Peas, beans and browntop are really taking off in this field. I may have to add some 17-17-17 to my top field cause its dragging way behind as normal with the crappy soil up there.
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Will wheat or oats grow with throw n mow?

Another question:

Why spray it before you cut instead of just cutting?

Wheat will i dont have that great of results with oats.

Spraying will kill the existing vegetation, while cutting it will not.

The question of “What will sprout and grow?”...will change over time as you improve the soil conditions. Oats are not the best choice in the beginning. Cereal rye is much more suited for getting new T&M plots started if you're converting over from a tillage system or working with new ground. However, once you have a nice layer of topsoil going…..then you’ll have much more success with larger seeds like oats.

Oats are the most attractive early season draw of the three main cereal grains….wheat, oat, rye……One thing to consider about planting only oats though is that with the regular variety….there’s a slight risk that your plots could be killed by cold weather. We don’t see it very often here but it happened a few years ago and a buddy of mine had all of his fields zapped during the best hunting times due to planting pure oats.

Whether or not the deer will choose the wheat or the rye will depend on your soil conditions and if you let the field start running nutrient deficient. Deer prefer to feed on a thriving plant and not one that’s struggling and turning colors. The rye is much more tolerant of poor conditions and will remain palatable to the deer under worse conditions than what the wheat will. Wheat will run N deficient on you and once it starts turning yellow, really loses a lot of its attractiveness. Under ideal conditions though, the wheat is probably slightly preferred over the rye. The rye however, is the best soil builder of the three with the best growth potential in poor conditions. It also puts on growth at much lower temps than the other grains. Balance your needs and approach to your situation……..A mix of all three would be good if you plan on feeding it the proper amount of nutrients that the field needs to stay lush. If not though….I’d rather have green rye than rank wheat.


On the question of mowing and spraying………

It depends on when you’re talking about mowing. If you mow an annual plant right now during the middle of its life cycle….then it’ll most likely recover and put back on new growth. Those plants will out compete any new seedlings due to them already having an established root system. If you wait until the plant is at the end of its life cycle, after it has set seed and mow it then……you’ll most likely terminate it. I don’t spray my field because all my summer vegetation you see growing now will be at the end of its life when I mow in October…..it’ll just terminate. I may have a little regrowth from some scattered grass and things, but they’ll die off within a few weeks when the first frost hits. I’d recommend spraying your first time around and moving to a no spray method once you get things going. It'll just keep things simpler on the first try and eliminate possible reasons for failure. Using cereal rye your first go around will also greatly reduce risk for failure.

Last year I sprayed 3 plots and mowed 3 plots. My experience was the sprayed plots performed better, but both resulted in really good plots. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't have sprayed any of them if I wasn't trying to eliminate Johnson grass in 3 plots, but I'm glad I did. As of right now, I'm planning on spraying 4 plots this year and mowing 2 clover plots. Of course, this plan may change depending upon the clover.

One big variable for many folks will be access to water. Spraying becomes a much different task when you don’t have an easy water source close by. It can become very time consuming and cumbersome if you have to get water out of a creek and/or ride a mile back and forth between fill-ups. If I were in that situation then I would start looking long term at how to plant without spraying. The soil microbiology will likely be better off as well if we don’t spray. At my old hunting club….spraying the fields required a whole weekend of work devoted to just doing that one task. It would then take another 1-2 weekends to disk and plant. When we went to a T&M approach without spraying…………we planted it all in one day. It was worth trading a perfect 100% kill on the existing vegetation for the savings in time though. A 80-90% kill was acceptable as it really simplified planting weekend.

Very good point Harold.

We put a 250 gallon tote on a trailer to refill my sprayer tank in the field. Then while I am spraying someone will drive back to the barn and refill the tank. We found a sump pump (20 gpm) that will fit through the top hole and use that to pump the water into the big sprayer tank.

Cheap and easy. Biggest tip I can give someone about sprayers is to strain everything that goes into the tank and keep your inline filters clean so your tips dont get clogged up.

Hey CNC, I've got 2 small plots on my leased property over here. What if I seeded and fertilized in mid-Sept with wheat and maybe rye (if I can find any). Will it sprout?

Is it better to seed, then cut, to cover?

That's a pretty vague scenario you're presenting me with. It's hard to say how much success you will have without knowing more about the situation.....but yes, the general idea is to broadcast your cereal grain and clover seeds into the standing vegetation and then mow the vegetation down over the seed in a manner that makes it look as if it came out of a hay blower.

What about brassicas? That seed is just as small as clover.

Yep....rape, purple top turnips, radishes....1-2 lbs/ac added into a cereal grain/clover mix works well.

How's your place looking this summer? Everything is nice and green down this way for a change.

Looking good. My Yucchi is still hanging in there but temps are climbing into the 90's up here so i doubt it will last thru the month. It usually gives in up by June. Durana is doing well. I'm trying to sell my mountain property to buy some that joins my club. That way, all my stuff will be in one spot.

Where did you locate plots on your mt property and what type of things are growing well. My property is very mountainous and finding places to put food plots other than ridge tops has been a challenge.

I was planning on planting cereal rye this Fall - is it hard to find? I'm in Pike County and wondering if this is something I should start looking for right now. Any help would be much appreciated.

Unless there's a shortage for some reason you shouldn't have an issue getting it. If there's not a Co-op close to you in Pike Co that carries it....go to Farmer's Feed in south Montgomery.....they'll have it.

Thanks!!