I hunt SW AL in Marengo Co., AL. My targeted planting date is Sept 24th. Now if there is no rain in the forecast, I will delay the planting 'til just before rain prediction.

Is there any reason to plant earlier or later?

Sure as heck is no reason to plant earlier , IMO. I shoot for the 3rd weekend in September, but I'm way North of you.

If it's dry go ahead on the 24th, seed won't come up till it rains anyway.

If it's gun hunting only , wait a couple more weeks.

Shouldn't you plant Brassicas a little bit earlier?

I know this... I want 30 days after germination before the first frost.

I want to plant when the soil temp goes down so some of the noxious weeds don't germinate.

For where you are, I wouldn't plant any earlier than the 3rd week of September. No later than the first weekend in November.

No reason to plant anything, anywhere before October with drought and armyworms to contend with. You might want to hunt those pretty plots but it isn't worth the gamble.

We plant early October...they came up great last year and had deer on em all year...

I am shooting for planting October 14 and 15 at my club.

First or second week of September depending on rain. Then try to keep the deer out of them, until a day or so before bow season.

If your planting clover you need it pianted alot sooner ,more like the last of august. Clover takes longer to develope.I agree with the rest of you guys on deer mixes.but I got 4
Plots like only a quarter of acre im gonna plant imperial clover and imperial noplow the last of august.there nust mainly for bow hunting.Im nust going to teke a chance,there mainly in swamy area,s.I got some dandy bucks on camera already im trying to hold them on my property.already have a huge 8 point and bigger 9 point.I killed my biggest two bucks last year.and these 2 deer will beat them.and they will still grow for 2 more months.

We plant the around the 24th to the 29th of October. We usually have rains then and the army worms are gone.
We joke about the people that plant the first of September, come back in a few weeks to check on the plots, they look good. Then when bow season comes around they pile in and find nothing but dirt and blame the seed!

As to earlier, a local farmer who also owns a hunting lodge and guide service once cautioned me about planting too early saying that the army worms will decimate your work. He says the end of Sept. to early October is optimum to be ready for the season without fighting the crop destroying insects (unless you have the time and money to spray pesticides).

We're shooting for the weekend of 9/30-10/2 at our place in Bibb co

If you think you are going to establish white clovers enough to have a "stand" of clover between August and winter, you are mistaken. All white clovers are going to take 2 years to fully establish. Please take some advice and plant them in October with a cover crop and do some good maintenance for next year and you'll be much better served.

I don't like to plant any earlier than the third weekend in September and prefer early October. I'm also a good bit north of you too. Heat, drought, and army worms can really do harm to an early field. I love to bow hunt early season plots too, and deer love new fresh green sprouts. Even on white clover, I'd never attempt an August or early September planting. White clovers take time to establish. They're not designed to flourish the first fall. They need a good growing season or two to do well.

I shoot for planting ahead of a major season changing cold front starting in the Sept 20 ish time frame.

Wish I had a crystal ball. I prefer to plant later in October but last year had to plant Labor Day. Got enough rain to get plots established and it did not rain the rest of the fall basically. The guys around me who waited to plant had very poor results.Its a crap shoot.

Wow!! As they say, Opinions are like AH's. Everyone's got one.

Valid points. Regarding planting clover that early, I think that's too early and I like Nighhunter's advice.

I may push mine back until Oct 1st. However, if a big rain event is coming Sept 26th or 27th... I'm planting just before that rain hits.

Optimal... Make it rain Oct 3rd. And, I want a long soft rain that last all day and then sunshine with cooker temps.

A date on the calendar means nothing. The first hint of a weather change along with rain in the forecast, is how i plant. Sometimes its earlier than others.

we are shooting for first week in Oct......

I have property in Greene County and south Dallas co. We always plant 2nd or 3rd weekend in September and have never had any problems. I plant some bow plots here in Shelby Co every year in August with green patch plus and they do great. Actually planted 2 this week.