Let's try this again

[Semi-Pro]

I have 2 plots , 1 is about 2 ac. The other is about 1 ac. Currently has some holdover crimson clover. I always wait till it turned brown to cut them.
The question.
The small one I want to be a clover mix and something else maybe radish or wheat.
The bigger one I want to use for dove and deer.
So, do I plant the bigger field with say millet in the spring and cut it before dove season then top sow with wheat. The clover should come back in the fall I read.

Also, I had some timber cleared and I was considering getting the forestry to plow up the fields with a dozer and start over. Then. Try a no till method and build up my biomass. I do not have a drill.
Just now getting into learning about cover crops. I thought cover crops were for the off season it looks as though I need cover crops year round. Idk.

 

[Triple C]

Between Canuck, George Shu, D Helmley and many others on here, you should get the right recipe for your plots.

My .02 worth...On the one acre plot, I'd immediately get a soil test to determine how much lime you need. Or, go the lazy man's way and have 3 tons of lime spread on it now and if possible, disc the lime in the soil.

Let it go until late August/early September then mow what is growing in it and then spray with gly to kill all vegetation. Early to mid October, till and drag the plot to smooth it out. Broadcast 250 to 300 lbs of 19-19-19 and then plant or broadcast cereal grain (wheat, oats, rye) and then broadcast with either Regal Graze ladino or durana clover and then drag again to cover seed.

You will have a great nurse crop with the cereal grain that deer will devour and at the same time, the clover will establish roots over the fall and winter and explode next spring. For 1 acre or less, I'd always go perennial clover as my base as it will feed deer almost year round

Come fall of the following year, broadcast 250 lbs of 0-20-20 and you good to go for years!

As for the millet in the 2 ac field - I'd first lime now, then come June, plant millet. That stuff will grow on concrete. Then plant in a fall mix come October.

 

[Semi-Pro]

Do y'all think it is a good idea to get forestry to plow it all up with the dozer and start over?

 

[Canuck5]

On one of our leases, the timber company came in and cut and we're left with lots of nice open area's, but severely compacted soil. With compacted soil the roots, water and nutrients, of what you plant, have a hard time breaking thru.

https://extension.umn.edu/soil-management-and-health/soil-compaction

If forestry will come in and deeply break up the soil and cut all the big roots underground, it will pay dividends in years to come. Then plant a variety of seeds that will help bring up nutrients from below and continue to improve the soil you have.

 

[Canuck5]

I keep going back, to the addition of a medium red clover to my plots and the length of root it provides vs the other clovers and grains I planted. I shouldn't have cut off the pic, but I did ....



Then there is diakon radish ....

 

[Ihunt]

Do y'all think it is a good idea to get forestry to plow it all up with the dozer and start over?

No firsthand experience but I have heard it’s almost impossible to get them out anymore. Shorthanded/Understaffed.

As far as the millet is concerned. It matures very quickly. I would wait and plant it in the summer. And yes, a soil test is needed but you can bet that you need lime and at least 1.5 tons to the acre.

 

[CarolinaDawg]

I keep going back, to the addition of a medium red clover to my plots and the length of root it provides vs the other clovers and grains I planted. I shouldn't have cut off the pic, but I did ....

View attachment 1147597

Then there is diakon radish ....

View attachment 1147598

Is that your Daikon? If so, how early do you plant to get that kind of size? I don’t plant fall plots until October and I’ve never had enough warm days to get that kind of growth

 

[Canuck5]

Yes, those were some of our radishes, planted either late September or early October. Those 2 were pulled out on 1/10/2016.

These were planted first week in October 2020 and were pulled on 12/20/2020. I assume when they start eating the "tops" it limits the size of the tuber, but the deer do enjoy them.

These plots are between Macon and Columbus and Daikon's do like fertilizer!

 

[Canuck5]

This one was (likely) planted in late September 2015 and pulled on 12/20/2015. The deer didn't start hitting them till later in the year, so the "tops" got larger and so did the tuber.

 

[Semi-Pro]

No firsthand experience but I have heard it’s almost impossible to get them out anymore. Shorthanded/Understaffed.

As far as the millet is concerned. It matures very quickly. I would wait and plant it in the summer. And yes, a soil test is needed but you can bet that you need lime and at least 1.5 tons to the acre.

Impossible for prescribed burns, but I talked to them yesterday and he said no problems on the food plots.

 

[CarolinaDawg]

This one was (likely) planted in late September 2015 and pulled on 12/20/2015. The deer didn't start hitting them till later in the year, so the "tops" got larger and so did the tuber.

View attachment 1147769

Thanks. I may be planting too lite. My deer usually eat the heck out of the tops and as you said that’s probably what’s limiting my tuber growth.

 

[DOUG 281]

just saw a 1952 JD b on facebook market place nice looking tractor

 

[Semi-Pro]

just saw a 1952 JD b on facebook market place nice looking tractor

I got a tractor with a loader, but it ain't no dozer or heavy track equipment. I used to operate heavy equipment. When I bought this tractor I was greatly disappointed. Expecting too much out of it I guess.

 

[B. White]

The forestry service seems high at first, but they can go deeper and faster than you will. I always used them late Sept. and planted the first week of Oct. with wheat, oats and crimson clover. It always did good and there was clover out there through May. Summer plots did good too, but it was not worth it in our situation, since it took no time for 1/2 to 1 acre plots be be eaten to the dirt.