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Anyone ever use their Release seed? They say it's good to start with to rebuild soil. Thinking about no till drilling it in and basically following their soil building guidelines to see if it helps some of our plots. Any of yall ever followed this method?

Yes we have and we really like the stuff. Deer seem to like it too. We have dabbled in the no till portion of it but going forward we will start to be more committed to it. We didn’t really have the tools to do it before now. We still don’t have a crimper but we will spray instead. By the way, if anyone can figure out to make an affordable crimper that you can pull behind a 4 wheeler or side by side, I think they could make some good money.

Thanks for responding. Yeah we are going to spray as well. I know that leaves the food plot with nothing for the deer to eat for a short time but I don't think we are going to spend the $5-$6k for a crumpet right after buying a drill. This deer meat is already expensive enough lol.

GrowingDeer guys are still spraying a vast majority of their plots with Gly. Save your money and keep spraying them. Crimper comes with a lot of limitations

I’m planting a lot of stuff with regenerative techniques and I’m not crimping. Drill straight in to the standing crop, spray and walk away. Repeat for the next seasons crop. I’ve seen crimping work pretty well though in some cases.

That’s good to know. Thank you.



I thought that you needed to lay down the previous crop over the seed. Either by crimping, mowing, etc. Does the sprayed crop eventually lay down? If you broadcast instead of drill, does that change whether you should lay it down or not?

Laying down the standing crop by crimping accomplishes three things. First, it protects the seed that was broadcast and helps hold moisture at the ground level. Second, it adds nutrients/organic matter back to the soil. Last, it terminates the standing crop by cutting the flow of nutrients to the growing parts of the plant. Chemical herbicides do the exact same thing. I’m not broadcasting seed. I’m drilling, so yes it makes a difference. I’m placing the seed below the surface in the moisture and it’s protected. There’s no reason to crimp in that scenario. And yes the existing crop dies, lays over and is added back to the organic matter on the surface while the drilled seeds are germinating and penetrating through it. You get WAY better germination rates this way with larger seeds. Peas, beans, sunflowers and lab-lab do not germinate well sitting on the surface. I’m not throwing about 60% of my paid for seed by tossing it on the surface and leaving it. That technique may work well on thick loamy soil that doesn’t have a hard pan. It’s a no go on heavy clay like what a lot of AL has.

Look into the Vitalize Seed Co. mix. Al puts together a great mix. Also, look for a used Alamo flail mower, it does a much better job of shredding the cover than a bush hog.

Do you spray after you drill?

Green point AG can also put a blend together for you, and its much cheaper.

If you want a blend, its not hard to make yourself. You just need buckwheat, milo, sunn hemp, sun flowers and some peas/beans. Sunn hemp will be your best soil builder. If you really want some good nitrogen infusion, plant arrow leaf clover in the winter. What I have seen out of it on a field is pretty amazing.

@Mbrock, thank you for your response. That was very helpful.

We planted fall release this fall and are doing it summer release this spring. Sprayed to terminate the fall crop 2 weeks ago, and we’re going to no till drill it in after the next rain event

I’ve been using vitalize carbon load and nitro boost on rotation and I’m liking the results.

I’ve done it both ways. Just make sure you spray gly before any of the drilled seeds break the surface. I wouldn’t spray more than two days after drilling. Spraying after seed is in the ground gives it time to get a jump over weeds. It’s inevitable. After you spray, some of the first stuff to come back is sicklepod, tropic croton, crabgrass, etc. You’re very limited to basically zero herbicide options post germination of these seed mixes that contain a plethora of seeds.

Matt they say crimping also helps with weed control. Most the weeds have real tiny seeds so they don't have enough energy stored in them to grow tall enough to get through the thatch and start making energy from the sun. I don't know if that's true or not, it's just what the growing deer videos say lol. Here's my thoughts...

Spray with gly, drill into the dead stuff, the drill will pretty much lay down all the dead stuff and create a thatch for moisture retention and weed control.

Think that will work?

I really don't want to mow or disk ever again. Two passes twice a year is my goal.

Thanks k bush. I'll check it out

Matt or k bush, where are yall buying the vitalize seed at? Just ordering off their website?

Here’s two fields of the vitalize nitro boost. I also added a few lbs of cow peas I had left over from another field. It already has cowpeas in it, but mine has more. 😂

Right now, Jerremy Ferguson is the only dealer in AL unless something has changed. If you want some we can arrange it I’m sure. No, we have it drop shipped by the pallet. 😉

We do the same thing. Either spray and drill into a terminated crop or drill into green crop and spray soon after. I personally prefer spraying before. Drilling through it lays most of it down and what doesn't will over a short period of time.