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Beans and corn together

StucknAz

Active Member
Listened to Tony Lapratt on the latest Exodus podcast. He was praising beans and corn planted together at 70/30 with a grain drill. Curious if anyone has tried this and seen success? He said deer won’t detassel the corn due to it not being planted in rows, rather random.
 
I have a couple acres of corn seed left over from last year, would this be good seed still?
If your corn was stored in a cool dry area it should be fine. You can always do a germ test on it to make sure. Have to Google how to do it but basically put a handful between wet paper towels and see how many sprout.
 
Listened to Tony Lapratt on the latest Exodus podcast. He was praising beans and corn planted together at 70/30 with a grain drill. Curious if anyone has tried this and seen success? He said deer won’t detassel the corn due to it not being planted in rows, rather random.
I am always curious what the herbicide/fertilizer program looks like for guys that **sucessfully** do this. Nobody ever dives into that

It also seems like if you had just regular, clean beans right next to it, the deer would prefer that 10:1. Even if there are sparse foxtail or other weed stalks in a beanfield corner or whatever, the deer will ALWAYS eat everything else in the field before that. At least from my experience anyway.
 
I am always curious what the herbicide/fertilizer program looks like for guys that **sucessfully** do this. Nobody ever dives into that

It also seems like if you had just regular, clean beans right next to it, the deer would prefer that 10:1. Even if there are sparse foxtail or other weed stalks in a beanfield corner or whatever, the deer will ALWAYS eat everything else in the field before that. At least from my experience anyway.

Maybe Dual? I know guys use that for soybean / milo intercropping.

I just disc in soybeans and milo together with about 200# AMS. Always have a great stand of milo. Soybeans here and there depending on how the deer pressure is over the summer. Great thing is they leave the milo alone so its a great "full season" strategy with both summer and fall food. Butted up to a brassica planting it works quite well for me.

No herbicide, I just let it go. The occasional foxtail patch just adds to the cover mess.

Richardson RS230 Hybrid Grain Sorghum (sorry for the crummy pic).

Milo.jpg
 
Listened to Tony Lapratt on the latest Exodus podcast. He was praising beans and corn planted together at 70/30 with a grain drill. Curious if anyone has tried this and seen success? He said deer won’t detassel the corn due to it not being planted in rows, rather random.
I wish we had more time to dive into this topic with Tony! It’s a very intriguing idea.
 
I wish we had more time to dive into this topic with Tony! It’s a very intriguing idea.
Jake, so glad you roped him in. I know a couple guys who know a little bit of everyone in the game and have had them to their farms, out of all the guys out there the two who don’t know each other both say Tony’s approach works the best on their farms. Specifically breaking up sight lines forcing for more movement. Really glad you spoke with him, give us a round two sometime down the road!
 
I listened to this podcast a few weeks ago and walked away with more questions than answers.
Some questions that came to mind after he said 70% beans, 30% corn...What rates? What fertilizer? What herbicide?

I find the high oil corn pretty interesting too, I have heard Don Higgins talk about that too.
 
We're planning to record some more with him later this month. I'm hoping we'll be able to dive into this more and get the information out before spring planting ramps up.

I did try doing some research since talking with Tony and found this article: https://deerassociation.com/mixing-corn-soybeans-food-plots/#:~:text=Corn and soybeans represent the,pounds of corn per acre.
Thanks Jake, I think a reduced overall yield is acceptable as long as the deer leave them alone during the summer months. Part of what Tony said that had me curious was he made it sound like the grain conference he went to in Louisville almost made it seem like he was getting higher yields, and that it would be the way of the future once they figure out how to harvest it?

That piece alone doesn't match up with the link you provided.
 
He sells them in a mix I do believe. I ran Higgins HOC and Tony’s HOC side by side this year. Had tons of left over this February and I only planted app 3.5 acres. I was told I was nuts for planting such a small amount. No one plants corn anywhere close, it was weird the deer didn’t hammer it. We cut it around Feb 15 and it was a dam zoo. We had a handful of bucks and a couple doe groups we were aware of this year, post cut there’s 20+ deer in there at any given time. Definitely liked it once it hit the ground. I couldn’t tell you they preferred one over the other, both sides were packed with deer.

Jake I know he’s pretty guarded, I’m curious when he builds these properties if he has a blank 3 or 5 acre field to work with, how big are the sections of food, does he do same food in each section across the board, what he uses to make his mock scrapes with material wise for post/ branch or vertical rope/vine? What his reccomendation is for water sources/how many/tubs vs natural. I’m sure you have a ton of questions but just in case. One more. Does he have any larger sections of grasses for bedding and if so what’s he doing.
 
Jake, that was a very informative interview. In fact it caused me to try to research the high oil corn. I found that there is not a lot out there on it but I rolled the dice on what Tony plants and will give it a go this year. The plot will be a little over 2 acres and split between traditional GT corn like I planted last year and Tony's high oil.

I have always knocked down a portion and as soon as I do, the deer are on it, I then knock down some more and so on. The deer really don't touch the standing much, even when that bad stretch of weather came in January, the deer would dig through the snow to find downed ears and ignore the rows standing with ears ready to eat.
 
Maybe Dual? I know guys use that for soybean / milo intercropping.

I just disc in soybeans and milo together with about 200# AMS. Always have a great stand of milo. Soybeans here and there depending on how the deer pressure is over the summer. Great thing is they leave the milo alone so its a great "full season" strategy with both summer and fall food. Butted up to a brassica planting it works quite well for me.

No herbicide, I just let it go. The occasional foxtail patch just adds to the cover mess.

Richardson RS230 Hybrid Grain Sorghum (sorry for the crummy pic).

View attachment 127062
Sorry for maybe a dumb question (I am just getting into alot of this land/habitat management stuff) but When you say you just disc in the soybeans and milo, does that mean that you are broadcasting the seed with a backpack spreader or something similiar and then coming back over the top with the tractor and disc and whatever grows grows and whatever doesnt, doesnt? Also, are you starting with a predisc field? or just broadcasting over the top and going closer to more of a "no-till" concept?
 
Sorry for maybe a dumb question (I am just getting into alot of this land/habitat management stuff) but When you say you just disc in the soybeans and milo, does that mean that you are broadcasting the seed with a backpack spreader or something similiar and then coming back over the top with the tractor and disc and whatever grows grows and whatever doesnt, doesnt? Also, are you starting with a predisc field? or just broadcasting over the top and going closer to more of a "no-till" concept?
I start with a disc'd field that I have spray with roundup a time or two. Then broadcast, the a light disc. If I have the time I may drag it with a harrow to smooth it out a little.

It works surprisingly well if you can get a little help with rain
 
Sorry for maybe a dumb question (I am just getting into alot of this land/habitat management stuff) but When you say you just disc in the soybeans and milo, does that mean that you are broadcasting the seed with a backpack spreader or something similiar and then coming back over the top with the tractor and disc and whatever grows grows and whatever doesnt, doesnt? Also, are you starting with a predisc field? or just broadcasting over the top and going closer to more of a "no-till" concept?

I'm old school farming them in.

Spread fertilizer (AMS/Urea) first, then 1st pass disc (primary tillage), spread milo/bean seed, 2nd pass disc (lightly incorporate), 3rd pass cultipacker.
 
I'm old school farming them in.

Spread fertilizer (AMS/Urea) first, then 1st pass disc (primary tillage), spread milo/bean seed, 2nd pass disc (lightly incorporate), 3rd pass cultipacker.
Awesome thank you, I dont have much equipment so this is about the only way I will be able to get something done. Ive got a 4wheeler with some black boar attachments (disc, cultipacker) and a sprayer. So trying to figure out how I can maximize efficiency with little equipment.
 
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