New strategy

[nwmn]

I've been going that route long enough that I don't use any fertilizer anymore. As far as the mixes go, I like to shoot for 50% legumes and 50% N-seeking crops. Within those broad categories, there are lots of options. Some of the selection will depend on your equipment. If you are using a no-till drill, you have more flexibility as you can plant larger seeds like soybeans, but most large seeds don't surface broadcast well. The other piece of advice I'd offer, unless you have very fertile soil, start with crops that will tolerate infertile soil until you can build OM and improve nutrient cycling. It takes time for the soil to heal itself after deep and/or frequent tillage.

You are on the right track, planting more acreage with less intensity for deer management. Unless you have a specific weed problem, become weed tolerant. They contribute to diversity as well. Deer don't need yield. They need sufficient volume and any crop that doesn't end up in the belly of a deer after the stress period you are planting for is over, it is not contributing to QDM.

You are starting down a good long-term path. Be patient.

Thanks,

Jack

This is where I want to be in a couple years.

I got enough open areas and want to get it all converted into old field type ground heavy with pollinators. The bee and butterly fund is something i'm gonna try and get into for some of the ground. I've got an oak savannah area that I want to enhance as well for adding beneficial species.

Last year I drilled oats and winter rye into most of the area I plan to get creative in this year. The oats got tall and are laid over now so it's kind of a mess. I may burn, or try and just drive over it all with the old drill. The beauty of this ground is that it hasn't been worked up for long. Mainly it's been fresshly opened ground as of two years ago, and it was done with speed tillage (farmer helped me out) so i think that helps conserve OM in if I'm not mistaken? It's definitely not moldboard plowed and then disked ground for 50 years.

If I go monoculture with beans at all, I plan to drill winter rye into it come mid-late august. I can't get myself to not plant beans, and would like to get corn integrated more as well. I'm not set up for no tilling, but I may use my planter right into last years' sugar beet ground and not open it up at all. It's hard not to when the farmer offers to work up all my food plots for me while he's out there. I dont have a no till dril so I may just run a multiweeder over the diversity mix and scuff the top layer and then give er hell and multiweed after then pack.

I want to get more sustainable, but broadcasting seed right onto the top of the soil hasn't worked for me in the past and I'm hesitant to doing so unless I get a no till drill to get it dialed in.

 

[pilotpip]

The problem tilling to break up very nasty clay is that is just makes the problem worse over time and the clay crusts. I've converted old logging decks that were highly compressed clay because of the heavy equipment. Weeds would not even grow on them when I started. The first step was decompression. This is a form of tillage I guess. I used a single shank ripper to relieve the compression. I rotated WR/CC and Buckwhet for 2 years using min-till methods. By min-till, I mean holding a tiller so high with the 3-pt hitch that the tines barely touch the top inch at most. It is just enough to break up the crust. Then surface broadcast and cultipack. After that, I planted perennial clover with a WR nurse crop in the fall.

The problem with tilling clay is that it burns what little OM you have. Minimizing tillage and cycling the right crops over time builds OM and improves nutrient cycling in addition to solving the crusting problem. Today, I can T&M the plots with no crusting issues at all.

Thanks,

Jack

I'm with you. I just have to work with what I have, and what the landowner (my father in law) wants. I tried spraying, broadcasting, and using a cultipacker. That failed. I did a heavy till this year, but will back off quite a bit going forward. Oddly enough, this was a logging deck probably 20 years ago but has been used as a food plot by the previous owners.

We have a tarter atv plow/cultipacker. I'd love to get a crimper next and only use the plow sparingly, or not at all. I've had good luck using it to clear the old logging roads and tossing a mix of oats and rye down in early fall.

I'm fighting an uphill battle breaking the "light fluffy seedbed" thought from my father in law.

 

[Wild Thing]

I'm with you. I just have to work with what I have, and what the landowner (my father in law) wants. I tried spraying, broadcasting, and using a cultipacker. That failed. I did a heavy till this year, but will back off quite a bit going forward. Oddly enough, this was a logging deck probably 20 years ago but has been used as a food plot by the previous owners.

We have a tarter atv plow/cultipacker. I'd love to get a crimper next and only use the plow sparingly, or not at all. I've had good luck using it to clear the old logging roads and tossing a mix of oats and rye down in early fall.

I'm fighting an uphill battle breaking the "light fluffy seedbed" thought from my father in law.

As long as you spray....and then broadcast in that order after the Gly has dried you should be OK. Of course it helps immensely if you can do this just prior to a good rain event. Here is a little info on spraying Gly over seed and the detrimental effects it can have:

Glyphosate vs Seed Germination: Results

I'd love to get a crimper next and only use the plow sparingly, or not at all.

Yes - You (and your FIL), as well as your soil would be much better off if you stopped all tillage completely. Any tillage at all destroys Organic Matter and it takes years to build it back up once you have ceased tilling.

 

[bigboreblr]

What implements do you have? If you have a set of discs, can you adjust the angle on them. You can disc lightly, add seed then cultipack to modify the throw n grow method.

I only use an ATV, so I spread seed, mow high, mow low, lightly spring harrow, then roll it in for my no-till.

OD you have warm season grass problems? You may want to tune your seed mixes, so a selective herbicide can attack your problem while your desired seed grows.

Im no expert by any means, but the cowpeas blend doesn't look so hot for the soybeans. If you're using the beans as a nursery crop,for the deer to focus on while the olther plants grow with less browsing prssure, then thats good. But, expecting the soybeans to grow to maturity might not work great.

IF trying the no -till, the dakion raddish is one of the easier seed to get going.

 

[bigboreblr]

Wind Gypsy,

My local hunting club plants millet to keep the pheasants around. IF you like to bird hunt and got the land, throw some in.

My club cheats, they used cheap bird seed, so there's a sunflower here n there too.....

 

[Skeeter]

Wind Gypsy,

My local hunting club plants millet to keep the pheasants around. IF you like to bird hunt and got the land, throw some in.

My club cheats, they used cheap bird seed, so there's a sunflower here n there too.....

Milo stands up better to winter conditions in this part of the country when it comes to the combination of pheasant food, cover and ability to hunt.

 

[SWIFFY]

In my experience, Millet is much smaller seed than Sorgum. If you are doing T&M plots, millet is easy to broadcast and get a good crop. That said, Sorgum really isnt bad either, but most millet seed is half the size. I also agree that Millet has a thinner stalk. Ive never tried Proso. Its good stuff.