Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Quality Deer Management Throw n Mow Q&A

Time is of the utmost importance to me too. I don’t have a week to disc all my plots up. I also don’t have enough HP or a big enough disc to do it right.

Meh. I grew a pretty good plot of wheat on the back of my flatbed last year. Did real good until the frost came. Different strokes for different folks.

I don’t consider tilling to be “the right way”…..I consider tilling/plowing to be a tool used for certain situations to alleviate certain issues….It does not have to be, nor should it be, used for every planting….There’s very few reasons, if any, that it should ever be used on sandy fields. I’ve planted my field in the pics now for the last 12 years…..having done it both ways. I’ve seen the results of years of tillage on my field and I’ve seen the results of years of no-till…..There’s no way I’d ever go back to tillage in this sand pit no matter how much time or equipment I had…..It’s about a lot more than just time savings.

Constant tillage at same depth sets up a sumbitch of a plow pan. Impenetrable by water,nutrients and roots. Plus bullschit wear and tear on tractors.

Get a subsoiler.

I wish I could find a drill to rent for summer my fall plots do fine with throw and mow.

You need a big time tractor to run a subsoiler, something most folks don't have for hunting camps.

And outback is piling up the BS deep...

A one arm sub soiler doesn't take a very large tractor to run.

Most recommend 40-50 hp per shank

Instead of adding an extra step to fix a problem the we created to begin with…..Why not just stop the disking and never create the hardpan in the first place?.....

The hard pan is already there in most cases. Ripping is best. Then maintain with tillage radishes

I always hear about this hardpan? How does a fella figure out if he's got one?

There's a tool you can use. Measures soil hardpan. Look up soil penetrometer

I will NOT be looking that up

Well then don't ask for answers again.

Have you ever taken a shovel and dug a small pit in your field to look at the profile?? That alone can tell you a lot. I got to pondering one day on how deep I could go before reaching a clay layer.....At 52" I finally hit what was a reddish layer of dirt that still wasn't clay but a definite change in subsoil. I did a test on my topsoil layer that went down 7-8+ inches as well at the next layer that extended from 8"-52"......I wish I would have done a 3rd test on the reddish dirt that extended past 52" just to see.....

I found that the subsoil layer from 8-52" was extremely harsh with a pH of 5.0 while my topsoil layer....that dark layer you see in my profile pics....is balanced at 6.8......That subsoil layer contains no Calcium nor does it have the holding capacity to do so. If I destroy my topsoil that I've built then I have nothing left to plot in but that harsh subsoil. The only way I can improve the holding capacity of that layer from 8-52 inches is with plant roots. No subsoiler goes that deep. Plant roots penetrate into that layer and leave behind the OM of their root systems when they decay....leaving streaks of OM into the subsoil.....these streaks are able to hold CA and improve the micro-area around its root tunnel in that deep layer. Some of the best plants for penetrating roots deep into this harsh environment are "weeds".

You can make a poor man’s soil probe by welding a T handle together. Main rod about 42” long with a 8-10” handle welded on top. Sharpen point on bottom of long rod and just check your field in a semi grid sample. You can tell quick if you have a hard pan. Stick sharp point in ground until it won’t go any further. That’s where you hard pan is. Everything will be relative based on how sharp the point is and how hard you push but you will quickly get the idea. I purchased a JD no till ripper that came with a probe like I’ve described mounted on it. Really simple tool. Late Summer drought conditions will greatly affect soil resistance. So if you probe today you will hit resistance at 5-6”. Wait until optimum soil moisture and the probe my go down 18” in same spot. To get a good feel for what you actually have it is best to build a cheap probe, keep it in your truck, and check fields several times during the year

And a good visual sign is anywhere water ponds and stands typically for a long time after a rain has potentially got compaction issues

That sandy dirt is just like soup on top of the hard pan clay, when it's a wet year. Trust me, I know about that. It is a headache.

CNC and others, do yall think these 2 plots would be good candidates to attempt a throw and now? It's mostly ragweed anywhere from 4 to 6 feet high and fairly thick. I've got 2 more plots I couldn't get to because of a blowdown, but I'd assume they're in similar condition. None have been touched since they were planted last Fall.