Tried that and tried changing the pitch of how it sets,and the height of it still rows to one side.

A finishing mower would probably mulch the grass better. You could just drag the grains down, like in crimson's mater garden. My old bushhog, doesn't chop it up as good as i want, but it works.

I think that would probably work fine. You may even want to take a little of the bite out of your disks so that they don't try to plow up the dirt but more less just scratches the top of the ground up and cultipacks the vegetation.

From a mowing perspective....I have a Landpride bushhog and it does pretty good at scattering the hay. Even still though, most of the thatch crops I've put down have been really thick and just didn't process up well enough on the first pass. I'd still get a little wind rowing too with the heavy vegetation. It was the second pass back across the field that really scattered the hay and processed it up well. On that pass I would make sure to center any of the windrows from the first pass and they would disappear....distributing the hay much more evenly.

Got a pretty cool pic of an ol' turkey hen today dusting herself on the edge of the test field....

Just checking in to see if its time to throw and mow for Spring.

Still too early…………..



Just let the clover keep doing it’s thing. You want to wait and let it go to seed……free seed. Really need to wait until about Mid-May to do anything. I know its tough to wait when everyone else starts firing their tractors up but it’s better to be patient and let things play out.

Their parents did it, and their grandparents did it, and everyone else does it. So, they do it.

Mater bed continued……….

Looking good crimson. I didn't plant any rye this past fall on my garden, i planted ptt. I should have come back with some rye this spring, but couldn't find any. I'm planning on putting a heavy layer of mulc on my garden this year, dgallow recommended that one time. A friend told me that would burn up my tomatoes, any truth to that? I don't see how it could. Black plastic doesn't.

Thanks!......

Not that I’m aware of. I guess we’ll find out for sure. I think if it were to cause issues then it would maybe be from mold or fungus. I’m going to keep everything pruned out below the first scaffolding to allow good air flow at ground level. It’ll also allow for spot spraying if any weeds break though.

Cereal rye is just starting to dry down now. The deer with hammer those seed heads once they dry out.

CNC I really want to try throw and mow how do you think something like no plow or no til seed work? That wouldn't cost that much and maybe leed to more experimental plantings. everyone in club is not hooked on idea. I'm all for better soil and this may be a way to get them to believe.

It wouldn’t be the end of the world if you wanted to do an experiment with one plot but I wouldn’t use those throw and grow products unless you just have to. Just about all of them are filled with rye grass. Try to find some cereal rye next fall and use it (Elbon rye or Wrens Abruzzi rye). It’ll sprout just about as easy as the rye grass and it’s a much better choice for deer forage. It’s more expensive than wheat but you get what you pay for. It out performs wheat on poor soils and it doesn’t go N deficient so easily like wheat does either.

Just picture sharing…... Looks like it’ll be another prolific crop of Chickasaw plums this year. These will drop over a several week time frame next month. I’ll set up a camera on them when they do and see what all comes to them.

I picked a little bit of the rye straw by hand to thicken up a few places in my gardens. You can get a good idea by looking at this pic where I took the straw from just how much organic biomass will be recycled back to the soil…..not just above ground but also in the massive root structure created below the soil surface.



Just happened to catch a little bird flying in and out of one my houses………

I hated to spray this plot, but trying to get rid of Johnson grass/ Fescue/ Indian grass/or whatever type of grass that I have in this plot and one other.



Here's a photo of the "grass" that I'm trying to eliminate

I continue to be impressed with the Throw & Mow results and look forward to year 2. In years past this plot had been over taken by wild turnips. This year the rye, crimson and advantage clover are thriving.

Looking good 270wsm!!!! What's the plan for the summer on those plots?

I pulled soil samples Sat and sent them off today. Plan on liming and bush hogging in May/June, but that's about it. Hopefully, I'll have a good "grass" kill on 2 plots I sprayed and won't have to spray them again or at least not until Aug/Sept.

One of my plots, which is about 2 acres, looks like 270wsm's above. The rye is taller, but the crimson clover looks just like his.

Last fall, I limed it and brought the ph up to 6.3 this year. Not quite neutral, but not bad either. I was actually thinking about doing some throw and mow this summer of peas or other good food. My only other option is just to lime and disc the lime in, and maybe plant some summer crop or soil building crop like buckwheat or sun hemp the old-fashioned way.

I'd really like to try the throw and mow method for the summer at least on this one plot. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? If a good idea, what to plant? and how?

Soil test also says I need 0-90-60 (lbs) for phosphorus and potassium per acre for iron clay peas. Loam and light clay soil.

Thanks.