Transition from summer to fall plot

My WI powerplant is about wiped out. Beans are trying to reproduce, but don't think they'll ever get to make pods. Sunflowers are all that's left and they are taking them now. I was wondering how I should go about my fall planting? The weeds have really taken off. I never imagined they would be this bad before I planted. I killed everything 3 times. Wondering if I should broadcast clover over this, or spray and plow/atv plow and plant a better verity. Brassicas, turnips, etc with oats and throw some Ladino over the top. I'd rather have perennial, but willing to do a mix I can use early and late season annuals in. What's yalls thoughts? 2 acres, I'm aware of lick creek mix, not interested in the rye. And of I can't mix all this together, maybe do strips, or blocks

I am a big fan of perennial clover.I top dress brassicas or cereal grain in the fall.

We did not plant summer crops this year.

We are keeping the fields reasonably clean.

We will mow and spray in early to mid September. Come back a week or so later to disc.

First weekend in October we will plant oats and white clover. We are in southern South Carolina - if we plant any earlier than this, we run the risk of burning up the clover.

Our pH is good and we will fertilize according to soil test.

Good luck!

Soybeans did well for us and the clover we planted last DECEMBER due to the drought of 2016 simply looks AMAZING.

If you want some perennial...plant the perimeter in clover and add oats as a nurse crop to be terminated next spring. In the interior, do alternating strips of forage radishes and oats/wheat or mix radishes in with oats/wheat. Or plant 1/2 of interior in brassicas and other half in grains. Personally, I like having separate stands of brassicas and grains, either in strips or separating plot and doing half in each with clover around the perimeter.

Should I broadcast into this and wait like Grant Woods does, or should I broadcast into this and mow then spray, or should I just kill it off, take it back to dirt and start over

BuckNasty83 said:

Should I broadcast into this and wait like Grant Woods does, or should I broadcast into this and mow then spray, or should I just kill it off, take it back to dirt and start over

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For expertise on the throw and mow method go to page 6 of this section and read the "A new planting technique" by CNC. He documented years of his throw and mow method on the now defunct QDMA forum and currently has a running thread on the deerhunter forum, www.deerhunterforum.com. He goes by Crimson n Camo on the other forum and CNC on this forum. Doesn't post much here but guy knows his stuff on transitioning from full tillage to throw n mow to improve soil health. Has a huge following with lots of guys documenting their progress using his method. Pretty simple as well.

We use one of those "one-pass" planters, (Plotmaster) on our farm and have adopted his method by spraying the plot in mid late August and then planting into the dead matter with one pass after everything has completely died down. The cultipakcer on back of unit rolls the standing dead thatch over the seed and the seed is dropped into furrows made by one pass with the harrows on the unit. But, you don't need a planter to do his method. Just a bush hog and cone spreader or hand spreader.

The throw and mow method works we tried it last year on our club and it flat out worked, by mid April this year we had knee to thigh high clover in all of our plots and it was extremely easy.

What did you throw into

Bucknasty, we just sprayed the weeds in our plot and let them die and came back and threw out various clovers, chicory and cereal rye and then mowed it and prayed for rain. It finally rained after 90 days but it still came up great. The deer are still tearing up our chicory and clover. I also went around and just threw out some Alyce clover this summer that I had and it came up great with the rain we had and it is getting hit hard. I will spray some of the new areas and some of the old plots later this summer. I will put out my seed after it has all died in September and then mow it all down to form a thatch barrier on my seed. It is easy and works great and helps build your soil.

Bumping this cause I'm getting ready to order my fall seed. As mentioned this is 2 acres of power plant, which consists of a high amount of sunflower, sunnhemp, cowpeas, and soybeans.

I'm wanting to plant this 2 acres in mainly clover for low maintenance. But for early season draw, I'm going to add a nurse crop of oats. And I'd like to add some brassicas to the mix. I have 1 smaller plot less than 100 yards to the to east and 1 to the West. 1 is about a 1/4 with open canopy and the other is maybe an 1/8 with filtered light ,which I'll be using for a kill plot. I'd like these to offer something besides clover, but not sure what would do well in these spots.


My dilima: First of all, I'm not sure how to go about planting the 2 acres. Ideally, I'd like to mow, spray, then till it under, but I only have an atv plow. I'm worried I won't be able to till the sunflowers if I do this. On the other hand, I'd like to just broadcast into the 2 acres, then mow and spray, but I'm worried the oats won't grow without being planted deeper? Can anyone tell me if throw and mow would work with this? (Oats, clover, brassica)

On the 2 smaller plots, I'm not sure what to plant that won't get wiped out too fast. 1 I'm new to kill plots and would like to make use of one. And don't want to burn out the 2 acre plot by hunting it every time. (It's too tempting)

The 2 acre plot will serve a few purposes. Attracting, health, and hunting. Feeding the herd and low maintenance is the main reason I want this in clover. Oats for early season, and brassica for late season. But again, I don't want to hunt this too much.


I've never planted brassica, don't know how my deer will do with them, but I'm anxious to find out. Would it be worth trying in the hidey holes, or are they to small of plot to even mess with.

I'm short on time right now, so I apologize for this jumping all over the place, but I had to get it off my chest. Thanks in advance

Last time I planted powerplant it was a bear to disc under for fall plots..I bush hogged it and then turned it. I have a heavy disc and it was still very difficult with all the vines and stalks(my plot was about 6 feet tall).. You may be better off leaving the plot or broadcasting seed into it. Good luck.

yes throw n mow would work great for you. I would wait till you are ready to plant the clover and oats the last week of September or 1st week of October. First I would spray it then a 2 weeks later I would broadcast my seed and then mow it all down. It will come up great when you get a good rain. The oats will come up fine. I have even used this method with large seeds such as LabLab and Austrian winter peas that everyone says need to be an inch deep. It works trust me. Just make sure to have your ph close for your clover. If you do it and see how easy it is you will not want to do it any other way. That is the only way I plant now. On a couple of plots I did this in I actually didn't even mow it I just ran over the dead vegetation until I had flattened it down on top of the seed. Here are two pictures of my white clover plot I took a picture of this past Saturday. It is growing great and it is August and still feeding the deer. I planted it with this method, I didn't mow it just ran over it to flatten it out.