Summer plots

[bryant]

just an FYI. One of our local coop's does an annual clear out of garden seed. Everything got dumped together and they sell it for a dollar a pound. That we could tell there is at least 14 different seeds...beans, peas, sunflower, okra, greens, melons, etc. we got about 300lbs and added pearl millet, sorghum-Sudan, more sunflower and buckwheat. No telling what sort of vegetative mess it will make but should be interesting.

Anyway just though I would throw it out there to check your feed store next winter in case they do the same thing. Might find a high diversity summer mix ready to go.

 

[huntall]

That would be neat to see how that turns out.

 

[TMIL]

I regularly throw leftover garden seeds in my fall plantings. I know nothing will ever mature, but I figure it can't hurt to have some green beans and cantaloupe plants pop up. I've never heard of or seen anything like what your co-op does. I would try a small plot if I could get a mix like that near me.

 

[tooln]

Talk about giving a variety. It would be cool to see the results.

 

[Native Hunter]

Sounds like a great idea.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

That's a great idea. I'd plant a patch of that for sure if I could get a cheap mix like that.

 

[buckvelvet]

That would be neat to see how that turns out.

I agree It'd be fun to see you catalog this random mess.

 

[bryant]

In a weeks time we already had a lot of germination of a couple of different types of beans. Looked like butter beans and Lima beans, I think. Beans shaped like Lima but some were brown and white speckled while the others were real pale green. Plants ranged from 2-6". Lots of other stuff sprouting but too small for me to even venture a guess what it was. Will start taking pics on the next trip up.

 

[buckvelvet]

Post some pics when you can I think this would be a fun project to follow. Heck you could fill your food stores yourself from like this.

 

[scott44]

I have a mix like this that I'm going to put in when I get the time, just left over seed I threw in a tote. Soys ,peas, millet, e-wheat, sunflowers, sorghum I'm sure there is some I forgaot also.

 

[bryant]

Won't be back up until week after next. Will get some pics then.

 

[bryant]

Was back up last weekend and what I found was what I half way expected. Only thing growing is millet and sorghum. Did find a couple of squash plants but that was it. Looked at 7 of the 10 acres planted. Will have to efence to ever get a stand of yummy stuff up.

Spoke to our neighbor that partners with us in the damp program. They have a couple of big plots 4-5 acres each where ours are 1.5 or less. They planted one of the big plots in peas and the week they hit 6" they were gone in a week.

 

[wiscwhip]

Was back up last weekend and what I found was what I half way expected. Only thing growing is millet and sorghum. Did find a couple of squash plants but that was it. Looked at 7 of the 10 acres planted. Will have to efence to ever get a stand of yummy stuff up.

Spoke to our neighbor that partners with us in the damp program. They have a couple of big plots 4-5 acres each where ours are 1.5 or less. They planted one of the big plots in peas and the week they hit 6" they were gone in a week.

Bryant, where are you located?

 

[bryant]

Farm is extreme north central arkansas. I live in little rock.

 

[wiscwhip]

Farm is extreme north central arkansas. I live in little rock.

We had the same issue with soys on our old place, beans get to 6"-8" tall and gone in a week. Nothing left but 1" stubble, down to the dirt. :mad: Down in that area, have you given any forage soybeans a try? I'm not saying to go out and get the expensive Eagle beans, although they would be a great choice if you weren't worried about that extra expense to get a good bean plot, but maybe one of the non-RR types like Laredo or Tyrone soybeans. They are both USDA releases from years back and being non-roundup ready, you can get them considerably cheaper than a bag of Eagle soybeans. You might end up with some weeds in your plot, but it might be worth it for an experiment to see if they can out compete the browse pressure. The key is to start off with a very clean, weed free plot at planting, and then they should be able to canopy fast enough to out compete many of the weeds, so the weed issues might be no big deal(besides that, if it isn't grass, deer don't mind some weeds) at that point. We tried both Tyrone and Laredo in central WI a couple times, and on our biggest plot they did ok with sunflowers and sorghum in a mix. The deer still hammered them, but they were able to compete for way longer than the ag beans we planted. The deer still killed them on our smaller plots within a few weeks. I think one of the issues for us was our shorter growing season, we had to plant later than I would have liked due to threat of frost into late May, if they could have been put in in late April or early May before the fawns dropped, I think they might have done better. When you have multiple does with twin fawns feeding in a secluded 1/3rd acre plot it doesn't take long to eat young ag beans to the ground, and they are not meant to be browsed like the forage beans. They might work better down in your area, if you could plant earlier in the season.

 

[bryant]

We have not planted forage beans. I would think they would have to be fenced too at least until they canopied. Biggest problem we have is shortage of native browse but that is being addressed with the saw and dozer. That and we may still need to lighten the pop a fair bit more but we have been working on that pretty good.

Back to the forage beans, we have not gone that route because we are trying to build soil health back to at least a decent level before we get into more expensive planting like Eagles. Headed in the right direction, just got a ways to go.

 

[wiscwhip]

Keep in mind that forage soybeans(and they weren't Eagle Soybeans either) are one of the primary plants that brought this country back from the dust bowl, so I wouldn't be overly concerned with having the perfect soils to plant them into. Besides, if they will grow on our central WI beach sand, I'm pretty sure they would do ok just about anywhere. Expensive cost? Therein lies the beauty of the non-RR forage soys like Tyrone and Laredo, you don't have to pay the exorbitant Eagle seed prices to try a patch or 2 of forage soys. Just last evening I posted in another thread that I checked current pricing for Tyrone seed, and it was only $42/50lb bag, that's as cheap or cheaper than many ag beans, I didn't post it there, but Laredo's(the ones that have the black seeds) were only $30/bag from one seller, in stock and ready to put into the ground. You are correct, in the end you might find that you have to fence them, or you might get away with a couple applications of milorganite broadcast into the beans. Broadcast once at the germination stage, then 2 weeks later then 2 weeks after that, and you might have given them enough headstart to make it. Again, once they canopy, most weeds do not have a chance against the growth rate of forage soybeans, and depending on the "weed" it might not be bad just to leave them, something like giant ragweed would take some of the browse pressure off the forage soys. Grasses would need to be killed off. There are some other choices for southern guys(you may or may not be far enough "south", but who knows) the Hinson Long Juvenile forage soybeans perform very well in trials in Fl(where they were bred) and in GA, so even though you are farther north, they may perform quite well due to their growth traits. You might want to have a look at this thread as well...

http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/alternative-forage-soy-beans.582/

 

[bryant]

Not a problem to get Tyrone locally just haven't because the neighbors in three attempts haven't been able to get a 4 acre field to canopy and our largest plot is a little shy of 2. We have been planting peas and have done some bean too but in mixes cause we knew we couldn't get a full plot to last.

Finally got litter program started this past weekend. 2 tons per on 10 acres of plots.

 

[wiscwhip]

Not a problem to get Tyrone locally just haven't because the neighbors in three attempts haven't been able to get a 4 acre field to canopy and our largest plot is a little shy of 2. We have been planting peas and have done some bean too but in mixes cause we knew we couldn't get a full plot to last.

Finally got litter program started this past weekend. 2 tons per on 10 acres of plots.

Well, all I can say there is "that s#(ks"! I sure wouldn't spend the money on Eagles if that was the case!

 

[MoLandOwner]

Well, all I can say there is "that s#(ks"! I sure wouldn't spend the money on Eagles if that was the case!

I wouldn't spend money on Eagles in any case!