Yup, Try to hit .5"-1" on beans and 1-2" on corn and seems to be working great. we average 25" or rain per year, but most of our plots are in extremely low ground and we usually fight wet conditions regularly...
Right. Next time I'm down in our pasture I'll snap a picture of some I planted into a glyphosate sprayed pasture.
I know a guy that loves mixing corn and beans in his plantings...Believe he said he has a 5 row planter or 6 can't remember but pretty much he does 2 or 3 rows of beans and then a double row of corn....then overseeds into them when soys start yellowing. I've thought about incorporating corn into my rotations at the new property but I just don't know if it is needed if I rotate plant soys, then brassicas or cereal grains then in the spring start the rotation all over again. Only benefit I feel corn provides is a sight blocking factor as well....tonnage wise I don't feel it is any better.
I do feel corn adds a lot of comfort into wildlife (big and small) that no other crops does. I'm talking on a larger scale now but when we finish combining a bean field, it's very rare for an animal to come out of the rows. This weekend we finished three separate corn fields. Field one, 9 coons came out of the last rows; field two, 7 rabbits and 2 does and field three, 3 roosters. That reason alone, I think if a guy can get enough of a stand planted, it's well worth it. Not only that, having a crop rotation is always going to be beneficial.
For sure. Hence why I will always overseed the beans. This is the first time we've had a substantial amount of ground to justify planting beans and I've recently thought about incorporating corn too....We shall see. I see benefits of each and no doubt wildlife loves the security of corn.
Only reason we're doing anything in corn is for our cattle. Someday I'll experiment for wildlife purposes.
On our property that we do a majority of our deer hunting we cannot get a full stand of corn to save our lives... The deer destroy each and every stalk as soon as it comes into silk. Even when there is Ag Corn within a few hundred yards. We are to the point where we might start trying an electric fence. The reason we want a full stand of corn is winter good for the pheasants, but we may switch to sorghum (the tall stuff) this next year in hopes that the deer don't destroy that too. Next year I believe I will be planting beans in the spring at 24" rows and spraying to keep control of weeds then over seeding brassicas in Mid-Late July. This year the weeds got away from us in a few plots.
I don't think we have a population of beavers, I know we have some coons but I don't think we have enough that they are the main reason. We saw tons of deer in the corn and it was about an acre that they topped every stalk off. We have maybe 5% of the corn made it to tassle, but then the cob was eaten off. The remaining 95% was topped off at about 2-3' tall which leads me to think the deer just cruised through and munched on each stalk... It looks very incriminating for the deer
If it's cobs only, I would say deer. If it's anything to do with the stalks I would bet my paycheck it's coons. You'd be surprised how much damage 1 coon can do in one night. Beavers will be very noticeable because they'll leave a smooth path right out of the field and there needs to be water close by.
Now that we have snow in much of the state I am excited to get out and sit over some of my brassica plots! Anyone else getting excited for some late season foodplot action? I am even getting excited for planning next years plots and starting to plan out new areas and fertilizer/seed requirements for the planting season! Next time I am out I will try to post some pictures of how our brassicas are doing
