Sorghum Screen Fail thoughts

[Wind Gypsy]

What's growing in the plot? Looks good!

Below is the mix i planted. Where that picture was taken it's probably about 140% of that rate because i calibrated and started planting based off memory of plot size and I was short by 25%! There is also some overlap from the perimeter passes with the full length planting passes going perpendicular. I had some northwoods "WHS green blend" leftover from last year that has beans in it thus why they were included in the mix.

	#/ acre
Forage Oats	25.5​
AWP	40.9​
forage Beans	5.4​
large box total/acre	71.7​
Daikon Radish	3.8​
J millet	0.5​
Fixation balansa	3.5​
Alsike Clover	0.4​
Dynamite MRC	2.5​
Chicory	0.6​
NWW sweet feast	0.2​
Small box total/acre	11.5​

Nice! Is that a Redneck Ghillie?

yep. Just set it up last weekend. Going to stuff it in the sorghum in a few weeks once its got more growth.

 

[T-Max]

Below is the mix i planted. Where that picture was taken it's probably about 140% of that rate because i calibrated and started planting based off memory of plot size and I was short by 25%! There is also some overlap from the perimeter passes with the full length planting passes going perpendicular. I had some northwoods "WHS green blend" leftover from last year that has beans in it thus why they were included in the mix.

	#/ acre
Forage Oats	25.5​
AWP	40.9​
forage Beans	5.4​
large box total/acre	71.7​
Daikon Radish	3.8​
J millet	0.5​
Fixation balansa	3.5​
Alsike Clover	0.4​
Dynamite MRC	2.5​
Chicory	0.6​
NWW sweet feast	0.2​
Small box total/acre	11.5​

yep. Just set it up last weekend. Going to stuff it in the sorghum in a few weeks once its got more growth.

I have one and I love it. Great blind.

 

[Brian662]

Below is the mix i planted. Where that picture was taken it's probably about 140% of that rate because i calibrated and started planting based off memory of plot size and I was short by 25%! There is also some overlap from the perimeter passes with the full length planting passes going perpendicular. I had some northwoods "WHS green blend" leftover from last year that has beans in it thus why they were included in the mix.

	#/ acre
Forage Oats	25.5​
AWP	40.9​
forage Beans	5.4​
large box total/acre	71.7​
Daikon Radish	3.8​
J millet	0.5​
Fixation balansa	3.5​
Alsike Clover	0.4​
Dynamite MRC	2.5​
Chicory	0.6​
NWW sweet feast	0.2​
Small box total/acre	11.5​

yep. Just set it up last weekend. Going to stuff it in the sorghum in a few weeks once its got more growth.

I had(have) a redneck ghillie that I put in a switchgrass screen...it got overtaken by mice. I unzipped the cover and the mice were jumping out of there by the dozens. Just something to consider, when I deploy it again, it'll be elevated.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Something I found interesting - After my failure drilling the screen into a thick mat of sprayed RCG last year i decided to disk that sod mat up just inside where my failed screen was for this year's planting. I fertilized and disked it one more time day of planting this spring and sprayed with simazine. The dead stuff on the outside of it has never been disked but a couple weeks after planting the screen i sprayed it with roundup and drilled in a bag of last year's leftover Albert lea Organic Summer max (Forage beans, cowpeas, buckwheat, sorghum- i ordered non-organic which had sunflowers, vetch, and j millet as well but they sent me wrong seed). Anyways, as you can see germination and growth was terrible. There is one spot that had some prior tillage where I drilled that it is coming up pretty good.

I'm not sure what the deal is there? Soil is lacking in nutrients after decades of haying without any fertility being added back into it. On the other side of the screen were the food plot is, I got another round of gly or two on the RCG the prior summer before drilling rye/clover into it in September (never tilled). The rye grew great, clover was so-so but is coming on strong now. I did spread a little DAP and potash before planting the plot as well and spread nothing where i planted the summer max cover blend.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I had(have) a redneck ghillie that I put in a switchgrass screen...it got overtaken by mice. I unzipped the cover and the mice were jumping out of there by the dozens. Just something to consider, when I deploy it again, it'll be elevated.

I had considered that. Maybe I need to put a bucket trap and some bait in it? How does elevating help? My box blinds are full of mouse shit..

Any recommendations for a blind chair?

I have one and I love it. Great blind.

The only thing I dont like so far is the zippers due to noise and ghillie getting caught in them. I'd like to come up with something better and silent like bungies to hooks or buttons. Open to any tips or tricks you guys have come up with.

 

[Brian662]

I had considered that. Maybe I need to put a bucket trap and some bait in it? How does elevating help? My box blinds are full of mouse shit..

Any recommendations for a blind chair?



The only thing I dont like so far is the zippers due to noise and ghillie getting caught in them. I'd like to come up with something better and silent like bungies to hooks or buttons. Open to any tips or tricks you guys have come up with.

Rogerssportinggoods.com has cheap ish chairs that are pretty nice. They run a bigger sale on them about every few months, up to 40% off.

The zippers suck. I get in and open everything I expect to need opened before deer come in.

As far as the mice go, I think a box blind is generally enclosed and the mice use it for shelter from the elements when it gets cold. If you put a ghillie on an elevated platform I think they just won't have the same shelter for mice as the thermal cover my switchgrass provided. Just a thought I had, haven't gotten around to doing it yet. Also keeping that foam floor out of there would help for keeping mice out too, I believe.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I had considered that. Maybe I need to put a bucket trap and some bait in it? How does elevating help? My box blinds are full of mouse shit..

Any recommendations for a blind chair?



The only thing I dont like so far is the zippers due to noise and ghillie getting caught in them. I'd like to come up with something better and silent like bungies to hooks or buttons. Open to any tips or tricks you guys have come up with.

Maybe you could get some magnets? I think that type of setup would require an overlap of materials, which you may not have in some blinds.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Maybe you could get some magnets? I think that type of setup would require an overlap of materials, which you may not have in some blinds.

Because there isn't much spare material for the overlap like you say so the bungee cord or shock cord approach may allow the cover to be pulled tighter. I'd think having the door and any unused windows sealed up makes a big difference for keeping it dark in the blind and making it hard for deer to see inside.

 

[Brokenbear]

https://www.palletforks.com/tractors/3-point/landscaping-equipment/3-point-20-inch-subsoiler-with-optional-pipelayer-attachment/20SUBSOIL-SUBSOILPLA.html

I would soil sample the area you want the border in

Bear

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Labor day update: screen looks great, probably 8’+ tall. You can see the 6.5’ blind in the pic from the road. Plot is doing great too with oats (too many), peas, beans, clover, radish, chicory, and a little jap millet. Feel like I’m starting to figure some stuff out and also recognize this is a year when the poorly drained attribute actually helped. I broadcasted rye into it today but don’t expect much to take because of how well everything else is growing. Maybe after a frost. It’s holding up well to browse pressure.

 

[Brian662]

Is the blind on the outside of your screen right now?

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Is the blind on the outside of your screen right now?

It was when I pulled up today and took that pic this morning. It’s stuffed into the screen now. I was waiting for the screen to grow some more before sticking it in. If you look close you can see it in this pic from inside the plot.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Success, for archery season at least. Will be interesting to see how it does later on with snow.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

 

[Foggy47]

I had considered this. I’m not sure if the ground is laying too low for it to help but it may be worth a try. I think I’ll ask some of my neighbors that farm if they think it would help. It seems like something that you want to make sure you size correctly for your tractor.. I see everything attachments makes one for double the $ of the cheaper ones but with shear pins so you don’t wreck the implement or your tractor.

Just catching up on this old thread. (like it) I've got an el-cheapo King Kutter single shank subsoiler. I can run that shank down to about 2 feet deep. I've never broken anything when pulling it. I have used it to rip out roots and deep till an old pasture area on my ground. Sucker really can loosen up your ground. I've also made a contraption to bury plastic water line. Plowed in a couple hundred yards of 1" water line for my daughter and it worked sweet. I've always thought it would be a good method to plant trees or cuttings too.....but never tried it. I get enough volunteer trees at my place (blessed). I dont think you need to spend allot of money on a sub soiler.....and dont see a need for a shear bolt when used on a relatively small tractor.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Just catching up on this old thread. (like it) I've got an el-cheapo King Kutter single shank subsoiler. I can run that shank down to about 2 feet deep. I've never broken anything when pulling it. I have used it to rip out roots and deep till an old pasture area on my ground. Sucker really can loosen up your ground. I've also made a contraption to bury plastic water line. Plowed in a couple hundred yards of 1" water line for my daughter and it worked sweet. I've always thought it would be a good method to plant trees or cuttings too.....but never tried it. I get enough volunteer trees at my place (blessed). I dont think you need to spend allot of money on a sub soiler.....and dont see a need for a shear bolt when used on a relatively small tractor.

Seen a bunch of guys saying they wreck the 3 point pins on the cheap ones in short time. With the clay layer and rocks I’m worried I’d wreck something. I think I’d pay for the piece of mind of a shear pin if I did it.

 

[SD51555]

That is the finest screen I've ever seen. Well done guy.

 

[Northwoods Whitetails]

Success, for archery season at least. Will be interesting to see how it does later on with snow.
View attachment 57588View attachment 57589View attachment 57590

Looks great
Well done

 

[TenPoint]

I’m doing a screen next year. Granted I’m way south of you but I’m doing Egyptian wheat. I want to do MG but I’m not sure I have the patience

Egyptian wheat does best for my screens. Easily towers over anything else I've thrown out there. 12' wide is probably where it's at with EW screen. I've done 4' and 8' and it's good but not quite enough as it gets later in the season.

 

[TenPoint]

Rogerssportinggoods.com has cheap ish chairs that are pretty nice. They run a bigger sale on them about every few months, up to 40% off.

The zippers suck. I get in and open everything I expect to need opened before deer come in.

As far as the mice go, I think a box blind is generally enclosed and the mice use it for shelter from the elements when it gets cold. If you put a ghillie on an elevated platform I think they just won't have the same shelter for mice as the thermal cover my switchgrass provided. Just a thought I had, haven't gotten around to doing it yet. Also keeping that foam floor out of there would help for keeping mice out too, I believe.

Elevating it doesn't keep the mice out. Don't ask me how I know.