The Throw n’ Mow Method

[Doug Galloway]

Doug that link is not working for me. What can I search to find it on YouTube?


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Works okay on this end.....hhhmmm? Search youtube for Green Cover Seed page....the videos are there.....might also search the title.

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[Doug Galloway]

For those of us working with very sandy soils, it is important to keep in mind that a Throw-n-Mow solution can help you gradually improve how well things grow on your property, but it doesn't magically increase the amount of silt and clay in your sand. At the end of the day, you can make dramatic improvements in how well your plots grow, but you have to be constantly vigilant about protecting the OM and nutrients you are building up on top of and incorporated into your sandy soil. The gains made are fragile and can be undone much faster than they are improved.

This is why I am always reluctant to spray and only disc (lightly!) under very specific conditions. Once you establish a great layer of thatch on the surface, and you have another standing layer of thatch waiting to be dropped on whatever seed you broadcast next, your results will begin to mirror what is seen in previous posts. Protecting and preserving those results isn't difficult, but it IS absolutely critical. At no point have you magically turned sand into deep alluvial loam. It is vital to understand the changes you are effecting and jealously guard that improved resource. A single application of the plow, or discs/tiller set too deeply, can undo years of effort. The price of good food plots, on throw-n-mow sandy plots, is eternal vigilance! :)

Well stated.

Sandy soil is normally deep...think about what to do for SOM and nutrient holding....think deep...think root mass.



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[Jayber]

Was going to throw and mow this piece with the LC fall mix, but considering the burn and the mat that appears to be laying down now (less standing today vs pic), wondering if I should throw-light disc-mow......thoughts anyone?
My bro-in law thinks I should use my JD 71 and tinker using a bean plate to slice things in. This is think will be more pain than it's worth.


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[Crimson n' Camo]

Was going to throw and mow this piece with the LC fall mix, but considering the burn and the mat that appears to be laying down now (less standing today vs pic), wondering if I should throw-light disc-mow......thoughts anyone?
My bro-in law thinks I should use my JD 71 and tinker using a bean plate to slice things in. This is think will be more pain than it's worth.
View attachment 9577

For planting fall cereal grains and brassicas I wouldn't bother with the planter. It may be worth it if you plan on planting some bigger summer seeds. If you can get some cereal rye mix out right before a good rain, I think you'll stand a good chance either way you go.

 

[Jayber]

For planting fall cereal grains and brassicas I wouldn't bother with the planter. It may be worth it if you plan on planting some bigger summer seeds. If you can get some cereal rye mix out right before a good rain, I think you'll stand a good chance either way you go.

It will be the full LC fall mix. Leaning towards the light disc at this time (to get seed contact) and will add a roll after mow.

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[landlord]

I would suggest you broadcast your seed first and then roll it down over the top to ensure you get good seed to soil contact.

That was my thought, stated it wrong. Thanks for pointing that out anyway.

 

[SIL hunter]

Is round up the same as gly? Can I spray round up onto existing WI white clover? Going down this weekend to spray and get my Throw and mow going

 

[Catscratch]

Gly is the active ingredient in Roundup. I'm not sure about spraying your clover with it. I know some people do but I don't have experience with doing that.

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[Honker]

We put our plots in on Monday. It's the Lickcreek grain mix. On this particular plot we rolled it first because it was so tall, sprayed it with gly, seeded, and cultipacked it. One of the shorter plots was seeded sprayed and then rolled. Others were mowed a week or two ago, sprayed, seeded and cultipacked. We're experimenting a few different ways to see if there is any difference.

 

[Honker]

We tried it last year into clover plots by seeding, spraying, mowing and cultipacking. It worked well. We're just trying to see what other ways will work.
http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/my-own-throw-and-mow-experiment.4424/

 

[gunther89]

I did the throw and mow a little different then some of you but so far it seems to be working. We have 2 plots that equal about 1.5 acres and at the beginning of July we mowed the 4-5 foot tall grass and weeds. We were gonna spray a week before we planted but rain prevented us from doing so. Then we were gonna spray and throw the seed the same day, well we barely got the seed down before we had a 10 hour soaking rain. Went back the next day and sprayed the plots and hoped for the best. I checked on them yesterday and the turnips and radishes are growing now. The only thing I did was run a drag over the area before we planted. I'll continue to keep planting turnips and radishes like this. The last picture is the stand view with the brassica plot in front.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

Looking good Gunther!.....Be sure to get some fert on it. It may just be the light but the plants look a little yellow. The thatch is going to suck up nitrogen from the soil.

 

[gunther89]

I plan to throw some urea down when we have some good rain in the forecast

 

[Catscratch]

I sprayed gly this morning but only in one spot. It was very grassy and tall. It will probably need a second spraying in 3 weeks and then will be ready to plant by late Sept.
The other spots are: buckwheat which is thin and will decompose quickly so nothing needs done yet, sunflowers which have nothing under it (I'll broadcast in it when it's leafs start to fall, leafs make good thatch too), and millet which isn't mature yet and may stay standing for the winter with just wheat and oats broadcast into it.

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[Crimson n' Camo]

I mowed mine yesterday in order to double crop the biomass and make things more manageable when I get ready to plant in another 6-8 weeks. It will also provide a new flush of tender growth here late in the summer. The middle pic gives you and idea of what I was mowing down. I hit the wind rowed spots a second time to better spread the biomass.

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[Barndog56]

It's 10 days since I broadcast brassicas. Had basically no thatch covering the seeds.

Here's today.

Sprayed my cereal grain plot today, and will plant it monday. Better timing on this one so should have a good layer of b thatch.

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[scott44]

In a couple weeks I'm going to be planting my LC cereal grain mix and I'm going to try the throw and mow method. This was last years brassicas and the brassicas were planted into rolled down rye so there is still a lot of thatch against the ground.

About a 1/2 acre

 

[scott44]

Alright I know it hasn't been a couple weeks it's more like a couple days but I'm heading to CO the end of the month and found out I only have a couple days off before then so I got one of my cereal grain plots in today. Rye, wheat, oats, peas, red clover, hairy vetch the LC mix, quite a bit earlier than normal and we are supposed to get rain next week. I brush hogged it first but it didn't spread it out like I wanted it so I took the lawn mower back and spread it evenly.

before


after

 

[Mahindra3016]

I let my rye go to seed, no round up here! I brush hogged it high, then broadcast some awp and buckwheat, then brush hogged low. I did this 2 weeks ago and we have only had 2 rain showers, but it is coming up good.

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[Alan Kowal]

I have been following this thread for awhile lurking in the background, waiting for this theory to collapse. During that time I have continued to mow, plow, disc, fertilize, drag, cultipack, seed, drag and cultipack again. While I enjoy the seat time on my 3 restored Ford tractors it has become, as one gets older, real work and less enjoyment, not to mention the $$ involved in doing it the "right" way. I followed this thread during that time and saw how more and more people were buying into the concept and having equal or better success than I was doing it the hard expensive "right" way.
I have read about the need to improve the "tilth" of your soil, from some old farming books and it made sense to me. Not knowing any better I bought the expensive products being hawked on the TV shows. I did the above outlined routine for a few years but something didn't make sense to me. I was producing BioMass but plowing it under 2 times a year. I guess if you do that for a long time you will improve the "tilth" of your soil but I though there should be an easier way.
I moved away from fancy high priced blends and went with locally produces rye, buckwheat, oats etc and got a lot more mass and the deer seemed to enjoy it more, but plowing it under became a real mess.
I started reading about no till and conservation etc and it all made sense but this is just a hobby for me and a $3000 drill was a non starter. About that time I ran across this concept in another forum and got really interested in it. However, I thought if this was a better way to do it why wasn't everyone talking / doing it his way. I guess business is business.
So last year I planted 3 acres of rye and I have let it go to seed. I was @ my property this weekend and the rye grew extremely well and I have a good solid stand of mature rye to test the throw / mow / roll concept on.
Thanks to all the people on this site for all of their shared knowledge and experience with this concept of TMR, especially CnC.
I will post some information on my experiment and hope to add something to the conversation.
Thanks again
Alan