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[Brian662]

Did you drill that multi-species mix into standing brassicas or beans? Or was that ground idle prior to seeding in September?

Figuring out the right rotation can be a little tricky and I'm interested to see how your beans do. They should have a great layer of rye thatch to build up the soil and smother weeds.

The area I planted in beans last year was about 1.25 acres and the deer didn't let the beans grow much. This year I planted the whole plot in beans hoping the deer won't be able to get ahead, but also I had some thistle popping up in my normal brassica areas that I wanted to control this summer.

My guess is the nutrient tie up and soil coverage from the heavy rye, wheat, and vetch will get them off to a slow start but ultimately, I am hoping to clean the field of weeds a bit for drilling in a fall plot. It may not be perfect, but the beans were free to me, and maybe I'll get a little free nitrogen from them.

It's crazy that brassica planting time is only a month away, spring/summer got away from me fast. I'm definitely behind the 8 ball with these plots.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I also have an issue planting enough soybeans to get ahead of deer browsing. That seems to be really challenging on dry years like we had last year as the soybean growth was slow and the deer appetites were not. This year I changed my corn/soybean rotation back to corn/brassica. The future brassica acreage was planted to a multi-species cover crop mix and that has done a decent job of taking some of the browsing pressure off the soybeans.

I'll likely be spraying my cover crops in the next week or so with 24D, then follow up with overseeding and cultipacking brassica seed 2 weeks later without any tillage. I've used round-up in the past and was able to plant sooner after spraying, but I've read 24D needs 2 weeks rest before planting.

 

[Brian662]

I also have an issue planting enough soybeans to get ahead of deer browsing. That seems to be really challenging on dry years like we had last year as the soybean growth was slow and the deer appetites were not. This year I changed my corn/soybean rotation back to corn/brassica. The future brassica acreage was planted to a multi-species cover crop mix and that has done a decent job of taking some of the browsing pressure off the soybeans.

I'll likely be spraying my cover crops in the next week or so with 24D, then follow up with overseeding and cultipacking brassica seed 2 weeks later without any tillage. I've used round-up in the past and was able to plant sooner after spraying, but I've read 24D needs 2 weeks rest before planting.

Rule of thumb I use is if you use 1 pint per acre, wait a week, if you use 2 pints per acre, wait 2 weeks.

 

[T-Max]

The area I planted in beans last year was about 1.25 acres and the deer didn't let the beans grow much. This year I planted the whole plot in beans hoping the deer won't be able to get ahead, but also I had some thistle popping up in my normal brassica areas that I wanted to control this summer.

My guess is the nutrient tie up and soil coverage from the heavy rye, wheat, and vetch will get them off to a slow start but ultimately, I am hoping to clean the field of weeds a bit for drilling in a fall plot. It may not be perfect, but the beans were free to me, and maybe I'll get a little free nitrogen from them.

It's crazy that brassica planting time is only a month away, spring/summer got away from me fast. I'm definitely behind the 8 ball with these plots.

I’m glad you mentioned brassicas planting. Sure did sneak up! I need to get some seed on order!


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[Brian662]

I burned the pollinator prairie by my driveway this spring and the response has been mostly good. I think I burned a little too early in the season because the resulting flush of dandelions was disappointing. I've also had to spot spray more thistle than I was expecting, so I'm not sure if that is a plant that thrives after a burn or not.

Went through a few weeks ago and identified all the species in the prairie. There were 20 species in the mix and we identified 18 of them actively growing.

Yesterday when on the hunt for more thistles to kill, I found #19.

Ohio spiderwort, what a beauty. I don't think it's peak bloom yet. Found her in four different locations. First time seeing this species. Growing season 4 for the prairie, couldn't be happier about it.

Has been fun to watch does and fawns feed in there every evening as well.

 

[Brian662]

Beautiful night with a storm rolling in. No luck capturing the lightning, but the lightning bugs were showing off.