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Cereal Grains and cover crops

Can broadcast winter rye into an existing clover field in March or April and left to mature so that the clover plot would eventually be able to take advantage of the alleopathic properties of the rye or would it better to just spary the clover plot with Arrow, Poast or some other grass selective herbicide?

No...better off to use clethodim to clean up grasses :way:
 
If I sprayed roundup and then broadcasted winter rye would it grow or does the roundup kill the winter rye seed?
 
If I sprayed roundup and then broadcasted winter rye would it grow or does the roundup kill the winter rye seed?
You'd be fine. Round-up won't hurt seed. In any case, I just spray the round-up 1st and then immediately broadcast the rye right behind it. You'd be fine.
 
September 11, 2011

Ten years ago an attack on our country left thousands of people dead and many more lives shattered, as we pursue our habitat and hunting endeavors it's important to keep things in perspective and be thankful for our blessings including that we are alive an free to enjoy them....

I finished planting fall plots with a little over 37 acres of the cereal grain mix in the ground, the first fields were planted August 26th and received nearly 2" of rain on the 30th...they are off to the races now!

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We are establishing red clover and alfalfa in this field and the little seedlings are popping up!

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Along with the little Groundhog forage radish plants!

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This field will be attracting deer all fall and winter and then for years to come as an alfalfa field!

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Each field is a sea of green!

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With all of the rye, oats, peas, radish and clovers up and growing!

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and it didn't take the deer long to find the salad bar deluxe! (the previous landowner told me he didn't think deer liked rye...;))

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About half of the plantings were done after the rain and it's been dry since so once again we find ourselves praying for rain, yet thankful for simply being blessed with land on which to enjoy planting and hunting.... ;)
 
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September 11th, 2011

Ten years ago an attack on our country left thousands of people dead and many more lives shattered, as we pursue our habitat and hunting endeavors it's important to keep things in perspective and be thankful for our blessings including that we are alive an free to enjoy them....

I finished planting fall plots with a little over 37 acres of the cereal grain mix in the ground, the first fields were planted August 26th and received nearly 2" of rain on the 30th...they are off to the races now!

IMG_6041.jpg


We are establishing red clover and alfalfa in this field and the little seedlings are popping up!

IMG_6044.jpg


Along with the little Groundhog forage radish plants!

IMG_6043.jpg


This field will be attracting deer all fall and winter and then for years to come as an alfalfa field!

IMG_6042.jpg


Each field is a sea of green!

IMG_6062.jpg


With all of the rye, oats, peas, radish and clovers up and growing!

IMG_6063.jpg


and it didn't take the deer long to find the salad bar deluxe! (the previous landowner told me he didn't think deer liked rye...;))

IMG_6071.jpg


About half of the plantings were done after the rain and it's been dry since so once again we find ourselves praying for rain, yet thankful for simply being blessed with land on which to enjoy planting and hunting.... ;)
 
About half of the plantings were done after the rain and it's been dry since so once again we find ourselves praying for rain, yet thankful for simply being blessed with land on which to enjoy planting and hunting.... ;)

I planted the "dbltree cereal mix" on 9/4-9/5 and the first hint of rain was on Wednesday 9/14. I think the rye/oats/clover should be fine for the fall but what about the peas and radishes? Is it too late for them to amount to anything assuming they germinate in the next few days?
 
I planted the "dbltree cereal mix" on 9/4-9/5 and the first hint of rain was on Wednesday 9/14. I think the rye/oats/clover should be fine for the fall but what about the peas and radishes? Is it too late for them to amount to anything assuming they germinate in the next few days?

No they should still provide forage yet this fall so keep us posted! Put up an exclusion cage to know how much growth you really get compared to grazing height...:way:
 
First look at my fall food plots

The drought in Oklahoma this year made me push back my fall planting (I usually plant Labor Day Weekend). On the 10th of September I disked an addition to an existing food plot that I had worked on all year cutting brush and trees. This is how it looked after I packed in the seeds with my tractor. Absolutely no moisture, but the weather man said it was coming!
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Here is my son doing a little red neck surfing
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5 days after planting 9/15/11, we got 1.3" and it got my rye, oats, red and white clover going. Then about a week later, yesterday the 22nd we got almost 2" more. I couldn't wait so I went out today to see how it looked. The grains and clover are both coming up great. The soil was very "fluffy" and I was concerned about the clover but it worked out fine.
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The next two pics show the field from opposite ends.
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In the middle of this field I have Milo and Millet still standing. I was hoping to make it a dove plot, but I decided to leave the Milo for the deer. Next year I will expand the plot more so I can make strips instead of blocks of different crops.

Last year I planted rye alone but after reading this thread I wished I had added clover and oats. I was going to add forage radishes and chicory as well this year but I didn't want to buy the seed if it was going to be too dry to plant. When the forecast finally said rain was coming, my local seed store was out of chicory and daikon forage radishes.

When I got there today I had 300 pics of mostly does and fawns. They are eating corn and keeping the grains mowed around my feeder. Lord willing I or my son will put one of the does in the freezer opening day.

Thanks Dbltree for all your advice!
 
September 26th, 2011

Some of our rye/oats/pea/radish/red clover mix has been in the ground for nearly 30 days now and we are able to see the fruits of our labors...

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Pick any day and they are out there!

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and they will be out there literally all fall, winter, spring and summer with this combination of crops planted together

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They have grazed this field hard despite being adjacent to alfalfa and despite extremely dry conditions the rye mix is holding it's own

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We use trail cams with field scan modes that allow us to verify what is actually going on out in the plots but grazing is also obvious....

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This planting was done to establish alfalfa and red clover...and it's coming up nicely!

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I'm going to continue to share "field scan" pics of deer in rye mix plots over the next few days but I also encourage you to share your own in this thread if your cams have the capability.... :way:
 
I figured I would share some pictures. I posted in the management form that I had the guy skip out on planting my fall food plots this year. I had the field sprayed and ready to go for him and he never showed. Anyway the field was sprayed in the middle of july.
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As you can tell from the picture I was left with a field full of foxtail. It is crazy when you burn a field off how fast the foxtail can take over.
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After a couple hours with a mower and a tiller I had it looking decent and ready to be planted. I used a truax trillion and planted winter rye. I planted it at 150 pounds on a little over 1.5 acres.
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I like the view from the stand. We just need to get a little rain to get it kick started. I know it is far better to kill it off before you till it under but I decided in the last few days to do it so I didnt have the time. I also wanted to get it in before the rain on monday. I did get it planted but it rained probably less than a 1/10 of an inch. Praying for more rain. I will keep you guys posted on how it comes in. It was planted on 9/26/11
 
Thanks for the pictures and post! :way:

I have a good friend who owned a farm near mine and of course we share habitat information and observations on a regular basis and he would comment about deer using his standing soybeans, turnips and clover but tell me the rye mix he didn't feel was getting much attention. I in turn would say "gee...mine are getting hammered so what's going on over there??"

My friend sold his farm and the new owner asked me to take over the habitat management, something I was eager to do in part to see if I would find different results then my friend had?? We have a ways to go and with no rain this summer I was challenged to grow ANYTHING let alone put into play the crop rotations that I normally employ. In late August I tilled up everything including the brassica strips that never germinated and planted all of the plots to the one crop mix I can always count on...winter rye/oats/winter peas/forage radish and red clover and my son and I finished cultipacking the last plot when God blessed us with 2" of rain!

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So there are some interesting observations that I have been able to make now, some comparisons and using cams on field scan mode I can have "eyes" on these plots 24-7 rather then just when someone happens to be hunting or some such.

One observation is that the brassica seed that laid there for 2 months with no rain to germinate it and then was disced under with a heavy 16' disc....all came up when we got rain!! I would have thought that the disc would have buried it too deep??

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Since people often want to mix brassicas with cereals in the fall...this is a good opportunity to show how little growth they get compared to mid summer brassica plantings.

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The Groundhog forage radish is an exception because it grows extremely fast in 30 days and can indeed provide an excellent draw during hunting season.

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The peas tend to be more attractive a little later on which work well because it gives them a chance to grow

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The rye and oats however are getting hammered...in every field on every farm so I am unsure why my friend felt he observed something different but there are many many variables that can effect what we see and what actually is going on.

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The other interesting observation is that there are large fields of wheat stubble, full of volunteer wheat that sprouted with the same 3" rain, right adjacent to several of the rye combination plots. Those fields were not-till planted to soybeans in early July but failed to grow more then 4-6" high thanks to the drought...yet the deer are focusing solely on the rye combination plots

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You can see that the wheat is young and tender, same height as the rye and oats...yet untouched

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All of that being said...the only thing that matter is if deer are using this plots on a daily basis and that's where the field scan cams come in handy!

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I would also mention here that there are thousands of acres of both standing and freshly harvested corn and soybeans surrounding this farm so these deer do have choices

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Note the Egyptian Wheat screens and hidden centralized feeding areas....that along makes a huge difference!

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So if we plant one crop in a hidden area that is well screened and another in a wide open field far away from bedding cover...we are going to see a difference in use

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One observation is that the brassica seed that laid there for 2 months with no rain to germinate it and then was disced under with a heavy 16' disc....all came up when we got rain!! I would have thought that the disc would have buried it too deep??

Same thing happened to us Paul! I couldn't believe it when I went back to see the back plot. Brassicas growing up everywhere!
 
Rain does wonders

Planted 1.5 acres of rye, oats, GH forage radish, alice white clover / alsike clover on Aug 31 as per Dbltree's instructions using an ATV disc and cultipacker. Our foodplot is in the Ohio River floodplain so we did 4lbs Alice and 4 lbs Alsike (per acre) to deal with the flooding we get every spring. We have received 6 inches of rain since we planted and it is growing great.

Saw 21 deer eating feeding in the evening on 9/22. Can't wait for bow season to start :grin:
 

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Well my cereal grain crop is looking very good.
I planted rye, oats, GFR, peas and clover. It rained within
3 days and good super hot. We did not get a drop of rain for two weeks after that.

My cereal grains next to my brassicas.

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In this food plot the brassica did not grow very well.

I filled it in with cereal grains and planted the other half with all
cereal grains.

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Everything is growing great.

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October 6th, 2011

My wife's youngest sister was tragically killed by a drunk driver on September 30th, so I am nearly a week behind in posting pictures an updates as these are from the last week of September.

The brassicas that never came up in July, did come up after being tilled under and re-planted to the rye combination mix and while they are doing quite well, they will never achieve the fantastic growth of those that DID germinate in July.

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These, you will notice are far thicker then a smattering of Groundhog forage radish that I normally mix with the cereal grain mix and thus compete vigorously with the cereals and peas normally planted in late August.

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The rye/oats/peas/radish/clover mix typically look like this

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With the cereals providing the bulk of the forage

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The peas and radish providing the "candy" in the mix that help adapt deer to feeding there

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After the last rain, more GHFR and cereals are coming up in late planted plots

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and it doesn't take deer long to start grazing the succulent young plants

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The difference in soil quality is obvious here, where I tilled closer to the edge of the timber...soil organic matter is almost non-existent and trees suck up any remaining soil moisture and nutrients.

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Even the cereals struggle here and this is a great example of why we need to improve soils through the use of cover crops that feed deer and soils both. This soil received the same fertilizer, lime and rainfall as the rest of the field yet plants suffer greatly.

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The Egyptian Wheat screens are a huge help in making deer feel comfortable feeding n the rye plots during daylight hours

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I planted over 30 acres of the rye combination on multiple farms in several counties and all of them are being grazed heavily.

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Please share your own pictures in this thread, be safe in the timber this fall and please....don't drink and drive....
 
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Paul - I had noticed that you hadn't been posting lately and now I know why. I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your sister-in-law.

I really have no tolerance for drunk drivers, for this very reason, and I do not hesitate to dial 911 and be an uncool "narc" if I see someone swerving around, etc, while driving. I've done it multiple times and it has led directly to arrests at least a couple of times. To me, drunk driving is no different than shooting a gun randomly in the air and we sure don't tolerate that, rightfully so. Someone, and way too often it is someone completely innocent, is going to get hurt or killed eventually by a drunk driver.

Truly a sad deal, again, I am sorry to hear that, please pass along condolences to Lori and your family.
 
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