How are y’all doing the spray/spread/ bush hog process. Always have plowed ground for planting, but looking at the other options.

On the plots we throw and mow, we don’t spray we just spread and then bush hog. Usually plant in the first 10 days of October and it works just fine. At that point in the season, weed regeneration doesn’t occur and if it does the cooler weather slows the growth until the first frost occurs. We are in SE Alabama. 10 years ago we could have done this in late September but seems the heat hangs on for longer now, so early October works best.

Increase your seeding rate at least 30%. If you have a heavy thatch layer be prepared to apply N as it breaks down.

I generally like to spray 2-3 weeks out from my intended planting date. Let the vegetation desiccate while standing. Then I come in, broadcast seed and a little fertilizer, and mow it down. I use one of my ZTR mowers and mow in overlapping strips so the tires act as cultipackers. After I get good germination I’ll add an appropriate fertilizer treatment.

Spray 30 days out then no till drill. I love stirring dirt up but it sure dries the ground out.

I do a variation and it's because lack of equipment and frankly I'm just cheap. No spray no bushhog. Show up to plot. Spread seed and fertilizer. Run over with a four wheeler a few times and head to next plot. Timing the rain will be the key. I have had really good success so far and I dont do anything else to plots rest of season and see good numbers of deer. Maybe one day I'll be able to have and use equipment but for the last 4 years this has been working.

I'll add to this......keep adding clovers to the mix to help with N and to moderate the amount of thatch……1/3 grass…..1/3 broadleaf……1/3 legume…….You're basically wanting the weedy clover that so many folks want to fight to keep clean.

That’s interesting. Do you have any pics of the plots? What they look like with the summer weeds and then what they look like during deer season?

This sounds way too easy to be true! Not saying you are lying, I just want to try it.

I might spray this year just so i can see what i planted a little better and sooner. But itll come up just fine without spraying. But if we have a warm fall, which is common now, all those undesirables will still be there growing, along with what you plant. Ive never sprayed before but i think i will this year.

I do not have any pictures. Never really thought about taking any. A summer time picture would be weeds and grass about head high. In season picture would be a food plot with some standing dog fennel. Which oddly enough has worked out well for me. I guess they like the added cover. I have noticed the past few years that the plot that has the most standing dog fennel has the most mature buck sightings. My plots wont win any awards but they have produced. Its all about your goals. I have been on hunts other places where the plots were beautful with no deer or a ton of small bucks and does. If you like to just see deer then that's great. But personally, I'd rather put some on the wall. Which in four years of doing this way I have. Good luck to you and yours if you try it. Alot easier. Alot chaper

Whats everybody generally use to spray with? Roundup or what?

ANY pics of your fields?

See my response to Pwyse above.

Mossy - i been using eraser and it super expensive - still got some left from last year and if i ran out tractor supply had some 41% glycal i was gone try. Anybody tried the 41% for killing grass n field ??

Yes and it will burn it down.

I like 2,4DB for weeds. It doesn't kill all the stuff 41% gly does, but the stuff it kills, it kills it.

If you want a no till that works well, plant a mix of soybeans, clay peas and sunn hemp in the spring. Broadcast it into your standing fall crop and then mow it ahead of rain. In the fall, just come in, and broadcast your fall mix into it. Come back ahead of rain and add some fertilzer and watch what happens.

The killer of a summer plot is bare ground. Bare ground holds zero moisture, so the more organic material you have on top of it, the more moisture it retains. If you have a thick canopy of beans/peas, you would be surprised how much moisture is in the ground below them.

Its forcing me to rethink my clover plot strategy. If we have a wet summer, then the clover does great. Last 2 summers haven't been wet enough. So its gotten thin. I hate to spray it or cut it while its stressed, which means when you can spray it, weeds are much more trouble. I got one field I am going to have to start over on, and I replanted it with soybeans, which the deer hammered, and then I put some brassicas on it about 3 weeks ago, and it looks like I am going to have to come in and hit it with GLY to knock the weeds back again. I am waiting to see what the cleth does on the grass.

Lockjaw- Been thinking the same thing. Been watching a lot of Dr. Grant Wood on Growing Deer TV and he does something similar to what you are talking about. As he explains the details, it begins to make sense. I think the hardest part is getting started and allowing the system to work.

Thanks - goodstuff Lockjaw

Here's basically the same thing done with a tractor.......Couple weeks after planting.



Few more weeks after that.......

^ that's it. CNC have you had success with leaving an edge like that in the bottom pic on the left?

Yes, I basically just cut the plot out of it and leave the perimeter.