The Throw n’ Mow Method

[scott44]

I've had great luck spring planting clover in brassica plots from the year before.

I 've frost seeded in a old brassica plot with spotty results but the last couple years I've waited and just broadcast cereal grains and clover then cultipacked and I've had real good luck.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I 've frost seeded in a old brassica plot with spotty results but the last couple years I've waited and just broadcast cereal grains and clover then cultipacked and I've had real good luck.

The few times I have done it (don't plant much clover) we had a lot of spring rains.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

thanks guys, that was cleared and seeded last late summer. with rye, ptt and med red clover. so about 9 months ago.

Our planting dates are so much different that I'm not sure on the timing of the things your asking but looking at the pics you need to really focus on getting the soil surface covered with a layer of biomass first and foremost. I can still see the bare dirt and we don't wont that. Until that goal is accomplished then don't spray and kill anything except for maybe a few individual nasties or woody plants that you spot spray. You want any and every bit of biomass that the field with grow right now and the natural vegetation is some of the best suited plants to produce biomass under these "rebuilding" conditions. If it were here in the south I'd recommend you mix in millet along with whatever other summer vegetation wants to grow, fertilize it, and grow that for grass biomass. This is where you being in NJ throws me off though. Not sure what or when exactly but you need a grass specie, summer and winter, for biomass to cover the soil surface and begin to build soil organic matter. Plant your "grasses" heavy right now and lighten up on the other components until the grass does its job....then go to a more balanced mix. Probably need a couple years a heavy grass crops first.

 

[SwampCat]

Trying an eagle seed forage bean throw and mow. Really had no option - been too wet for conventional tillage and getting late for beans. Didnt figure they were going to do the deer any good in the bag, so went ahead and spread them into the standing weeds and then bush hogged it. Weeds have not been sprayed - just didnt have time in the weather window. If the beans come up this week after the predicted four inches of rain - I will spray at a later date. They have to get past the hogs, germinate, and make it though the deer before I will decide to spray and kill the weeds.

 

[Bowman]

Late April I took an brassica plot and broadcast oats, wheat, rye, med red and crimson clover then cultipacked it. Here's what it looked like yesterday.

Outstanding. I still had snow in April.

 

[Bowman]

Hit my plot with some GRO liquid fertilizer yesterday. Clovers are 12-14” tall already. Chicory is coming in pretty well also

Have you used it before? Is it blooming? When will you mow?

 

[Barndog56]

I try not to spray my plot anymore, just overseed and mow, but two areas are kinda ugly. Going to spray Butyrac 200 on a knapweed patch, and clethodim on a grassy area. I'll be broadcasting some buckwheat in those areas.

How long do I need to wait for the spray to do it's thing before mowing?

 

[Livesintrees]

Have you used it before? Is it blooming? When will you mow?

I likely will not mow this year after reading and looking furthur into a mow/don’t mow subject that’s popped up as of recently. When I overseed in late summer with a fall/winter food source I will mow for the benefit of the thatch.

 

[35-acre]

I'm laying awake at night, trying to figure out how to get my next seeding put down with the highest possible chance for germination. I likely have something slightly different as I can't mow my field (too many larger rocks and would only be using a push mower). So I'm looking at and I'm open to hearing everyone's thoughts/recommendations:

1. Seed, Roll/Drag then spray
2. Seed, Spray, Roll/Drag
3. Seed, Spray, Roll/Drag, Spray Again
4. Seed, Roll/Drag, Spray

Additionally, I should a couple of things:
I am currently using a Plotsaver fence on half of my field.
I am going to do some of this planting in strips over time (Plant, wait 2 weeks, plant, wait 2 weeks and plant). This planting in strips will be both inside and outside the fencing at the same time so that I have the same amount of new growth in both areas.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

According to Jeff Sturgis on his latest video he developed and pioneered no till food plotting. Every video of his I watch I like him less and less.

 

[Catscratch]

I'm laying awake at night, trying to figure out how to get my next seeding put down with the highest possible chance for germination. I likely have something slightly different as I can't mow my field (too many larger rocks and would only be using a push mower). So I'm looking at and I'm open to hearing everyone's thoughts/recommendations:

1. Seed, Roll/Drag then spray
2. Seed, Spray, Roll/Drag
3. Seed, Spray, Roll/Drag, Spray Again
4. Seed, Roll/Drag, Spray

Additionally, I should a couple of things:
I am currently using a Plotsaver fence on half of my field.
I am going to do some of this planting in strips over time (Plant, wait 2 weeks, plant, wait 2 weeks and plant). This planting in strips will be both inside and outside the fencing at the same time so that I have the same amount of new growth in both areas.

I've done throw n mow without mowing many times and have had success. If it were me I would spray first, wait for it to start to turn brown, seed, then spray any spots you may have missed or anything that sprung up since your first spraying. Standing dead vegetation actually gives plenty of room for seed to fall to the soil and still provides benefit to seedlings. Then it will fall on it's own once it's been dead a while. Rolling and dragging last would help knock it down too.

 

[Catscratch]

Here's an example of planting in standing vegetation. This was winter rye and wheat over winter. I sprayed it, let it die over a couple of weeks, broadcast seed, then drove over it with a skid steer in a manner that pushed the thatch down in rows about 30" apart (center to center). The beans haven't canopied yet but you can see them popping up. At first glance it looks like what was ran over is doing better than the rest.

But, if you look close you can see that the beans in the standing wheat are doing just as well as what was packed and covered in thatch.

Plenty of pumpkins and other big seeds in this mix also.

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[Bowman]

What else was planted and when?

 

[Catscratch]

What else was planted and when?

Broadcast seed on June 12th (based completely on chances of rain!).
It's a random mix of many types of pumpkins, sunflowers, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, and whatnot. Look through the pics to see... I did throw some things not in the pic such as grocery store beans (I think Northern and Lima beans made the mix this yr) and even a pound of carrot seed.

I concluded a pic of what the field looked like on planting day.

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[IkemanTx]

According to Jeff Sturgis on his latest video he developed and pioneered no till food plotting. Every video of his I watch I like him less and less.

You may have heard it somewhere else first, but I invented it in the ‘90s....

And... I may have taken money from large equipment sponsorships for years, but now that I don’t have an equipment sponsor you never really needed them...


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[Tap]

What else was planted and when?

Broadcast seed on June 12th (based completely on chances of rain!).
It's a random mix of many types of pumpkins, sunflowers, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, and whatnot. Look through the pics to see... I did throw some things not in the pic such as grocery store beans (I think Northern and Lima beans made the mix this yr) and even a pound of carrot seed.

I concluded a pic of what the field looked like on planting day.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

So how does pumpkin do TnM?
I've wanted to do pumpkin for a few years now but I assumed the seed needed "planted", and maybe even on mounds??
It would be nice if tillage wasn't needed for pumpkin.
I've come to realize that my deer love pumpkins later in the year. I can toss halloween pumpkins out in the field and deer eat on them for weeks.
I hope it would be one of those things that they don't bother with until the plant has done its thing and actually produced mature gourds.

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[Livesintrees]

It’s such an effective easy method. I think there’s very few ways to truly do it “wrong”. I have an excellent clover/chicory plot trail. In mid August or so weather dependent, I’ll broadcast brassica and winter rye into it. Then mow it. Couple weeks after that I fully expect to see it taking off with the added fall food.

 

[SD51555]

So how does pumpkin do TnM?
I've wanted to do pumpkin for a few years now but I assumed the seed needed "planted", and maybe even on mounds??
It would be nice if tillage wasn't needed for pumpkin.
I've come to realize that my deer love pumpkins later in the year. I can toss halloween pumpkins out in the field and deer eat on them for weeks.
I hope it would be one of those things that they don't bother with until the plant has done its thing and actually produced mature gourds.

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Pumpkin seed is cheap enough, I broadcasted some just to try it. You can also plant 'em fast enough, you can go and put the seeds in my hand as well. I put in maybe 300 seeds by hand, and when I got tired of doing that, I just flung the rest. Don't overlook squash either. I've fed a pickup load of squash/pumpkins a few years now, and all squash gets eaten as quickly as pumpkin, and also matures a lot faster than pumpkin.

If you had the ability to get the seed under some duff, you'd get something I imagine. Where I fed my squash pile, I also had winter rye planted. The following spring, I sprayed and mowed the rye, and volunteer squash survived all that and put on new squash yet that year. For the tonnage that is possible with squash and pumpkins, and the cost to try, it's a no brainer. Commercial operators can grow upwards of 16-tons/acre. If we could nab 10% of that yield in a mix, you'd have 3000 lbs/ac just in something the deer likely won't even try until Oct/Nov (at least in the north).

 

[Tap]

Pumpkin seed is cheap enough, I broadcasted some just to try it. You can also plant 'em fast enough, you can go and put the seeds in my hand as well. I put in maybe 300 seeds by hand, and when I got tired of doing that, I just flung the rest. Don't overlook squash either. I've fed a pickup load of squash/pumpkins a few years now, and all squash gets eaten as quickly as pumpkin, and also matures a lot faster than pumpkin.

If you had the ability to get the seed under some duff, you'd get something I imagine. Where I fed my squash pile, I also had winter rye planted. The following spring, I sprayed and mowed the rye, and volunteer squash survived all that and put on new squash yet that year. For the tonnage that is possible with squash and pumpkins, and the cost to try, it's a no brainer. Commercial operators can grow upwards of 16-tons/acre. If we could nab 10% of that yield in a mix, you'd have 3000 lbs/ac just in something the deer likely won't even try until Oct/Nov (at least in the north).

View attachment 24928

We have a compost pile and I don't really turn it very much and since I don't, a lot of the seeds from the kitchen garbage stay viable and grow from the pile. Last summer was an amazing year for the butternut squash. The many vines grew at least 20 feet and made dozens of squash. We ate a bunch, gave bunch away, and still left several for the deer. The thing that I liked about it was that the deer don't bother with eating the vines until the squash are fully mature so there was a lot of growth, then they ate the vines 1st. Eventually they started eating the squash. Pretty much 100% of each plant got eaten, but they didn't start browsing them until everything was just about done growing. I wonder if it will be that way every year, or will it be like a lot of other stuff we plant...seems like once the deer get a taste for something, they hammer it earlier and earlier each year. That's the way it is here with brassica.

And these deer pay no attention to the human smell of the pile. If it's something they want to eat, they go right after it. I watched a doe eat an orange peel from the pile once. Right now I have a little common ragweed and giant ragweed growing right on the edge of the pile. The deer are pounding it.

 

[Livesintrees]

We have a compost pile and I don't really turn it very much and since I don't, a lot of the seeds from the kitchen garbage stay viable and grow from the pile. Last summer was an amazing year for the butternut squash. The many vines grew at least 20 feet and made dozens of squash. We ate a bunch, gave bunch away, and still left several for the deer. The thing that I liked about it was that the deer don't bother with eating the vines until the squash are fully mature so there was a lot of growth, then they ate the vines 1st. Eventually they started eating the squash. Pretty much 100% of each plant got eaten, but they didn't start browsing them until everything was just about done growing. I wonder if it will be that way every year, or will it be like a lot of other stuff we plant...seems like once the deer get a taste for something, they hammer it earlier and earlier each year. That's the way it is here with brassica.

And these deer pay no attention to the human smell of the pile. If it's something they want to eat, they go right after it. I watched a doe eat an orange peel from the pile once. Right now I have a little common ragweed and giant ragweed growing right on the edge of the pile. The deer are pounding it.

We have a freshly started compost pile. Deer pick all the skins and peelings right out of it immediately