough to get fall plots established for you without worry of failure due to frost? Back in our area of Central WI we usually got our first frost around Sept 17th-20th and they get more frequent after that, so late Sept wouldn't work for our area. The baby clover could likely frost out.

I think I would leave strips of the millet standing for vertical security cover in the fall planting. Will you be broadcasting or using a drill/planter to put in the millet? Would it be out of the question for you to leave it all stand and broadcast the fall crops right into the standing millet? I think leaving it all would work better if the millet was row planted and not broadcast.

Just found this link, good info.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/crops/a805.pdf

 

[Catscratch]

We usually plant our winter crops at the end of Sept. There is plenty of growth going into winter as we usually don't get a cold snap until late October and we get plenty of warm days through November.

The millet is for doves and hopefully some quail. I like your idea of standing strips! The reason I was going with throw and mow in the fall was to preserve the millet seed, leaving strips do be better for that. I'm not sure if I will have access to a drill or not. It's possible but I'm not counting on it.

 

[wiscwhip]

broadcast your millet, then proceed with your throw and mow plan of your fall crops. Leave a 4'-6' wide strip of standing millet all the way around and randomly throughout the center to break up the plot to make the deer feel more secure. Good luck!

 

[Catscratch]

Sounds like a plan!