I wait for everything to die from spraying. Still works best after burning.

I dont bush hog - i spray (dont hav a bush hog). I sprayed last weekend. Prob plant first weekend in oct or when a rain is coming. I disk - spread seed and fert - cover and hope it rains - will cast some clover over covered

This year looks like i planting alabama blend - miss blend - crimson and aeroleaf - just got bama blend today - other 3 are ordered

I start spraying the first of August and have everything disc by Labor Day. I will start planting the 3rd weekend in September. My property is broken into 3 sections by dirt roads so I'll plant over 3 weekends. I cut shapes in the high weeds so the deer will move around from field to field We have been planting these fields for 40 years so clover grows in the high weeds.

Sprayed last week. When it’s time to plant I burn em, spread seed and run the tiller over it.

Damn, I hope that's drone shot. Otherwise your stand is in the nosebleed section

You plant both bow and gun plots in mid September? Do you fertilize again later in season?

Its gonna be a minute, I broke my disk monday, so I have to take it apart and take the frame to my fix it guy.

It’s in the mountainous region of Pelham.

This is a drone shot. There are 3 killing fields to the left and 1 to the right for bow hunting that you can't see here. I'll do a video one day. I live on the property so as long as I have everything disc I can plant anytime I want. I will fertilize when I plant and come back mid to late-December and put down nitrogen to green up the fields for the rut.

I bush hogged most of my stuff 2 weeks ago. Next weekend I'll spray. Then disc and sow early October and lightly cut in that same day.

I usually disc and plant around the first of November since our rifle season doesn't come in til Thanksgiving morning.

I’m about over disking. Forever if I had my way. All our plots are sprayed. First or second weekend of October we spread seed and fertilizer and disc very lightly or just run a cultipacker over it. On prairie soil in wet years I’ve planted plots with nothing but a bush hog, sprayer and spreader. Up your seed rates and go to work.

If you’ve ever disked a too damp prairie dirt field you’ll never do it again. I’d quit planting plots all together if I couldn’t spray. I’ve bush hogged then tried to disc in foot long green grass and weeds. That’s frustration that’ll prepare you for being married. Screw that.

I love to disk, but stopped doing it about 10 years ago, and haven't looked back. I get phenomenal results after bush hogging, spraying, and seeding. You can do it all the same day if you want.

I was spending so much time discing I was having a hard time getting it all done, so I stopped, and my plots still look really good.

I'm not sure if this technique works everywhere, but it has worked in Alabama and Mississippi.

Throw and mow does work. It’s funny more and more folks are seeing that.
I was doing that back in the late 90s after reading on cover crops and organic farming. Cover crops are basically hat we plant for green fields. You can get into green manures etc and use methods to increase organic matter. The soil is a living thing supported by numerous microorganisms etc. CNC has been all over this.

I learned about it because of lack of equipment. We had a crappy tractor and disk that had a lot to do and the last couple of fields were often ignored. I used a backpack sprayer, pelletized lime and gly along with a drag and my 4 wheeler I eventually was able to grow alfalfa on those 2 fields.

Does that soil bind up or something? Is it kinda like gumbo? I’ve heard it mentioned but really don’t recall. It sounds like a tough situation to plant in.

Spraying and then disking works as long as I have soil moisture. Dried out ground in the fall is pretty tough situation to get implements into and actually work the ground. Comparing the agland to green fields I’ve planted it’s very similar. We got a Great Plains turbo chopper at the farm and moisture in the soil was important to get the desired effect.

My preferred way around here is to cut the field and disk. Plants still growing help keep moisture in the soil. Also helps with soil tilth. Burned down fields that lay there it and when I can get them cut seem to have a more definitive hard pan and more powdery soil. Kinda looses its structure.

Yeah. True prairie (black belt) soil has a heavy clay base. You disk it too wet and it’ll gum up between the disk blades until it makes each disc gang essentially a rolling drum of wet clay. Getting it out of there after it dries could have been one of the great jobs of Hercules. Water won’t get it out, only makes it soft. Has to be dug out.

If you wait till the dirt is good and dry it’ll be so hard a good heavy disk will barely scratch it. If you FA and get a really heavy duty disc and lay off in it you’ll make softball size clods that are hard as bricks.


There is no perfect system. Rain will be either make you look like a genius or a dumb ass.

Gotcha. Sounds like fun. 😂

I’ve tracked a lot of deer in these prairie soil areas and seen other people’s plots but I haven’t had the joy of trying to deal with it myself…..If I did though, my approach would be to try and build up a buffer layer of organic soil on top of the gumbo clay and never expose it. This is really the idea for any soil type…..Its the same thing I do with really sandy soil…..It’s the natural process for any of it.

We spray, wait a few weeks, burn then disc. Usually plant weekend after discing