It looks like there's several sources to get these type products from online but here is an example.....If you'll notice they also have inoculants as well. I don't know anything about this company....its just the first one I pulled up.....Need to do some research and check out others I'm sure. Maybe the feed and seed folks will begin to carry these type products in the future so that everything doesn't have to be ordered over the internet. Again these things will need to be experimented with but I think MOST folks would be a lot better off spending money on this than on peas and such in the summer....

https://vitallandscaping.com/product/baseline-granular-humus/

Humic products. Products I carry are hydra Hume and resurge. They raise CEC type properties of soil. Water holding and nutrient retention are the main take aways from using these.

On the idea of innoculants…..What I think most people will find is that when they first start out they’ll likely be heavily dominated by bacteria. As time goes on though and as higher C:N ratio plants begin to establish and restore carbon back to the soil….then they’ll be swing to a more balanced mix of bacteria and fungi. When this happens then you’ll likely notice new plant species beginning to emerge in the summer time….lots more native broadleafs….I don’t think I saw this happen for at least 5 years though….maybe more. If the cost is reasonable I’d go back and inoculate my soil with the missing microbes early on instead of waiting for them to come back naturally. Now it may be that you have to do this a couple of times….I’m not sure but the microbes need a home and if soil conditions aren’t right for them then it may be a short term gain that has to be repeated. This is where experimenting will have to come into play.

We call it bugs in a jug. Some are legit. Some aren’t. But there’s merit and science to support the legit products.

That's pretty much what I ended up doing last year. I experimented with just broadcasting which worked fine in my conditions but I couldn't see the deer because the standing veg was too thick. I ended up just using my front end loader in reverse and pressing it down.....One of these little roller crimpers suited for a 4 wheeler or small tractor would be the bee's knees for just pressing a crop down like you're talking about. The only problem with dragging is that stuff will pop back up on you. The roller/crimper puts a crimp into the stalk and terminates it.....put its down for good. They'll be new things like this that will emerge eventually that'll help this method out. It'll always be possible to do it with as little as you choose though as long as you have the knowledge of the principles.

That lil thing heavy enough to do much good?

The guy who made it said that filled with water its 360 lbs......there's possibilities for adding more weight if needed too

I plan to make a roller out of 10” drain pipe filled with concrete for that.

If you know how to weld I bet it wouldn't be hard to make one of those crimpers like this guy did. Its those pieces of flat steel that really do the trick. Its doing more than just laying the vegetation down. Its crimping the stalks of the plants and terminating them as well. Either way will get you by...the crimper is kinda the Cadillac way

Yeah that’s a big negative on the welding

Here's a short little video showing the big boy version being used...…

We’ve tried em. Didn’t really work as advertised. Now we just plant into it standing green and run sprayer behind planter killing the green cover

That's the first I've heard of someone not liking them. They seem to be one of the more coveted pieces of equipment amongst folks moving to these type planting.

Looks like a mini drum chopper...drum choppers are usually worthless

Keep in mind that we're talking about food plotting and not cleaning up a clear cut or something. All.most folks are gonna need it to do is efficiently lay down the standing vegetation. Heck many of us are doing it with pallets and such now. The roller crimper would just be a little more neat and efficient way of doing it versus a pallet. It would also offer some ability to terminate standing veg without spraying. That's what was demonstrated in the video

I’ve already mentioned this but “timing” is a big variable in all of this that you can use to your advantage. With farming they’re constrained by the cash crop they’re growing and when they want to harvest it, etc….With food plotting you don’t really have to worry about that. The easiest thing to do is to time your transitions with nature and the natural transitions. Instead of planting at the end of April and having to spray to terminate a crop, etc…..wait another few weeks and let the winter grains and such terminate themselves naturally. Same thing in the fall….instead of rushing in to plant in early to mid Sept….wait another few weeks and plant with the natural transition that occurs as the summer veg seeds out and naturally begins to terminate. Of course this is gonna vary a little depending on your location

Wouldnt a disk harrow very shallow do the same thing?

Somewhat yes…..I tried it one year and it still tilled my sand up more than I wanted it to. Sand is very fragile. I don’t know that a disk is gonna give you the same crimping action on the plant stems either. For sure don’t throw your disks in the pond and make reefs out of them though….they’re a tool like anything else and may be used for other purposes.

They used something very similar in the old days to break up corn stalks. Probably thousands of them sitting out in the woods or been taken to the scrapyard

Planted an acre plot with i&c cowpeas/buckwheat/sunn hemp on a field near camp that I can run sprinklers on. Been watering since Monday. I sprayed, waited 10 days and dragged a screen panel over the thatch. Layed it down pretty as you please. Looks really good. Went from raining every day to drought. Showing rain for Monday, so will plant other plots Sunday.