re: Planted summer plots today

So we started with a complete kill of the foot plots and soil samples. We applied the proper lime the first year to have a base. Drilled the Fall Release seed blend. We did apply some fertilizer that year late to help get the max out to the food plots. The first spring you drill the Summer Release seed blend. You drill straight into the the standing cereal rye and whatever grasses are present. After a week or 2 your take your crimper and crimp the entire plot. The cereal rye will lay down like a mat or mulch as he calls it. You just repeat the process using a drill and crimper 2x a year. The basic premise is the weed seed don’t have enough energy to break that mat/mulch layer. As for fertilizer he calls it the Buffalo process where the animals using plots pee,poop, die. The mat/much/thatch decompose turning your dirt into soil. It can be hard to follow the plan early because you will see weeds and it will drive you crazy but the longer you stick with it the better the fields look.

I’m late to this thread, but have become a regenerative ag disciple the last 2 years - building soil. I’ve planted 2 fall crops and 2 spring crops now. I’m seeing results.

Found Grant Woods, and really liked what he was saying. Then read “Dirt to Soil” by Gabe Brown, I was hooked. Ray Archuleta and Elaine Ingham explained the soil biology and importance of the right bacteria, fungi, nematodes, arthropods, etc. it all make so much sense when you compare to traditional tillage and hitting it with chemicals.

I took Agronomy at LSU in the 70s, and nobody ever mentioned mycorrhizal fungi. I don’t think they understood what the bugs all did back then.

I’ve always thrown some winter food plots together and we’ve probably attracted a few deer, but my last two years are completely different. I’m planting more and it’s producing more. Our last two fall food plots have been really successful, and I’m still not doing it right. I’m starting to find earthworms in the plots this summer tho.

I live an hour from my property, and have a 48 hp tractor. I rent a local drill, and I get fabulous germination with it. I’m struggling most with weed control. My spring planting was wiped out by drought last summer, this year it’s fighting weeds because I went without herbicide. Still I’m getting good forage and seeing lots of deer. Oh, and I haven’t had access to a crimper, but I think it’s a critical piece of the process.

We use Green Cover Seed blends and I like the inoculants - bacterial, fungal, and other. I’m committed to a 5 year experiment, and 40% in, I’m very pleased.

Prior to this program our largest deer was 137 lb. Now we have a 204 lb deer and we don’t shoot many, mostly does.

76Forest

In what area is your land?
We’d love to get to no chemicals/ no fertilizers, but fighting weeds is tough in SW MS.

Semper, I’m west of Houston, NE of Columbus. Poor, sandy soil. Our pH has gone from 4.5 -5.5 to 6.3-6.7 with no lime. I didn’t do soil samples this year (and had several “fallow” years of no planting).

I think with a crimper I would have gotten ahead of weeds this spring. Maybe next yr.

Y’all are serious about these green cover seeds. All mixes?

Yeah the release mixes snuff out the weeds. They literally can’t grow because they are overrun and covered

Recovered, that’s the part I’m missing. Crimping would have helped this year, I’m sure. This April I drilled into standing cereal rye and lots of clover from the fall planting. The cereal rye bent down after I drilled through it - but it wasn’t crimped and it stood back up. So much for weed control.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Weather is another wild card, but I’m in for the long haul. Our sandy soil has begun to have some structure and has changed color in just two cycles of fall/spring planting.

It’s fun, but waiting for the next cycle to try to improve is the hard part.

quote:

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Seems like a fad to me

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I’m looking at a 15’ from I&J out of Wisconsin and they make crimpers from 4’ to 60’.
I’m also probably going to get a 15’ Great Plains No-till drill. I trust a company that works in the ag production world more than a company that just started and probably isn’t as reliable.

I am like you. Some of this is just to make money in my opinion. Something doesn’t feel right when a person says, “my seed, my crimper and my drill.” I have a consultant to help me get started and to teach me what to look for in the field and soil test results. I willing to spend a little extra money in the beginning to save a few years of trial and error.

I have already talked to him and he told me what soil tests (3 different tests) I need to get and what preferable lab to send them to. Depending on the test results we will go from there on which specific species will be needed to start off and if we need to make any soil amendments to help in the beginning.

The consultant group I am using consults over 3 million acres in N. America ranging from ag/ranches to wildlife properties. They work with some of the bigger names like DU, Pheasants Forever and a couple more foundations also.

Hopefully I’ll be able to help more in the future if anyone has any questions on this.

Yeah, I follow that, but how does method of termination alter carbon, nitrogen or their relative ratios? That’s dependent upon the plant and timing, as you mentioned.