So we close on our house and 10.5 acres at the end of July. I already have a buddy with a tractor and disc lined up for the second week in August. I’m going to mow the plot really short once or twice before we till (no roundup for us). Any recommendations on what to plant that late and what will have enough vigor to outlast the weeds?
Plenty of time for oats or something similar or even brassicas if some sort. If you want to do clover for next year it could be a good time to get that in the ground as well. Is it in forested or ag land? Roundup does keep the competition down but have still had good luck without doing it as long as it’s disc’d or tiilled thoroughly and a cultipacker is used. But weeds will be an issue if you plan on doing a perennial. A mineral block is a good attractant too. Do a soil test.
It would help to have an idea of the size of your plots, but here are some thoughts.
It’s a little late to plant most brassicas species like radish and turnip. You won’t have the growth time if conditions are about average, you need a few more weeks to reliably grow these crops, so I’d save them for next year.
My recommendation would be to plant a mix of rye, oats, and medium red clover. This is a fast-growing mixture that grows thick and provides a lot of forage in a short timeframe. The rye stays green and stands up above any early snow, so the plot will continue to provide food after frosts and the first light snows.
Everything in this mix will also green up in the spring, which provides At that point you can decide weather to disc it all up and start over or you can interseed the plot and keep it going.
Grouse
I disagree Grouse,
The mix of Brassicas I plant late July to early August depending on your location. They need approximately 45-60 day growing season to reach maturity. They are pretty cold hardy in Sept. when the temps dip at night.
Have gotten some big old root balls in November with a Late July planting.
I disagree Grouse,
The mix of Brassicas I plant late July to early August depending on your location. They need approximately 45-60 day growing season to reach maturity. They are pretty cold hardy in Sept. when the temps dip at night.Have gotten some big old root balls in November with a Late July planting.
I’m not saying it can’t be done, I’m saying that it wouldn’t be my first choice or best option for the single-plot guy. Keep in mind, your big November root balls didn’t form in November, you had to have good growing conditions all along. Frost doesn’t kill brassicas, but as the days shorten, growth slows dramatically.
Anything’s possible even at that point of the year with the right weather conditions, my recommendation was pointing the OP into something that IMO has very high odds of success across a wide variety of weather conditions. I personally view brassicas as the whipped cream and candy sprinkles to my food plots, but my “ground game” contains a lot of other stuff so I have something on offer in case this year’s conditions don’t favor good brassicas production.
Also, I think there is an added benefit into having something that forms a tight planting and a cover crop into the following growth season because the OP expressed that he did not want to use Roundup. I was thinking of plantings that would out-compete the weeds and because brassicas should be more widely spaced and are slower to canopy, I wouldn’t go that route given the situation.
As with everything in food plots there are no absolute right answers.
Grouse
I get where your coming from Grouse.
You have alot more experience than me, and I will continue to lean on your for future plotting advice. I also live several hundred miles to the south of you folks too. So undoubtedly that plays a part in it being warmer for longer than you guys up north.
I had good luck with rape or a mix of clovers,rape and turnips is what the local feed mill mixes up. we plant in middle of august in southern wi
IMG_0758.jpg
I had really good luck with the whitetail Institute double cross last year, a great crop of brassicas for last fall followed by an awesome thick and lush crop of clover this year in one planting. I am planning to do more this year.
Thanks for the info all! A little more background on the property…it is about 1.5 acres of woods with the rest being a combination of pasture/open grassy areas. I plan to pasture the entire property in the future, but until I do, I will be doing a little food management for the deer. The owners have sent a few photos of several deer traveling through the area so I will probably only be hunting deer on the move. However, the area that I want to put the plots boarders a large block of timber and an ag field. So some green food later in the fall is a good option. I like the option of a quality perennial forage because it can be used as pasture in the future.
Mid August is when I plant my cereal rye/ladino clover mix. The timing is perfect for the rye and that should keep the weeds at bay. The ladino(white) clover won’t do a heck of a lot this year, but will come in real strong next spring. Then just mow off the rye in june of next year and you have a real good stand of clover. The deer will browse the heck out of the rye this fall/early winter and again in the spring while your clover gets established.
If you are not planting until mid August I would agree with Grouse, just a bit late to get decent bulbs from brassica, but the greens will be good.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
