No I haven't had the money or the time to fertilize yet, I was planning on doing it this weekend. I'm not sure If I want to fertilize because of the grass and few weeds I have. I feel like it I do that the IC peas will not be able to compete with the growth of everything else. I think I'm going to wait until the deer eat all the peas and sunflowers then take my soil samples again and fertilize accordingly. I just don't want to waste money on the clubs dime

I can understand that. Just monitor things and keep in mind as summer goes on that the other grasses and such is what will be the hay for your fall planting. That�s the planting that really counts and what this method was really meant to plant�cereal grain, clover, etc�..We�re about 100 ish days away from fall planting. It would be good if by the end of the summer you end up with a field of vegetation at least waist high. Some of that will depend on how thick the vegetation may be. You just want to be able to completely cover over your seed and soil surface after you spread it.

well I'll have plenty of stuff to work with for my thatch that's for sure. Hopefully the peas will make a jump after this big rain we had. last I looked they were stunted and about 12 inches tall, maybe they will outgrow everything else

I hate to say it but throw and mow ain't for me. I've actually taken better care of my fields than normal but the tonnage ain't there. I tried it CNC but building om isn't as important to me as feeding the deer and it's slim this year. I definitely have a good crop of crab grass on most of the fields but my peas that are normally great by now are getting taken over. Good luck to all y'all trying it my objectives are a little different than what I achieved.

I'm working on building some thatch on a newly cleared area. It has been in hardwoods for 20+ years.
Put out lime and 65lbs/acre of buckwheat yesterday and added a few bags of triple 13 today. Five minutes after I finished putting out the fert we got a nice 1/2" rain. Could not have planned it any better!

I understand. Its not for everyone. Its takes time and patience. I can only repeat so many times that this isn't a system designed to do a one time summer planting of beans or corn and then step back and judge it. That's not the first step but folks only hear what they want to. Its meant to build up fertility and efficiency over time. I'm not trying to "feed" deer...I'm trying to attract them at a much lower cost than traditional plantings. I don' mean that to be demeaning.

So I had to do this pretty quickly between rain storms today ��but I decided to go ahead and mow since the weather was right for it. This was the last of the Mohicans as far as the peas and buckwheat. The buckwheat turned out to do pretty well but I still wouldn�t count on it lasting in high deer densities. My deer have just wiped it out in pretty short order. About 70-80% of what I planted is browsed and decimated.




I�m hoping the milo tillers�this is my first experiment trying to do this��..Most of the milo was around 2-3 ft tall. It looks like one plot of green but there are probably 20+ different plant species growing in this field with deer visiting in on a nightly basis.



It smells like one big turnips out here now. This may stink like chit in another few days�..

This threads on life support. Like my corn was til I just got a 3/4" rain!!!

I have yet to see the tonnage, that tilled dirt will/would produce.. But Maybe I'm not blowing the pictures up enough...

That�s awesome. I�m glad that dry spell didn�t last for several weeks like they tend to do sometimes. We got a little over an inch Wed night and another two tenths today. I really didn�t want to mow for another week at least but I hated to pass up the good weather conditions.

Do you dipshits think you really bother me?

If this is directed towards me, I was stating my opinion, is that not ok now?? Oh keep supporting them gays, and you may learn a new meaning to dipchit.. You brilliant bastage...

Didn't say anything about whether you could or couldn't. I just said you were doing strictly to be a dipshit and for no other constructive reason. That's fine we me really....keeps the pulse of the thread beating strong.....

Yes�..due to my field not producing enough �tonnage� of beans or corn�..I don�t have any deer in it come hunting season.

Yea, I could picture you liking strong, throbbing pulses.. Doesn't surprise me any..

CNC keep the info coming I check this thread every time I get on the computer.

Thanks man.....I'm excited to finally put down a good crop of turnips. My microbial activity in the soil is really just now coming on line and getting cranked up this year. I think this may really help things along. I haven't dug any test holes in awhile but a couple months ago I found worms coming back into the field for the first time since this experiment started. I've added a lot of grass to the soil so far in the way of rye grain and summer grasses but this is the first really good crop of rotten "vegetables" that I've gotten down.

My mother and grandmothers are all big flower and vegetable gardeners and one of the things I always remember them doing growing up was to take all of our leftover scraps from stuff we picked out of the garden and add it back to the beds. It may have been the outside parts of the lettuce or potato peels or onion peels, etc...but the concept and reason for why is the same reason I'm adding 1000's of rotten turnips to my field. Its very likely that many of you do this very thing in your gardens.

The mulch layer and organic matter in soil is definitely best way to farm for wildlife or raise any crop. The biggest challenge I see with the throw & mow method is seed to soil contact. If a person can't get access to a drill, I think minimum tillage might be a better option. What say ye CNC ?

Worms are definitely a good sign. Your return of nutrients will get a boost from them. Your making soil now.