What mixes - what seeding rates?

[Bowsnbucks]

Camp in NC Pa. zone 5 / 6 border, an old farmstead with long-existing fields. Soil tests done, lime etc. Plenty of sun, hilltop locations.
What seed mixes work well together? I see on here guys plant mixes such as oats, clover, turnips, & chicory .............. or turnips, radishes, some rye grain, and some clover ............. or AWP, clover, oats, rye, etc.

I know about "nurse crops" like rye or oats for clover - but the only "mix" we've planted is Welter's "Big Buck Brassica Mix" (which is Dwarf Essex rape, PTT, GHR, and Pasja hybrid forage brassica.) What are some other seed mixes that would do well in a mountaintop, old farmstead location - that make good companion plants.

I also don't know what seeding rates would be needed for each seed variety so one seed doesn't overpower the others. Thanks in advance for any / all replies!!

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Green cover seeds online has a neat seed mix calculator that can give u exact pounds to the acre. Plus u can enter parameters, like, building soil OM, weed suppression, nutrient recycling.

And will spit out species that best fit your need and rate how well it will accomplish your goals.

Easy way to burn and hour if your bored.

 

[scott44]

Clover mix /acre
4# Ladino
7# Med Red
4# Whitetail Inst Alfa Rack plus

Cereal mix /acre
60# Rye
60# Wheat
50# oats
20# Peas
15# sunflowers
7# med red clover
5# radishes

Brassica mix/acre
2# each PTT, Kale, rape and radishes

 

[White Birch Farm]

Take a serious look at fall draw. It is one the most well thought out commercial mixes you will find.

Fall Draw 25lbs. (2 acre) | grandpa-ray-outdoors

Berseem clover Crimson clover Daikon Radish Rutabaga Winfred brassica Forage Turnip Ethiopian Cabbage Seeding Rate: 10-14 lbs. per...

www.grandparayoutdoors.com

 

[SD51555]

Camp in NC Pa. zone 5 / 6 border, an old farmstead with long-existing fields. Soil tests done, lime etc. Plenty of sun, hilltop locations.
What seed mixes work well together? I see on here guys plant mixes such as oats, clover, turnips, & chicory .............. or turnips, radishes, some rye grain, and some clover ............. or AWP, clover, oats, rye, etc.

I know about "nurse crops" like rye or oats for clover - but the only "mix" we've planted is Welter's "Big Buck Brassica Mix" (which is Dwarf Essex rape, PTT, GHR, and Pasja hybrid forage brassica.) What are some other seed mixes that would do well in a mountaintop, old farmstead location - that make good companion plants.

I also don't know what seeding rates would be needed for each seed variety so one seed doesn't overpower the others. Thanks in advance for any / all replies!!

You gotta just play with it. I've been tinkering with it for almost 20 years and I still haven't found the mix and method I want. Learn a few things every year, but you just gotta keep trying. Try to get the green cover book. It's got seeding rates by plant and it's a good place to start when you want to proportion out your stuff. But even at that, some things will flex and compensate for low seed rates and still overpower other stuff.

Some things you can go 100-150% rates and they won't overpower. I plant soybeans on new ground in mid to late summer and I always put down at least a 100% rate of them, if not 200-300% if I have the seed. I also put down a near full rate of some kind of cereal. Then I'll throw down other full rates of stuff that isn't due to come up until next year like clovers, alfalfa, etc. I put a 4 bushel rate of cereal into my established clover early this spring. It did well, but I'm gonna try 6 this coming year to see if I can get it thicker yet.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I have mixed so many things, at various rates on our farm. Most of our fields are 1 acre or less.
Below are the mixes I have had the best success with (just this year):
10 lbs of Clover King (Outside Pride) with alfalfa (5 lbs)-1 acre-Clover King has consistently been a great draw and the alfalfa only adds to that
1 4.25 lb bag GOLD overseed (Grandpa Ray's) along with chicory (2 lbs)-1/2 acre very thick clover that remained green well into November
1 4.25 lb bag of mass builder (Grandpa Ray's) +2 lb chicory and 1.25 lb aberlasting clover-1/2 acre this was by far our best field-i late frost seeded this (end of March) and while it did take a while to really get growing (I think was due to our exceptionally hot and dry summer), the end result was a lush green carpet that had deer in it at almost every hour of the day from October on..I did add some winter rye to this as well but it had issues germinating due to the thick clover..
another good mix from grandpa rays is inner sanctum...i added onto a small kill plot this year and spread this over about 0.1 acre in early March...it grew thick and fast and even outcompeted the weeds in a not so optimal location (pH low 6s, not a ton of sunlight or nutrients and lots of rocks)...the deer were still hitting this plot in early December
1 5 lb bag of succulent succotash (Deer Creek Seed) and 1/2 bushel of winter rye-put this in a 1/4 acre newly made log landing with no soil test and spread a few bags of lime....there were deer and turkeys in it constantly and they are still in it currently