I throwed and mowed my first food plot a couple days ago. I was behind the rain instead of ahead of it. Bad timing I know. Maybe itll turn out ok. I laid some pretty heavy bushhogging on top of it. Surely the birds wont eat it all up before it rains again. Not getting away from the disk all together though. Planted 1/2 acre of ladino clover on disked ground today. Broke up about an acre for a kale/rape/daikon raddish mix ill plant in a day or two. Got about an acre of irinclay peas thats about chest deep right now the deer have decided to destroy all the sudden. Ill throw n mow that acre in some oats when the peas play out. That and bushhogging the weeds down in my crimson clover patch will have me done planting this year.

Planting after the rain and putting heavy thatch on top of it, may doom your experiment, unless we get more rain. Even then if the thatch is too thick only the larger seeds that have enough energy will push thru it. Smaller seeds like clover and brassica just dont have the energy to push thru thick thatch. It's like planting them too deep.

I'm fixing to go bust up about 6 acres of dirt. When I get done there won't be a blade of grass to be found.
In a few days I'll broadcast the seed fertilizer combo and drag it over with a harrow.

It was oats. I figure on having to topsow a little more over them. I was just over there and I didnt run off any birds so maybe the seeds will be ok. My bigger tractor has been down and I wanted to cut it with the 10ft cutter because it chopps it so good and smooth. Kinda do things when you can somwtimes around here. Oats and wheat will generally sprout on concrete so I should be ok. We'll see.

Thats usually more my motus of operandi. Trying something new this year. Its part of a bigger plan to make foodplotting a little easier on me and the tractor.

If you want to test any theory you have to have a "control". That's true for any experiment. I've haven't used a disk for several years now, but I disced up half a plot because I got the itch. So far both sides are identical in terms of germination and looks. We got a lot of rain from Beta, so I planted ahead of that.

I prefer wheat, rye grain and triticale over oats in throw and mow fields. They don’t seem to do as well.

The deer around here like oats better. Usually oats will come back the following year too. Turkeys like to hunt grasshoppers in the oats in the spring. After it heads out im gona throw and mow iron clay peas in it next spring, then go back to oats next fall. Thats the system I want for this particular spot so I hope itll all work out.

I do all throw and mow now. So much easier and faster. And the plots look just as good.

We planted a few fields couple weeks ago with the spray spread and drag method. Tractor tore up on last couple fields so we spread seed and fertilizer and then mashed down all the dead grass with a drag.

Well I just went and checked my plots. A little of the throw and mow oats are up. Mostly where I had mowed some grass on top of them and the thatch layer was thin. Everything I planted in broke ground is coming up like gangbusters. I expect the t&m will catch up.

We've had so much rain I won't be able to plant until mid week.
Even then, we may be practicing a new planting method, Throw and Tow.

My throw and mow experiment turned out pretty good. Looks like every seed sprouted. Some of it came up a little quicker than other places but it's all up now. Seeing fresh grass coming up out of bushhogged weeds will take some getting used to. Im used to seeing a clean field but I guess if the deer don't care, I don't. Should help keep the field from washing in this rain. In the past month the deer have destroyed about an acre of ic peas I had left. They we're about chest high a month ago. They're laying on the ground stripped now but as of Tuesday they were putting in new leaves so I'll let them go a bit longer.

Having the same issue this year with grass. By next Thursday, we will have had about two weeks of lows running 10 - 20 degrees above normal and flirting with some record highs along the way. We need some colder temps to stunt the growth of the grass. A frost would be ideal, but I don’t see that in the forecast, even the long range. Soil is still warm, air temps warm and plenty of moisture in the ground.

Overland, I was calling the oats I sowed grass. Not used to seeing my food plot growing out of bushhogged weeds. I usually disk. But yes there is some grass there too. It'll eventually be gone.

We have two kind of plots, those that have weeds and taller stalked plants that grow fast over the summer and plots in old Ag fields or pasture that have a solid grass covering. Our throw and mow does best on the plots with weeds. When we bush hog those, nothing sprouts until the Spring. On the one’s with grass, years like the past few we’ve had, the grass will keep growing until we get some cooler weather. We still disk and plant about half our plots and do T&M on the others. Seems to work out.

I had one plot where it was too wet on half of it due to beavers. I planted half of it where I could get the tractor. and the other half was just bushhogged a couple weeks before planting when it was a bit dryer. No seed, no fertilizer. Both halves look great.