I'm planning on planting a strip of brassicas this summer, but I hate to leave the ground bare until July. I'm thinking about planting some oats early to hopefully add a little extra organic matter and maybe give the deer and turkeys something to eat before I eventually plant brassicas in early July. I'll be planting this in SE MN - does anyone have any experience planting oats early for a cover crop prior to brassicas? I don't really see a downside, but any advice/recommendations would be appreciated.
Oats before brassicas
- Thread starter Ben.MN/WI
- Start date
bueller
Moderator
What do you plan to do with the oats? Spray or till or leave them stand? I'm leaning towards an oats and buckwheat plot this spring and overseeding it with a variation of LC's rye mix late summer. I don't feel like there is enough time for the oats prior to terminating them for a brassica plot. You can overseed the brassica right into the oats but they will likely hold back the bulb growth of your brassicas and may even out compete them.
TMIL
5 year old buck +
If I were in your situation, I would plant a clover (deer food, green manure, and nitrogen fixing) and then follow with an oats/brassica mix late summer. That might not work for you though, I'm in zone 6b, so I would have a longer growing season for the clover. I don't plant my oats/turnips until late Aug-early Sept.
j-bird
Moderator
Ben - I would use a mix of rye and an annual clover, just my 2 cents worth. The rye will germinate the earliest and the annual clover may help provide some (not a lot) of N for your future brassica planting. OR plant a warm season annual like RR soybeans and then overseed those with your brassica mix. I do this a lot, but I have few enough deer that I don't have to protect the beans.
Thanks for the input, I appreciate the advice. I have a ton of turkeys on my land, so I won't be able to frost seed a big seed like rye. I actually tried to overseed rye into the standing beans last fall, but the rye didn't do very well because of turkeys and other birds. I never really thought about annual clover much, but I like that suggestion as well. How much height do you think I could get off an annual clover if I planted it in late April and disked it under in late June? Maybe I could lightly disk in a little rye or oats as soon as the ground can be worked and then cultipack and spread some annual clover.
The strip that I'll be planting is currently soybeans, but the deer have wiped it out. Maybe the easiest option would be to frost seed a bunch of annual clover on the standing beans without any tillage. Can annual clovers be frost seeded just like perennial clovers? I've never planted annual clovers before, so I'm not familiar with how they can be planted.
The strip that I'll be planting is currently soybeans, but the deer have wiped it out. Maybe the easiest option would be to frost seed a bunch of annual clover on the standing beans without any tillage. Can annual clovers be frost seeded just like perennial clovers? I've never planted annual clovers before, so I'm not familiar with how they can be planted.
West Branch
5 year old buck +
I think an annual clover with a grain, oats or rye, should work well. It always seems like oats germinate pretty darn easy, even if they don't handle as cold of temps as rye. Throw some buckwheat in as well and you'll have a lot of green manure.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
^^^This^^^ Crimson will give the best bang for your buck of the annual clovers.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
"Can you frost seed crimson? I've got a mostly failed brassica patch that I plan on trying brassica's again on in July but want to throw something down during spring."
Not really, especially in northern climates, it would work in areas to the south. It is not nearly as suited to frost seeding as medium red clover, in that situation, I would go with a cheap medium red variety, or not use clover at all and stick with oats or an oat/rye combo. If I was looking to go from snow out to early or mid July, I would just go as fast growing and cheap as possible, as this would be nothing more than a throw away cover crop that will net you only minimal OM either way. In your case badger, I would throw down some rye in that area.
Not really, especially in northern climates, it would work in areas to the south. It is not nearly as suited to frost seeding as medium red clover, in that situation, I would go with a cheap medium red variety, or not use clover at all and stick with oats or an oat/rye combo. If I was looking to go from snow out to early or mid July, I would just go as fast growing and cheap as possible, as this would be nothing more than a throw away cover crop that will net you only minimal OM either way. In your case badger, I would throw down some rye in that area.
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Ben I 'am going to try this exact plan this spring. I will be using spring oats and winter rye with red clover. I going to disc the rye/oats around the July 4th and plant brassicas. I have a 50lb bag of red clover that will take me a few years to go thru. I can spare some if you need some. You could pick it up at my place.
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
yep....like whip said Crimson is a no go for frost seeding. I planted it in late April last year here in NE PA and it was a solid 8-12" by the end of June when i mowed it down to spray before planting brassicas on July 7th. the deer may have kept it from getting much taller than that though...they hit it pretty good in may and june.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
We could still frost seed in late April here in WI and MN last winter.:eek:
phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
glad i dont have to deal with that crap every year! we had a fast green up last year end of april was gorgeous....most years i have to wait until mid may to get past threat of frost.
Thanks for the offer, but I think I have a friend that has some clover seed. He always has partial bags of everything laying around so I don't usually have to buy that stuff. I think I'll lightly disc in some oats and rye as soon as the soil dries out and then I'll cultipack and follow up with some annual clover. It will be interesting to see how the clover does in that short time frame. I know oats grow quickly, so it will be interesting to see how the clover does. I'll disc this blend up in early July and plant brassicas and hope for rain.
scott44
5 year old buck +
Sounds like a good plan, I bet your clover will do better than you think, good luck.
