Seeds for 2023

[Foggy47]

Ordered a '23 Seed Catalog the other day from Albert Lea Seed and it arrived today. Been wanting to plant Aroostook Cereal Rye as it seems to have a little later maturity date and I am trying to skip planting too much for a "summer release" crop.....as I have a short growing season here. I may drill a few more "vertical" crops green,(like milo) into my clover/rye plots prior to roller / crimping the Winter Rye in late June or Early July. May plant some soybeans at that time too. Doing it this way.....I can leave the high rye in place over the fawning season and hopefully prevent running over deer and provide some relief from predators.

Noticed a few interesting things in the AL Seed catalog.

1. New. They now offer conventional forage collards at $3.50 lb. (those have been hard to locate)
2. New. They now offer PASAJA hybrid brasica which is a cross between forage rape and forage turnips. $4.00 / lb. Anyone have any experience with these. Sounds interesting....but a higher price.
3. New. they now offer a MN Winter Hairy Vetch which was developed by the U of M to be winter hardy in this climate. No price given.
4. New MN Clearwater KERNZA. U of MN developed PERENIAL Grain....like wheat? Gotta be licensed and more on this.....but been reading some good things on this for the future.
5. Hard to believe all the Organic seeds now being offered. ....at far higher prices. I suppose many farmers are making the move? Sure can get a higher price for your crops.
6. Wide varieties and prices on clovers. I need to find a few more moderate priced clovers to allow them to rotate thru my crops to pick up their fertilizing values. My "problem" is that I like to plant my clovers in fall (early sept) and the lower price annuals wont survive my zone 3 climate over winter. I think I'm somewhat stuck with medium red and lower priced white clovers.

It's difficult for me to locate some of these seeds when I need them. A.L. Seeds has a wide variety and a dealer fairly near by. I need to call the dealer and see when I should enter an order to put my 2023 seed purchase together. That way I hope to get it all at once. The prices in the catalog seem comparable to most other seed outfits.

Any new stuff your trying this summer?

Also, I recently read that Deer Creek Seed in Sconny.....sold out to LaCrosse seeds. Not sure if that changes anything. I've not done biz with Deer Creek but I know many do. Always had good success with seeds that came from LaCrosse, Welter, or Green Cover. Shipping can be an issue up in the timberland.

 

[SD51555]

I've planted plain jane hairy vetch at my place, and it's had no problem surviving the past two winters. It's not invasive, but it sure doesn't get pushed around in a plot by anything.

 

[SD51555]

I'm going to plant all my winter rye in April in my clover. If that doesn't get me rye in my perennial clover, I'm gonna start killing clover.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Planted pasja in a plot with rye and some red clover for my neighbor this fall. It was awesome and just recently got totally eaten even though it was only 1/3 acre. Grew big leaves even in semi shade. I will be adding that to my plots next fall.

 

[Bill]

I'm going to plant all my winter rye in April in my clover. If that doesn't get me rye in my perennial clover, I'm gonna start killing clover.

I can never seem to get rye to grow in clover. The other way around is fine.

 

[Foggy47]

I plant my winter rye in late August or Early September into my blend of clovers and brasica and whatever else I got going on........along with more clover and possibly with more brassica.....if my July attempts have not worked out. It provides a fail-safe fall food source....and first thing in spring it's green before anything else is even thinking about green. That's when my winter starved deer need some nutrition.....and they are all over that rye in April / May.

I drill mine into good clover stands and it comes up and growing perfectly as the clover and many other things in my "salad bowl" diminishes here in MN in late October and early November ....just at about rifle deer season.

 

[Foggy47]

At this point I have 1700 lbs of seeds on my order form. (1300 lbs of that is W. Rye and Triticale) Gonna try a few on a small scale along with my proven performers. I've never planted any Millet in the past.....but I think I will drill some of that along with some corn, peas, collards, and soybeans my late June efforts. I've come to appreciate more VERTICAL cover in my food plots......and the corn and Millet may provide just that. Looking for other candidates too. Likely only 10 to 20 lbs to the acre of some of those said above......but in a mix that seems sufficient. Interesting stuff planting a salad bowl.

 

[SD51555]

At this point I have 1700 lbs of seeds on my order form. (1300 lbs of that is W. Rye and Triticale) Gonna try a few on a small scale along with my proven performers. I've never planted any Millet in the past.....but I think I will drill some of that along with some corn, peas, collards, and soybeans my late June efforts. I've come to appreciate more VERTICAL cover in my food plots......and the corn and Millet may provide just that. Looking for other candidates too. Likely only 10 to 20 lbs to the acre of some of those said above......but in a mix that seems sufficient. Interesting stuff planting a salad bowl.

I'm a big fan of the japanese millet. I hated mowing it last year, but now that I'm going with JD green and more HP, I'm gonna go heavy on the japanese millet early too.

 

[Foggy47]

I'm a big fan of the japanese millet. I hated mowing it last year, but now that I'm going with JD green and more HP, I'm gonna go heavy on the japanese millet early too.

Tell me about JD Green???

 

[Wind Gypsy]

My "problem" is that I like to plant my clovers in fall (early sept) and the lower price annuals wont survive my zone 3 climate over winter. I think I'm somewhat stuck with medium red and lower priced white clovers.

I’m hoping/expecting some fall planted fixation balansa clover to still be around come spring. We’ve had good snow cover all winter so I expect it to make it. Kentucky pride crimson seems to have a chance too.

 

[SD51555]

Tell me about JD Green???

I'm renting a JD tractor and a rotary mower to butcher the plots in August. $200 all-in to mow the whole property.

 

[SD51555]

I’m hoping/expecting some fall planted fixation balansa clover to still be around come spring. We’ve had good snow cover all winter so I expect it to make it. Kentucky pride crimson seems to have a chance too.

I've had good luck with fixation making it through winter. Mine has never been a full stand, but I've never planted as a full stand either. If I decided to kill all my white clover, I could see planting fixation each year in August.

 

[GMan5465]

I’m planning on using their Diversemax cover crop this year for my spring planting. I‘m trying to up the organic matter in my plots. Will follow that with their buckshot brassica mix on one side of the plots and the frosty suite mix on the other side, with my fall planting. WR over the top around sept 1.

Foggy, what dealer do you work with? When I talked with alseed, the seemed to imply the shipping to my door or the dealer would be about the same. I have typically driven and picked it up, but it’s almost a wash with the cost of gas and my time factored in.

 

[Foggy47]

I’m planning on using their Diversemax cover crop this year for my spring planting. I‘m trying to up the organic matter in my plots. Will follow that with their buckshot brassica mix on one side of the plots and the frosty suite mix on the other side, with my fall planting. WR over the top around sept 1.

Foggy, what dealer do you work with? When I talked with alseed, the seemed to imply the shipping to my door or the dealer would be about the same. I have typically driven and picked it up, but it’s almost a wash with the cost of gas and my time factored in.

They show the closest dealer as Elmdale Creamery Assn in Bowlus MN. I have not spoken to them but I am hopeful I can buy at the advertised prices.......and get it all in one load. I want to avoid driving to Albert Lea and shipping fees. I'm wondering if they dont do some Kina of a" milk run" with trucking seed to their various dealers.

 

[Tree Spud]

I can never seem to get rye to grow in clover. The other way around is fine.

Do you fall seed or try and drill into clover? I always have success fall planting with good spring green up.

I have stopped trying to plat in the spring with clover in place, very poor results. Killing off my clover this spring.

 

[bigboreblr]

My mother in law babysits a farmers kid. They just opened a seed/feed store. They had $11 a bag rye. Might be having the same thing as everyone else, clover competition. I went back for more seed, they were out of rye. So I got bags of wheat for $13 a bag. Got a bag and half of oats to add in. Doing one existing plot and a new spot this spring up north. Spraying basagran this summer to kill sedge in most plots up north. Might leave the goldenrod one alone as a experiment in place of using rye as a summer cover.

SD15, I think what you're doing is the way to go for many of us. Rent a tractor. You can use an ATV to cultipack and maybe even mow. But, plan a big weekend of stuff to do and save alot of money.

I toyed around wth the idea of implement rental a few years back when I had my Kubota. But, keep a good eye out on implements. Cheap set of discs or even a box blade if you got trail maintenance you need to do. You can always sell it for what you paid. Rest it on a pallet and wie down the rusty spots with oil after using them.

Also, Can you post a pic of repeat year hairy vetch. Tempted to try it up north again. I made the mistake of planting in august. So, it didnt reseed. Deer loved it as much as the oats I had that year. I think certain plants are more palatible in certain soils than others. Hairy vetch is a sandy soil food plot seed for sure. Also, how does it handle mild traffic? Clover, timothy, and even rye hasn't been bad with ocassional ATV traffic on the snowmobile trail.

 

[SD51555]

Also, Can you post a pic of repeat year hairy vetch.

I planted mine in August of 2020 I believe. This is summer of 2022, so these are all reseeds. I'm gun shy to put it in a plot blend again, but I did spread it in every spot I made in the woods where the sun hits the ground.

I"m 6-0, the vetch climbed right up the 5' cage and stood above it even higher.



This pic was supposed to be about 3' tall balansa, but the vetch photo bombed it.



Vetch pods galore, and everywhere.



By the time I grabbed these pics, the vetch had started to lodge. It was upwards of 5' tall, but it got so heavy that it just pulled down whatever it was wrapped up on. When it lodges, it's hell to push mow. Still, the bumble bees were in that vetch every day all summer long it seemed.

 

[SD51555]

SD15, I think what you're doing is the way to go for many of us. Rent a tractor. You can use an ATV to cultipack and maybe even mow. But, plan a big weekend of stuff to do and save alot of money.

If I had implement money, I'd have bought hunting land where the hunting was good, and still rent machinery.

It's always been a math problem to get as much done as possible with the limited time and funds available. If a guy knows how to run equipment, it's nuts what you can do to a property for $500-$800 once. That equipment problem is the big reason why I've been trying so hard to figure out the plotting program I'm on. I never wanted to spend the money on the shed, the implements, the maintenance, insurance, tires, batteries, chems, welders (), fertilizers, etc etc etc.

I'm not there yet, but I'm really close. One day in the spring to spread seed, one day in the late summer to spread more seed and mow, and that's it. Maybe some recreational gypsum spreading if i'm not protesting the federal reserve (inflation).

 

[Bowsnbucks]

SD -
Do the deer eat that hairy vetch?? Looks to be great for pollinators, and maybe green manure.

 

[SD51555]

SD -
Do the deer eat that hairy vetch?? Looks to be great for pollinators, and maybe green manure.

If I left it go into fall, perhaps. I mow mine off in August to start the regrowth of the fall forage. But during summer and into August, no.