CnC, so one of my fiends that I am experimenting with this method on has decent organic matter. So what type of summer stuff should I do? Would like to do something that deer will eat. Thanks.

You’re gonna need some decent acreage to keep it from being eaten up…maybe some milorgranite to let it get growing a little….but I’d do a mix. You need grass, broadleaf, legume.

For grass I’d use millet and milo
For broadleaf I’d use sunflowers and buckwheat
For legumes I’d go with iron/clay peas……Also for a legume component you can mix in a little white clover with your fall mix and just let it come in where it wants to.

Pennigton sells a mix really similar to this or you can build a little mixing barrel and make your own from 50 lbs bags. Probably want to go easy on the grass component or it'll likely dominate the other plants if you get it too thick with something like millet.

Sounds like this mix plus maybe some milo. I've done that before and it worked well. Deer may eat most of the sunflowers, but the milo gives the peas something to climb.

So, plant that when? When the rye seeds out?

Yes, it’ll probably be around the end of May or first of June. You’re wanting it to look something like the pic below. That’s just natural termination with no herbicide.

I planted iron and clay peas at one bag per acre in June a few years ago. The field looked just like this one. I threw out the seed and asked CNC how high to set the bush hog. I had to bush hog the food plot in the first week of October to drill my plots for fall seed. (We had a wet summer and the peas kept growing).

I’ve suddenly got clover exploding everywhere. The rye is also jumping already. It doesn’t take long when the temps start to rise again…..The clover is a mix of crimson, yuchi arrowleaf, and durana. The crimson is what is really jumping right now although I do see some of the yuchi as well……

Our turnips are about to be swallowed up by the rye and clover growth. Once they’re covered over and the temps warm….they’ll quickly become decomposed organic matter. I like this combo for fall mixes......Grass, broadleaf, legume.......cereal grain, turnip, clover

Here’s something to think about as we move into the spring and summer months……….

Decomposition is taking place every day. There becomes less and less of that old dead log out in the woods with each day that passes……..And so is the same for the organic matter in our soil too. It's steadily decomposing. We really only have two crops of biomass each year where we are able to replenish that organic matter and possibly increase it’s % in the soil..... which is one of the main reason for this whole idea of "no-till" to begin with.

Now is the time when we begin to grow our first biomass crop of the year. We may have planted it back in the fall but over the next couple of months is when we will see our biomass yield from our cereal grains. If you’re just getting started in the process of turning your soil around…..you may want to hit your fields with some nitrogen right now in order to help push out as much growth from your cereal grains as possible. If you’re not producing good crops of biomass then you’re still going backwards in terms of OM% in the soil even though you may have stopped tilling…..

Keep this same idea in mind too as we move from spring to summer and transition into our second crop of biomass that is produced from roughly May-August. If you don’t end the process by producing a healthy crop of biomass to add back to the soil, then your OM% will steadily decrease. You won't actually be changing anything.

It doesn't look like your deer are utilizing these plots much. The control cages are usually way ahead of the plots but it doesn't look like that in these pictures. Why?

Certainly a lot of clover blowing up early.

I’ve planted way more this year than the local deer can keep up with. All of this is connected and totals about 7 acres worth of planted area. The don’t utilize everything evenly. They hammer the areas where they feel more comfortable and only feed in some areas once the more comfortable zones get browsed down.. They basically start at the back end of the field and work their way forward. This pic is a few weeks old…….



They only really started utilizing this front section toward the very end of the cold snaps. They are feeding in there a good bit though. Notice the ends of the blades eaten off. This pic was taken today. I’m very happy about the situation actually. It means I’ve planted enough acreage to pass that threshold where we have enough vegetative growth to keep up with what the deer want to browse.

In comparison, here’s a pic of the back corner where deer enter the field most of the time. This area receives a lot of browsing pressure. It’s held up better this season though than any other year I’ve planted. I'm really pleased with this year's plantings.

What is the orange in background. Strap on a stand?

Yeah, a loc-on.......

CNC are those sawtooths next to your plot it dang sure looks like them but I can't zoom close enough to tell. Anyhow I'm pretty impressed with your plot knowledge and I don't want to give you the big head but even I have picked up a thing or two from you and this thread. Man you have got to get you a no-till drill and take the summer planting to a whole nother level in your T&M. I can just see you with a drill and a roller crimper and a new thread called roll and drill. Seriously man it's the way to go I've got fields that haven't seen a plow in years that go from beans to cereal grains and back again and I seem to be getting better yields every year. If you had a NT drill you could let that field go till about May spray a burn down with a pre and drill sun hemp and peas or something in the standing cereal grains. Let that go until it plays out in October and do T&M and repeat. I do see a lot of ladino clover in it and it's hard to kill it but summer production falls anyhow past May and you can handle $ replanting it every year with all the dang bad shots going on these days. You aren't that far from me I could bring my drill and you could do a test plot and post the results for these knuckle heads.

Thanks Dax…….

Yeah, those are sawtooths. I like the way they hold their leaves all winter.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d LOVE to have a drill…..I just don’t have enough acreage to justify buying one. The whole purpose of the T&M experiments has been to create a system that the average food plotter could use and still see the benefits of no-till principles without having to buy all the high dollar equipment. That’ll just never be an option for the vast number of plotters. However, if they’re willing to tweak their methods then they can still grow some very productive plots with minimal equipment. Everything I’m showing was planted with nothing more than a spreader and a bushhog.

I’m really thinking about trying some sunn hemp this summer in a T&M planting. I may go with a thin rate across a large area to begin with.

I gotcha you and it's definitely the easiest and most cost effective way to go with minimal equipment. I guess my point is that even those with every piece of equipment you could have can use this same method to take it to an even higher level of annual tonnage production.

Exactly…..You and I are using the same principles to achieve the same soil benefits…..we’re just taking different routes to reach the same end.

Yep

Went ahead and mowed down all of my natural screens and got them ready to start re-growing. The rye has bolted and gotten super thick just in a matter of days. Otis is actually standing just to left of my tire tracks.

He's about 18 inches tall at the back for reference. I may mow in a couple weeks if the rye continues to take off. If I do, I’ll have my mower lifted high enough that it passes across the top of the clover and only cuts the rye. I may just let it go though if it looks like I have plenty of clover. This is gonna make a good crop of biomass.

If you remember back to fall planting……I went with several different rates of cereal grains across the different areas I planted. It varied from 50 lbs/ac up to 150 lbs/ac…..The heavier browsed areas got the heavier rates. The front of the field didn’t get browsed as hard as I expected and the heavier rates are a little thicker than ideal now as you can see from the previous pic. If you have the option to do so…..the lighter rates do much better in conjunction with the clover. It gives the clover room to grow while also eventually giving it some partial shade once the rye bolts and gets taller. There’s a sweet spot where that ratio is “just right”. The rye provides a little cover to the clover without being so thick that it shades it out in the process.

The problem with that just right ratio though is that its not gonna be enough cereal grains to keep up with fall and winter browsing pressure for many folks. Say for instance that you’re planting a ½ acre plot and have a good number of deer present…..A light rate of cereal grains likely wouldn’t be sufficient to keep up with browsing pressure in that situation. ……For the guys planting larger fields though, I’d definitely keep the rye at the lower rates. Just as long as it's an adequate amount of total rye produced across the field to keep up with browsing during the winter months.

I think the pic below is a pretty close to that sweet spot ratio…..….The thinner rate of rye along with moderate browsing pressure has worked out just right in this area. This will stay productive without me doing anything to it for several months to come. If you had a large enough field to do so……you could plant a low rate of cereal rye along with crimson, yuchi, durana….(or other clovers) and provide the deer with quality forage nearly all spring and summer without doing anything other than throwing out seed in the fall and mowing.



In comparison, this area was planted with a heavy rate of rye that did not allow enough room for the clover to even get established. This would be great for heavy winter browsing but not so great when spring comes and the rye is no longer attractive. The lighter rates are better for establishing clover and keeping the field attractive after the rye bolts….but again, what’s your situation?....how big are your fields? ……how heavy is the browsing pressure??