Question on buckwheat cover crop

megavites

Yearling... With promise
will be planting 3 total acres in PA July 16th (2 acre main and 2- 1/2 acre plots).
My concern is "taking the food away" when coming back in Sept to plant fall throw and mow crops. (Oats, Winter wheat, red clover, winter peas)
Should I leave some buckwheat standing? Should I throw and mow something in Aug. in 25% of the plots to keep something edible?
Maybe a 2nd buckwheat planting in a portion of the existing plots?
 
It depends on how much acreage you have and your objectives. If you are under 1,000 acres of total management area (property you own plus any cooperating neighbors), you are probably undersized for QDM. That means you are not going to have a measurable impact on herd health no matter what you do. I'm in VA and the 4th of July is about the end of the planting window for buckwheat here. It may be later in your area depending on where in PA and the altitude.

Also keep in mind that even if you have the scale for QDM, in most of PA, summer is not a major stress period. Buckwheat has a 60-90 day food value and is very sensitive to cold. I doubt, planted this late, you buckwheat will have even gone to seed by Sept. If you have rain in the forecast when you plant is Sept, it will be a very short time before the cereal begins to grow and be a good food source.

Thanks,

Jack
 
It depends on how much acreage you have and your objectives. If you are under 1,000 acres of total management area (property you own plus any cooperating neighbors), you are probably undersized for QDM. That means you are not going to have a measurable impact on herd health no matter what you do. I'm in VA and the 4th of July is about the end of the planting window for buckwheat here. It may be later in your area depending on where in PA and the altitude.

Also keep in mind that even if you have the scale for QDM, in most of PA, summer is not a major stress period. Buckwheat has a 60-90 day food value and is very sensitive to cold. I doubt, planted this late, you buckwheat will have even gone to seed by Sept. If you have rain in the forecast when you plant is Sept, it will be a very short time before the cereal begins to grow and be a good food source.

Thanks,

Jack
Seems that more emphasis now is on soil health for summer plantings than QDM. Growing green and keeping living roots and biomass. My guess is long term success can be maintained with cereal and clover plantings annually, but early soil building is benefitted by summer plantings.
 
Seems that more emphasis now is on soil health for summer plantings than QDM. Growing green and keeping living roots and biomass. My guess is long term success can be maintained with cereal and clover plantings annually, but early soil building is benefitted by summer plantings.

Yes, for soil health, as long as you are not tilling, there can be benefit by planting things like buckwheat outside QDM. However, there are other soil health approaches. For example, in some fields I will plant WR/CC/PTT in the fall. The value of the WR for early spring food is important for QDM, but letting that WR through the summer has soil health benefits as well:

1) Lower herbicide use since you don't have to terminate the WR to plant BW.
2) The WR roots grow deep into the soil when you let it head out.
3) T&M the following fall give you volunteer WR seed.

If I was not trying to do QDM, I would probably plant once a year in the fall. Because I am trying to do QDM and want to cover the summer stress period, I plant a mix of BW and Sunn Hemp.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Yes, for soil health, as long as you are not tilling, there can be benefit by planting things like buckwheat outside QDM. However, there are other soil health approaches. For example, in some fields I will plant WR/CC/PTT in the fall. The value of the WR for early spring food is important for QDM, but letting that WR through the summer has soil health benefits as well:

1) Lower herbicide use since you don't have to terminate the WR to plant BW.
2) The WR roots grow deep into the soil when you let it head out.
3) T&M the following fall give you volunteer WR seed.

If I was not trying to do QDM, I would probably plant once a year in the fall. Because I am trying to do QDM and want to cover the summer stress period, I plant a mix of BW and Sunn Hemp.

Thanks,

Jack
I’m in alabama. We don’t plant fall until early October. Ain’t gonna be much WR left at that time and will be just “weeds” or “natural vegetation” left depending on your verbiage. Long term I’ll do crimsons approach on that, but early in my process I would rather have what I want growing there.

Now I do have some areas I want clover plots that I am doing your approach. I planted summer this year, but will do Wr with other cereals and a clover mix. Will do your mowing high of WR in spring and over summer and then replant with WR and clovers in fall
 
I’m in alabama. We don’t plant fall until early October. Ain’t gonna be much WR left at that time and will be just “weeds” or “natural vegetation” left depending on your verbiage. Long term I’ll do crimsons approach on that, but early in my process I would rather have what I want growing there.

Now I do have some areas I want clover plots that I am doing your approach. I planted summer this year, but will do Wr with other cereals and a clover mix. Will do your mowing high of WR in spring and over summer and then replant with WR and clovers in fall
Yes, that shows how location plays a significant role in what techniques work best to achieve the same objective.
 
QDM aside, it seems to be reasonable to want deer to stay in a pattern of feeding on your ground and not pushing them off for a time.
 
QDM aside, it seems to be reasonable to want deer to stay in a pattern of feeding on your ground and not pushing them off for a time.
I was thinking this as well.
 
Don’t complicate it or sweat it. Buckwheat planted on July 16, I would just overseed it with your fall plot about the first of September. If you wanted to knock the buckwheat down on top of it you can or just leave it be. The new seed will be up in less than a week with rain and the plot won’t miss a beat.
 
We plant buckwheat for the greens - not the seed. BW helps keep weeds down if you plant it thick enough, and I've overseeded a mix of brassicas into standing BW in August. Rolled it down with a cultipacker after seeding the brassicas into it. BW decayed down and acted as a mulch for a period of time - brassicas germinated well.

Our deer LOVE buckwheat green plants during the summer. A camp member put a cam on the BW plot and had 7 bucks show up on his cam eating in that BW plot. If they like our BW for summer chow - we'll keep planting it !!!!! FWIW.

As others have pointed out ......... location in the U.S. can make a difference as to timing crops.
 
QDM aside, it seems to be reasonable to want deer to stay in a pattern of feeding on your ground and not pushing them off for a time.

It really depends on the property size and habitat. I tend to look at things from a cost/benefit perspective. Habitat management takes time and money. Time and money applied to one area are not available for another unless your funding is unlimited. If letting a well designed fall plant stand through the summer causes deer to leave, you've got much bigger habitat issues. Up in PA, like the original poster, summer food is only absent in the big woods (old timber). If you are in this kind of area, when you plant in the fall, deer will come running no matter where they are (until the acorns crop). In better habitat, deer won't range far. Home ranges can vary from a couple hundred acres in great habitat to over 1,000 acres on poor habitat.

Guys often think that if deer get used to using my fields in the summer, they will keep using them in the fall. In reality, deer's diet changes quite a bit with the seasons. As some food sources dry up, others begin to flourish.

Form my perspective, keeping deer using your property in the summer is far less important than soil health, providing cover, improving native habitat. Keep in mind that our food plots are a very small fraction of a deer's diet.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Guys often think that if deer get used to using my fields in the summer, they will keep using them in the fall. In reality, deer's diet changes quite a bit with the seasons. As some food sources dry up, others begin to flourish.
We see that here. Summer - deer are pounding our green food plots. Fall acorn drop - deer focus on the acorns for the fat / calorie content for winter's cold. They still come to the greens, but they aren't the focal point like summer time. In a bad acorn year - the green plots will get hammered in the fall & winter. All the more reason to plant some brassicas, WR, WW for winter chow.
 
I’m in alabama. We don’t plant fall until early October. Ain’t gonna be much WR left at that time and will be just “weeds” or “natural vegetation” left depending on your verbiage. Long term I’ll do crimsons approach on that, but early in my process I would rather have what I want growing there.

Now I do have some areas I want clover plots that I am doing your approach. I planted summer this year, but will do Wr with other cereals and a clover mix. Will do your mowing high of WR in spring and over summer and then replant with WR and clovers in fall
Keep in mind that the vast majority of the time when someone says "the early stages of their soil health process"......it usually revolves around increasing and rebuilding the soil carbon aka soil organic matter. That's really the main pillar that it all revolves around.....The summer crops early in my soil health journey were pretty much solid stands of crabgrass.....and that's exactly what the abused sand needed......heavy grass crops. Dont let the fact that ones a "weed" and ones a seed you buy at the store distract you from the underlying concepts at play and believing that because its a bought seed it must be a better choice for the situation. When I attempted to grow buckwheat the high deer density decimated it and I ended up with none
 
Keep in mind that the vast majority of the time when someone says "the early stages of their soil health process"......it usually revolves around increasing and rebuilding the soil carbon aka soil organic matter. That's really the main pillar that it all revolves around.....The summer crops early in my soil health journey were pretty much solid stands of crabgrass.....and that's exactly what the abused sand needed......heavy grass crops. Dont let the fact that ones a "weed" and ones a seed you buy at the store distract you from the underlying concepts at play and believing that because its a bought seed it must be a better choice for the situation. When I attempted to grow buckwheat the high deer density decimated it and I ended up with none
Would you spray Gly then mow or just mow?
 
I used to spray but don’t anymore…..Spraying will give you a cleaner looking transition without any spots of summer veg here and there still holding on…..but if you’ll just wait until early October to plant, most summer stuff is done with its cycle and will terminate when you mow it…..You may have a little resprouting or a little bit of this and that still growing that takes away from that clean look everyone like to see…..but as soon as the first frost hits it’ll take care of any of those and look just like any other plot by Thanksgiving. I spread seed and mow in October……and then mow again around mid to late June……That’s pretty much my whole process now.
 
I used to spray but don’t anymore…..Spraying will give you a cleaner looking transition without any spots of summer veg here and there still holding on…..but if you’ll just wait until early October to plant, most summer stuff is done with its cycle and will terminate when you mow it…..You may have a little resprouting or a little bit of this and that still growing that takes away from that clean look everyone like to see…..but as soon as the first frost hits it’ll take care of any of those and look just like any other plot by Thanksgiving. I spread seed and mow in October……and then mow again around mid to late June……That’s pretty much my whole process now.
Great point! I tried not spraying this year for my summer plot. It didn't work well. It is really hard, even for buckwheat and sunn hemp which are fast competitive crops, can't compete with summer weeds that have already germinated. Fortunately, there is still plenty of clover and good weeds from my previous fall plant. When I plant for fall, I can get away without spraying. Here, warm season weeds are over and I don't have big issues with cool season grass competition for the fall.

This is the first year that I did not spray before the spring plant. Here is why:

1) I assess that there was sufficient food from the fall plant if the summer plant failed.
2) I'm recovering from an infestation of Marstail and noticed it was coming back in places.
3) While I paid through the nose for Gly this year, spraying gly would kill the beneficial weeds and existing food and favor marestail which laughs at gly.
4) The last couple years, I've been burning down with a mix of generic Liberty (Interline) and gly. I bought Interline for $99 from Rural King for 2.5 gal. They still list for that price but it is out of stock. Other sources list it for $250+ and show it out of stock. Even if I could find it in stock, it would be very expensive.

So, I figured I'd give a try at rolling the WR and hoping for the best.

Thanks,

Jack
 
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