Checked on our main plot the other day for the first time in a few weeks. I was battling Yellow Rocket early this spring in the fall planted rye/clover. A quick mowing and some timely rain took care of that problem and then some. The rye is now about 5.5ft tall with the clover doing nicely underneath. The second half of the plot was residual brassica from last July. The deer litterally pawed it to bare dirt this winter, so the seed bed was perfect for spring planting. We decided to do our typical buckwheat as a hold over. Planted it in mid May with a little lower seeding rate than typical because we added some rye into the mix to experiment with. Again, some timely rain, and it is booming. Very happy with where we're at heading into late summer and fall for the next rotation.
Great looking plots! Question: Did you mow the rye earlier and it still got 5.5' tall? I planted winter rye for the first time last fall and never knew that it got so tall.
Thanks everyone! Greg, I mowed in late April. The rye was coming up but I mostly set the deck height just low enough to clip the yellow rocket and nothing else.
Very nice! I planted my buckwheat around the middle of May as well, but it doesnt look as good. It's probably as tall as the monster raxx bag.
So I'm doing the Oats and Berseem spring mix of the LC plan. Have you found better luck with BW and WR? The only issue I see is that since it is following up the dead brassicas there will be the cereal mix in that spot this fall including WR. Not sure if that is an issue or not Matt.
Looks good. My sunflower patch is not doing so well. They all died. Replanted, but becuase of the timing I think they will be more for deer than doves. It worked out great last year, but having a hell of a time this year. F'in 3" rains hurt in 24 hours.
Is buckwheat really that attractive and used by deer? I don't know anything about this type of forage...
This is my first time mixing in rye with BW in a spring planting (usually just a straight BW planting). However, did you read CNC's thread over on QDMA where he's rolling this rye, seeding, then mowing to create thatch? I've thought about this for my fall follow up. If not, I will just do what I normally do and mow twice (BW can create very thick thatch), maybe broadcast clover before the second mowing. I could also till lightly after the last mowing and then broadcast.
In the fall I mix rye, oats, winter peas. then drag and pack it. I then spread red clover. the rye acts as a cover crop in the spring for the clover. Then i leave it for a year and do a brasica mix the following summer for the fall. I may try some buckwheat (like your idea) for the brasica plots to help keep the weeds dn before the grain mix goes in. I mow the rye off 6 weeks before i plan on planting the next crop it acts like mulch.
