spring planted winter rye?

[S.T.Fanatic]

I put down winter rye every year but like you the deer don't seem to eat it. Could be a different story come spring green up not sure. I use it for soil building and thatch to plant my summer annuals into.

 

[Rit]

I put down winter rye every year but like you the deer don't seem to eat it. Could be a different story come spring green up not sure. I use it for soil building and thatch to plant my summer annuals into.

My WR plantings get pounded during the Spring for a few weeks until everything else greens up. I might argue that WR is the most attractive during the Spring. They will definitely swap over to it this fall but it is just way down the preference list. My objectives are to shoot deer not feed them all year. I actually prefer they are not on my property during the off-season.

I just can’t imagine planting it so early. I went heavy on the WR this year because I want to add in a rotation of buckwheat before I fall plant. I put in about 15 lbs an acre of AWPs with the WR this year and those are mostly gone.

In a perfect world I would be planting something highly attractive that frost out and still has a good bunch of young WR growing underneath.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

RADISHES!!!

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have Three 3/4 acre food plots. All have winter rye as a backbone. All are mowed down to a half inch right now. The plots also have clover and radish and turnips.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I have Three 3/4 acre food plots. All have winter rye as a backbone. All are mowed down to a half inch right now. The plots also have clover and radish and turnips.

good problem to have.

 

[Rit]

I have Three 3/4 acre food plots. All have winter rye as a backbone. All are mowed down to a half inch right now. The plots also have clover and radish and turnips.

That sounds like a habitat or deer density problem. Maybe both. If they are pounding WR with such severity at this stage I would think that might indicate they don’t have better options.

I have a newly planted 5 acre alfalfa field on the edge of my property, 200 mature Oaks, and all the browse you could want. WR is not a bigger draw then those options at this stage of the season.

Not to mention I have hundreds if not thousands of acres of Ag land within a stones throw of my place.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

That sounds like a habitat or deer density problem. Maybe both. If they are pounding WR with such severity at this stage I would think that might indicate they don’t have better options.

I have a newly planted 5 acre alfalfa field on the edge of my property, 200 mature Oaks, and all the browse you could want. WR is not a bigger draw then those options at this stage of the season.

Not to mention I have hundreds if not thousands of acres of Ag land within a stones throw of my place.

I am in a big forest zone. Probably less then 100 acres of crops within a few square miles. Acorns had a large crop this year, and the deer have been all over them, but they have been in my plots pretty steady, all hours of the day. It really doesnt take much for 10 deer a day to mow 2-3 acres of plots. I will try to remember to take a few pictures this weekend. Winter rye has always been a good draw in my area.

 

[Rit]

I am in a big forest zone. Probably less then 100 acres of crops within a few square miles. Acorns had a large crop this year, and the deer have been all over them, but they have been in my plots pretty steady, all hours of the day. It really doesnt take much for 10 deer a day to mow 2-3 acres of plots. I will try to remember to take a few pictures this weekend. Winter rye has always been a good draw in my area.

I don’t doubt you at all about the WR being used as you describe. Just the small description you have of the surrounding areas makes even more sense. You are probably also a little further into fall then I am. Deer will start to use the WR but not for some time. Just as you can provide photos of hammered WR I can show you 14” WR bending over at the top. Even a few miles can make a huge difference. There is a field about 5 miles from me and it has a big 100 acre field with about 40 acres of woods. The woods is pretty mature so there isn’t a lot of browse. The field is planted in what I believe to be winter wheat about 4” tall with deer in it every night. I tend to believe it’s because there aren’t many other options for those deer so they hit the grain.

I’ve planted tillage radishes 4 years straight and they just don’t get much use. Last year more browse than in the past. They rot every Spring and somehow still go to seed. I think it just boils down to having enough other things for the deer to eat.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Like I mentioned I’m in mix ag. My plots get little use until all the corn and beans are harvested. Not to mention the 80 acres of alfalfa that is out there year round. The alfalfa is fairly tall going into winter so the deer use it more than Woody browse it seams for their fiber source.

I have a fall plot with clover radishes turnips oats rye and peas. The oats are over a foot tall and it’s only about 1/2 an acre. The rye was planted later so it’s short but it still isn’t getting eaten. I wish I would have added sunflowers to that mix. My deer love fall planted sunflowers.

Not that it matters for a hunting plot as I still haven’t found the time to get out on stand.

That will hopefully change this weekend with the huge temp change that is on its way


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[Rit]

Like I mentioned I’m in mix ag. My plots get little use until all the corn and beans are harvested. Not to mention the 80 acres of alfalfa that is out there year round. The alfalfa is fairly tall going into winter so the deer use it more than Woody browse it seams for their fiber source.

I have a fall plot with clover radishes turnips oats rye and peas. The oats are over a foot tall and it’s only about 1/2 an acre. The rye was planted later so it’s short but it still isn’t getting eaten. I wish I would have added sunflowers to that mix. My deer love fall planted sunflowers.

Not that it matters for a hunting plot as I still haven’t found the time to get out on stand.

That will hopefully change this weekend with the huge temp change that is on its way


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ST or anyone who has planted sunflowers in the fall what does that life cycle look like? Besides getting nipped off the ones if any that make it are they attractive until the first hard frost? Also what varieties are being planted? Black oil are readily available but I also have access to peredovik.

I am thinking next year the first week of August is when I’d like to plant a mix with sunflowers.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have planted them a few times, and they didn’t seem to touch them at all until they got about 3-4 inches tall, then they were gone. No sign of them at all after that.

 

[scott44]

ST or anyone who has planted sunflowers in the fall what does that life cycle look like? Besides getting nipped off the ones if any that make it are they attractive until the first hard frost? Also what varieties are being planted? Black oil are readily available but I also have access to peredovik.

I am thinking next year the first week of August is when I’d like to plant a mix with sunflowers.

I've had good luck with late summer planted sunflowers added to my cereal grains being a good draw, if I remember right these were planted around 8/20. The sunflowers probably only got 6-8" tall, there was buckwheat in there also.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

ST or anyone who has planted sunflowers in the fall what does that life cycle look like? Besides getting nipped off the ones if any that make it are they attractive until the first hard frost? Also what varieties are being planted? Black oil are readily available but I also have access to peredovik.

I am thinking next year the first week of August is when I’d like to plant a mix with sunflowers.

I have no idea what variety they were. I get them through the MDHA. I plant mine mid August when I plant my peas, oats, clover, and radishes. I then top seed rye around Labor Day.

Mine get about 8" tall. The deer walk through the plot selecting them over everything else until they are gone. I plant them fairly heavy and my deer dont put enough pressure on them that I dont have sunflowers to hunt over in September. When they are gone the deer start keying in on the radishes. I would never plant them as a fall stand alone crop. The first frost takes them out as well as my oats leaving room for the other crops to thrive.

You could say they are a waste because they are short lived. I say if they bring the deer off of the neighbors property to ours it is a great way to start off the fall deer "vacuum".

 

[bornagain62511]

The deer have been devouring the Winfred brassica the last few weeks. Here's some deer feeding in the east end of our 2 acre plot about 80 yards from my house. once they eat all the leaves, they will feed on the stems which are as thick or thicker than my thumb, and eat them to the ground. I've seen large groups of deer eating the stems in April when alfalfa and clover were already greening up right next to the Winfred and they still liked the Winfred stems.

If you look at my previous posts from earlier this spring and summer, you can see how I planted winter rye with the Winfred brassica and the seeding rates I used. The winter rye acted great as a weed suppressor and once the Winfred got above the rye, when both were about 12" tall, the rye stopped growing with the heat of summer and the brassica kept growing and eventually formed a closed canopy and the winter rye died out completely. The Winfred got to be about 3.5 feet tall and you could hardly see a deer standing in it until the last few weeks since they have stripped most of the upper larger leaves, now the deer stand out more when they are feeding in it.

 

[James P. Bipps]

Thanks for the update. Please continue to provide them, especially prior to your next planting. I will be interested in what, if anything, you will do differently next year. Hopefully others will join in on this method as well.

James

 

[bornagain62511]

I've been seeing 20 to 25 deer feeding in the Winfred recently. You can see the loggers skidding machine at the far end of the valley in the photo below. The deer are feeding heavily on the fallen tree tops from the logging activity, so there would likely be more feeding pressure on the Winfred if our property wasn't being logged right now.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I've been watching some cover cropping videos. This spring I will be planting winter barley in the spring when I plant my bean/pea plots. The guys in the videos used winter rye but they still god good bean yields and the spring planted winter rye worked well at keeping weeds at bay. If this works it will be a nice time saver not having to plant the winter cereal in the fall and it will re grow and put out seed the following year.

I would think that beans planted in this manner would be a great plot for a second year TNM brassica plot.

 

[bornagain62511]

I've been watching some cover cropping videos. This spring I will be planting winter barley in the spring when I plant my bean/pea plots. The guys in the videos used winter rye but they still god good bean yields and the spring planted winter rye worked well at keeping weeds at bay. If this works it will be a nice time saver not having to plant the winter cereal in the fall and it will re grow and put out seed the following year.

I would think that beans planted in this manner would be a great plot for a second year TNM brassica plot.

do you mean you would expect the winter rye to survive the summer and fall/winter and then green up and grow to maturity the following spring/summer and produce seed heads? that's what I was initially expecting with the plot discussed in this thread, but I don't think that's going to happen. If you look back in this thread, I planted winter rye and Winfred brassica May 15. by mid summer, when the hot weather set in, the rye had basically died out. it might have been partially due to the fact that the Winfred eventually shaded out the rye so much that it died, but even in areas where the deer kept the Winfred browsed so much that it couldn't come close to shading out the rye, it seemed like the rye still died out once it got hot in late June/early July. From my experience, seeding winter rye with spring planted brassicas worked great to suppress weeds until the Winfred got to a substantial height, after which the Winfred pretty much shaded out any further weeds from germinating and formed a total canopy. I was hoping the rye would stay thick and green to provide fall/winter/early spring forage, but that's not what happened. I'm happy with the results of how the rye performed as a weed suppressor to get the Winfred established.

 

[Belchertown Bowman]

Beautiful Pics,.. thanks!

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Yes born again that’s what my understanding is


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