Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum When do you plant your fall crop?

When do you plant your fall crops? Mid to late Aug? Early to mid Sep? Late Sep?

I know we typically can have little to no rain in Sep and waste money on feed and seed.

What do you think the advantage and disadvantages are planting in late Aug?

In upper NW AL I want to be planted by sept 15 if I got moisture. If not I’ll wait til I do.

Plant mine anywhere from 1st half October but I wait for rain to plant r last weekend In septEmber if good rain is coming then. The one spot I hav that is bow only that I bought cross bow for I prob do mid to late sept but will wait for rain first And plant right before rain - if rain late - will not Plant till later and bow hunt later. That is only spot I will bow hunt

First good rain in October

Middle to end of Oct depending on rain.

Depends on where you are in the state. Where I hunt north and west of Bham we plant middle of September.

Never before the third week of September.

This

When it starts raining.

Don't get the itch and plant just to be planting. If you're around Auburn, early Oct would be about right depending on available moisture

Mid September. It doesn't rain in Lower Bama in October..

August isn’t, and shouldn’t even be a consideration. I usually prep fields in August with herbicide if it’s needed, but never plant before the third or fourth week in September. I prefer to wait until October. Remember, September and October are the two driest months of the year in AL. Getting a fall crop to germinate in 90+ degree heat in late August to early September, followed by an average of 2.5-3.5” or rain for the next two months is not a reasonable expectation for success.

If they are gun hunting plots only, what's the rush?

We are blessed with rain here in AL. A quick check of the stats says it's our 4th wettest state.
I have figured my plots already stand a better chance here than most places I've ever tried.
I try to start w/ good soil moisture AND approaching weather. How lucky are Ya?

x2

To get as much growth out of my radishes before a killing frost.

Conserving soil moisture is very important as well considering the small amount of rainfall expected during that time period. Also, if someone is patient and waits until the right time to plant...... then you can usually avaoid having to use any herbicide. Summer annuals are ready to terminate anyways by this time

I started planting my 18 acre field last week and it will take a couple months to finish because it's being done in strips one spreader width and a little over a thousand feet long. In a couple weeks I'll bump it up to two spreader passes. If only I could figure how to keep the birds out of it!

To answer you question there is ZERO advantage to planting in August. Disadvantages include army worms, drought, just enough rain to sprout then drought, etc. most plots planted early become stemmy/woody about the time deer would really be utilizing the plot.