Min-till vs no-till

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Put in my foodplot at home this year. Plan A for this year is to not hunt at home this year. Figured I would experiment a bit. Roughly 1/2 acre foodplot. Far 1/3 I lightly disced, then spread seed, then rolled in. Middle I seeded, then disced, then rolled. Closest 1/3 near some spruce and apple trees I spread seed and rolled only.

The foodplot is 3 kinds in one this past year. Right side is 5-6 year old foodplot with wheat n rye in it last year and some clover and plantain. Sprayed it well last year to fight red aramath. Some weeds, but not horrible. Middle section has dense plantain n clover, small grains didnt take well. Left 1/3 was a newer foodplot expansion. Good amount of weeds in it. Was a mowed lawn for a number of years. Mixed in 2 or 3 loads of woodchips in it last year. Everything got sprayed with 2 quarts/ acre 41% gly and 5lbs/100 gal of AMS.

Put in 100lbs of rye 40 lbs of wheat 20lbs of oats 8lbs of berseem/med red.ladino and 2lbs of brassica maix per acre. Rolled it with a lawn roller. I have a large heavy 14" cultipacker. Figured I would use the roller instead. I should represent the average compaction. The cultipacker is quite heavy and does a good job. figured show what average no-till might produce. Tire drags, rollers, and lighter cultipackers....

See what it does in thecoming months....

 

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Thinking the till then seed is going to do the best. Hoping the spray went well. A week later thing have some yellow, but not shriveled dead. Could be dormant from the lack of rain a few weeks before this past few days.

 

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I put my omega plot in next to the lawn. That got gly, wait two weeks, tilled, limed, gypsum, spread big seeds, dragged, spread small seeds, packed.

Next to it, I had the guy till just to level it out. No other prep and spread the same seed. That one is patchy and behind. The one I did proper is thick, uniform, and way ahead.


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I forgot to add I limed afterward. Bought 10 bags of barn lime in Febuary thinking I would use it at camp. Had the Gandy set too low and only used 6 bags about 6-700 lbs /acre. Used the last 4 around my 2x11 row of 2 apple trees.

After seeding and tilling, it rained like crazy. Might help the no-till section to get the seed to the very bottom. Rolled with a 24" daimeter lawn roller filled with water. Only 1 pass.

Found a woodchuck hole in the middle of the plot. Got to fill that hole up. Woodchucks OK with me, but put a hole in my yard and not the edges, we got problems. Old timer at my last town's hunting club brought his pet woodchuck to meetings.

 

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This pic is of the overall plot. About 1/2 acre heavy clay. Closet 1/3 is an expansion of the foodplot from lawn. Typical rye clover mix. Did that last yer. pH is around mid 5's. Middle away section is about 3 or 4 year old clover that is mowed monthly. Farthest section was tilled last yer with ATV discs and planted fall rye n clover mix. Left section was tillled 2 passes then seeded and rolled in. Middle section is seeded, then tilled 2 passes, then rolled in, Right section is seeded and rolled only.

Worst for rye growth is the rolled in only in the mowed clover plot. Compaction is an issue.

Tis pic shows the more mature foodplot section of fall seeded rye n clover. Probably been a plot for 8 years, 2 or 3 tills with harrows or discs, and pH is creeping towards 6. I;ve added 1/2 ton / acre lime around 4 times or so., one or two times closer to a ton /acre. Closest section is the till then seed. Think the looser soil made the seed more dry. In the middle is seed then till, getting the seed under the soil a bit helped with moisture. Even the the bit of brassica mix I put in the ground looked better in the seed then till. Probbly shouldn't because the disc would of gotten it in too deep.

This view is show more the plot expansion section. 2 year old foodplot, getting weeds under control. Closer is the seed then till, which looks talled and thicker. Farther away is the till then seed. The till then seed looks a bit worse than the roll in only. Thinking the seed was ontp of loose soil which made it dryer than undisturbed soil.

Overall the seed then till came in 1st. In standing rye roll came in 2nd, then till then seed 3rd. In a thick clover plot with no standing rye, tillage helps more than just seeding in the rye. I've had similar results doing that in manicured clover in the past too.

Might be too soon to pass judgement. Still have week or two before average 1st frost, and still on the low side of rainfall. Since putting in around labor day, the only major rainfall was around sept 24th. Rained about 3 inches. Rained 2 days before that around 1/2 inch.

The middle section is a bit lower and suffers from flooding ever once n a awhile. I keep it clover because of that most years. I dug a drainage channel 3 years ago and flooding is much better. Some years only once or twice 3 days or so, some years not at all. Used to get 4 or 5 times a year sometimes a week long.

 

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I am not hunting my house this year. I will tyr to get some exclusion cages in there. Will also do a rye count in the cages If they're the same size.

Debating hiring the local farmer to subsoil the spot before the neighboring trees get too big to do that. Probably be a one time thing.