bjkpharmd
New Member
Way too hot to play outside so I thought I'd give this a shot- will try to get back to it and edit as I can.
The purpose of this plot was to provide a large feeder plot with forage throughout the year. It is in the secluded rear field about 80 yards from a large tract of timber to the north and about 80 yards from a 10 acre prairie remnant to the south and the timber through the middle of this property. I have a home-made blind set in the east fence and a couple tree stands to the north side.
Aerial
I mowed the area (about 5 acres) in early August of 2004, was going to get it fall plowed but had trouble with arrangements so we ended up spraying it with 2 quarts/acre round-up but were a little late to get a good kill.
Lime truck hauled and spread lime at a little over 2 tons/acre. Frost seeded clover in Feb/Mar 2005 and clover came on OK but didn’t compete well with leftover brome, probably didn’t get real good seed to soil contact because the brome was still standing thicker than it should have been.
Sprayed again some areas with round-up that didn’t get the best kill and then used my tractor and rented no-till drill to drill beans.
Spraying
Drill
It was a little dry so we didn’t get optimal growth but deer and turkey just hammered the beans- nothing got over about 4-5” tall except where beans were kind of hidden in some taller grass.
Decided that plot was doing the job but was a bust for fall food. Drill came back through and put in a couple acres of BFO and the balance in rye.
Seed bed from no-till drill
Sept planting
Good conditions for fall growth.
BFO and rye looked really good.
Deer and turkey used this plot extensively throughout the fall and winter.
Once we had a little cold- the BFO turned yellow but rye stayed green all winter.
Youth season there were 6 does shot off this field, a couple more during shotgun season, and 4 more during late muzzleloader and extended rifle season.
Even after all winter- the rye has some green in it in March.
Frost seeded ladino, jumbo ladino, and a little red clover in March, saw some early growth during turkey season.
Lots of deer and turkey in the spring green rye, turkeys harvested were packed full of young clover and rye.
Strutting on the rye all spring
You can see the difference between where the rye came back and the BFO died off- the clover looked good early in the BFO but the stuff that was in the rye was protected more and looked better later.
Rye matured and was left as a nurse crop
I mowed it off a week ago ahead of the rains, clover has responded beautifully to the rain but I’m nervous about all the heat.
The purpose of this plot was to provide a large feeder plot with forage throughout the year. It is in the secluded rear field about 80 yards from a large tract of timber to the north and about 80 yards from a 10 acre prairie remnant to the south and the timber through the middle of this property. I have a home-made blind set in the east fence and a couple tree stands to the north side.
Aerial
I mowed the area (about 5 acres) in early August of 2004, was going to get it fall plowed but had trouble with arrangements so we ended up spraying it with 2 quarts/acre round-up but were a little late to get a good kill.
Lime truck hauled and spread lime at a little over 2 tons/acre. Frost seeded clover in Feb/Mar 2005 and clover came on OK but didn’t compete well with leftover brome, probably didn’t get real good seed to soil contact because the brome was still standing thicker than it should have been.
Sprayed again some areas with round-up that didn’t get the best kill and then used my tractor and rented no-till drill to drill beans.
Spraying
Drill
It was a little dry so we didn’t get optimal growth but deer and turkey just hammered the beans- nothing got over about 4-5” tall except where beans were kind of hidden in some taller grass.
Decided that plot was doing the job but was a bust for fall food. Drill came back through and put in a couple acres of BFO and the balance in rye.
Seed bed from no-till drill
Sept planting
Good conditions for fall growth.
BFO and rye looked really good.
Deer and turkey used this plot extensively throughout the fall and winter.
Once we had a little cold- the BFO turned yellow but rye stayed green all winter.
Youth season there were 6 does shot off this field, a couple more during shotgun season, and 4 more during late muzzleloader and extended rifle season.
Even after all winter- the rye has some green in it in March.
Frost seeded ladino, jumbo ladino, and a little red clover in March, saw some early growth during turkey season.
Lots of deer and turkey in the spring green rye, turkeys harvested were packed full of young clover and rye.
Strutting on the rye all spring
You can see the difference between where the rye came back and the BFO died off- the clover looked good early in the BFO but the stuff that was in the rye was protected more and looked better later.
Rye matured and was left as a nurse crop
I mowed it off a week ago ahead of the rains, clover has responded beautifully to the rain but I’m nervous about all the heat.