Trying something different this year.

[Bucksnbears]

K guys. On my little 32 acre piece of riverbottom, I've carved out all I can do for foodplots.
Got 6 plots and all are no bigger then a 1/4 acre.
For 14 years, I've sprayed to keep them completely black from early spring until time to plant.
Pumpkins June 10, Brassicas July 25.
Never had a failure barring timely rains.

After watching some YouTube stuff, seems I have been BAKING my soil.
So this year (have had lots of rain), I figgered I'd just mow each plot with a 54" riding mower.
I got my pumpkins planted a Fer days ago, bout an acre worth on 4 different plots and was amazed at the amount of earthworms I dug up planting them. Literally every place I put in seeds I'd have worms.
This should be a good thing from what I understand right?

Have got 2 different 1/4 acre spots for brassicas for future use. Just got done mowing them for the 2nd time to keep the weeds from getting thick and seeding out.
I'm not a soil guy but the soil just looks fantastic.
Question is, will those growing weeds take up much nutrients or will cutting them,retaining moisture and adding the organic matter (clippings) be beneficial?
Kinda time consuming but just seeing all the worms makes me thing this may be the ticket for healthier soil.?

 

[Hardwood11]

I like to have clover and chicory at each farm, in the spring/early summer…If you have a nice riding mower you can mow that plot with it .

I do that at one of my farms and it works perfectly fine!

 

[Sligh1]

Agree u don’t want bare black soil. Erosion is horrible if there’s any incline. It sounds like it’s flat so that’s not as big of deal. Ya- ur temps on that soil are crazy high. Bacteria, fungus, microbes will all get cooked. Worms will go down deeper if too hot.
U would be far better with clovers there for example. Clovers will create nitrogen, cool the soil, stop any erosion & help other organisms. Or even soybeans. If want to be able to control the weeds through mowing like u are doing or herbicides. If u only have weeds- some will make it to seed even with mowing. Still better than letting it go though. Takes a few years to get weed seeds under control & u have that part down. Keep the weed seeds from blowing up. Mowing is better than nothing. You aren’t hurting nutrients in soil from weeds. U might add a tiny bit of organic matter from clipping. Because u are not baling & removing plant matter - no nutrient loss long term…. The weeds will take some up but as they break down again- they will release them.

 

[Bucksnbears]

I like to have clover and chicory at each farm, in the spring/early summer…If you have a nice riding mower you can mow that plot with it .

I do that at one of my farms and it works perfectly fine!

I do have a couple real small clover plots. I don't like hunting until late October and by then, they are usually down to the dirt but sure is fun watching deer all summer stop by and eat in them.

Skip, super flat ground here. Don't have any erosion problems.
I'm amazed at the amount of earthworms.
Like said, I'm just a small scale foodploter.
Nother question, I try and put down about 2/300 lb of triple 19 a year .
If I don't dig it in, and just broadcast it before a good rain, will it do much good?
I'm just 1 mile from the Nd/ Mn border (Red River) which is arguably the best in the world.
Goal is to quite digging up the plots every year but fear if I don't, the fertilizer I spread won't do any good unless I do?

Thanks for the input.