should i mow my food plot at this point in October

[tn4hunting]

Just curious. I over seeded with rye and clover in late august and my clover field was in great shape. In august and sept the weeds took over and not much rye germinated so probably 50/50. 50 percent clover and 50 percent of weeds. The weeds are about 2 foot high in the plot.

Should i mow the plot to cut down the weeds? I'm torn because this is the first year they have been taken over by weeds so not sure what to do.


It's bow season currently and muzzle loader starts in Nov.

I'm ion SW Virginia.


thoughts?

 

[Foggy47]

I am not familiar with your weather conditions......so not going to give advice here. I bet a few local guys will chime in soon. But, what kind of weeds have you got? Broadleaf or Grasses? Can you spray them to kill em off. Will freezing temps soon take them out? Some weeds don't bother me like they used to. Grasses can be a concern for me tho.

 

[SwampCat]

If the weeds are two ft tall and half the plant component, I would mow. If you spray, you will still have a lot of dead weeds. If nothing else, I wouldnt want that many dead weeds just because I dont like the way they look

 

[Bill]

I’d mow, maybe a bit high. Typically you’ll get some warm October weather. Add some moisture and the rye should come in. I might even add more rye.

 

[FarmerDan]

Taking the OP's description of the problem at face value. (makes no sense to me) I'd leave it alone. Two reasons. If, all of a sudden the plot exploded with weeds, I would assume them to be summer annuals. A frost/freeze is days away. It will kill those annuals. Without seeing or having more info I guess I'm 50-50 on to mow or not. I decided to skip the second reason but it assumed mowing removes more "value" than regrowth can supply it the short number of growing days left in the fall season.

 

[Robert86]

I would mow, and I would mow at the height of the clover. When we cut hay or chop corn it always seems to draw deer in right after. I'd hunt it after you mow it.

 

[tn4hunting]

Thanks for the feedback it's much appreciated!

I will mow because 1. as swampcat mentions it's driving me crazy the way it looks and 2. I'm hoping if it will give the winter rye some room to start growing.


good advice on hunting right after I cut it. I haven't thought of that.

 

[Diesel5610]

I am on the western NY/PA border. Our 2 week forecast doesn't show anything close to our first frost, I would mow it if your forecast is the same. If you had a frost close I would go with Farmer Dan, but it looks like our first frost is going to be late this year.

 

[FarmerDan]

I am on the western NY/PA border. Our 2 week forecast doesn't show anything close to our first frost, I would mow it if your forecast is the same. If you had a frost close I would go with Farmer Dan, but it looks like our first frost is going to be late this year.

You're right! You know, when I wrote my post (above) I was assuming what I thought I knew was correct. You know what they say about assumptions. There's a lot of that in the world, assuming what we think we know is actually the case. I'm a data nerd. No apologies offered. So, I thought I'd better check the data. (I've done a lot of work and statistical analysis on frost/freeze dates). I have this chart put together by USDA using NOAA/NWS historical weather data. It lists various locations around the state and the average probability of frost and then freeze dates. I used Blacksburg. That's kind of at the eastern edge of SW VA.


When we talk about the date of the first fall frost (or last spring frost) what are we talking about? Most times, it's the date where the low temperature hits 32-degrees on average where there's a 50% probability of a frost/freeze before that date and 50% after. I know. So what?

But here's the other thing. The data in the chart above is for where the recording station is in Blacksburg at about 2,000 ft. Go east 50 miles (Bedford, VA) and the elevation falls 1,000 ft which adds 20-25 day additional growing days.

The point? I guess it's just for amusement and consideration. Something more to ponder before going back to the assumption about what we believe to be the average date of the first frost.

 

[Foggy47]

^ What a great tool.. Thanks Dan!

 

[FarmerDan]

^ What a great tool.. Thanks Dan!

MN Frost Freeze

 

[Foggy47]

MN Frost Freeze

That link failed to open. But I was playing around with Weather Underground a little earlier.....and that app has a location near my place. I've used that site for quite some time to watch storms as they move through our area.....but I never did check out all the history they have on a few screens. There is so much data complied on things like this anymore. Really nice....especially when I am 1500 + miles away right now. I did catch two good rains since leaving for OZ (Arizona).....and it was good to see the potential rainfalls for my land. Temps look good for the foreseeable future. Mild fall for us.

 

[FarmerDan]

That link failed to open. But I was playing around with Weather Underground a little earlier.....and that app has a location near my place. I've used that site for quite some time to watch storms as they move through our area.....but I never did check out all the history they have on a few screens. There is so much data complied on things like this anymore. Really nice....especially when I am 1500 + miles away right now. I did catch two good rains since leaving for OZ (Arizona).....and it was good to see the potential rainfalls for my land. Temps look good for the foreseeable future. Mild fall for us.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries_and_publications/freeze_date.html

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/summaries_and_publications/freeze_date.html