Spring planted oats as a cover crop

In my plots where I plant brassica in mid July I usually plant a cover crop in spring. In the past it has been buckwheat to build organic matter and keep the weeds down. It has worked well, but the 2 draw backs are buckwheat is getting pretty expensive and it is very frost sensative, so you can’t plant in until ANY danger of frost is gone. In central MN that could be mid June.

This year I am thinking about planting oats in the spring. Let them go until about July 10th, then turn them into the soil if there is anything left and plant the brassica. My concern is that if the deer hammer them like people have said they do, will there be anything left to keep the weeds down?

I do have a 60 acre alfalfa field in the middle of the property, and a bunch of clover plots for the deer to eat in spring. I also have a bunch of winter rye that I planted last fall, but my 2 plots that I want to try the oats in are 1/2 acre. I think the deer could clean these out pretty fast. Do oats keep growing after being browsed?

Your thoughts???

Would it help to add rye? Seems to grow faster and could take some heat off the oats. I think I’m going straight rye in the spring for my brassica plots. I’ll have to consult with my seed guy though. @thefamousgrouse? Lol
DT

I have never tried spring planting rye, only fall planting…hmmmm

An interesting question. I haven’t spring planted grain before, but I was also planning a spring cover crop of oats next spring to keep weeds down in my brassicas strip, but my area is bigger.

In 1/2 acre plots I think it would be tough to get any growth because of browsing pressure, but that would depend on the condition and availability of other food sources in the area. Still, oats, rye, wheat, the deer love it all.

With that said, even if the deer kept the plots mowed like a golf course, wouldn’t they also eat the weeds down? At the very least, then, the weeds would be prevented from forming seed heads and spreading through seed.

When it’s time to plant brassicas, I planned on terminating my grain with gly before disc-ing it under, so that would also kill any weeds (that aren’t gly resistant) in the plot. My thinking was that if the grain doesn’t out-compete the weeds, then the gly and the disc will at least kill them off. I still get the benefits of food for the deer and adding organic matter to the soil.

Just a note that spring planted oats are not completely “frost proof”. While most modern varieties will take frost, some damage and a % of die-off if the temps dip below 25 F, but a total kill is unlikely until temps are in the teens. You can go early, just not TOO early.

BTW, I get my first seed delivery of 2017 seed (including oats and rye) in February. Let me know if anyone is interested in full bags of either and I’ll add extra to my order.

Grouse

I could probably use a bag of oats. I plan on planting clover in a plot in the fall, but would like to keep the weeds down this spring/summer.

Grouse, as you know part of my issue is the gly resistant weeds I have at our farm. I will most likely hit my 2 plots with gly before plow down and brassica planting, but I’d like to suppress the gly resistant weeds as much as possible. Maybe spring planted rye is a better option for me. Like I mentioned, I have plenty of rye, clover and alfalfa for spring food sources, the question is will they stay off the oats enough to let them grow. Maybe I’ll try a plot of oats and a plot of rye.

Yep, the only way to see how this will work is to try it. I’m curious to know even if the deer hammer the oats or the rye, do they also mow down the weeds? Not that that eliminates your problem, but it would keep the weeds from going to seed.

An idea just occurred to me. Is Ragweed resistant to 2-4-D? If not, have you thought about post-emergent spraying of the rye plot with 2-4-D or DB as a way of knocking down whatever Ragweed comes up?

As an added benefit, the turkeys are really going to love that rye.

Grouse

That’s a good thought. I cold terminate both the rye and oats with 2-4D. That would solve my gly resistant weed issue…

I don’t think you can terminate grain with 2-4-D. Since 2-4-D is a broadleaf killer, I believe beyond the early growth stages, grains won’t be killed by 2-4-D, only broadleaf weeds in the plot would be killed.

But the advantage to you is that you can multi-spray 2-4-
D over the top of the grain if needed to kill any/all ragweed that comes up and still take advantage of the grain crop crowding out additional weeds.

Grouse

Yes, sorry I worded that crappy. I could terminate the gly resistant weeds in the rye/oat plots with 2-4D. As far as the grain goes I will just mow that short and till it in.

Thanks for the clarification.