The Throw n’ Mow Method
- Thread starter Crimson n' Camo
- Start date
SD51555
5 year old buck +
This isn't mine, but this is what I have. I've got a loop hitch, so I have to hook up with a clevis.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
I wouldn't even consider mine a crimper. That was my original intent by hitting my plots north-south and then again east-west. I thought a perpendicular pass would accomplish the same as a crimper, but it didn't, and it was a blessing in disguise. @S.T.Fanatic had made mention that a crimper can take out chicory, and I didn't want that to happen. Thankfully mine failed, and that failure ended up being an accidental success. Next year, I'm just gonna roll it down one way and be done. Most all of that is dead already anyway, so it lays down pretty easily.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
I'm not sure what it weighs, but it is plenty heavy. There is no need for additional weight. That is old ag equipment, and them guys put serious iron into those implements.
I haven't tested the soil in that plot with all the flowers. It's been under that kind of management for two full seasons now. I should maybe test it in the summer of 2026 and see what it says for OM. There's more than plenty of residue on the surface, so much so that I'm not putting in a high carbon spring seeding. It'll just be clovers and broadleaves, and then I'll get the trit in again when I roll it in August. I'm hoping to see my compaction start to let up one of these years. That is an old log landing, and I've got some problems in spots. The chicory has done well in those areas, but I don't know if a chicory root ever dies, or if it just keeps coming back from the same tap root every year.
I should have lots of big roots going deep where they can. That's the beauty of 5-7' tall covers that go to full maturity. They put on lots of roots, and shoot lots of liquid carbon into the subsoil.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
10 lbs per acre would be a full rate of that blend alone. I'd cut it back to 6, and throw on 1 bushel of rye per acre. All of those plants will fill the gap and do much better with breathing room. A few years back I let one rye plant live in my raised bed garden to see how it'd do. It put on 22 tillers (stalks). High rates cure themselves by not sending as many tillers up.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Nice little cultipacker. Kinda got my doubts about the effectiveness of that "crimping" most crops. I took pics on one of my threads on flail mowing, cultipacking (with a similar packer) and my roller crimper. The least effective terminating rye was the cultipacker....by a pretty big margin. Do you not see your long stemmed plants stand back up? Maybe if you run it over a few times??
SD51555
5 year old buck +
That's the beauty of this whole scheme I've cooked up. Nothing needs to be crimped. It's all dead at the end of it's biennial life cycle at roll time, with the exception of alfalfa and chicory, and I don't want them to die. All my packer needs to do is press dead material flat, and it did that perfectly. My little yard plot was the best representation of this.
This was after just one pass. I did a second, but I don't think it's necessary or did any good.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Now I just have to control myself when I think about all the large seeded things I can throw in there before I roll it down. I'm pondering soybeans, peas, zucchini, sorghum, sunflower, sunn hemp, brocolini, kale, collards, turnips, bee balm, black eyed susan, purple coneflower, etc etc.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
So your not actually terminating anything by crimping....rather you are flattening a dead crop. OK.....but it's a stretch to call what you are doing as "crimping'. Not sure you used that term....but it's been interchangeably used here....and rolling and crimping are two different things. I suppose "flattening" can also be a term. lol. Just think that some folks may be mis-lead here. In any event...its your show. Carry on. Grin.
