I enjoy watching AgPH on RFTV and knew that vertical tillage had really gained in popularity for residue management. Makes sense. Farmers have to have weed control for harvest equipment to gather crops. Thanks. And congratulations for taking my place.

Roverwood……Are you managing your fields for wildlife or row crops? Do you manage your forests for nothing other than timber?

All the above I farm dirty. Weeds not as big a deal for me because I don't harvest but I do spray row crops @ planting and again @ about 30". I'm just trying to rid my fields of invasive species and promote natives to the best of my ability. Chemicals are a huge part of our operation. That's why I ask my original question

Riverwood…..It’s ok to let your guard down man. There’s no need in dismissing the things I’m talking about just out of fear that your pride may take a hit if you don't. If this type of holistic field management interests you….I would be glad to help you the same way that I’m trying to help others on here. No one will call you a kool-aid drinker. Why does holistic management make so much sense in your forests but not in your fields?

CNC,

What are you doing to manage your deer herd? Have you noticed any increases in weight and antler size?

Thanks for your generous offer but I think I'm doing ok doing it the Riverwood way. Hell I may just hook up a disk and plow 40 acs just to add diversity. Hopefully it will dry this week and I can finish my burning, start spraying and have something to do other than read your redundant posts

Redundancy actually isn’t a bad thing when someone is learning or teaching a new concept. Many times people don’t grasp an idea the first time its presented to them or even the second time or third time.

I tried extending an olive branch Riverwood but if you choose to light it on fire then so be it.

That first one is a pretty vague question. On weights.....I don't weigh many of the deer here on my home property. I only average shooting 1 a year off of it. I mostly just observe herd behavior and do food plot testing here at home. It's only been within the last two years that I even shot a doe. They were just getting too concentrated.

So you call telling someone to ride down a dirt road with someone's thing in your mouth an extension of an olive branch? All Riverwood said is basically no thanks to your "scat and forgat" method and now he's burned up the olive branch that you about broke your shoulder out of socket to extend. How could you Riverwood?
I'll put up the definition of narcissist and let's see what the dictionary came up with. extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one's own talents and a craving for admiration, as characterizing a personality type. WOW, that rings a bell.
I'll also take one out of CNC's play book by posting a helpful link. If you don't know Jill Goldson, she's the best. LINK TO HELP

Meanwhile, back at the compound……Uh, I mean ranch.

Here’s a pic of my throw and mow test plot as of today. The cereal rye is going to seed at around waist high now after the early April mowing. The crimson clover is still in full bloom right now and the 1st year yuchi & durana clover are continually filling in more and more. The vetch has not yet bloomed but the first Austrian winter peas are beginning to bloom out a nice deep purple and whitish purple combo. An added bonus that I did not really count on is that I’m beginning to see milo and/or Egyptian wheat coming up volunteer from last summer's crop of seed. It’s looking like I may have a milo/EW component of my summer mix without having to add any additional seed. We'll see how much comes in over the next few weeks.



The first of the winter pea blooms. Looks like the field should really pop with them over the next week or so. The hairy vetch should be blooming soon as well.

how do you know when the seed heads on cereal grains are mature enough to germinate? Do they have to get brown and dry out before you mow them?

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1324353#Post1324353

For those desiring to debate the validity of this technique for growing a deer food plots please go to the link above for that purpose. Some of us desire to read what the man has to offer. Without all the back and forth BS.

thank you,

I.E. Drink the kool-aid, and shut up with all that reasonable non-sence

None of the big commercial farmers, still plow where i live, they all use a no-till drill. The stubble from the previous planting is still visible, but the plot is brown, where they have sprayed, and then all of a sudden you'll start seeing it green up in rows. They don't disturb the weed seed bank. I don't have major problems with weeds and grasses. I also don't have a problem spraying them, if i do. A sreally smart man told me one time that if grass contiually shows up in your plot, then nature is telling you, you need more carbon in that plot, so plant a grass specie's, such as corn,milo,millet,sorghum, or egyptian wheat. That way you will be adding carbon, and also adding food for wildlife. Over time, the unwanted grass will diminish. You can also get rid of a lot of weeds in your yard, simply by raising your ph, by liming, instead of spraying.

I'm not 100% sure at exactly what point the seed become viable for germination later on. I would think that as soon as it begins to brown down they would be fine but it may be ok earlier than that. I'll see if I can find us a better answer.

I'll take a pic later on but I've got a small test plot where I allowed cereal rye to go to seed last year and then reseed itself. The purpose of the experiment was to see how much I could grow without any additional seed added. I probably ended up with about 30-40% coverage compared to a normal stand. It's not a full stand by any means but I'll still take that free seed.

One of the criticisms of this method is folks saying that you have to put down more seed in order for it to work. I disagree. If I'm producing this much seed for free from all of my crops then I'm actually looking at being able to eventually use less.

The clover trio of crimson, yuchi arrowleaf, and durana.....

I'm picking up my buckwheat and sun hemp on Friday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. My plan is to plant one plot by disking, seeding and covering and the other "throw and mow."

Cool!.......What is the current condition of the plot you plan to throw and mow? Was it disked last fall?

I’ve said this before but let me go ahead and say it again for anyone who is getting ready to do a throw and mow planting this summer. The first planting is not the one you want to do a side by side comparison against. Throw and mow takes advantage of the soft soil surface and abundant soil moisture that comes from having a thick layer of decomposed organic matter encompassing the top several inches of soil. It takes a little time for that OM to build up and for the soil surface to change to that fluffy potting soil texture. Until that happens…..you’re still just transitioning to the throw and mow method. The first planting, especially if it’s a summer planting, is just going to be trying to get down some biomass in order to get this process started. I wouldn’t even approach the first planting from the standpoint of trying to grow a “picturesque” summer plot…..The main goal of step 1 is just to grow a bunch of hay to cover the soil surface and begin building this layer of OM…..Its like making a mulch pile on your soil suface….it takes time.

It is almost a half acre and was planted in NWTF wheat using a disk and drag. I realize that I'm just preparing for the fall with the goal of building some OM. It has been a few weeks since I've been to the camp but I anticipant that the wheat is mid-thigh high. I am not going to spray this weekend since rain is in the forecast, although I will in the fall. I plan to broadcast buckwheat and sun hemp and mow enough to cover.