Hey guys - last year we bought back 1/2 acre of beans from the farmer on our lease and it worked out great. I saw multiple shooters in the plot and had tons of late season daylight activity. This year he's rotating that field back to corn and I'd like to purchase that 1/2 acre of field back from him and plant it with our own mix. Most likely going to do clover/chicory and some buck oats as I'd like to use it for more early/mid season while the corn is still standing around it. It's close to a couple buck bedrooms and I think we can lure them into the plot during daylight so long as they feel secure. Once the corn comes out this particular section of the field is wide open to a couple houses where people and dogs are coming/going a lot and they don't seem to like to spend a lot of time in the open until dark. My question is has anyone done this before, and have you had any issues with herbicides or pre-emergents that are already in the soil effecting the growth of new seeds? I don't think I'll have an issue, but I'd rather plan for things before I spend the time discing it up and planting it only to find that it's not going to grow.
Can you ask the farmer what he's used for chemical in the past year? That can help know what type of plant back/carryover restrictions there may be. I'm guessing you won't have an issue either. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Most bean herbicides have a short lived residual. I'd be more concerned with what he's going to spray on the corn, overspray (drift) and water mobilization would be my concerns from the corn herbicides. A solution may be to buy an acre and plant your plot in the middle, allowing a buffer zone around the edge of your desired plot. You could plant a similar crop to the corn around the edges to help maybe mitigate the herbicides and provide a longer lasting screen from the neighbors after the corn is cut. Or just use the corn and broadcast wheat, oats, rye into it as it matures.
Would think the edges of the plot the growth will be thinner due to the corn sucking up most of the nutrient in the soil around the edges?
Corn will only be bordering one edge of the plot. The rest will be inside edges of the timber. I could just buy back the full 1/2 acre and leave it standing for food which I'm sure would work, but I really want to get some clover/chicory in there somehow. I just have a feeling it would be deadly on that first good cold front in October. I'm thinking about buying the full 1/2 acre and telling him not to plant it at all. I'll leave the top 1/2 of the plot unplanted until the fall so I don't have to risk it getting killed by overspray or leaching. The bottom half I can put into clover/chicory and it should be far enough away from the corn to be safe.
I think I would have him plant corn in the yellow and orange boxes. Leave the orange box corn and broadcast your small grain/brassicas into it during the summer after his herbicide applications (depending on residual). That way you have some standing corn when the farmer has his corn out. Plant the green into a chicory/clover mix when the time is right.
Only issue I would see is if the farmer uses Atrazine. That stuff can stay active in the soil for a long time, so might affect you're germination on plot style seeds. But to your point, if you can get stuff squared up with him before he plants or sprays, you should be good.
Last year I planted brassicas in the open spots in the farmers corn. Worked out great for us, lots of trail camera action and killed a doe off it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
