This thread has taught me that I do not have Nutsedge..........I have "Poor Man's Chufa"......


BTW.......It's dying too.

. I suspected it might have been staged. I don't think many will walk off and leave an easy bite like that.

I don’t see how they have time to scratch in the Chufa, they’ve been to busy destroying my Millet.

Ours appear to have begun turning brown. We planted on memorial day so I assume they made and are just dont growing??

Seems like it is about time for that to happen. I'm not sure what all affects their life length, but somewhere in the 90 to 120 day period the tops start to die. It could be related to day length, but I have noticed that chufas planted later in the year seem to grow right up until cold weather, so that might not be a factor.

I have never seen a year when a flock of turkeys decimated a chufa patch early in the year the way these have. I sprayed the little patch with gly a few weeks ago to kill the crabgrass, and there is hardly a place left where turkeys haven't dug for chufas. I made this pic a few days ago:

screen shot on pc

I also put out 10 lbs of a mixture of crimson and arrowleaf clover just before a rain. That's a rate of 40 lbs an acre, and is way more than I would normally plant. I used such a heavy rate because I know that most of it is gonna be dug up by the turkeys scratching for chufas. But some of it should survive on through the spring and make the plot a little more attractive. I would rather grow clover on adjacent ground, but that isn't an option for me here.

There were 2 hens in the area who hatched over 20 poults between them, but only 3 survived. Another hen eventually joined up with them, and that group is out there daily.

They haven’t gotten into mine yet, I’m seeing turkeys around but apparently they haven’t found them yet

Ours have just now melted down enough that the turkeys are comfortable going out in them.

When I have time I like to burn my chufa plots off, the turkeys really like it too.

I've had some folks ask me chufa related questions lately, so I thought I would bump this thread and also add a current picture of the plot:



Turkeys used the plot extensively until early January, and then it went through a period of little usage. I think part of the reason for that is that they have almost unlimited amounts of corn in the area from deer feeders. This soil also tends to get very hard in the winter. The fact that I had a solid stand of clover also might have discouraged the turkeys from digging chufas

At any rate, I took the tractor and started discing strips to regenerate the plot in March. I tried to disc about 1/3 of the plot each time. I disced it lightly, and some of the clover would survive. Turkeys immediately started using the disced areas to dig chufas, and of course there was always plenty of clover. All of the field has had it's first discing now, but you can see that there is also plenty of clover growing. Turkeys are still using it daily, and I actually ran this hen out when I walked down there to take a picture:




I think the patch in this stage really helps the nesting hens. They can leave the nest for their daily feeding trips and quickly dig a few chufas and scarf down all the clover they can hold. The clover is still thick enough that it should also be attractive as one of the first places they take the newly hatched poults. I think I am gonna hold off on the second discing and leave the field as is for the next few weeks. Whether I do a second discing or not, I will plan to do the final work around the first of June and then start the cycle over again.

I have been surprised by how much the turkeys have benefitted from a 1/4 acre plot. It's no doubt better to plant a bigger field, but even a small one can receive a lot of usage.

I thought they had eaten all mine but they’re still scratching in 3 of my chufa plots, they are really hammering my clover fields