the feed corn planting....

[growalot]

Burmjohn....

You asked if I had pics around Oct...so this is the last time I'll be near there until the season opens took a few..its actually still under ripe and not started to dry ....about same as the farmers field not far from me...we planted the same week...but the deer are hitting it from all the droppings they've left and the ears are a good size...considering how many ppl keep telling me it wouldn't produce decent ears ....showed this to a guy and he was very surprised then said look me up in the spring I have 2 tons to give away for turkey planting ...OK.!..he liked the fact I plant grain sorghum for the birds

Edited September 28, 2011 by growalot

[burmjohn]

Wow! thats good to know, maybe next year I'll give it a try. Especially since its so cheap.

[Dave]

Burmjohn....

You asked if I had pics around Oct...so this is the last time I'll be near there until the season opens took a few..its actually still under ripe and not started to dry ....about same as the farmers field not far from me...we planted the same week...but the deer are hitting it from all the droppings they've left and the ears are a good size...considering how many ppl keep telling me it wouldn't produce decent ears ....showed this to a guy and he was very surprised then said look me up in the spring I have 2 tons to give away for turkey planting ...OK.!..he liked the fact I plant grain sorghum for the birds

Growalot, what type of corn did you plant? When did you plant it? How did you prepare the soil before planting?

[growalot]

it was a $9.00 bag of feed corn from T/C farm and tractor.....Virgin soil that I weed killed...disced...disced...disced...limed...limed ..limed and put down just 100#'s of 15/15/15...Oh and 50#'s of Homistat in early June

[landtracdeerhunter]

A farmer friend told me that local raised corn won't grow, because of being dried down to 12% moisture, that kills the germ . The TS store gets their corn from the midwest where is doesn't need drying, thus it will grow. It's also a hybrid so, you take your chances. Grow proved how well it will do.

Edited September 28, 2011 by landtracdeerhunter

[G-Man]

local corn will grow..all corn is dried evenout west i have a friend who raises beef cattle in iowa and he grows his own corn....to 10-12 % moisture... dont belive it grab some whole kernals out of your bird food and do a germ test on them... Grows sounds like you found a guy that gets corn seed from the turkey fed or safari club...rr ready seed corn earmarked for wildlife plantings!

[landtracdeerhunter]

Grow, I know you plant it for the birds, but do the deer bother with the sorghum right now, and what about when it turns brown? Might try some next year.

[growalot]

The sorghum is new this year and I planted for birds wild and domestic...we have chickens....My seeding rate was...lets say a tad thicker than I really wanted in some areas....which did this....caused a good barrier to one side of the corn from damage...for the deer and raccoons dont travel through the sorghum.....I over seeded the soybeans with it ..too thick...but it grows so slow that the beans came up and grew........ one area the deer hit hard and another the rabbits and deer took out...well the sorghum grew and the bigger it got the less the critters hit the beans...so I have a lot of soybeans...short...with beans on them and still green..pic below...I read that deer wouldn't hit grain sorghum until it headed out and then they eat the soft new shoots...good protein...nope...never touched them...also told they would hit the dried seed heads....that remains to be seen

Now I tell you this knowing I will plant much more next year...for the deer here never hit my turnips....S.beans...or chicory hard the first year planted....now they flock to it...I'm also going to test growing Sun hemp next year...Now that I'm fencing one sid of our property I have another 3acres I can open up and plant...so I will be testing a few more things

[G-Man]

thats the case i found with soybeans and turnips as well 1st year kind of untouched..the next year....cant plant enough and it got wiped out...

[landtracdeerhunter]

Here are some oats I planted on the last day of August. First time experiment planting oats in the Fall, Protein 14 %. About 5 " tall now. Deer have found them and are hammering away. Still eating alfalfa, trefoil, clover, and grapes

Edited September 29, 2011 by landtracdeerhunter

[Dave]

it was a $9.00 bag of feed corn from T/C farm and tractor.....Virgin soil that I weed killed...disced...disced...disced...limed...limed ..limed and put down just 100#'s of 15/15/15...Oh and 50#'s of Homistat in early June

What do you use to plant the corn? Do you use a mechanical device or plant my hand? Or some type of seeder.

[growalot]

I have a 40lb push spreader and that is how I spread the seed and fertilizers and lime...

I over seed because I've learned that even after discing it in...it only takes a turkey to find one seed and they just kill a plot...to keep deer at bay I spread Milorganite and that gives the corn time to grow..plus fertilizes it.....all seed is spread by hand...clovers and small seed like that I have a hand held spreader...pic shows main section of corn when still small.... there are two others

[landtracdeerhunter]

Corn seems to do as well broadcasting on, as planting in rows. Some hunters out west planted milo this year because their corn was stunted, due to the drought. It seem to do well in droughty conditions. Deer are eating it, even though their not use to seeing it. Seems like something to try next year.

[growalot]

There are two different types of sorghum ...the grain and the forage sorghum...grain is not sweet and the deer seem to avoid it .....the forage sorghum they will hit due to the starch sugar conversion but you could risk prussic poisoning ....although grain sorghum contains high prussic levels it is less desirable to deer until fully mature....at which stage the prussic levels are usually significantly less