I didn’t realize the taproot thing with chicory. Good to note!Buckwheat worked well for us this year as has chicory. First year with the chicory and I believe the deep taproot helps.
I didn’t realize the taproot thing with chicory. Good to note!Buckwheat worked well for us this year as has chicory. First year with the chicory and I believe the deep taproot helps.
It may still be ok if it didnt germinate and then cook. Do you have access to a drill? Might have been a little less distrubence of the clover. We rent one from the NRCS office.Planted Abruzzi rye and oats in my clover plots on 9/23 in North Central SC. Rain was in the forecast when I planted for the following week. The next day the forecast went to Zero! Still no rain in the forecast until 10/13 or so, if that happens. My clover was in good shape until I used a spring plow to work the new seed in. Had I known the forecast would change so drastically, I would have just left the lush clover alone.
I can rent one but its damn huge!! My 37hp Kubota isnt big enough to drag it around. Plus its about 15 miles to the ag office. Abruzzi will grow just by broadcasting, but the oats dont do as well. Last year my plots were perfect. Worked in the seed in the clover and then frost seeded clover again in Feb. Hopefully we get rain soon. I dont think anything has germinated. Its been desert dry since 9/23 so far.It may still be ok if it didnt germinate and then cook. Do you have access to a drill? Might have been a little less distrubence of the clover. We rent one from the NRCS office.
Yeah I didnt think about how big the NRCS drills are but they area load. We are lucky the office is only about 5 miles and we have a couple of bigger tractors to use. Hopefully they will pop up when you get some moisture.I can rent one but its damn huge!! My 37hp Kubota isnt big enough to drag it around. Plus its about 15 miles to the ag office. Abruzzi will grow just by broadcasting, but the oats dont do as well. Last year my plots were perfect. Worked in the seed in the clover and then frost seeded clover again in Feb. Hopefully we get rain soon. I dont think anything has germinated. Its been desert dry since 9/23 so far.
Yeah we have a few small plots like that where we broadcast seed too. They did get a crimper built last year though so we have the option to spray, broadcast and crimp the week after to have a thatch layer to hold moisture. Throw and mow works pretty well but in our experience the thatch is really inconsistent and pretty short lived.I run into the issue of actually getting our tractor with a drill into the plots because the bigger fields are under contract so all my efforts are in areas less than 1/4 acre either tucked into the woods or adjacent to fields with narrow access. I can get our JD back into some of them but it’s honestly more trouble than it’s worth (most years). Usually a broadcast over fresh duff and a rain will do the “drilling” for me. It’s that damn rain part I missed out on this year.
Same neighbor I mentioned before swears by his crimper. That’s next year’s investment.Yeah we have a few small plots like that where we broadcast seed too. They did get a crimper built last year though so we have the option to spray, broadcast and crimp the week after to have a thatch layer to hold moisture. Throw and mow works pretty well but in our experience the thatch is really inconsistent and pretty short lived.
Cereal Rye, imo, should always be in the mix. It is just about as bombproof as food plot seed gets.Still dry as bone in SC until next friday looks like. However, I have found that my Cereal Rye plots are greening up anyway. I guess from Dew or maybe residual moisture in the soil. Hopefully the rain arrives on schedule and it doesnt end up wilting away from the heat. Deer are all over the plots this week.
Oooohhhhhh that sucks.I went out and hunted with a friend yesterday evening and we stopped at one of his spots to replace a camera that died. He was saying his green lane was nonexistent. It was just bare ground. This drought has been unreal here. He also told me that one of our mutual friends put a bunch of ammonia fertilizer on his plot expecting rain today and we most likely won't get any until maybe tomorrow. He basically just burned up his plot.