Plowing Started

[landtracdeerhunter]

 Without growalot on board, this subject has been lean as of late.Took the rice tires off finally. Plowed a mass of green manure down today. Going to summer fallow some acreage for a nice radish oat mixture late July. Also got the pumpkin land turned under for June planting. Wheat doing very well with some clover seedlings starting to show. Cherry blossoms are past peak. Some varieties of apples are in blossom . Spies and Cortland are out.  Pear tree blossoms are swelled, but not open yet. Looks like the start of a good growing season here,

[LET EM GROW]

It was nice reading her updates and experiment trials!  I was going to get the sprayer hooked up this week and get to spraying soon ... Like to try some new Summer forages, and such I have yet to try. Growing season came fast once the snow stopped! lol. I have an edge i want to spray off and plant a mix of soybeans, sunflower, corn, sorghum and egyptian wheat. With a straight screen on the outside edge looking in. Hoping to get some summer forage with a little screen too. If they hammer it ill seed in brassicas or Cereals depending on the time.. This buds up to my "Murder Plot which is Clovers currently. Might bust this sod up and not do no till. This hasnt been farmed in many years.. if it ever was..  

[dbHunterNY]

all the cool weather and wetness should be good for growing this year. hopefully we don't hit a drought.  got the garden to do this weekend and would like to get a few old plots back to actually that.  also thinking about turning half the fallow field into cover. will have to pick up some oats to throw in with it though. to keep weeds at bay.  just time that's a problem as always.

[land 1]

well i seeded two spots with clover that had barrasicas in them last fall not sure if they will stay clover come fall,,,,and the clover plot from last year is coming back nicely ,,, plan on increasing plots by at least 3x  this year...already started clearing some small brush and stuff...

[LET EM GROW]

Ordered some seed last night. I have become big on planting big mixes. Mainly for structure, OM and diversity . Will be planting A screening mix as well as a high energy cover/winter feed mix together. On the outside edge it will be strictly Screen. 

The complete mix is: 

Buckwheat, Soybeans, Sunflowers, Sunn Hemp, WGF Sorghum, Forage Sorghum, Egyptian Wheat, Pearl Millet into one plot. This will be slightly under an acre that will bud up to my Clover plot which is around an acre. And the other side of that is a rejuvenating Clear cut. Should be lots of available food and cover in this general location. 

I also bought some seeds for building soils in a plot that doesn't do so well on one half. That mix has:

Spring Triticale, Oats, Spring Peas, Buckwheat, Crimson and Berseem Clover. This will be terminated and used to aid with a fall plating. 

[chas0218]

Yesterday I dragged and planted some stuff I had laying around from last year. Either I broadcast a lot heavier than I'm supposed to or these 1 acre bags don't actually cover an acre. I was being pretty conservative and barely had enough and looks like it's going to be spotty. O well I didn't get my plots ready in time so I'm just planting a small L shaped area I did get ready. Hoping the turkeys don't get to it before it germinates.

Edited May 11, 2018 by chas0218

[chas0218]

1 hour ago, LET EM GROW said:

I also bought some seeds for building soils in a plot that doesn't do so well on one half. That mix has:

Spring Triticale, Oats, Spring Peas, Buckwheat, Crimson and Berseem Clover. This will be terminated and used to aid with a fall plating. 

I did that last year and this year. I'm trying to build up some good soil before I plant my Perennial plot.

[LET EM GROW]

Im not sure if its the clay soil i work with or what, but my perennial plots have done very well for not doing anything prior to planting them ever. But I am strictly no till with no planter now, so i do all i can to aid in germination and retaining moisture. Kinda excited to see how this works. How did yours do? 

1 hour ago, chas0218 said:

I did that last year and this year. I'm trying to build up some good soil before I plant my Perennial plot.

 

[G-Man]

Cleared / enlarged a small plot for brassica and to allow more light to apples. Just about doubled the size of the  plot..

[land 1]

well i planned on getting some wood in for this fall at camp and guess what a turkey has her nest right next to the big dead cherry i dropped two weeks ago so i gotta wait, any one know how long it takes for them to hatch... any way cut some mall trees down that are to big for brush hog where new plots will be this year and fixed up some trails

[t_barb]

for those with experience in growing corn...   I planted 3 acres of corn last week.   This will supplement the other planting I normally do...   my questions is the corn is Roundup ready...    How long do you wait before spraying and what is the correct mixture?

Any help is greatly appreciated

[WNYBuckHunter]

I still havent even started yet. I have a bunch of trees that I need to drop to make a trail to get my tractor into the areas where Im putting the new plots in at my new place. Ive been stuck in Tennessee for about the last week, so that isnt helping me any. Hopefully whenever I finally get home, Ill be able to get started.

[wolc123]

7 hours ago, t_barb said:

for those with experience in growing corn...   I planted 3 acres of corn last week.   This will supplement the other planting I normally do...   my questions is the corn is Roundup ready...    How long do you wait before spraying and what is the correct mixture?

Any help is greatly appreciated

I usually plant corn around Memorial day and spray it around the Fourth of July, when it is about knee high (20").  If you are using a boom sprayer, you might want to get on it a little earlier (about a foot high) for better coverage.   The recommended rate is 32 oz per acre, so you would need a little less than a gallon.   The amount to add per gallon of water depends on your speed and nozzle flow rate.  I always get a real good kill with three oz. of roundup per gallon of water, but I only spray directly on the rows of corn.  I use a cultivator to take out most of the weeds between the rows.  I have two spray nozzles on my two-row cultivator tractor, and I also use a 2-row planter with 36" row spacing.   Weed growth is sparse between the rows anyhow, because I only apply fertilizer on the rows with my planter.   Weeds don't do well without fertilizer.   

There are several advantages to only spraying the Roundup on the rows, and allowing some weeds to grow in between.   Most important is the cost savings.  Using fertilizer and spray, only on the rows, lets you stretch the foodplot budget a lot farther.   Roundup (and knock-offs) has fallen in cost since Monsanto's patent expired, but fertilizer is still costly.    A close second is: weedy corn is more attractive to deer.  Going "wide" with the planter in some areas, deep inside the plot, will allow grassy bedding areas to form.   There is a big difference in growing corn to kill deer and growing it to sell.  Most folks don't know the difference and think it is all about yield.  I always get roundup-ready seed for free by using farmer friend's leftovers from the prior year(s).  It keeps very well and I have noticed no drop in germination when stored up to 5 years, down in my basement.  

One other tip, if you want to see your corn last thru late ML season:   You may have to get rid of some coons.  They start the chain of destruction, by taking down the stalks when the corn is young and tender.   Turkeys, doves and squirrels will move in and clean it up when it is down.   I usually start taking out the coons in late August.  The earlier you take them out, the less corn you will loose.  Coons which are causing destruction (such as eating corn intended for "other" purposes) may be legally killed by landowners, as long as the carcasses are burned or burried.  After regular coon trapping/hunting season opens, they can be thrown out for the buzzards.  Since the crash in fur prices, coon overpopulation has been an issue.   I carry a shovel and a .22 when I am checking traps, which makes compliance with the letter of the law relatively painless, and provides a little more "free" fertilizer.   Coons are about the easiest furbearer there is to trap.   Dog-proof traps, baited with cat food or box traps  baited with marshmellows and peanut butter, will get them under control in short order.      

The coons can also help you though, because the deer also prefer to feed in corn that has been knocked down for them by the coons.   If you are looking for good fall turkey hunting around your corn plot, you definitely want to keep some coons around.    Turkeys will not touch corn if it has not been knocked down for them by the coons.  It is all a trade-off.   Ideally, you will have a little bit of corn left on the last day of ML season.       

      

[chas0218]

On 5/11/2018 at 10:40 AM, LET EM GROW said:

Im not sure if its the clay soil i work with or what, but my perennial plots have done very well for not doing anything prior to planting them ever. But I am strictly no till with no planter now, so i do all i can to aid in germination and retaining moisture. Kinda excited to see how this works. How did yours do? 

 

A lot better than I thought it would I planted it pretty late and it got about 1' tall. It was mostly wheat and oates with some crimson clover. I was pretty surprised to see it do that well. This year I did the same thing, not really expecting much but something is better than nothing. I managed to get around 1/2 acre planted with brassicas, annual clover, and austrian peas. I'm going to get a soil test next year on the 3 different plots. I'm hoping to have a tractor by then to dig out the root balls.

When you do your no till how do you seed, just broadcast? Do you kill it off with some glyphosate then plant 2 weeks later?

Edited May 15, 2018 by chas0218

[chas0218]

12 hours ago, wolc123 said:

I usually plant corn around Memorial day and spray it around the Fourth of July, when it is about knee high (20").  If you are using a boom sprayer, you might want to get on it a little earlier (about a foot high) for better coverage.   The recommended rate is 32 oz per acre, so you would need a little less than a gallon.   The amount to add per gallon of water depends on your speed and nozzle flow rate.  I always get a real good kill with three oz. of roundup per gallon of water, but I only spray directly on the rows of corn.  I use a cultivator to take out most of the weeds between the rows.  I have two spray nozzles on my two-row cultivator tractor, and I also use a 2-row planter with 36" row spacing.   Weed growth is sparse between the rows anyhow, because I only apply fertilizer on the rows with my planter.   Weeds don't do well without fertilizer.   

There are several advantages to only spraying the Roundup on the rows, and allowing some weeds to grow in between.   Most important is the cost savings.  Using fertilizer and spray, only on the rows, lets you stretch the foodplot budget a lot farther.   Roundup (and knock-offs) has fallen in cost since Monsanto's patent expired, but fertilizer is still costly.    A close second is: weedy corn is more attractive to deer.  Going "wide" with the planter in some areas, deep inside the plot, will allow grassy bedding areas to form.   There is a big difference in growing corn to kill deer and growing it to sell.  Most folks don't know the difference and think it is all about yield.  I always get roundup-ready seed for free by using farmer friend's leftovers from the prior year(s).  It keeps very well and I have noticed no drop in germination when stored up to 5 years, down in my basement.  

One other tip, if you want to see your corn last thru late ML season:   You may have to get rid of some coons.  They start the chain of destruction, by taking down the stalks when the corn is young and tender.   Turkeys, doves and squirrels will move in and clean it up when it is down.   I usually start taking out the coons in late August.  The earlier you take them out, the less corn you will loose.  Coons which are causing destruction (such as eating corn intended for "other" purposes) may be legally killed by landowners, as long as the carcasses are burned or burried.  After regular coon trapping/hunting season opens, they can be thrown out for the buzzards.  Since the crash in fur prices, coon overpopulation has been an issue.   I carry a shovel and a .22 when I am checking traps, which makes compliance with the letter of the law relatively painless, and provides a little more "free" fertilizer.   Coons are about the easiest furbearer there is to trap.   Dog-proof traps, baited with cat food or box traps  baited with marshmellows and peanut butter, will get them under control in short order.      

The coons can also help you though, because the deer also prefer to feed in corn that has been knocked down for them by the coons.   If you are looking for good fall turkey hunting around your corn plot, you definitely want to keep some coons around.    Turkeys will not touch corn if it has not been knocked down for them by the coons.  It is all a trade-off.   Ideally, you will have a little bit of corn left on the last day of ML season.       

      

I have heard guys taking a brush hog and making 1 pass around the outside edge of their plot just for the coons and turkey. Also saw guys brush hog a whole plot of corn come deer season. I'm guessing so it's all on the ground and no obstruction when bow hunting.

@t_barb Personally I would shoot the coons and brush hog the edges. Leave it standing if you want deer to come to it for gun season. Deer will walk and bed in the corn when the hunting pressure amps up.

Edited May 15, 2018 by chas0218

[LET EM GROW]

3 hours ago, chas0218 said:

A lot better than I thought it would I planted it pretty late and it got about 1' tall. It was mostly wheat and oates with some crimson clover. I was pretty surprised to see it do that well. This year I did the same thing, not really expecting much but something is better than nothing. I managed to get around 1/2 acre planted with brassicas, annual clover, and austrian peas. I'm going to get a soil test next year on the 3 different plots. I'm hoping to have a tractor by then to dig out the root balls.

When you do your no till how do you seed, just broadcast? Do you kill it off with some glyphosate then plant 2 weeks later?

I broadcast everything usually.

If its a clover blend i'm seeding. I just spray with gly, then broadcast seed once i see it all turning brown(5-10 days after)If i know I definitely killed it all with the first spray ill seed it the same day.. right before good rains though. The rain part is super important. No rain means probably no germination here.  

Brassicas, grains and soybean seeds ill do the same, but follow the broadcasted seed with rolling it with heavy lawn roller. Rain is still super important here, but if your ground is damp, or soft enough the roller will push your seed in enough to allow for germination. But rain is the key for both. 

We have a small seed drill we made last year. I may try it this year .. The seed tubes broke so we just broadcast the soybean last ytear. Just takes longer to plant with the seed drill we made vs broadcasting it. 

[philoshop]

I'm not a food plot guy but I miss Growie's expertise and intrepid experimentation in this area. She knows her stuff, and whoever got under her skin and made her leave shouldn't be too proud of themselves.

I don't know what happened but we've apparently lost a valuable asset to the community. I'll leave it at that, and I hope she comes back.

[LET EM GROW]

I spoke with her a little while back. And I'm most certain we will not see her here ever again. Hope everybody learned what they could from her, as she did offer a ton of information,  and experiences.

[land 1]

hoping to make a day trip and brush hog the new areas then in a week or so spray the areas.  really want to knock it down so i dont accidently run a fawn or some other young critter over. hopefully i will have the new areas ready to go by mid july so when the forecast is right i can seed

[G-Man]

Corn is best planted when oak leaves are the size of a squirrels ear. Spraying. Is best when 4th leave emerges.. 8 to 20 in tall

 As for brush hogging  putting corn on the ground will bring in deer and Turkey.  But it's best done a week or so before you expect to hunt.. making a trail thru corn to your stand is also a good funneling technique

[wolc123]

3 hours ago, G-Man said:

Corn is best planted when oak leaves are the size of a squirrels ear. Spraying. Is best when 4th leave emerges.. 8 to 20 in tall

 As for brush hogging  putting corn on the ground will bring in deer and Turkey.  But it's best done a week or so before you expect to hunt.. making a trail thru corn to your stand is also a good funneling technique

The DEC might frown on using a bush hog to put corn on the ground for bringing in deer or Turkey.   I just brush hogged a corn plot from last fall this week.  I turkey hunted back there a couple morning before cutting it.  It did not look like there was any corn left on it anyhow, but I am not taking any chances.  I am not very much into turkeys, but I will save my tags for up in the Adirondacks over Memorial day weekend. There were a few springs, when I had really good corn plots, and they drew in lots of turkeys when I bush hogged them in the spring.   I never hunted them, but the neighbors may have taken advantage of the situation.   

 

[landtracdeerhunter]

21 hours ago, land 1 said:

hoping to make a day trip and brush hog the new areas then in a week or so spray the areas.  really want to knock it down so i dont accidently run a fawn or some other young critter over. hopefully i will have the new areas ready to go by mid july so when the forecast is right i can seed

I have to be very careful while cutting hay. Doe place young fawns under lodged areas of the field, especially during cloudy days. Heavy clover patches seem to be prime areas here. I can only guess how many get run through these larger haybines,  farms run today.

[chas0218]

On 5/15/2018 at 12:10 PM, LET EM GROW said:

I broadcast everything usually.

If its a clover blend i'm seeding. I just spray with gly, then broadcast seed once i see it all turning brown(5-10 days after)If i know I definitely killed it all with the first spray ill seed it the same day.. right before good rains though. The rain part is super important. No rain means probably no germination here.  

Brassicas, grains and soybean seeds ill do the same, but follow the broadcasted seed with rolling it with heavy lawn roller. Rain is still super important here, but if your ground is damp, or soft enough the roller will push your seed in enough to allow for germination. But rain is the key for both. 

We have a small seed drill we made last year. I may try it this year .. The seed tubes broke so we just broadcast the soybean last ytear. Just takes longer to plant with the seed drill we made vs broadcasting it. 

I have been thinking about a seed drill for corn but might invest into a small 3 point disc and use that to scratch up the ground a little then broadcast and disc again to cover the seed slightly. My plan was to try no till but in the past I didn't have good results. I might till the first year to prep the seed bed and get everything level and ready for the following years. I think my seed bed was my problem in previous trials. I also used those "Throw and Go" type seeds so that could have contributed to my problem. My plan was to have 2 perennial plots and 1 annual to plant corn and soybean. 

On 5/15/2018 at 12:56 PM, philoshop said:

I'm not a food plot guy but I miss Growie's expertise and intrepid experimentation in this area. She knows her stuff, and whoever got under her skin and made her leave shouldn't be too proud of themselves.

I don't know what happened but we've apparently lost a valuable asset to the community. I'll leave it at that, and I hope she comes back.

Is what it is, people will come and go. Unfortunately in today's society you need thick skin to be able to partake in social media. It is just non stop personal attacks, I follow numerous Pro 2nd Amendment and have the antis attack me and my opinion non stop. I will admit I have been guilty of throwing a name out at a person on here before but when someone is passionate about something they love and are constantly ridiculed for little things it wears on them (not in my situation but in Grows).

[LET EM GROW]

No till with corn is hard, unless its a no till drill. the seed needs to be under the soil good. and over an inch deep. Especially for the birds sake. If its not deep enough the tweety birds will pull it right out of the ground.. also if not deep enough i would imagine the wind can raise hell with it.  Un even seed bed is tough with no till, if your using bigger seeds. Smaller seeds should still work, provided good heavy rains follow. 

[land 1]

well just got done brush hogging i would say 3 acres to expand my plots this year, next is to spray those areas and then burn them off and plow,  all are fall plots so hope to be done by mid july...