Attempted throw and roll this year on my new farm.
Started with an old hay field. Field is a total or around 7 acres and I used 2 acres for the plot.
Didn't have any equipment so I bought an ATV sprayer from TSC for around $200 and strapped it to my tailgate. This and an Earthway seeder was they only things i purchased for the plot.
Burned it down with generic Gly the first time on 8/1. Had a pop up thunderstorm just as I was finishing. Inches of rain that afternoon when there was 0% chance. I actually ended up getting a pretty good kill considering.
I decided to go ahead and spray again the day I spread the seed. I used Welter Seed Big Buck Brassicas mix. Had 14% PTT, 28% DER, 28% GHR and 28% Pasja Brassica. I also spread a couple pounds of ladino in hopes it would pop come spring. I spread at 10lbs/ acre which i knew was a little heavy, but I antcipated a decreased germination rate due to planting technique. After spreading seed I rolled it with a borrowed atv and a rented lawn roller. After the throw and roll.
Had decent but spotty germination.
On 9/11 I spread 3lbs of GHR, 100# cereal rye and 50# of wheat to fill in the holes in the plot. There was very obvious areas i had completely missed on my first seeding.
I also spread 100# of 46-0-0 and 100# of 19-19-19 on 9/11. This was the first and only fertilizer.
Filled in nicely by the first week of October.
By Mid to Late October It looked great and had big tubers. The deer were pretty much only eating the radish and cereals.
And now at middle of November it does not look so great. This is my first experience with brassicas but i don't think they should look like this. We have had a handful of frosts but the lowest temp has probably been 25 F.
It seems to look worse every time i see it. There are quite a few big turnips and radish tubers in there but the leaf tissue is all degrading fast. I know that some areas had too high of plant density, i ended up with much better germination than anticipated. Future I will spread less than recommended and come back and overseed if needed. I also should have performed a soil test and amended correctly.
This is the first time these deer have encountered turnips and radish tubers. They have not touched any tuber yet and I am worried they may ignore them.
I may overseed with 100#/acre of rye as a hail marry to have a decent food source this winter.
Lots of lessons learned on my first plot. Thanks to everyone in this thread for all the tips and tricks on throw and mow/roll!