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

Prices like that are why we stopped going to the Tuscaloosa co op a long time ago.

It’s all central Alabama prices.

I did a little 10 minute walk around my field earlier with some company that stopped by and there was at least a dozen or more plants that we easily pointed out while walking around that were being hammered......purple vervain, florida pusley, pokeweed, dewberry, blackberry, teaweed, golden rod I believe but may have that one wrong....I mean really there weren't many plants period besides the grasses and dog fennel that didn't have moderate to heavy browsing....and the seed was all free. I just fixed my soil and got it right. I believe the deer can tell the difference in plants grown in fertile, properly functioning, nutrient rich soil versus the same plants grown in lesser soil conditions. I believe they can tell the difference in the plants growing where there's 4200 lbs/ac of calcium in the topsoil versus 200-300 lbs....I think they can tell the difference in the optimal K levels and balanced pH..etc….

what should the calcium levels need to be? I just got soil samples back and i have two fields thats have 1400-1500 and others thats have 4-500 and a few that have 7-900 lbs/ac.

The short answer is that it will vary from field to field....I'm trying to recall all of the finer details of why but my brain just keeps giving me a spinning hourglass. That file must have gotten corrupted or something ......I'll have to refresh my memory with some reading but its gonna depend on your soil type for one....the amount of soil organic matter present, and the total holding capacity of the two......CEC also comes into play I believe and the nitty gritty has something to do with the positive calcium ions balancing out the negative hydrogen ones. Maybe some other folks can help us fill in the blanks.

all of my fields are sandy loam, i do know the fields that have the most per acre are the fields that I've been doing T&M. the new fields i have on the new section of land have the lowest

It could very likely be because you're building up soil organic matter in your T&M plots and increasing the holding capacity. In really sandy fields....soil organic matter is pretty much all you have from a nutrient and water holding perspective. There's no telling how much lime and fertilizer gets wasted by hunters with sandy fields. Management for many folks In this situation is to just keep throwing chit loads of lime and fert at it. They'll praise the lime as being the "key" to success and then say that "you just have to keep adding it every year or two". They're just not seeing the whole picture or they would be cringing a how much of their lime and nutrients run off into the ditch or leach away because of their other practices....like frequent, heavy tillage .

I checked a cam on a food plot sunday. Enjoyed several handfuls of blackberries. Every wheat head from the fall planting is gone. They are hammering native vegetation in the field. Not as many poplar saplings as I expected, in fact very few. ( I had it bulldozed a year ago after clear cut.) I had 3-10 deer in the field every night hammering native vegetation, as well as 2 turkeys and I've never seen turkeys there. Should be plenty of root systems and top growth for OM when I lay it down this fall.

This man has seen the light...….He can "hear" Jimmy......

I was expecting to see more "volunteer" wheat and cereal rye after they headed out, and I bush hogged them 2 weeks ago. Haven't seen much. Maybe there will be some after this rain?

I don’t think you’ll see any of that until the fall. I’m thinking that there's probably a certain threshold with soil and maybe air temps that trigger seeds like that to sprout or stay dormant. Just like with my crimson clover. I just produced a LOT of seed that has now gone to ground. Its just gonna lay there until the fall though and then suddenly I’ll see anther patch of crimson clover emerge. I would say that daylight hours could possibly effect it but that doesn’t seem likely with a seed since its not really even seeing the sun. If you produced a bumper crop of cereal grains with big long seed heads I bet you’lll be surprised how much comes back volunteer….especially with cereal rye. Due to the seed shortage I didn’t even plant cereal rye this last year except for just what small amount was in the mix I bought. When I walked around this spring though….there was cereal rye seed heads every damn where….even places like my peach orchard where I haven’t planted in 2 or 3 years. Its nowhere near as thick as we’d normally like to see with our fall plots but it definitely still had a strong presence.

Lmao negative. I’ve got a mess with volunteer crimson,radish and triticale in my proso millet right now. It was cool last week but if temps don’t take it out I will with 24D. No seed can “lay there” with this humid wet pattern we’re in right now.

I disagree…….Soil temps play a huge role in germination rates of different species as no doubt know. For example we plant things like beans and peas when soil temps are around 60-65 degrees I believe it is….however we don’t put watermelons or okra seeds in the ground at the same time…….Why not?.....Because optimal germination temps for those species is something like 85-90 degrees. Put them out when soil temps are in the 50’s or 60’s and most of the seed is just gonna lay there and not do squat. What triggers the native veg to sprout and start growing in the spring from seed that was dropped 5-6 months prior?? Is it not the warming soil temps? What keeps summer veg seed from sprouting and growing in Dec…..Is it not because soil temps are too low? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m just speculating on it but I’d have to believe that cool season plants don’t sprout and grow in July for the same reason warm season plants don’t sprout and grow in Dec…..because soil temps have passed a threshold that keeps them dormant.

Do you want me to take pics to show you?? Yes cool season crops can sprout now. Not saying they’ll survive but they’ll sprout. Now warm season seed laying oncool soil won’t. But seed can’t help sprout with warmth and water. No matter the season crop. They just won’t keep growing in hot dry July August weather

That’s right. I no tilled some soybeans about 3 weeks ago, I still had a little bit of Nelson Rye left in drill from last year. I poured beans on top of it and took off. Rye grass growing right on up right now. You 100% correct

No, I’m good with it….like I said, I was just speculating on the reason…..It doesn’t bother me to be wrong when we’re just pondering over ideas and possibilities. If its not soil temps then its something else that’s having the effect because I grew off a chit load of crimson clover seed but I don’t think I have any clover or volunteer cereal grains growing right now…Come fall though I’ll have another thick crop of crimson clover sprout up just like its done for the last several years.. There’s something that’s causing or allowing the seed to sit there all summer until the conditions are right or the conditions change. In the past the only thing I could have done to effect it was mowing….This year I haven’t even done that. The change in conditions with my patch of clover when it suddenly sprouts in the fall is something environmental. I'm not disturbing the seed bank or doing anything to trigger the change. Temp just seems like the most likely trigger.

I don't doubt that a seed will sprout, but I cant see a cool season plant actively growing in June with 90 degree temps. Harold your in South Alabama, 257 is in north Alabama, maybe that is part of it. IDK, but I never have cool season plant's growing in June, that's why they are called cool season plants.

2 weeks- WMS Corn & Lablab

Lablab is doing good. Corn is decent. Any recommendations on spraying grass?

I’ll post plenty of pics of triticale, clover and radishes actively growing tomorrow

With their situation you could probably point to management practices as a real possibility for what’s setting the stage for it to behave out of the norm and cause issues. I’m pretty much just letting it run a natural course though. Another possibility for what’s keeping the crimson seed held dormant is the summer grass that emerges after the crimson seeds out and disappears. It grows all summer and then goes back dormant in the fall just before the crimson emerges again. It may actually be helping the crimson to keep successfully regenerating bumper crops.