Started our 2020 Food Plots,

[DDT]

Weather is too good to waste. Decided to mow the corn stalks today. The corn had been pretty well eaten. Only found a few ears left. Chopped up the stalks so they can decompose for the remainder of the winter in preparation for no till planting of soybeans. Did the no till soybean planting last year over a previous sorghum plot, grew great. We had very good plots of QDMA supplied beans. Corn was expensive but was a real draw. I wish we could get corn seed through QDMA.

[Zag]

1 hour ago, DDT said:

Weather is too good to waste. Decided to mow the corn stalks today. The corn had been pretty well eaten. Only found a few ears left. Chopped up the stalks so they can decompose for the remainder of the winter in preparation for no till planting of soybeans. Did the no till soybean planting last year over a previous sorghum plot, grew great. We had very good plots of QDMA supplied beans. Corn was expensive but was a real draw. I wish we could get corn seed through QDMA.

Get the corn seed thru nwtf chapter, it's very similar to qdma. 

[moog5050]

2 hours ago, DDT said:

Weather is too good to waste. Decided to mow the corn stalks today. The corn had been pretty well eaten. Only found a few ears left. Chopped up the stalks so they can decompose for the remainder of the winter in preparation for no till planting of soybeans. Did the no till soybean planting last year over a previous sorghum plot, grew great. We had very good plots of QDMA supplied beans. Corn was expensive but was a real draw. I wish we could get corn seed through QDMA.

What do you use to mow corn?

[Nomad]

16 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

What do you use to mow corn?

Beans in this pic. But does corn too.

[wolc123]

There are options to save money on corn seed.   If you know any farmers, they usually have leftovers at the end of the season, and it keeps very well.   I have planted seed that was up to 6 years old, with no noticeable loss in germination.  I store it in plastic containers, on a shelf, in our basement.  When using old seed, testing it for germination in a wet paper towel or rag is not a bad idea.   Since much of my extended family and friends are in the dairy business, I have never had to fork over any cash for corn seed.    Other folks claim to have planted feed corn (less than $10 a bag at TSC), and had decent results. Most feed corn even retains the RR trait.   I would avoid that option, because it is probably illegal, and it is unlikely to provide as good of yield as seed corn.    So much effort is required, beyond the seed - tillage, fertilizer, spray, etc., that it makes more sense to me to use "real" seed corn.   

While corn seed stores well for several years, soybeans do not because of their higher oil content.    That does not stop me from obtaining free leftover soybeans from my friends at the end of planting season (usually around July 1).   I just make sure to use it up, for late summer/early fall plantings, that same year.    That way, I get the maximum deer-attractive power in October, when one can actually kill the deer.   I broadcast them, along with wheat and white clover, on those late summer plots.  The sprouting soybeans draw deer to those plots like candy.   Thanks to "climate change", we have not been getting killing frosts until mid to late October.  Pods are over-rated, when it comes to soybeans for deer.   It is the green and growing plants that they like best.  They will avoid yellowing/drying soybeans like the plague.     Throughout gun season, they will walk over pods in the dark, to get to standing corn, where they will hang out all day long thanks to the cover that the corn stalks provide.            

[G-Man]

Can get corn thru wild turkey federation

[DDT]

We mowed the corn with a Swisher Predator. Took awhile but the tractor is put away for the winter and we wouldn't tow it in the salt.

I need to look into the NWTF. 

[LET EM GROW]

NWTF has several choices of seed. Or maybe it was Pheasants forever that did.. either way there is a few choices for cheaper seeds.