The Throw n’ Mow Method

[Barndog56]

Very, very dry here right now. Red clover and chicory seed heads are all dried up. I wanted to broadcast brassicas into it at the start of August, when I sprayed cleth, but haven't had a decent rain forecast all month. We got an inch Monday night, with another inch forecast for Thursday night. So today I broadcast 50 lbs each of rye and oats into my 1 acre perennial orchard plot, skipping brassicas all together. Got half the mowing done today and will finish tomorrow. Got a nasty bee sting on the ear in the process.

After walking around the plot using my hand spreader, probably had 200 clover seeds in my shoes when I took them off. Lol

 

[chucker66]

Got 150 lbs of Winter Rye on all my plots today. Went heavy on the Brassica plot and a bit lighter in the clover. Was also going to plant some more clover but I forgot my seed at home. Will have to spread that when I run back up next weekend to put stands up. Oh well, gives me an excuse to get some more Lime and Gypsum to spread then too After that, its leave everything alone until mid-October. Here's my Brassica plot, bare spots will fill in nicely with the 50lbs of winter rye i spread today


Chuck

 

[yoderjac]

I got lucky with timing this year. I just finished seeding about 5 acres on Thursday afternoon. The remnants of he hurricane passed through late last night and all day to day. It looks like we got 1/4 to 1/2 inch at the farm according to AHPS.

 

[chaded]

I started my first throw and mow plot this year. Im in southeastern Ohio and planted August 17 and we’ve been getting rain ever since. I threw out AWP, PTT, groundhog radishes, winter rye, and oats. All seems to be popping up.

 

[IkemanTx]

I have a new property in SE Oklahoma. I have a 10 acre field that is very sandy loam river bottom. In years past it was cut and bailed for hay during summer then disc and planted in wheat in fall. I could not get anyone to come in to bail this summer so wheat headed out and now it is about chest high in johnson grass plus native forbs and grasses. My plan is to make a 5 acre food plot with LC mixes which for my area can be planted early September. I was thinking of mowing, disc, then tilling then seeding but came across the throw and mow method. Is there such thing as to much biomass? I'm afraid if I spread seed then mow. I will be dealing with Johnson grass and bermuda. If it was a smaller plot I wouldn't worry but 5 acres is overwhelming me. Any advice would be appreciated.

Where at in SE Oklahoma?
My dad has a place in Durant, and I am doing my plots south of there in Texas.


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[IkemanTx]

Heading out tomorrow to Throw N Mow the fall plot.
We are going to be spraying with Gly as soon as the few burns off, let it dry for a few hours, then spread seed, and mow low.
I wouldn’t have sprayed, but the field ended up with a lot of Johnson grass in it... and I really prefer not to keep fighting it with just a mower.

To save a little money, I split the seed in half between a budget mix of wheat, oats, rye, peas, and turnips.... I’m sure the tag on the bag tells me how much of each, but they don’t list it on their website.


and a more expensive mix of

Wheat 12%, Oats 12%, Rye 12%, Barley 12%, Triticale 12%, Winterpeas 10%, Crimson Clover 4%, Berseem Clover 4%, Turnips 4%, Rape 4%, Arrowleaf Clover 4%, Yellow Blossom Clover 4%, Vetch 3%, Alfalfa 2%, Silver River Clover 1%

I also plan to mow cockleburs off the top of my
Aeschynomene/alyce clover plot. And mow a few strips into the dove plot to get seed on the ground.


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[IkemanTx]

Spread 100lbs/acre of the following mix, then mowed over the top, then sprayed gly over the top of that. There is a decent chance of rain the next 3 days, so hopefully we can get some germination!
This is my first true TNM, but I have done min-till before with success.

Wheat 12%, Oats 12%, Rye 12%, Barley 12%, Triticale 12%, Winterpeas 10%, Crimson Clover 4%, Berseem Clover 4%, Turnips 4%, Rape 4%, Arrowleaf Clover 4%, Yellow Blossom Clover 4%, Vetch 3%, Alfalfa 2%, Silver River Clover 1%


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[armadillophil]

Where at in SE Oklahoma?
My dad has a place in Durant, and I am doing my plots south of there in Texas.


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I am just outside of Ardmore. Planted 5 acres this weekend and it is getting a good rain right now.

 

[IkemanTx]

Where at in SE Oklahoma?
My dad has a place in Durant, and I am doing my plots south of there in Texas.


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I am just outside of Ardmore. Planted 5 acres this weekend and it is getting a good rain right now.

Nice, I planted 2 acres on Monday, and it is showing 2” since then!!!!


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[r49740]

Supposed to get good rain tomorrow. Did my first try and throwing seed down and just mowing over top. Any need to pack now, or let it go as is? Just threw down WR

 

[scott44]

Supposed to get good rain tomorrow. Did my first try and throwing seed down and just mowing over top. Any need to pack now, or let it go as is? Just threw down WR

Not sure if there's a need to pack but I always run the cultipacker over it just because I have it. I would think that the rain would knock the thatch down on top of the seed so it would be covered.

 

[Bowman]

I would also. The weather can be fickle and especially for this year, it may help prevent the bumper crop of chipmunks from feasting. Unfortunately, I have seen them, swollen cheeks and all, scampering to field edges when I returned to cultipack. Last year, too much of my seed was devoured by turkeys, this year, the chipmunks. Good luck.

 

[yoderjac]

Supposed to get good rain tomorrow. Did my first try and throwing seed down and just mowing over top. Any need to pack now, or let it go as is? Just threw down WR

Unless the ground is too wet to be on with equipment, I would always opt to cultipack if I have that option. It improves germination. That is not to say you won't still get good results without cultipacking, especially if you have a good hard rain after seeding.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[animal1x]

All right ya'll. It's on you now. I started yesterday with my first go with the TnM method. Two little mini plots. My stand by mix that I really like, forage oats and crimson clover. One plot right behind the house about the size of a very big garden and the other somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 acre. Never done the TnM before. Lots of ya'll here say this is the way to go so Imma' try it. I don't have a cultipacker so no rolling here. I sprayed it with gly two and half weeks ago, broadcast seeded right in the standing dead stuff, then mowed the dead stuff down over the top. It sure was different to just broadcast the seed out, mow over the top of it and call it done. If I'd a' done that when my Daddy was alive he'd a whooped me all the way to the barn and back to the tractor and told me get back up there and not come back to house until it was done right, LOL. I would have never tried this if I hadn't read about it and the results people here are getting so like I said, I gonna' blame it all on ya'll if it don't work out!!

We do need some rain and we're supposed to get a few days rain starting Thursday afternoon due to Hurricane Delta but I'm hoping we don't get just hammered here and drown stuff out. Last I heard the weatherman was calling for around 2 inches around here with the biggest blast from Delta staying just west of us a little bit.

Anyhow, fingers crossed and we'll see what happens, both with the hurricane and the food plots.

Elbert

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

2” would be perfect. If you have any slope and get a 2” rain on tilled ground it wouldn’t be pretty.


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[SD51555]

All right ya'll. It's on you now. I started yesterday with my first go with the TnM method. Two little mini plots. My stand by mix that I really like, forage oats and crimson clover. One plot right behind the house about the size of a very big garden and the other somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 acre. Never done the TnM before. Lots of ya'll here say this is the way to go so Imma' try it. I don't have a cultipacker so no rolling here. I sprayed it with gly two and half weeks ago, broadcast seeded right in the standing dead stuff, then mowed the dead stuff down over the top. It sure was different to just broadcast the seed out, mow over the top of it and call it done. If I'd a' done that when my Daddy was alive he'd a whooped me all the way to the barn and back to the tractor and told me get back up there and not come back to house until it was done right, LOL. I would have never tried this if I hadn't read about it and the results people here are getting so like I said, I gonna' blame it all on ya'll if it don't work out!!

We do need some rain and we're supposed to get a few days rain starting Thursday afternoon due to Hurricane Delta but I'm hoping we don't get just hammered here and drown stuff out. Last I heard the weatherman was calling for around 2 inches around here with the biggest blast from Delta staying just west of us a little bit.

Anyhow, fingers crossed and we'll see what happens, both with the hurricane and the food plots.

Elbert

Don't lose faith if it's doesn't work on the first try. Most everything I try fails, but I'm not going back to the old way. One tip I'll give you if it doesn't work... Go back and purposely grow something worthy of mowing first. Everybody has something different that is native when starting out. Some of that stuff can inhibit the germination of what you're planting first. That's why rye is such a go-to. There ain't a thing that is allelopathic to rye.

 

[animal1x]

I didn't get any pictures but I just wanted to give a report on my attempt of using the T-n-M method. It really works!! As I mentioned in my post up above, I seeded and mowed on Oct. 7 and 8. Hurricane missed us but we got a real nice rain over two and half days that weekend and on the 15th, barely a week after I had seeded it in, I had oats sprouted and coming up. The little "garden patch" right here at the house is doing very well and the one a little further back is looking good too. Even with all the pictures people have posted and so many reports on how well this method worked I have to admit I was still some skeptical. But not so much now, LOL. Just with this tiny accomplishment this method of seeding food plots has made a believer out of me.

I said I was gonna' blame it all on you and this thread if it didn't work out. Well the reverse is also true. Ya'll get the accolades too. I'd like to thank everyone that posted for their contribution to this thread. Without it I'd still be disking, going over it 2 or 3 times and taking 2 or 3 times as long to get stuff done and was actually very easy way to get a food plot in. Thank you all.

Ya'll take care.

Elbert

 

[SwampCat]

I have over forty years experience planting food plots - but still really struggle with tnm. I would say half my attempts are successful. To dry, not enough standing vegetation to seed into, too much vegetation results in too much mulch, hogs. Last year, I did a combination of ww, wr, and durana clover. Plot actually looked ok last winter - wouldnt call it great - but ok. First pic is the plot in May. Clover came in really sparse. Planting time this fall - not enough vegetation to provide covering mulch after planting. Had a really wet summer - 30” of rain in Aug and Sept probably didnt help. Just so inconsistent.

Last May:


At planting this fall:

 

[Bowman]

I planted Durana 3 years ago, then again the following year. Next up was Yellow blossom and cultipaacking. I was expecting much more from theDurana and the Yellow blossom, so I scuffed up the field with the disc before again seeding Yellow blossom. I found much more clover than I had thought. Looking at the second picture, I am reminded of one field of mine in particular. In my notes, I wrote that I wondered if I forgot to plant that field. When I finally got around to checking the camera, that field was completely demolished by deer and turkey. So I am wondering if that may be the reason for no mulch.

 

[SwampCat]

I planted Durana 3 years ago, then again the following year. Next up was Yellow blossom and cultipaacking. I was expecting much more from theDurana and the Yellow blossom, so I scuffed up the field with the disc before again seeding Yellow blossom. I found much more clover than I had thought. Looking at the second picture, I am reminded of one field of mine in particular. In my notes, I wrote that I wondered if I forgot to plant that field. When I finally got around to checking the camera, that field was completely demolished by deer and turkey. So I am wondering if that may be the reason for no mulch.

Definately not turkeys, as we dont have any. Might be what happened with deer - but there is such a poor stand of durana, I dont think they would have hit it that hard. I already had the seed in the hopper and no where else to go with it so I went ahead and put it out anyway. Supposed to get three inches of rain this week - so it may work out anyway