Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Throw and mow?

We've done a little t&m in the past but primarily have mowed, disced and planted traditionally. This year, I'm recovering from hip replacement surgery and will be way behind the normal schedule so will be doing a lot of t&m in some of our bigger fields. We had so much rain this summer, some fields are 6-8' tall. I feel like they need to be mowed soon and allowed to regrow some before planting by t&m. Still have plenty of time to plant mid to late October. Comments welcome

Need to just wait now.......If you dont want it to be that tall come planting time then next year come in and mow it about the end of June or first of July

A flail mower would be a better option than a bush hog. The finer cut should help it break down faster but you'll still need lots of N.

The finer you chop it up the more rapidly its going to suck nitrogen……Its not really important to get it chopped up fine……The more important part is just having a fairly even distribution of hay covering the field…..You don’t want heaped up wind rows in one spot and nothing covering the soil in the next……With a situation like described you could probably just run a cultipacker over it and it do fine…….Some of it might stand back up a little but it’ll lay back down long term……You want a little space for the seedlings to emerge through anyways…..I’ve actually planted into such by just throwing and letting my tractor knock the vegetation down…..The only problem was being able to see the deer right at dark…..I ended up coming back later on and making a quick pass across it with the mower just for visibility's sake……….. This is after running over it with the tractor

The objective is to open a path for the seed to make soil contact before you cover the seed by mowing or rolling. Burn it with herbicide ASAP to open it up. I've compared mow vs roll side by side in halves of a plot. Same difference.

150 pages....

I have done throw and run over with fourwheeler after no summer mowing. I have done summer mowing then throw and run over with fourwheeler. Also done both the summer mowing and non summer mowing with throw and mow. Then spray vs non spray. Out of all the testing I have done I had a plot every year. It all depended on adequate rain events in my case. I just mowed my biggest plot last weekend and gonna spray end of September then plant middle to end of October on a rain event.

If doing throw and mow, do not spray it. Throw the seed out and bush hog.

I just sprayed some fairly tall and thick stuff. I plan to plant in a month by seeding and pulling a drag over a few times to get seed down to dirt.

I have had success with Throw and Mow on the sandy / sandy loam sites. I don't spray, just broadcast seed and then mow. The only issue I have had is if the vegetation in the field is too high for the spreader and prevents the seed / fert from being broadcast. If that is the case, you have to raise your bush hog up and knock the top of the field before spreading and then bush hogging.

I like plowing a field, always have but the T&M is a time saver and at my place it works just fine in most fields. I use it for fall food plots and typically we are spreading winter wheat, cereal rye (not rye grass) and clover. Another key to success for me has been waiting until the grass/weeds have quit growing so I plant mid October.

Throw and pray?

Due to the duck farms being so wet this spring I done a bunch of throw and mow. I sprayed waited 2 weeks then throwed and bush hogged got some of the best looking fields you have everseen

Any pics?

If your plots are 6-8 foot tall I’d definitely mow it down some first. But I’d try to only knock it down to 18-24” if possible if you can bush hog that high. Broadcast seed. Then drag the plots with a spring harrow, bundle of green tree tops, or anything else on hand to disturb what thatch layer you have already. That’ll help make sure the seeds get down to the bare soil. Then mow the plots down last.

I can get plenty of pic's tomorrow. But someone will have to post. I do this for my spending money lol. Now a bigger seed like corn or beans needs soil contact. There was no way you could pull my John Deere 7000 this year. I used it for making people dove fields though

I'll post them for you...... ....... If you build up a good layer of organic topsoil and have good layer of thatch to cover the seed with....you'd be surprised how well you can get beans to sprout