I'm sure the answer to this question is somewhere in this 78 pages, but I can't find it: how high/low do you set your rotary cutter?

I usually mow as low as I can reasonably mow when I'm planting seed. If it's thick then I mow over it twice, making sure to bust up any windrows on the second pass. If you're not planting seed then I'd just knock the tops out of everything enough to release the summer vegetation from the shade of the rye.

I drag mine down and don’t mow.

I think this hen is nesting in here somewhere. I’m really hoping to see some turkey poults following her one day. I’ve never seen a hen with poults in here before even though I see lone ones likely nesting just about every year. I’ve been trapping pretty hard for the last couple years to see if I can change that.

Yea, I don't mow much anymore. If it's summer grasses, I just spray it and let it fall over on its own. The last 2 times I've planted the grass was dead and had already fell over flat making a nice mat. I didn't think the seed would reach the soil thru the mat, but I was wrong. Worked well.

I'm too impatient, I guess, and my schedule in May is rough, so I went ahead with a mix of peas/beans/buckwheat/sorghum broadcast into the rye/clover and then cut it all down before the rain Sunday. Here are a couple of photos. Hope this experiment works. Hopefully, you don't see anything that screams "fail" at you.

If I could offer some constructive criticism without sounding too harsh…..you needed to make another pass over that field with the mower. The reason why is so that your hay biomass will be distributed more evenly and all those clumps of grasses still standing would be evened out. That helps get a more even germination across the field. Imagine how an area would look if you used a hay blower to cover it with hay. You’d have a nice even layer. That's what you're wanting it to look like when you're done.

Good luck though still….I hope it does well for you.

I went over the back part twice. I will need to go over that part again also. Need to do it quick after this rain. Maybe I can get to it today or tomorrow. Honestly, I am not sure that even twice was enough for the back.

CNC, it's been like that since Thursday. Too late to go over it now? Rained pretty hard yesterday.

Yeah, big crops of biomass can be a booger to mow down. That’s really a good problem to have though…..biomass is what we want……looks like you've got plenty.

so you do think it is too late to mow it again?

If you could mow it in the next couple days you'd probably be fine. It doesn't take long for those seeds to start sprouting though.

Here you go, CNC. Looks more like I scattered it now, I think. There are a few bumps here and there, but nobody's perfect. I don't think anything had germinated, so I think I'm good. Exclusion cages next. This will be cool if it works. I've put two of my patches into a T&M rotation. One was out of necessity because the soil had zero organic matter, as it was brand new. The other (the one in the picture) is my experiment. After a couple of years, I'll do more of a write up.

Mucho better!!!!......That looks nice there.....

I've got a lot of crimson, arrowleaf and ladino clovers in my field's. The cereal Grains are about 5 ft high.

I'm not planning on planting anything in it for the summer so should I bush hog now wait until later in the summer
or not bush hog at all until fall planting.

You can either just let it go until fall or mow it in June after the arrowleaf has seeded out and maybe hit it with some fert/lime at that time if needed......It's your call.....Mowing may release a little more summer vegetation.

Thanks for the reply.

Before the post we did mow some yesterday. I hope we did not make a mistake on this.

This is what the others look like.

It’s definitely not the end of the world or anything. You’ll get some regrowth come back from some of the clover. There’s really no reason for you to mow right now though. The crimson needs a little more time for the seed heads to dry out and the yuchi is still growing strong….The deer will keep feeding on it for another month or more. Just let it do its thing and go to seed….those un-mowed fields look fine. They may even help hide a few turkey poults.

You may not even want to mow in June. As deer feed on the yuchi and other animals feed on the cereal grain seed heads….those cereal grain stalks will dry out and disappear on their own. You’ll likely see some of the ladino really kicking in about then. I think you can really just sit back on this mix and let nature take care of things. Come back this fall, spread a little more seed, mow and repeat….maybe mix in a new kind of clover this year. If you let the crimson and yuchi fully mature then you’ll get plenty that reseeds itself without adding a full rate every year. I think you can really keep it that simple and still have very productive plots. Just keep your soil nutrients in check, don’t skimp on the lime, and let the organic matter continue to build.

I’ll throw this out there too while we’re talking about doing less…….

Don’t go back in June or July…..see “weeds” growing with your clover…..and think that you need to get on the tractor and do something about it. Think back to the foundation principles of soil health. We’re trying to grow diverse rotations that consist of 3 parts….grass, broadleaf, legume. If you start spraying out the grass and broadleaf component then you rob the soil of organic matter during the summer growing season... a period of time in which producing organic matter is one of our biggest goals…..spring and summer is when most biomass grows! Those grasses and broadleafs are your carbon producers…..the clover is your N producer that provides the fuel for your carbon producers…You need both for a balanced long term rotation….A lot of those broadleaf plants are also highly preferred deer food….especially when grown in a fertile situation.

You’re not looking to grow a pristine stand of clover this summer. You’re just wanting it to be a component of a mix. Don’t worry about trying to “manage” the clover. Just add a little more white clover seed each fall and repeat. Again, as long as you’ll let them go to seed and mature…..many of these annual clovers like crimson and yuchi will reseed since we’re only mowing.

Thanks.

Having to get 30 years of "That is how we always have done it" behind us.