Browns by “multi year mixed food plots” do you mean perennial plots or planting annuals in rotations, like spring and fall annual blends over multiple years?
BOTH perennial and annual crops. I'm aware that some clovers are perennial and others are annual, or 2 to 3 year crops before fading out. I was wondering if a
MIX of annual
AND perennial crop seeds could be planted and annually overseeded in the fall - or spring - to keep year-round food available without having to spray & cultivate. I'm looking for such a plot mix / maintenance schedule to save labor & money on tractor gas, sprays, and maybe some fertilizer as well if managed wisely. It would be nice to build better soil health by NOT cultivating as much as we have in past years, so any advice on plot mixes that can be overseeded as annual crops fade out would be most helpful.
We have a plot of alfalfa and 2 varieties of red clover (Starfire & Marathon) as a multi-year plot that should last about 5 years, and a plot of perennial white clovers (Alice and Ladino) with some chicory that should last 5 years to 7 years if we keep the grasses sprayed in that one. I see pics and posts of guys on here that plant plots of mixed crops and varieties that they seem to keep "updating" with new overseedings / mowings / rollings. It would be great to have such a mixed plot that we can just keep overseeding into as the seasons dictate - such as rye, winter wheat, and brassicas in the fall - maybe some buckwheat or oats in the spring. If doing that can build better soil .......... and save cultivating time / gas .......... that would be a win-win.
Our camp is in northcentral Pa. mountains on an old farmstead, zone 5 & 6 border. 85 to 88 degrees summer high temps. - - - and minus 10 is about the coldest we ever see there.
Well, Crimson is an annual clover. It does act as a reseeding annual in my area but not every place. At most you get 2 years out of it. Radishes and most peas are annuals. Clover mixed with chicory can be a good perennial food plot. I've never used it but perennial peanuts may be an option in the south.
This is not a perennial mix, but you could use a variation of it to get some efficiency with planting once a year if it works in your area. We plant a mix of WR, CC, and PTT/GHR for fall. The WR is the early season attractant and PTT covers the late season with CC and GHR covering a broader time period in the season.
Now, we are trying to do QDM, so we are planting for our summer stress period. I'm planting Buckwheat and Sunn Hemp for that and they like warm soil so I'm just getting ready to plant. The winter rye covered the early spring and as it starts to become rank, the crimson clover takes off again in the spring to cover until I'm ready to plant.
If you are not planting for summer, you could just let the WR head out. In the north, where summer stress is not a big issue, the WR heads will provides some food value during the summer and with keep weeds at bay. If you wait until the seed heads are well ripe for your fall plant, you could seed CC/GHR/PTT again and then mow the WR for a volunteer crop.
If you wanted a little more coverage, you could replace the Crimson with Medium Red clover. It is a short-lived perennial. It provides more coverage than crimson for me. I use crimson because I replant for summer anyway.
Jack -
We planted crimson clover a few years ago and it didn't re-seed up here in the mountains. It grew great for that spring and summer, but it crapped out that winter. No crime - it added some N and OM to the soil. I'd plant CC again, but not expect it to re-seed itself. CC is a good plot addition, IMO.
I like your advice on letting the rye head-out, then seeding CC/GHR/PTT into it - then mowing it for a fall plot. The taller rye could be fawn cover for a while until we mow it.
What we don't know - as a group of members - is what crop varieties can be mixed that will "get along" and not smother each other, or out-compete the other varieties. Also - WHEN the best times / dates are to overseed variety "X" into established varieties "A, B, & C". I've done tons of reading online and in some publications - but often one source says plant "A, B, & C" in a mixed plot - and another source says don't plant "A with C", or seed "A" will drown out seed "C". So I wonder how to get the desired results without a failure - and wasting time and money on a plot.
To ALL - - -
Let me pose a situation to you guys - one that we'd very likely begin with.
We'd plant 2 varieties of red or white clover with a nurse crop of WR, and some chicory, from mid-August to Labor Day. This allows enough time for rye to get some growth so as to be a good food source by October and into winter. When would you gents mow the rye in the spring to release the clover?? How tall should we let the rye get?? How much clover seed, chicory, and rye in a
1-acre plot to get optimum results??
Assuming we mow the rye at some point, what crops could we over-seed into the clover / chicory the following August / Labor Day that would grow well with the clover & chicory??
What's a good seed mix with peas (AWP, iron clay peas, field peas) that give the peas some support to climb on??
