After not Bush hogging this year I think I can do plots without tractor. I sprayed this year and waited 3 weeks and put a drag behind seeder and it looks as good as any I use to bush hog in the past. There are a few brown weeds here and there but the deer don’t care.

This is about 3 weeks growth. I took the pics last week. These are the two fields the turkeys hammered for a few days before they got rain. It's Rye, Oats, Wheat, Clover, and a hand full of turnips I had left over from last year added to each hopper. If I can get some dry weather I hope to add some fertilizer.

What I'm more excited about is the grass starting to grow on my severely eroded area after 2y of T&M. Its finally starting to hold some grass. I'll try to get pics of it if it ever stops raining.

mman - I planted some fixation and berseem along with triticale and wheat on 2 T&M fields over the last 2 weeks. Both of these fields have good thatch, and T&M has worked well on these spots in the past. We'll see how well the fixation and berseem come up. I'll let yall know how it does and what kind of biomass I get next year.

I know this isn’t how folks have been doing it in the past but I’d suggest adding some N to your fields at the same time you throw your seed out instead of waiting. We had to plant wheat at the new land this year due to the shortage of rye. We fertilized at planting with a 4-wheeler spreader while I bushhogged with the tractor. Well, the little spreader didn’t do the best job of getting a nice wide even spread…..and when we came back a couple weeks after germination you could clearly see where we hit and where we missed. Biomass takes up N after it’s put on the ground and temporarily locks it up. You could obviously see the wheat looking N deficient in the areas we missed. I think you would see a much quicker jump out of the ground from your plots to go ahead and add 50 lbs/ac of 34-0-0 with your seed......then come back in a few weeks and hit it with your heavier application.

Very good. I topseeded some fields with it this year. I am very interested in how the T&M technique will work with these.

Throw N Mow into sunn hemp.

Looks good, Joe

What did you think of the sunhemp? I’m considering that this spring in some places.

It grew like crazy. The deer hardly touched it though, which I expected since it was the first time they had been exposed to it. It was really hard to bush hog considering it was several feet higher than eye level of the tractor. Didn't make very good thatch. But again, grew like crazy in the best soil. Would be wonderful if you wanted to use it for cover or screening.

Joe, when i used to grow it, I would bushhog it down when it reached 6' tall down to 18" high and let it regrow. This kept it from getting too hard to handle and reset it to tender growth, which is what deer prefer.

Yep, I knew of that technique. Part of our problem this particular summer was we had a busted bushhog and didn’t have a new one until this fall.

The self-seeded crimson clover has really jumped with all the rainy weather…..This could done in a lot of areas around properties.... even in spots that are not being used for traditional food plots. Places like around ponds, down the sides of roadways, etc…..

CNC how much usage do you get out of crimson???
. I lived over in Lee County a few years back and crimson clover would get a 12-18" high on right-of-ways. I never saw a deer feed once on it, but I would regularly see deer grub to the ground white dutch clover.

It’s mainly a late winter/early spring forage. I like the fact that it jumps out of the ground before anything else in March….I need to give dutch white a try....

This was bad eroded and nothing but sand and chert rocks. I had the dozer level it a few years ago. I disked in millet first planting. Then cereal rye T&M => millet => wheat/oats/rye/clover. Every planting has gotten about 200lb/ac 17-17-17. Hopefully I’m finally getting it under control.

That's impressive toothdoc....That's poster child material for protecting and building soil....

Wow, that’s cool Toothdoc.

Liming it too Toothdoc?

First year, but we need to hit it again. It's best with a hand spreader, so probably hit it with pellet.

Had some good luck with top seeding a mix of wheat, brassica, clover. Dad killed a doe off it a couple weeks back.