Planting in a failed soy bean field

The guy we deer hunt with has a farmer plant all his property (leases) …400+ acres of tillable ground…he planted beans in a 10 acre plot that is always left for the deer…this year it appears the beans won’t make it out of the heavy grass that’s taken over…I have an ATV with a cultivator type digger attachment and was thinking of turning some of it over to at least get something good growing in it this summer (we have a couple stands on field edge)…what would be something a complete rookie could tackle with said equipment and timing? the ground is on top of a hill with full sun and a little sandy…Otter Tail County…

I love planting Rye in plots that didn’t take. Deer love it and it stays green late in the year. Just make sure you get cereal rye and not rye grass.
DT

Try Whitetail Salad. I plant mine around Aug. 1st
Deer love it.
Mix of winter rye, winter wheat, peas and a couple other things.
I add some radish and ppt to it.

Are the beans coming up? If they are it sounds like it is ready to be hit with Gly….as long as they used Gly ready seeds. IMO the field sounds like it should be fine.

It is hard to tell if there are actually many, if any viable plants…the grass is all you can see on most of the plot..will be back up there this weekend…would it be best to hit the whole thing with roundup soon?

Just spray it and you’ll be fine, they’ll probably shoot up after some competition is knocked out of there . After a week you could replant some weak areas with more beans via broadcast and cover or rake them in. OR you could wait and plant a fall food plot in those areas at the end of summer.

Gly is cheap, as stated spray the whole thing this weekend. If the beans don’t make it you are on your way to clearing it for a fall plot, but it should be fine. Typically you wait until you can’t tell where the rows are and then spray anyway.

I agree with the others, assuming the soybeans planted were glyphosate-resistant (aka Roundup Ready) the first step is to spray and find out what you’ve actually got left. This is a no-risk step because either way, you need to clean up that plot so spraying has to happen.

Now 10 acres is a bigger than average plot, so spraying this kind of acerage is going to require some equipment. I spray about 4 acres and that is almost 100 gallons, so did you intend to hire out the spraying or do you have equipment? That is a big plot to manage as an all-annual plot. It might be worth thinking about diversifying. My big plots are all divided into annual and perennial areas to cut workload and provide more diverse food.

In the event that weeds really did choke out the beans, I would plant Real World’s Harvest Salad or Deadly Dozen.

As DT mentions, Rye (grain or cereal rye) is a good summer-planted option and it is relatively cheap.

Grouse

I don’t intend to redo the whole thing with my limited experience and equipment…the soil is very rain dependent due to a sandy hill that has been farmed for years (Mostly corn every year) and never anything but a hassle for whoever farms it as they get no yield as it’s left for the deer..last years beans were pretty decent but they were completely wiped out by muzzleloader season…there is a semi low area that has better soil and am planning to focus a little effort there…guessing it’s about 3 acres…the whole farm is planted in corn this year (minus the plot) for the first time in decades…will be an interesting fall…

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