The Throw n’ Mow Method
- Thread starter Crimson n' Camo
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Damn big bulbs if ya need a chainsaw to harvest them!
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Somebody gets it.
Bowman
5 year old buck +
Were those turnips planted as a monoculture or in a mix? Rate? Impressive.
chucker66
5 year old buck +
I have had pretty good growth on my turnips too. I have Rape, Turnips, and Radishes. Plus some clover and Rye planted late coming up. I probably went too think on the Brassicas but i used 3lb per acre of Rape and Turnips. About 5 lbs of radishes and 60 lbs of Rye. I waited until I had about 4 weeks of growth (July 15) on the Brassicas and then broadscast the Rye (Aug 15th). To me this is a good mix and healthy for the soil. No discing, only broadcast and rolled. This is a pine plantation that was cut about 5 years ago. The soil has not been turned over for at least 40 years. For me it's easy and repeatable. The deer are pounding the turnip tops and radish tops right now but will hit the tubers in Novemebr and December. This helps me keep a food source for the deer almost year round. I plant other things as well like Buckwheat to see what it will do, but Rye is the backbone of everyhting I plant. It might not be a big draw for the deer but it helps make my soil better which in turn grows better food for the deer and other wildlife as well. I get lots of pictures of grouse, woodcocks, ducks, and rabbits every year. That's whats really fun about this stuff, the variety of wildlife I help out a little. 
Mixture with PPT, DER, GHR, Winfred Brassica, Kohlrabi, three way annual clover, then over-seeded with Oats and WR a month later.
Kohlrabi was a whim. I don't think I found a single bulb.
Brassica / Clover mix was planted first week of July. Lots of lime and fertilizer per soil sample. Then, another 200LBS urea a month later when I also added WR and Oats.
About 9LBS / acre anticipating poor germination like I've had in the past. A month of dry weather after I planted had me scared. But it came in nicely. Brassica shaded out the annual clover mix in most places.
Last edited:
I'll be controversial here, but if you aren't disrupting your soil with tillage, you shouldn't need to add lime or fertilizer. As long as your crops are adding organic matter to the soil through roots and mowed thatch, the soil biology will use that to feed your plants the minerals required.
And healthy plants and biology can adjust your ph on their own, without the need for lime. You could choose one healthy plant in your field, and take a soil sample from it's root zone for 10 straight days, and the ph of each sample will be different. The ph will change based on what mimerals the plant is trying to uptake at the time.
And healthy plants and biology can adjust your ph on their own, without the need for lime. You could choose one healthy plant in your field, and take a soil sample from it's root zone for 10 straight days, and the ph of each sample will be different. The ph will change based on what mimerals the plant is trying to uptake at the time.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Ditto! What he said. I haven't put anything on a field in a long time (except for gypsum).
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
ksgobbler
5 year old buck +
Ive never added lime. If I am growing milo, egyptian wheat, etc Ill hit it with nitrogen when its knee high.
I'm telling you that if you don't till your soil and kill all of the bacteria and fungi living in it, that soil biology will find P and K in your soil no matter what your soil test says. You can help.them by planting deep rooted crops like red clover, winter rye, and sunflowers.
Air is made up of 78% nitrogen, and both plants and soil biology can absorb it from the air in your soil. How any farm service can keep a straight face while selling nitrogen amazes me. It's like paying for bottled water.
The farmer across the road from me plows, and discs, and cultivates, and cultipacks, and limes, and fertilizes year after year, rotating between corn and soybeans, and his soil is still sandy orange crap. Mine was the same when I bought it. I grow red and white clover, buckwheat, sunflowers, radish, turnips, and winter rye, always using the throw and mow method, and now I have 3-4 inches of dark rich soil on top.
Soil can regenerate itself if given the tools.
Air is made up of 78% nitrogen, and both plants and soil biology can absorb it from the air in your soil. How any farm service can keep a straight face while selling nitrogen amazes me. It's like paying for bottled water.
The farmer across the road from me plows, and discs, and cultivates, and cultipacks, and limes, and fertilizes year after year, rotating between corn and soybeans, and his soil is still sandy orange crap. Mine was the same when I bought it. I grow red and white clover, buckwheat, sunflowers, radish, turnips, and winter rye, always using the throw and mow method, and now I have 3-4 inches of dark rich soil on top.
Soil can regenerate itself if given the tools.
Crimson n' Camo
5 year old buck +
I would use synthetic fert/lime in the beginning and then wean off of it as your soil becomes more fertile.
Belchertown Bowman
5 year old buck +
They are like Frankenstein Turnips!
PS no fertilizer ,.. just lime and lots of it.
Can anyone beat that sucka ?
PS no fertilizer ,.. just lime and lots of it.
Can anyone beat that sucka ?
Last edited:
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Planting date? I shoot for no bigger than softball size (I feel the deer prefer the smaller ones better) This puts me around August 10 providing conditions are well suited.
Belchertown Bowman
5 year old buck +
Early August when the bag says to plant them.
Yes the big ones get woody and tougher,.. I eat em and only eat the smaller baseball sized ones.
Not sure if deer are so picky as me,.. quite possibly they are?
Yes the big ones get woody and tougher,.. I eat em and only eat the smaller baseball sized ones.
Not sure if deer are so picky as me,.. quite possibly they are?
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Most years the deer don't touch mine until the second week in February. On a good year they will be on them the second week of December. It has froze every night here for the past 3-4 weeks. They can say all they want about frost sweetening your brassicas but the deer will eat them on their terms not ours. I have had years where they are eaten little if any and are rotting in the plot come April.
