Winter rye?

[catskillkid]

Having trouble getting any other food source established except for clover. Deer and other critters wipe out turnips and beans before they get 6" tall. I'm thinking of planting winter rye with clover mixed in this August. Any other suggestions? Also is winter rye the best choice of the winter grains?

Thanks for the help!

Edited July 27, 2012 by catskillkid

[SplitG2]

do you plan on making it a perennial plot?

[catskillkid]

HI Split

At this point I am not concerned about if they are annual or perennial. I have 8 different plots that average a third acre each. Clover seems to be the "go to" seed, only because nothing else seems to be able to keep up with the deer consumption. I know there is an over population of deer and/or not enough food plot area.

There is nobody else planting in my area and the dairy farmers are just letting their fields go to hay so there is no other planted food source such as corn or beans to distribute the over browsing on my land. I really don't want to spend the time and $ to fence off the plots either.

I planted Winter Rye and clover mix this weekend in 2 plots and will do the same in a third plot next weekend. I guess it is a good thing to have too many deer, but I would still like to.have something other than clover in a few of the plots

The DEC says that DMZ 4O is below carrying capacity, I think they should do a new population count.

Thanks for the help!

[SplitG2]

Try this mix its very popular on qdma forum. Plants 1acre.

Wr-56lbs

Oats-80 lbs

Winter peas or 4010-25lbs

Red clover-8lbs

Radish-5lbs

[catskillkid]

Will do

thanks

[Gthphtm]

Hope you plan on putting down lime and fert. also

[wdswtr]

Dd I read this right? Thats 174 lbs of seed for 1 acre. Sounds awfully high number to me.

[Gthphtm]

Shure does .The winter rye will most likely come up first and choke some of the other seed out.

[SplitG2]

no it will be fine. oats and wr get planted at higher rates than that per acre.

[SplitG2]

Sorry typed 80 instead of 30 for the oats.

[wdswtr]

I would have to double check but I do believe I was at 90 lbs on just oats alone and an oh man was that plot thick.

[SplitG2]

They say to plant 3 bushels an acre. A bushel of oats is 36lbs.

[SplitG2]

Wr is 2 bushels an acre and a bushel is 56lbs.

[tj1187]

What is the better choice? winter Rye or winter wheat. I planted some winter wheat a few years ago and the deer were all over it,

[wdswtr]

Winter wheat this year was a flop. I actually cut it and redid the plot. Was suppose to stay green into winter but was dead and dry by begining of July. Thick and atleast 5 feet tall and deer didnt touch any of it. Oats on the other hand was a huge hit and deer ate it right up into winter till it was gone. There is some rye in the replant with winter peas, and other seeds I forget at this moment.

[landtracdeerhunter]

I prefer winter wheat to rye. Rye grows very tall and tends to fall over this time of the year.. Wheat shorter,stands better. Deer are feeding heavy in it. Also, people pay more $ for clean wheat straw. When heads are gone, I'll bale it. Last year, got 100 bales, sold for $4 a bale. Help pay for costs.

Edited August 2, 2012 by landtracdeerhunter

[catskillkid]

I planted WR and clover mix in 2 plots, the rye was 6" tall in 7 days and the clover has sprouted also.

Last weekend I planted a third plot with a close mix of Split's recommendation. WR, oats & red clover. Should be interesting to see what happens

And yes, fertizilized with triple 19 and had 2 tons of lime per acre applied in early spring

Edited August 9, 2012 by catskillkid

[sampotter]

Wdwstr- winter wheat and winter rye shouldn't be planted until the fall. It goes into the winter about 6" tall and finishes growing the following spring. Harvest is usually in july when the seed has matured and the foliage is dead and brown...

[wdswtr]

Thanks sam. My problem was I planted whitetail forage oats that had some winter wheat seed in it. It was a fall planted food plot and the oats did fantastic. The wheat did not grow till the spring. It shot up faster than anything I ever seen grow. End of may the stuff wast probably 4 feet tall. It was not a planned crop. Its all been chopped and gone now anyways. Winter peas, soybeans,sunflower mix was put in last weekend. Thats suprised me how fast it germinated and is growing good already too.

[sampotter]

The winter wheat did exactly what it was programmed to do then. Sounds like you got a bag of unpure seed.

[tj1187]

When should winter wheat be planted in northern Dutchess County?

[SplitG2]

I like to plant labor day weekend for my cereal grains.

[Ford]

Would a 1/4 acre of wheat clover mix be to small? I have a half acre of brassica planted about a 1000 feet away. Any info appreciated.