The Throw n’ Mow Method

[Rit]

What a time of year to be a habitat junkie. It is almost time. I’m not sure about all of you but I drive my wife nuts with all the drawings and sketches of a future food plot or the endless research I do on seed. Some of you have already planted others will be planting soon. I am just finalizing my fall seeds for almost 5 acres of Throw and mow.

Here is my last conventionally planted 2 acre buckwheat plot that will be TNM this fall. Just happens a fawn stood up as I was taking the photo. First time I planted buckwheat but the browse is very noticeable. I will be planting WR, clover, and radish into this plot just before Labor Day.

I also wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone for their input on these forums. I truely appreciate the knowledge.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Rit,

Is there NOT a good time of year for us?

bill

 

[Rit]

Rit,

Is there NOT a good time of year for us?

bill

You are right on that. Maybe just a little more excitement as fall plots start going in.

 

[35-acre]

It's also a time for a lot of patience. Stuff is growing through the thatch and through the stuff you knock down or mow. In this pic you'll see that my Egyptian Wheat Grass has started to come up (the tall stuff that looks a it like corn on the left) and some of my turnips (bottom right - behind the single clover). There's a lot of trash in this field too. I'm planting in sections and with reason. I have the wheat grass to screen the field. I have the top section of my field planted in "Tall Tine Tubers" which are basically purple top turnips. Both of these are coming in. If I look closely, they are coming in pretty well after a couple of weeks.

I also planted the middle section in purple top turnips today. I dropped 150lbs more of lime before I planted that middle section. I also lightly hit that section of the field with some 12-12-12. I still have one more section of my field to plant. I picked up some diakkon radish and some oats and wheat that will go in the bottom section of my field n another 2 weeks or so.

The deer are still in the field, mom and fawns plus a couple of bucks. They are in the field at different times of day (more or less throughout the day). So my property must be holding them which means my overall improvement plan is working.

 

[Yarg]

Hello this is my second year doing throw and grow with brassicas. Last year I did a Glyphosphate burn down and waited 10 days to broadcast seed. I'm going to be spraying today and there's rain in the forecast for the next 8 days, so I'm considering broadcasting and then spraying. Since brassicas are so fast growing and it's going to take time for chemical to work am I better off waiting to broadcast with the hopes of more rain. thanks

 

[Nova]

Hello this is my second year doing throw and grow with brassicas. Last year I did a Glyphosphate burn down and waited 10 days to broadcast seed. I'm going to be spraying today and there's rain in the forecast for the next 8 days, so I'm considering broadcasting and then spraying. Since brassicas are so fast growing and it's going to take time for chemical to work am I better off waiting to broadcast with the hopes of more rain. thanks

I'd get the seed down now, fertilize and cultipack and then spray over the top of it as soon as weather permits.

 

[Yarg]

I'd get the seed down now, fertilize and cultipack and then spray over the top of it as soon as weather permits.

Thank you

 

[35-acre]

I'm doing 3 different things in the same field this year.

1. Knocking down the wheat and planting into it in one portion of my field.
2. Planting, knocking down and spraying in another portion of the field.
3. (haven't done this one - starting next week). Spraying multiple times over the course of 2 weeks and then knocking down and planting

 

[scott44]

July 3rd I planted my brassica and didn't get any rain until the 13th now we've got a couple good rains and they have started to take off. I got a good kill on the rye/grass but there are spots that the clover must have been shielded from the rye and didn't get hit ad hard. Last year I had pretty much a failure from doing a throw and roll without spraying but I did have a nice clover plot just no bulbs for winter food so too thick and not sprayed clover will not allow brassica growth. This year I tried spraying 1qt/acre gly and had a good kill on the grasses and it just stunted the clover until good moisture and then the clover has taken off, trying to figure out least amount of spraying to accomplish my goals.

Different amounts of clover throughout the plot, doing the throw and mow/roll I've learned to look at my plots differently.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Scott 44,

When did you plant the clover?

 

[scott44]

Scott 44,

When did you plant the clover?

Last Sept. with the rye. I use the DBltree rotation so this is last years cereal grains.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Ok, thats what I assumed. I found that when TNM into clover it works best after year 3 and beyond when the clover is thinning out. Clover is pretty tough stuff.

 

[Livesintrees]

Last Sept. with the rye. I use the DBltree rotation so this is last years cereal grains.

What is said method.

 

[scott44]

What is said method.

Paul Knox was on different forums under the names DBLtree and Lickcreek so you'll here these different names, he gave his time and knowledge freely on these forums. He came up with a rotation of cereal grains one year and brassicas the next rotating them every other year. Here's his rotation that's a good starting point and that you can tweak it for your needs.

Dbltree seed mix and rotation
Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

 

[TreeDaddy]

Paul Knox was on different forums under the names DBLtree and Lickcreek so you'll here these different names, he gave his time and knowledge freely on these forums. He came up with a rotation of cereal grains one year and brassicas the next rotating them every other year. Here's his rotation that's a good starting point and that you can tweak it for your needs.

Dbltree seed mix and rotation
Plant ALL in one plot in strips or blocks

Alice, Kopu II, Durana (or comparable) white clover 10% of plot, sow at 6#'s per acre with the rye combination in the fall or in the spring with oats and berseem clover. Correct Ph and P&K with soil tests

Brassicas in 45% of plot

Purple Top Turnips 3#
Dwarf Essex Rape 2#
GroundHog Forage radish 5#

Plant in mid to late July in most Midwest states, or 60-90 days before your first killing frost, Use 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#'s of 6-28-28 per acre. Follow the dead brassicas with oats and berseem or crimson clover in mid spring at 60#'s oats and 12-15#'s berseem clover and/or crimson and/or 50#'s of chickling vetch)

Cereal Grain combo in 45% of plot...we use 50# each rye, oats and peas along with radish and clover seed all planted in half of each feeding area

Winter rye 50-80#'s per acre (56#'s = a bushel)
Spring oats 50-120#'s per acre (32#'s = a bushel)
Frostmaster Winter Peas or 4010/6040 Forage peas 20-80#'s per acre

Red Clover 8-12#'s per acre or white clover at 6#'s per acre (or 20-40 pounds hairy vetch and 20-30#'s crimson clover on sandy soils)
Groundhog Forage Radish 5#'s per acre

Plant in late August to early September, if following well fertilized brassicas use 100 - 200#'s of urea, if starting a new plot add 400#'s of 6-28-28 but for best results soil test and add only what is necessary.

Rotate the brassicas and rye combo each year

......never gets old

thank you for reposting,scott

bill

 

[Barndog56]

Bought my fall plot seed last week, but held off broadcasting due to our drought conditions. Forecasts were calling for .8 inches on Friday, but we ended up getting about 3.5". Throw and mowed it yesterday with another small chance of rain and caught a thunderstorm and .9 inches.

For my 1 acre plot I spread 2 lbs purple top turnips, 2 lbs ground hog radish, 4 lbs crimson clover, and 10 lbs Buckwheat. Probably got about a pound of red clover with the mowing as a bunch of the current stuff had set seed. I'll overseed with rye around labor day.

I plant pumpkins every year, and sell them at roadside. I've been just planting them out in my foodplot area, wherever I don't have anything growing the first of June. The spot I planted them this year is a small area where I've had no throw and mow success. Two years ago it was overgrown with crabgrass, last year with marestail. Here's a pic of 2 plants growing there.


Here's a pic of 2 more plants, of the same variety, watered at the same times, planted on top of composted horse manure and pine shavings.


I've planted a half dozen radishes nearby to see how big they'll get. Lol

So now I'm converting a 2,500 square foot area closer to the house into a permanent pumpkin patch. I've spread the same mixture as above in that area to work on the soil health, and will add that composted manure before planting the pumpkins next year.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Weather was threatening rain so I decided to do a TNM planting. Only got a light sprinkle but there is more in the forecast.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[scott44]

Looks like a good size plot what did you plant ?

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Looks like a good size plot what did you plant ?

It's not as big as it looks, about 1/2 acre. I planted 3# Tillage Radish, 1#PTT, and 2# Kale. I went a little heavy on the seed because the ground is hard and dry as well as not having as much thatch as I would have liked. I mowed it several weeks ago and it has been fairly dry so it didn't grow back all that fast. It was a clover/chicory plot in its fourth year. I dont use any herbicide to manage weeds in clover so it was time to go. I did a burn down about ten days ago and most of the green you see is clover that is starting to wake back up. There is some other junk in there that isnt clover but if we get some timely rains the brassica will out compete it.

I want to try digging in a "treecoy". I tried it a few years ago without much response but it's worth a shot again and I love cutting down trees anyway so.....

Next year it will rotate to soybeans. I have found beans to do fantastic after a brassica planting. They use up all the N and mine up P&K well.

 

[scott44]

Sounds like a good mix!