Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum My biggest frustration with throw and mow

Those three months are exactly my priority period as well and the answer is not perennial clovers and native forbs are losing quality. The answer for me is IC cow peas, deer vetch and kudzu.

I’m a believer that it works I’m just saying that you are not offering the quality and volume of stress period forage with a fertilized native field that I am with 5 acres of deer vetch and 10 acres of cow peas. But your system is a good one, no doubt.

You’re kidding yourself if you think 10 or 15 acres of deer vetch and cow peas is making a significant difference on the deer herd compared to a field of native forage that’s been reset in July that’s putting out new growth……The difference between the two is negligible and not worth the effort and cost unless you have significant acreage to plant to feed the deer ……I feel like y’all are just stirring the pot but I’ll bite because I’m bored and chomping at the bit waiting on someone to booger another deer up…..

But y’all are getting wrapped up in things that arent making a significant difference and completely disregarding the things that do……I’ll take having a cream of the crop fall plot on the landscape come January that was created with little cost and effort all day long over all that other stuff……I know exactly what everyone else’s food plots look like and most of them don’t look like that ^^^^^

I’m talking on an acre for acre basis. 15 acres of native field vs 15 acres of vetch etc in August. August being the key word there. January is secondary to me personally (that’s a carb month for whitetails). And I’m not disagreeing with you generally. I still manage 40 to 50 acres in old field rotation with fire and disk

CNC, would bushhogging the fields a couple of times during the summer be effective as fertilizer for adding nitrogen and thatch?

Mowing much in the growing season gives me too much grass in my fields

Yeah well…..you keep worrying about them 10 acres in August and I’ll keep focusing on them January carbs……

This ^^^^......Unless you just have really thick cereal grains maturing in the spring.....a one time mow in July is all you need to do

Hmm. So I'm guessing as the thatch breaks down later, you get a majority the germination ? And if so, when do you start to see the results ? September-ish, or sooner than that ?

I have no idea what you just axed......

His question was clear to me. BPI, conventional disk and cover will always be the first out of the gate as far as early germ but I think the throw and mow catches up within a few weeks

That’s not correct......It may take a little longer to look like its greening up but germination starts immediately after a rain.....I've even had it sprout and grow without any rain at all due to the thatch and the moisture in the ground creating a greenhouse effect......I'm still not sure that's what he was asking though.....I dont even plant until October

This is 11 days after planting……..If you have good fertility, then your plants will jump out of the ground quickly

That helps. Okay I'm tracking now. You mow and don't plant in July, get the stand up and then throw and mow in October, right ?

That makes a lot more sense. I thought you said THROW and mow in July and I was confused lol.

Then I read it again and it makes sense.

Correct……when your fertility really takes off, mowing in July just makes things more manageable come planting time in October and it resets the vegetation so that you get a flush of new growth late in the summer…..The “green” that your mowing breaks down quickly and acts like fertilizer ……You don’t have to mow it down really low or anything either…..Your broadleafs will do better to leave some of the stem and leaves intact

With that late summer drought we had this year we didn’t get a ton of regrowth after mowing in July…..Most of the field was just knee high so we just broadcasted seed into it before a rain and didn’t even mow again…..We’ll see how it turns out…..I think once it starts coming up the deer will probably beat down what’s left of the summer growth…..

Man I would have to cultipack that after the mow. All that dead stuff standing up just goes against everything in me 😂

Anyone who is interested in this approach should really check out the book “The One Straw Revolution”……That Japanese farmers “do nothing” approach is really the basis for a lot of the things I’ve tried……The year I did that planting above was an experiment just to see how simple I could make it and still have good results……I might have spent 30 minutes total planting that day counting the time it took me to load up the spreader……It turned out to be one of the best plots I’ve ever grown

Is that book cheaper than a no till drill? 🤣

Its actually free........

https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta//onestraw.pdf

Just curious, is this lease land with small plots or are you trying to maintain 3-5 acre fields? Usually on lease land their #1 objective is tree management limiting your ability to maintain adequate plot space to maintain the herd anyways. Then they spray and kill all the natural vegetation at times. Not saying there won't he good hunting just limitations on what you can do short of feeding protein mix and small plots. Maybe add fertilizer in areas without pines to aid natural vegetation like honeysuckle, which is high protein during antler growth season.