The Throw n’ Mow Method

[Bassattackr]

If you have dogs you might not want to plant Virginia Wild Rye. It's considered a possible/likely cause of grass awn infection. Not a lot of proof on that but similar Canada wild rye is a major cause of disability and death of working dogs.

I've read this as well. Our lab actually passed away this last year. We wouldn't use for hunting purposes anyway, just looking to better screen along a field edge where it doesn't get a lot of sun compared to other areas.

 

[SWIFFY]

I had radishes here last year. I sprayed in Early June and broadcasted Millet the same time. It’s over 7’ tall now!! First time I’ve ever tried millet. Beautiful. I imagine it will all lay down as soon as we get heavy rain, wind, or snow. But the pheasants and birds should enjoy it.

 

[roymunson]

wow, swiffy. You got a ton of growth out of that! I put another edge of conceal on this year and either got it too thick or something because I can't get it over knee high. Maybe nextyear I'll just put 10 yards wide of corn in.

 

[Bassattackr]

I had radishes here last year. I sprayed in Early June and broadcasted Millet the same time. It’s over 7’ tall now!! First time I’ve ever tried millet. Beautiful. I imagine it will all lay down as soon as we get heavy rain, wind, or snow. But the pheasants and birds should enjoy it.View attachment 31048

What kind of millet is that? Pearl? Impressive size..

 

[Slatterday]

I've been stalking for a while, read this thread front to back several times, and this spring I planted a mix to TNM this fall. I planted a mix of white proso millett(50#), brown top millett(100#), buckwheat(150#), grain sorghum(50#), sunn hemp(50#) and cowpeas(50#). The plot was tilled, cultipacked, broadcast then cultipacked and turned out awesome. This past week I broadcast and rolled a mix of peas, fixation balansa, ladino, dwarf essex rape, appin turnips, groundhog radish and winter rye. Pictured is one of four plots I did this week, with another three or four I'll do in a couple weeks. You guys have put together an awesome resource on this site, I'm looking forward to participating.Here's my mix on the left, my brother's RR soybeans on the right. I'm fully committed to the diverse mixes, he's still wanting to plant like it's a cash crop.
Here's this plot section rolled down. I left some of the clumps standing to let the sorghum head out while also giving a little texture to the stand. We'll see how that works, I enjoy the experiments.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Nice work!!!

Experimentation keeps things interesting

bill

 

[Slatterday]

I happened to be at the farm this week. Took a pic of a min till field. It is sunn hemp, buckwheat, and Wild Game Sorghum. The sunn hemp is so big it is hard to see anything else

Thanks,

Jack

Jack,

I'll be very curious about how you deal with that sunn hemp. Mine was and is about 7' tall. My first batch I just broadcast and rolled. My hemp was mostly flowering, very crisp and laid down well. I did make a stand for my spreader so it was about 4.5' off the ground, but I'm still wondering how much actually broadcasted past the path I knocked down with the utv. For the next batch of fields I'm wondering if I should brush hog as high as possible, broadcast and then roll. With that method I worry about seed on top of too much duff. If nothing else this process definitely keeps you thinking...

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

Nice work!!!

Experimentation keeps things interesting

bill

You are talking about food plotting, right?

 

[yoderjac]

Jack,

I'll be very curious about how you deal with that sunn hemp. Mine was and is about 7' tall. My first batch I just broadcast and rolled. My hemp was mostly flowering, very crisp and laid down well. I did make a stand for my spreader so it was about 4.5' off the ground, but I'm still wondering how much actually broadcasted past the path I knocked down with the utv. For the next batch of fields I'm wondering if I should brush hog as high as possible, broadcast and then roll. With that method I worry about seed on top of too much duff. If nothing else this process definitely keeps you thinking...

I'll have to take some pictures when I get down to the farm. I mowed my fields a couple weeks ago. We have some stands along that pipeline. I left strategic strips of sunn hemp stand. It won't have much attraction or food value in the fall, but it will provide vertical cover making deer feel more secure. I then did a min-till on the mowed areas. I'm still waiting for WR to come in, but they said this week. I plan to spray, broadcast, and cultipack. It is a bit more challenging and time consuming to food plot this way, but I think it will help the hunting. This will be the first time I've tried it with sunn hemp, but I have done it before with Eagle beans: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...d-corn-field-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5543/. Eagle beans stay green and the forage is attractive for much of our archery season. I'm not expecting that aspect from the sunn hemp, but I do expect the same vertical cover effect.

I'll post a pic from a stand if I get a chance to take one.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[mikmaze]

I made a slight mod to my chest spreader, seems like it should work good. I got a little tired of cranking and cranking the handle to spin the spreader. so out came the hande and in went a 4 inch similar thread bolt with hex head. added a flex extension to my cordless drill and have it set on low speed setting and boy does it spin the spreader, should get farther and possibly less trips around the plots to get em seeded. that part means a lot as I work up to 25 acres of plots.

 

[35-acre]

OK, I have a weird phenomenon going on if these top 2 pics are Egyptian Wheat.

I have planted some Egyptian Wheat as a screening plot along the top of my field - it just wasn't this year. But could the seeds have stayed viable? Is this Egyptian Wheat? It's in the exact same spot that I planted it. Right now it's about 3 ft tall.





The phenomenon is that I planted this seed in 2018. Some of it came in then but not really well enough to do what I was hoping (as you can see below - this pic was from 2018). BUT could the lime and fertilizer have taken effect? Or is it possible that it's just volunteer seed from the original growth?

 

[yoderjac]

I'll have to take some pictures when I get down to the farm. I mowed my fields a couple weeks ago. We have some stands along that pipeline. I left strategic strips of sunn hemp stand. It won't have much attraction or food value in the fall, but it will provide vertical cover making deer feel more secure. I then did a min-till on the mowed areas. I'm still waiting for WR to come in, but they said this week. I plan to spray, broadcast, and cultipack. It is a bit more challenging and time consuming to food plot this way, but I think it will help the hunting. This will be the first time I've tried it with sunn hemp, but I have done it before with Eagle beans: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...d-corn-field-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5543/. Eagle beans stay green and the forage is attractive for much of our archery season. I'm not expecting that aspect from the sunn hemp, but I do expect the same vertical cover effect.

I'll post a pic from a stand if I get a chance to take one.

Thanks,

Jack

Here are the pictures I promised:

All pics are taken from the same box blind overlooking one field. The first pic is looking to the north. I then rotated taking pics until the last which is looking south. I will plant CC/PTT/WR in this field this week.

Thakns,

Jack

 

[scott44]

OK, I have a weird phenomenon going on if these top 2 pics are Egyptian Wheat.

I have planted some Egyptian Wheat as a screening plot along the top of my field - it just wasn't this year. But could the seeds have stayed viable? Is this Egyptian Wheat? It's in the exact same spot that I planted it. Right now it's about 3 ft tall.

View attachment 31251

View attachment 31252

The phenomenon is that I planted this seed in 2018. Some of it came in then but not really well enough to do what I was hoping (as you can see below - this pic was from 2018). BUT could the lime and fertilizer have taken effect? Or is it possible that it's just volunteer seed from the original growth?

View attachment 31254

Looks like a Pearl millet.

 

[Bassattackr]

Looks like a Pearl millet.

I was going to say the same..

 

[35-acre]

hmmm. I'll have to wait and see if the heads get that big. I don't recall planting that. Unless that's what I got instead of the Egyptian Wheat.

I was really thinking that this might have been some type of weed. I didn't plant anything in this section that would have been any different than the rest of my field.

 

[scott44]

hmmm. I'll have to wait and see if the heads get that big. I don't recall planting that. Unless that's what I got instead of the Egyptian Wheat.

I was really thinking that this might have been some type of weed. I didn't plant anything in this section that would have been any different than the rest of my field.

Your pic from 2018 looks like E-Wheat, was this a mix or was it straight E-Wheat?

 

[35-acre]

Your pic from 2018 looks like E-Wheat, was this a mix or was it straight E-Wheat?

Should have been straight Egyptian Wheat. But that would be odd if it came in (again) 2 years later. Right?

 

[scott44]

Should have been straight Egyptian Wheat. But that would be odd if it came in (again) 2 years later. Right?

Unless you had a good stand of e-wheat last year I'd say it probably might not come back, I can't say but I don't think I've ever had any come back the next year yet alone 2 yrs.

 

[SWIFFY]

What kind of millet is that? Pearl? Impressive size..

Sorry I didn’t see your ?? It’s Japanese Millet.

 

[35-acre]

Sorry I didn’t see your ?? It’s Japanese Millet.

Well, whatever it is, it's a nice little buffer in the top of my field. My goal was to plant something along the top-edge to give the deer some comfort to coming into the field and grabbing a bite to eat. Plus it breaks the field up a little to avoid too much family-related pressures.