Cereal Grains and cover crops

[dbltree]

This buck...grew up eating winter rye

This buck... grew up eating winter wheat

Ha! I am totally kidding of course and which cereal you plant isn't going to amount to a hill a beans difference in the quality of deer you harvest this fall. Bucks will have already done all the growing they will do for the year so cereals are merely an attractant to hold does in early fall and bucks after the rut.

Emphasis should always be on building safe secure bedding and feeding areas using native cover rather then thinking that planting this cereal or that will magically make the difference. Cereal grains can be an important part of a habitat program and rye does provide more positive benefits to both your deer and your soils and in the end can have a huge impact on your entire management plan if used in conjunction with other crops such as clover.

The cost of cereal grain seed is going to vary across the country but Welter Seed is a good place to check prices so you know if your being treated fairly down at the local seed and feed store.

At Welters certified oat seed runs $8-9 a 50# bag, winter rye is $10.90 and winter wheat is $12-17 (BFO is a whopping $32 a bag which translates to RIPOFF so buyer beware!)

It's time to plant...mine will be going in next week, roughly 75# of winter rye and 75 of Jerry and Frank oats along with 50#'s of 4010 peas, 4#'s of white clover, 6 of red clover and 5#'s of GroundHog forage radish. I'll spread 150#'s of urea and till it in, broadcast the larger seeds, lightly till in the cereals and peas, cultipack, broadcast the clover and radish seeds and cultipack again.

Then...I'm gonna put the tractor away, get out my bow and start dreaming about frosty October mornings... :way:

BTW...if your bored at the office your welcome to go hunting with me....just click on the "life and times of dbltree" and leaf through my journal....

 

[roadking]

My rye/ alice clover mix goes in tomorrow. Then I'll be putting up stands and waiting for opening day

 

[magnus]

Paul, Just curious exactly how you go about "lightly tilling in" your cereals and larger seeds peas/beans? I think you use a roto-tiller for most tillage....so do you just use it for this as well but run it less deep? Or maybe just pull it without engaging the PTO? In PA, I have a really neat harrow ("Perfecta-harrow" by Univerth) that does a great job at lightly covering larger seeds like this, as well as do various other things. But in IA, no such luck. Curious just how you get 'er done....

 

[dbltree]

Paul, Just curious exactly how you go about "lightly tilling in" your cereals and larger seeds peas/beans? I think you use a roto-tiller for most tillage....so do you just use it for this as well but run it less deep? Or maybe just pull it without engaging the PTO? In PA, I have a really neat harrow ("Perfecta-harrow" by Univerth) that does a great job at lightly covering larger seeds like this, as well as do various other things. But in IA, no such luck. Curious just how you get 'er done....

I either don't lower the tiller all the way, so it is just scuffing the topsoil and stirring the seeds in or I drop it with the PTO turned off and let it freewheel...depends on the soils and how loose or compacted they are.

Cereals will germinate right on top of the soil so it's not a big deal but if rains don't follow it's better to have them well covered so roots are in the moisture zone.

Any kid of a light drag or harrow will work or use a disc and like th tiller, don't drop it all the way down....:way:

 

[Skully]

My Austrian Winter Peas, inoculant, and winter rye came in from Welters yesterday. I ordered it on Tuesday! Talk about speedy service! I also have a friend who donated some winter wheat seed to my mix. I plan on trying to get it in this weekend, sounds like a good forecast so far. :way:

 

[dbltree]

My Austrian Winter Peas, inoculant, and winter rye came in from Welters yesterday. I ordered it on Tuesday! Talk about speedy service! I also have a friend who donated some winter wheat seed to my mix. I plan on trying to get it in this weekend, sounds like a good forecast so far. :way:

Perfect planting weather...giter done! :way:

 

[waylonb19]

I don't bother trying to kill clover with glyphosate because it's almost impervious to it and just bounces right back. You may find that the roundup will only kill the grasses and merely burn the clover so let us know what happens with yours?

You were right I sprayed gly and it didn't kill the clover. Everything else it smoked. I am thinking a guy would be better off spraying gly to control weeds and grasses in his clover plot instead of cleth and 2-4-db. A lot cheaper that is for sure. Planting my pea/radish mix tom. then I am done for the yr.

 

[dbltree]

You were right I sprayed gly and it didn't kill the clover. Everything else it smoked. I am thinking a guy would be better off spraying gly to control weeds and grasses in his clover plot instead of cleth and 2-4-db. A lot cheaper that is for sure. Planting my pea/radish mix tom. then I am done for the yr.

I agree and I'm more inclined to use gly in clover plots unless the clover is under duress from extreme heat/drought etc....

 

[Skully]

Perfect planting weather...giter done! :way:

Just a side note: Even though there may be benefits of using inoculant on peas seed, I don't believe I will ever be using it again. I was in a hurry last night to finish my plots and found out that after dampening the seed for the inoculant it became too sticky to flow through my Moultrie Seeder. I ended up having to seed the entire field by hand! Lesson learned I guess. I dried out the seeder with my t-shirt and then broadcast my rye with no problems.

 

[nannyslayer]

Skully, I have never used an inoculant on my pea's and I get a heck of a stand every year. If I'm planting something that I know is going to be destroyed, I just assume to save money.

 

[risto2351]

Has anyone ever used this type of pea?



"Canadian Trapper Peas (12.75). Normally we sell these for pigeon feed but they will germinate. They just are tested and certified with germination percent."
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I have a bag of the AWP for $25.00 a 50# bag but was looking for a cheaper pea if they will work.
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Thanks
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[roadking]

Can't wait to see what my Shot Plot (planted 12 days ago) and rye (planted 5 days ago) does with all this rain. :way:

 

[dbltree]

Just a side note: Even though there may be benefits of using inoculant on peas seed, I don't believe I will ever be using it again. I was in a hurry last night to finish my plots and found out that after dampening the seed for the inoculant it became too sticky to flow through my Moultrie Seeder. I ended up having to seed the entire field by hand! Lesson learned I guess. I dried out the seeder with my t-shirt and then broadcast my rye with no problems.

Just add a tiny bit of water or soda Troy barely enough to moisten it and the inoculate will stick to it without the seeds sticking together....been there done that! Not a big deal in fall plantings though as nanny mentions.

Has anyone ever used this type of pea?

"Canadian Trapper Peas (12.75). Normally we sell these for pigeon feed but they will germinate. They just are tested and certified with germination percent."

I have a bag of the AWP for $25.00 a 50# bag but was looking for a cheaper pea if they will work.

Most peas are grown in Canada and although they may not be as winter hardy as AWP's they should work just fine!:way:

September 1, 2010

Been workin' dawn to dusk since last week but got about 5 acres of fall cereals planted for myself and a couple friends, finished up just in time for an 1 1/2" of rain last night!

Normally one doesn't have to worry about wet soils when doing summer or fall plantings but this year has been from from normal here in Iowa with the 2nd highest recorded rainfall in 130 years!

If you have heavy clay or clay loam soils like I do always make sure the soil is dry enough before planting.

Grab a handfull of soil or a clod and squeeze it...

If it crumbles your good to go but if it sticks together better stir it up and let it dry out first

I planted 75#'s per acre of winter rye

75-100#'s per acre of Jerry and Frank Forage oats

100#'s per acre of 4010 forage peas

5#'s per acre of GroundHog, Tillage and Trophy radish (all the same seed but I planted them nonetheless) along with Alta-Swede Mammouth Reed clover seed.

I mixed the rye and oat seed in my Earthway Bag Seeder and sowed that first, then the peas

I spread 200#'s of 46-0-0 urea and then tilled the seed and fertilizer and grains in while pulling the culipacker behind

Leaving a nicely firmed surface to broadcast the radish and clover seeds

You can see how tiny the radish seeds are in this pic and clover seeds are again as small

When the dust settled at the end of the day I had the makings of a soon to be lush cereal grain/pea plot!

 

[letemgrow]

Dang Paul,

If you are ever bored, I have all kinds of acres you can food plot on. With that kind of work, I would hire it done cause you make some dang nice plots.

 

[dbltree]

Folks are curious about the various pea varieties...are "Canadian" peas ok? are 6040, Trapper and others ok to plant?

The answer is yes...ALL of those peas are just different varieties of field or forage peas and the only real differences are when they reach maturity.

When the peas are small as with a fall planting they are essentially the same to deer...tiny, tender morsels that deer cannot resist.

Austrian Winter Peas are considered more winter hardy and in some cases with snow cover may survive the winter, however I have found that when spring comes deer do not usually find them attractive, probably because of all the other lush spring forage.

Cow peas are not peas but beans and will die at first frost but all true peas are meant to planted in late March even in the far north so they endure repeated frosts and survive them easily.

My advice is to plant the least expensive peas you can find which will allow you to plant heavier....up to 150#'s per acre with cereal grains.

In all but rare cases whitetails will lap them up as soon as they pop up and in doing so become adapted to that plot and continue grazing on the cereals planted with the peas....

 

[roadking]

Can you drill peas out of a Truax planter in the cool season box? I'm done for this year but may do a rye/oat/ pea mix next year along with clover.

 

[dbltree]

Can you drill peas out of a Truax planter in the cool season box? I'm done for this year but may do a rye/oat/ pea mix next year along with clover.

I think you can plant almost anything out of a Truax! :way:

 

[waylonb19]

Here are some pictures of one of my plots. Had a dozer clear this ridge last fall. Planted a white clover mix this spring. Just tore the top ridge up last weekend and planted a Rye,oats,6040 pea,ground hog radish,alice white clover mix on Sunday before this nice rain. Just looked at it and some rye/oats are up around 3" and looks like the other seed has sprouted from what I can see of some of it laying on top. :way:

 

[dbltree]

Nice work! :way:

 

[dbltree]

Winter rye will grow on almost any kind of soil under almost any kind of conditions so one can get away with out fertilizing it unless…you expect heavy grazing and/or are establishing clovers and building up soil nutrient levels.

In those cases fall is the perfect time to add lime and fertilizer! My friend Walt is trying to build up some poor soil that has been in pasture for decades so each time we plant, we add N-P-K and pellet lime. Eventually we hope to get Ag lime put on but for now the pellet lime will suffice and we apply 400#’s per acre yearly.

Because the plots are hidden, he will have heavy grazing so we put on 200#’s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#’s of 6-24-24 to encourage rapid growth from the rye, oats, peas and GroundHog forage radish but also help establish a healthy stand of Alice white clover and Alta-Swede Mammoth red clover.

Walt has a 3 pt spreader that works well to spread lime, fertilizer and seed!

I mixed the winter rye, oats and forage peas all together and spread the larger seeds right after I had applied the fertilizer and lime.

The skies were threatening as I hurried to get the seeds tilled in and cultipacked!

I spread the radish and clover seeds with the bag seeder and cultipacked again

And the strip plots are complete for another year with strips of white clover, strips of brassicas and strips of the winter rye, oats, forage peas, forage radish and clovers. (since then we have recieved several inches of rain...:way: )

This is a case of extremes you could say…extremely heavy grazing combined with extremely depleted soils that are very low in nutrients, PH and organic matter. Initial costs then are higher then normal but as P&K levels are raised they will eventually only require maintenance applications.

Healthy rye and radish plants will mine subsoil nutrients and add tons of organic matter and healthy clovers will furnish the bulk of the nitrogen needed when they are tilled under. Late winter/early spring we’ll soil test and determine what if anything will be needed when these rye/clover plots are tilled under for a rotation to brassicas next summer and the cycle of feeding whitetails and using crop rotations will continue.

Some of you will wonder….why bother? Just plant some “stuff” and forget it! Those of you who have experienced crop failures due to soil crusting or drought or find your crops yellow, pale and barely surviving will come to understand the importance of building soil organic matter through crop rotations.

Failed crops don’t hold deer and they leave landowners frustrated and disappointed…plot with a plan for the future and failure won’t be an option you’ll have to worry about….