Plot Blend Idea

[SD51555]

Always tinkering...

What do you think of this idea?

50% conventional soybeans
50% WGF sorghum
+ pumpkins

Spray as soon as spring green up looks complete. Plant two weeks later (memorial day hopefully). Wait three weeks (mid June) and hoe out some areas and plant short maturity pumpkins within it all.

If the soybeans get browsed out in June/July, come back and seed rye into it August 1st to fill it back up.

 

[Riggsgwp->]

Adding pumpkins seems like a lot of work for what you may or may not get out of them. Planting a mix of conv. soybeans, spring peas and sorghum would give you more tonnage with staggered maturity dates and with a drill could be planted all at once.
Here is a pic of the mix without soybeans

If you do the mix you described please document it as I have yet to see any success with a pumpkin mix. Not saying it hasn't been done but very people have shared pics of a mix like that.

 

[SD51555]

I do my pumpkins 5/1 but they have to sprayed with cayenne till theybloom. I always do strips of wr/ then ptt, rape, fhr. This year my 12 acres of wt will be combined after fawning season, 6/15, gleaned and bagged. I disc/plant 3 acres of my wr into beans in may which never see 3 inches.

What's the high and low range of how often you have to spray?

 

[scott44]

Adding pumpkins seems like a lot of work for what you may or may not get out of them. Planting a mix of conv. soybeans, spring peas and sorghum would give you more tonnage with staggered maturity dates and with a drill could be planted all at once.
Here is a pic of the mix without soybeans

If you do the mix you described please document it as I have yet to see any success with a pumpkin mix. Not saying it hasn't been done but very people have shared pics of a mix like that.

Nice looking mix Riggs

 

[Riggsgwp->]

I'm not trying to piss on the pumpkin idea I just want to see how it's worked out for people. How is it done in large scale without it being a ton of work? Sorry Sd if I hijacked you.

 

[SD51555]

No worries. I don't envision a tremendous undertaking on my part. I'm gonna take a swing at it with the best info I can find and report back. If it's a flop, I'll let everyone know. I've got some time to tinker with the details yet to see if it'll go in my neck of the woods.

 

[wiscwhip]

If I was going to do something like that, I would go with a mix of Tyrone conventional forage soybeans(30%), the latest maturity conventional soybean with the highest shatter resistance rating I could find for my area(40%)(ask your coop or ag extension agent guy which variety has those traits for your area), and the WGF sorghum(30%) for the remaining. Either put some pumpkins in the sparse areas like you are thinking, or just put them on one end or around the plot perimeter. You could even bushhog/mow a swath down the center and plant the pumpkins into that row. You can always broadcast rye into any sparse areas later in the summer.

 

[Greta&Gus]

I would think the pumpkins would be choked out in a mix. I have done them for 12 years. Luckily my neighbor is on site and can spray them weekly on his quad. The deer start to hit them mid october. They walk up, kick a hole in them and start chompin. 1800 x 6lbs=5 tons of feed for $10 in seed. Works great for me.

The first year I planted pumpkins I put them with sunflowers and sorghum just for fun and they did great. The next year I tried them with milo and it was a total bust. My first year I think was more luck than anything.

 

[sandbur]

The first year I planted pumpkins I put them with sunflowers and sorghum just for fun and they did great. The next year I tried them with milo and it was a total bust. My first year I think was more luck than anything.

Did the deer eat them?

My neighbor has a pumpkin patch and there are usually lots of pumpkins left after Halloween. I don't think they get much use. Neither do many other things in my area.

 

[Greta&Gus]

They do eat them but it is late in winter. They prefer the turnips first, which I know they don't touch in your area.

 

[SD51555]

What about using a 14 day recurring application of milorganite to deter deer until your pumpkins get beyond browse desirability?

http://www.milorganite.com/Using-Milorganite/Deer-Deterrent

 

[EOB]

What is the attraction\purpose of the WGF sorghum for deer? Do the eat the seed head or forage on the plant?

 

[wiscwhip]

What is the attraction\purpose of the WGF sorghum for deer? Do the eat the seed head or forage on the plant?

I have never seen deer browse on sorghum forage, they will however eat the seed heads once they mature in the fall, if the birds don't get them first! Most guys use the sorghum for other reasons such as, screening, vertical cover in a plot, support trellises for beans and peas to climb up, etc.

 

[foggy]

I've not been very successful with pumpkins due to weeds.....and not putting pepper on the young plants. The pumpkins that have survived have been eaten by the deer in October. Every one of them. For me pumpkins are like sugar beets.....too much effort for the reward......so I am going to pass.

 

[strawhead]

I've had pumpkins for quite a few years now. I've stated this in other threads, but I really need to get my grasses under control. The deer eat our pumpkin leaves, flowers and green pumpkins. I need to learn more about spraying with cayenne(NoFo). We get what I would guess to be half a good yield by others, but it takes some pressure off our brassicas. It surprises me how much attention the pumpkins get thruout the whole growing season. Agree a lot with foggy, but like the attention they get to much to quit them. IME, I don't think you would get the growth you want in a blend.

 

[SD51555]

Milorganite may work for 14 days between applications...as long as you don't get heavy rains during that time period. I used milorganite to keep deer off of a buckwheat/cowpea/sunflower plot one year and it was largely effective.

As far as the actual pumpkins being used by deer...I've never had it happen. They do love the young vines and blossoms, but the fruit was never touched on either parcel I grew them on. Even after I busted a few open for the deer they were ignored.

I wonder if my brother and I don't take turns every couple weeks spreading it if we can't get past browsing with a 2-3 trips each. Guy might have to just check trail cams and drink some beer around the campfire too while you're up there.