At this point after the mowing, the vast majority of the seed has worked its way down into the hay you see. Its not really that difficult for small seeds like milo, buckwheat, clover, etc to find their way through the hay to the soil surface. Underneath the thatch is a moist, humid environment that’s ideal for seed germination. The topsoil is no longer anything like the nearly pure sand I started with……..

I thought I would post this pic up right behind that last one to show how much the soil has changed over the last few years. This is what the soil looked like in my plot the last year I tilled it……pure sand. Now look back at the other pic above that was taken of the soil today.

I didn't do a pure throw and mow with the lack of rain we were having. We bush hogged most of my main field then ran a disc over it one round after the seed was sewn. We did no bush hogging on the other two fields. I have a lot of thatch in my main field still on top and a little in the other two since they were thin. I've got a lot of seed sprouting right now and with the rain yesterday I think they will bust out in the next few days. A lot of my clover is coming back alive so it should be interesting to see how they come out.

Yea, i got two good rains Saturday and the first part of Sunday was misty. Looked like it may have had a light rain Sunday night.

Cool!.....Snap some pics if you get a chance. I like to see how these techniques are working out on other people's fields.

I hope I can catch one more passing shower this afternoon. If so, I should be off and running later this week. Things are moist under the thatch right now but I'd really like to saturate everything down one time. That thatch on top will soak up a ton of water itself.

........and just like that...48 hrs later we have buckwheat sprouting. That chit don't waste no time!

One more "after" pic of the mowing with a little better afternoon lighting………..

I've got buckwheat beans and corn showing up in mine. I hope to get them kicking next week if I can get some fert rained in. I will be putting some 17-17-17 down this weekend.

I planted corn Wednesday night. It's up hand tall today. I love humid wet weather! Sunflowers are at V4. I'll spray my imazamox on them next week then 150 lbs of urea and it'll be off to a good start! Sun hemp and milo going in next week.

My soil test called for a little bit of P....That's what the white stuff was in my mix. The test didn't call for it but I think I'm going to go ahead and add a little more K too. It had fallen off a little from the last test. I hope we can get at least one more follow up rain on the field before things turn dry again. It's coming. It's just a matter of when.

Pics or it never happened........

Guess you planted clear field sunflowers?

I did.

I planted clear field for couple years. Best I've ever seen. Drew doves like crazy. Best looking flowers I've ever seen. Actually had some pics of my field in a couple of outdoor magazines. My had bare dirt unders flowers which the birds love.

Only problem is the expense. I can do corn with atrazine & gly for about 1/3 the $. I used the clear field system to get rid of Bermuda grass in cow pastures. Works as advertised. Good luck. Bet you will have a great dove field

BTW sure wouldn't sling those seed on top of the ground

Haha I sure didn't. I disked covered and cultipacked. But mine is an 8 acre "test plot"!!!!

Crimson, i got sunflowers coming up in one field and buckwheat, cowpea's, and sunn hemp coming up in another. We still need some good rains.

Yep, we’re going to have to get some good saturating rains before everything really gets going. I’m going to have to call false alarm on my buckwheat sprouting so soon. I knew that was too quick. It looks just like a little buckwheat plant though.....but I think if it were then it would be sprouting all over the field by now and its still just that one little spot. Probably just a weed. I do see beans sprouting tails though.

What is really depressing is to watch a frog strangler like this miss you my about a half mile and never get a drop. That one had tigers in it too….I could feel it in my foot.



On a happier note…..My vegetables are doing well.

This is my first year to grow an Indigo Rose tomato. Not sure how its going to taste but it’s a cool looking tomato anyways………..