yoderjac
5 year old buck +
"Throw and Mow" is often used as a general term for minimized or eliminated tillage without a no-till drill. There are lots of variations. You can surface broadcast seed, spray the field, and the mow it as the name sugests. The mowed dead vegetation acts as a mulch. This can be done with a field of weeds, but it is possible for the dead vegetation to be too thick. It works great if the previous summer crop was something like buckwheat that does not require gly. You can still use gly if there are weeds in your buckwheat you want to eliminate. Buckwheat desiccates quickly.
This is sort of analogous to overseeding RR soybeans with a cover crop once the leaves begin to yellow. The seed falls to the bare ground and then is mulched by the dead soybean leaves as they fall. This works great because you get good seed soil contact. With a weed field, you need to make sure the seed makes it to the soil. Cultipacking can really improve germination rates with T&M.
Other variations include raising a 3pt tiller so high that the tines are barely touching the top inch of soil. This chews up the weeds and disrupts them a bit. You sill need to spray to kill them, but enough disruption occurs that a small amount of soil is thrown on the weeds. The microbes aid in decomposing it and the small amount of exposed dirt helps with seed soil contact. Again cultipacking really helps.
In most soils , you can't do this with just any seed. You need to choose seeds that surface broadcast well. WR is great and so are small seeded brassica and clover. Buckwheat and sunn hemp are warm season annuals that T&M well if cultipacked. Some guys have success with larger seeds like beans and peas, but they don't work well with T&M variants in my soil.
Planting before a good rain, is always important, but more so when seeds are surface broadcast.
Weed height is less important than ground level thatch. You can't T&M into fescue or things that form a turf barrier between the seed and soil. Seed to soil contact is important. Planting after a crop that canopies is ideal.
Best of luck,
Jack
This is sort of analogous to overseeding RR soybeans with a cover crop once the leaves begin to yellow. The seed falls to the bare ground and then is mulched by the dead soybean leaves as they fall. This works great because you get good seed soil contact. With a weed field, you need to make sure the seed makes it to the soil. Cultipacking can really improve germination rates with T&M.
Other variations include raising a 3pt tiller so high that the tines are barely touching the top inch of soil. This chews up the weeds and disrupts them a bit. You sill need to spray to kill them, but enough disruption occurs that a small amount of soil is thrown on the weeds. The microbes aid in decomposing it and the small amount of exposed dirt helps with seed soil contact. Again cultipacking really helps.
In most soils , you can't do this with just any seed. You need to choose seeds that surface broadcast well. WR is great and so are small seeded brassica and clover. Buckwheat and sunn hemp are warm season annuals that T&M well if cultipacked. Some guys have success with larger seeds like beans and peas, but they don't work well with T&M variants in my soil.
Planting before a good rain, is always important, but more so when seeds are surface broadcast.
Weed height is less important than ground level thatch. You can't T&M into fescue or things that form a turf barrier between the seed and soil. Seed to soil contact is important. Planting after a crop that canopies is ideal.
Best of luck,
Jack
