no till, LC mix question

[32steve]

This is my first year trying LC's mix and also my first year useing a no till drill so i have a few questions for you experts.
I planted oats with red clover in my plots this spring. Should i spray my oats and clover with gly or just drill my cereal grain and brassicas mixes into it

 

[wiscwhip]

Have your oats seeded out yet?

 

[32steve]

I was at the farm 3 weeks ago and they were just starting to seed out

 

[dipper]

Your a smart man. I no till into your crop all the time with a conventional drill. If you got a no till drill, better yet.
Wait for the oats to mature. No till you fall crop. I'd suggest rye, wheat, peas and real light on brassicas. Like 2 pounds/acre.
Than cut your oats down. A brush hog is great it not criticial. Do a few passes with a drag. Your oats germination will be Uneven, and delayed. But that's what you want. Monitor and evaluate grass infestation. If you need to spray a grass select, spray. Just make sure it is before your fall seed germination. That spray will kill your cereals.
Deer are browsers not grazers. Your plots don't have to look like a pasture. Way to go, you are sitting pretty.

 

[wiscwhip]

I have never planted with a no-till drill, only conventional, so no help for you there, but if those oats have dropped seed they will be dying soon anyway so I don't think I would bother spraying them. You could plant into the standing clover no problem, unless of course it is 15"+ tall, that may cause some issues? You will have to cut back on your oats due to the newly dropped seed, the rest you should be fine with normal rates for your drill.

 

[dipper]

The really sweet thing for you Steve is you can do the same thing next summer when the rye and wheat matures. I'd still add a little wheat rye, but is gonna reseed itself. Your focus is adding the oats. Don't worry about choking out the clover.

 

[dipper]

Don't spray unless you need to for invasive grass

 

[32steve]

Thanks dipper and wiscwhip. i will drill my mixes right into the oats and clover and depends how thick the oats and clover are i will bush hog or just let it be

 

[wiscwhip]

With a heavy no-till you may be able to drill without mowing at all? Not sure, as I said, I have no first hand experience with to-till drills.