Multi-Species Cover Crop Plots In The North

[omicron1792]

Will absolutely throw some flax and squash in there and look for some grazing corn. That's the cool thing about these kind of plots - the more the merrier! Thanks!

Can’t believe he didn’t say plantain too. He looooves plantain.

 

[omicron1792]

Love reading about your guys efforts and wish I could spend more time at the western Kentucky farm (from central Florida) working on my plots.

Finally talked my farmer into planting some of my upper plots, and was pleased with the results of his turnip plantings. The deer started working the turnip greens early, and are still going at them today.

However I have two potential plots (image below) in the flooding creek hardwood bottoms he won’t mess with. About 3 acres on a gas line, and another +/-2 acres under a big power line. They both “usually” flood multiple times a year. I’ve had limited success with Japanese millet and even got a small patch of Domain ”Mother Load“ to grow on a higher portion this (drier) year.

I drilled a little winter wheat last Sunday, even though I fully expect it to get flooded out before spring. The farmer was planting a partial cover crop on the growing acres, and offered me some left over seed, so I did it.

Is there anything you guys would recommend that could tolerate the flooding?

View attachment 59807

Cereal rye does pretty well in wet too. I think it’s @SwampCat on here that has posts about basically a big duck field that floods he uses as good plot with wheat, rye, and durana clover and it’s beautiful.

Lots of summer things tolerate wet, I have found winter less so. The Alyce clover has been mentioned

 

[farmlegend]

I have also stopped focusing on 2 full season crops. Too many variables for 2nd crop such as lack of rain. What i plant in the spring, will be my primary crop.

Why not over seed with WR (winter rye) in early Sept? Great fall draw, cold hardy, suppresses weeds, and will provide OM and early spring food following spring.

And often that lack of rain influences the spring planting, too, causing failure of some seeds and delaying the growth of the rest. This past spring, I was able to plant on May 20, and we didn't get a drop of rain until July. None of my sunflowers came up, at all, and almost none of my peas.

 

[farmlegend]

I want to try this! I think it would be fun for me and my adult kids.

Some of the 2023 Milpa garden bounty, decorative gourds.

 

[SD51555]

Is there anything you guys would recommend that could tolerate the flooding?

Japanese millet and ladino. I spread japanese millet into cold standing water as the frost was going out. It came in so thick it choked out the billy goat mower twice trying to cut it down.

 

[SD51555]

Can’t believe he didn’t say plantain too. He looooves plantain.

Forgot ragweed, chicory, black eyed susan, and purple coneflower too.

I've still got some plantain left. The acorn crop was so damn heavy this year, I've even got brassicas left. They should have been wiped out 5 weeks ago.

 

[farmlegend]

Cereal rye does pretty well in wet too. I think it’s @SwampCat on here that has posts about basically a big duck field that floods he uses as good plot with wheat, rye, and durana clover and it’s beautiful.

Lots of summer things tolerate wet, I have found winter less so. The Alyce clover has been mentioned

Sidebar - things I learned while looking up other stuff - alyce and alice are different clovers, I used to consider them the same. One's annual, the other perennial. Nice clover essay by Kent K: https://www.qdma.ca/en/2014-03-27-13-07-39/what-we-do/deer-biology-management/107-clover-101/

 

[omicron1792]

Forgot ragweed, chicory, black eyed susan, and purple coneflower too.

I've still got some plantain left. The acorn crop was so damn heavy this year, I've even got brassicas left. They should have been wiped out 5 weeks ago.

Love your plots. Added some perennial native forbs other than regular clover to clover plots based on your posts.

 

[RGrizzzz]

How thick does it appear at this peak growth? With only a single planting, I'd make sure you're growing enough to have a thatch layer at the end of the season. Don't be afraid to drill into your existing growth, without terminating. The drill might kill a little bit of what's growing, but the new seed will easily replace it.

 

[SD51555]

Love your plots. Added some perennial native forbs other than regular clover to clover plots based on your posts.

Thanks man. It's good someone else tries it too. There are some I don't talk about as much, but I've found native on my land that I'd like to try to push into my plots as well. I've tried Willowherb, but that stuff is like $30/oz. I got a few plants to take here and there.

Epilobium glandulosum

Check out the deal on Epilobium glandulosum at Prairie Moon Nursery

www.prairiemoon.com

I want some tall buttercup seed, but apparently that is considered "weedy" and nobody sells it. It comes up in my plots naturally. Good flowering plant, and deer browse it a little in late summer. It gets a good stem on it too, so I'd imagine it has some good below ground functions. Also a very long bloom period, and the bees work it all summer.

Skullcaps, swamp aster, jewelweed, all out there naturally. If I could get my hands on big quantities of jewelweed, I'd be pushing that hard. But at $120/oz, it ain't happening.

I've got more demolition and reclamation to do next year. I wanna tweak the leading blend again this year, and only use balansa and alfalfa for legumes. Don't wanna push anymore sweet clover until I can see what it does in year 3.

 

[omicron1792]

Thanks man. It's good someone else tries it too. There are some I don't talk about as much, but I've found native on my land that I'd like to try to push into my plots as well. I've tried Willowherb, but that stuff is like $30/oz. I got a few plants to take here and there.

Epilobium glandulosum

Check out the deal on Epilobium glandulosum at Prairie Moon Nursery

www.prairiemoon.com

I want some tall buttercup seed, but apparently that is considered "weedy" and nobody sells it. It comes up in my plots naturally. Good flowering plant, and deer browse it a little in late summer. It gets a good stem on it too, so I'd imagine it has some good below ground functions. Also a very long bloom period, and the bees work it all summer.

Skullcaps, swamp aster, jewelweed, all out there naturally. If I could get my hands on big quantities of jewelweed, I'd be pushing that hard. But at $120/oz, it ain't happening.

I've got more demolition and reclamation to do next year. I wanna tweak the leading blend again this year, and only use balansa and alfalfa for legumes. Don't wanna push anymore sweet clover until I can see what it does in year 3.

I like our idea of native grass and forb exchange. My place has tooons of ragweed. I would love to send folks some. Lots of broomsedge, bluestems, bush lespedeza. I have been spreading seeds do other areas last couple of weeks since it was talked about here.

 

[omicron1792]

Thanks man. It's good someone else tries it too. There are some I don't talk about as much, but I've found native on my land that I'd like to try to push into my plots as well. I've tried Willowherb, but that stuff is like $30/oz. I got a few plants to take here and there.

Epilobium glandulosum

Check out the deal on Epilobium glandulosum at Prairie Moon Nursery

www.prairiemoon.com

I want some tall buttercup seed, but apparently that is considered "weedy" and nobody sells it. It comes up in my plots naturally. Good flowering plant, and deer browse it a little in late summer. It gets a good stem on it too, so I'd imagine it has some good below ground functions. Also a very long bloom period, and the bees work it all summer.

Skullcaps, swamp aster, jewelweed, all out there naturally. If I could get my hands on big quantities of jewelweed, I'd be pushing that hard. But at $120/oz, it ain't happening.

I've got more demolition and reclamation to do next year. I wanna tweak the leading blend again this year, and only use balansa and alfalfa for legumes. Don't wanna push anymore sweet clover until I can see what it does in year 3.

I put in YSC, WSC, plantain, and burdsfoot trefoil in my sandy and drier clover plots.

 

[Telemark]

Thanks man. It's good someone else tries it too. There are some I don't talk about as much, but I've found native on my land that I'd like to try to push into my plots as well. I've tried Willowherb, but that stuff is like $30/oz. I got a few plants to take here and there.

Epilobium glandulosum

Check out the deal on Epilobium glandulosum at Prairie Moon Nursery

www.prairiemoon.com

I want some tall buttercup seed, but apparently that is considered "weedy" and nobody sells it. It comes up in my plots naturally. Good flowering plant, and deer browse it a little in late summer. It gets a good stem on it too, so I'd imagine it has some good below ground functions. Also a very long bloom period, and the bees work it all summer.

Skullcaps, swamp aster, jewelweed, all out there naturally. If I could get my hands on big quantities of jewelweed, I'd be pushing that hard. But at $120/oz, it ain't happening.

I've got more demolition and reclamation to do next year. I wanna tweak the leading blend again this year, and only use balansa and alfalfa for legumes. Don't wanna push anymore sweet clover until I can see what it does in year 3.

Oh man I would love to get my hands on some jewelweed seeds. It used to grow at my uncle's place, but it disappeared several years ago. I have a few boggy spots I would like to get some jewelweed going in. Let me know if you find it for a decent price.

I bought some plantain and a bunch of other stuff from Green Cover that I'm looking forward to trying out.

 

[omicron1792]

I’ve also been adding what I call wildlife trails through my woods. Went through and sprayed imazapic and triclopyr last year. A lot of great natives came up. This winter I’ll throw a bunch of native grasses and forbs I want to add, and spray a low dose of imazapic in the spring.

The trails will be great paths for the critters. And, it’s impossible to seed 300 acres. But my hope is if I have 10 acres of good stuff running throughout the property every year it will spread more seed through the whole place. I will run my Polaris through it and the seed flies everywhere. My burns will also separate seed from chaff and the thermals move it around.

 

[SD51555]

Oh man I would love to get my hands on some jewelweed seeds. It used to grow at my uncle's place, but it disappeared several years ago. I have a few boggy spots I would like to get some jewelweed going in. Let me know if you find it for a decent price.

I bought some plantain and a bunch of other stuff from Green Cover that I'm looking forward to trying out.

Try moving some dirt around. I had no jewelweed on my place until I started moving dirt and knocking canopy out. First batch popped right up in a giant ash tree snag the deer couldn’t reach. The second popped up where I was digging to fix trails. It may be in your seed bank already.


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[Wind Gypsy]

Seems like there's plenty of acres for stuff other than beans but the OP really values the pods for a hunting season draw. Personally I'd just plant primarily beans then and maybe sprinkle in a little grass (like oats that will mature and or frost kill) and a brassica in low population during your early June plantings. Broadcast cereals and some other goodies into them in sept. Terminate the cereals next june with the next bean mix. rinse and repeat. If you don't need 9 acres of primarily beans, you could do 4.5 of primarily beans and 4.5 of the kitchen sink soil health blend and rotate them.

Keep in mind @farmlegend - a lot of us are prone to getting wrapped up in the soil heath and complex blend experiment games in lieu of focusing on why we started this - attracting/holding/feeding animals.

 

[omicron1792]

Seems like there's plenty of acres for stuff other than beans but the OP really values the pods for a hunting season draw. Personally I'd just plant primarily beans then and maybe sprinkle in a little grass (like oats that will mature and or frost kill) and a brassica in low population during your early June plantings. Broadcast cereals and some other goodies into them in sept. Terminate the cereals next june with the next bean mix. rinse and repeat. If you don't need 9 acres of primarily beans, you could do 4.5 of primarily beans and 4.5 of the kitchen sink soil health blend and rotate them.

Keep in mind @farmlegend - a lot of us are prone to getting wrapped up in the soil heath and complex blend experiment games in lieu of focusing on why we started this - attracting/holding/feeding animals.

Don’t speak so much truth Wind. Ha

 

[farmlegend]

How thick does it appear at this peak growth? With only a single planting, I'd make sure you're growing enough to have a thatch layer at the end of the season. Don't be afraid to drill into your existing growth, without terminating. The drill might kill a little bit of what's growing, but the new seed will easily replace it.

Good point which raises another question to me. There currently is quite a bit of thatch over most of the gtound, however….
2024 will be year three of this program, and I burned the thing down (gly) immediately prior to planting in years 1 and 2. I didn’t like doing so last year, but I have ferocious invading coolseason grasses. forming damn near an ugly green carpet which appeared out of nowhere in May. Hopefully this will lessen down the road, and perhaps I can drill into the residue next spring.

 

[farmlegend]

BTW - thanks much to all of you who have commented here. I know a great many land managers/food plotters but know literally none that have gone down this cover crop road. Ours is quite a small community. Hopefully, it grows - by a lot.

 

[farmlegend]

Seems like there's plenty of acres for stuff other than beans but the OP really values the pods for a hunting season draw. Personally I'd just plant primarily beans then and maybe sprinkle in a little grass (like oats that will mature and or frost kill) and a brassica in low population during your early June plantings. Broadcast cereals and some other goodies into them in sept. Terminate the cereals next june with the next bean mix. rinse and repeat. If you don't need 9 acres of primarily beans, you could do 4.5 of primarily beans and 4.5 of the kitchen sink soil health blend and rotate them.

Keep in mind @farmlegend - a lot of us are prone to getting wrapped up in the soil heath and complex blend experiment games in lieu of focusing on why we started this - attracting/holding/feeding animals.

Believe me, the soil transformation is a big part of this. The two food plots, totaling 9 acres, are surrounded by shortgrass prairie(two varieties little blue, sideoats grama, canada wildrye, junegrass, prairie dropseed, and a shitton of forbs) which I likewise established at the same time. I love the profusion of insect life, songbirds, etc. that it has so quickly produced.

Perhaps my largest land management issue is controlling deer numbers. On average, we kill 20 does and one buck each year. The multi-species “jumbo plots”, as I call them, are key to November-December doe harvest. At that time of year, I really cannot afford for them to become deer deserts, which they well could resemble without the soybeans.