Need some assistance

Because of the rain the farmer who leases our field has not been able to get any crops in. I want to know if I could plant a section of the field without it disturbing his crops for next year. Is this possible? What could I plant? What would I need?

Here is a picture of my property and the surrounding properties - My property is outlined in red, and I was thinking of planting in the green areas.

Any help is appreciated.

 

You could go in and broadcast soybeans in as much of it as possible?

 

I thought about that but I don't have easy access to planters, could I broadcast by hand? Another thing I'm worried about is how short on time I am.

If I am broadcasting the seeds with little soil work, I don't think beans would be an option. Do brassicas require deep seed depth?

 

We have gone in to drowned out areas of our fields before and broadcasted soybeans to compete with the inevitable weed pressure that would eventually happen with quite good results. This was broadcast only with no dragging. Do right before a rain and you will be fine.

We actually did an experiment this spring which we called volunteer soybean trial. We hand broadcasted soybeans and then planted corn into it. You would be happily surprised at how well the soybeans took. Some were drug and others not. Pretty good stands were established both ways. A little better being drug though. That actually wouldn't be that hard/bad to do by hand or with a wheeler.

Timing would be alright with soybeans yet.


I think most brassicas are from 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch deep if drilling or just broadcast before a rain.

 

Thanks for the info!

Strongly considering beans... Now the question of what kind should I look for (I have never bought beans before). There are drowned out areas all over these fields which should work decently.

I'm in my 2nd year as a bowhunter and managing a property... I'm a big time noob learning as I go.

 

Would think your time frame would be alright with beans. Imagine it may be a little different then around here but there's people just now cutting wheat that will put beans out.

Could also go with rye maybe, it comes on pretty fast and will kinda die off on its own or can, spray it pretty easily as soon as possible next spring if it starts coming back and will kill it off for crops. We put beans in rye almost every year after chopping or bale it and just spray like normal and it kills of whatever grows back. If your areas aren't very big that may work.

After any of that idk ha. That's about as far as my experience with food plots go.

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If you plan on using glyphosate as a weed killer at some point in the year, make sure they are Roundup Ready soybeans. Earliest maturity you can find whichever brand you get. Asgrow goes by the first two numbers - AG1431 are a 1.4 maturity, AG1230 are a 1.2 maturity and so on. You want the one with the earliest maturity so lower the number. Asgrow is just an example because that is all we plant on our farm. There is a lot more to it as far as nematodes and diseases but for plots, you should be fine with just about anything.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I'll be going to the local creamery tomorrow for seed!

 

It seems to be common....first question though as many farmers are in government programs or have crop insurance is....is he in a program, if so there are limits as to what one can plant. PREVENT ACRES have restrictions.

If you can plant anything and you want to help him out plus help the deer here is what i recommend when i get calls on this.

Plot restore- a radish/berseem clover mix. This will loosen up the rain soaked, compacted soil as well as fixate a lot of nitrogen.
A brassica blend with radish/winfred brassica/turnips/kale
If planted early august a mix with triticale/winfred brassica/radish/berseem clover

To help the farmer, you would love to help scavenge nutrients, fixate nitrogen as well as get some deer root base going. Adding organic matter to the soil tends to make crop farmers happy as well.

 

I would plant brassicas in mid July and or Oats in early September.

 

Labor day weekend plant some winter rye, not rye grass winter rye. Easy to plant and it would grow on asphalt if you watered it. Winter rye is cheap, and easy stays green and grows late as well.

 

well...i planted a 4 bean mix a couple weeks ago and also seeded some more last friday. I also now have another drowned out area that was planted into corn earlier this year that i got the go ahead to plant. This friday i'll be planting another version of a 4 bean mix, as well as some more 4 brassica mix and the 1/3 strip in that field will be another option, a 1.2 maturity food grade bean thats mixed with some dwarf sorghum and millet. This will be used to create a funnel to a bow stand.

 

Where do you buy your seeds?

I am thinking of trying both winter rye and brassica - But am unsure of where to get the best seeds.

 

Looking for some more opinions as I have an update.

The entire field was tilled/sprayed this last week - I should easily be able to get a decent sized food plot in with a simple box spring behind the Pioneer and a hand spreader.

Any suggestions for doing this? What should I plant? Looking for an annual food plot.

Thinking of doing strips of White clover, Brassicas, and winter rye... But I'm not 100% where I want to put it yet. Where would you plant if you were in my shoes, assuming the prevailing winds are generally out of the N/NE later in the year.

Looking for as many recommendations as possible - I know we have some very educated members here!

 

Local feedmill will have seed, many places are now stocking seeds for the food plot market

 

do you own the property? sounds like they are preparing it to plant winter wheat. you might check with the farmer to see his intentions for the field before you invest time and money into it.

 

But if it's go and its worked you could plant lots of stuff. red wheat planted in mid august works well, gets tall and the deer will dig through the snow for it. you could plant a mix of clovers, or brassicas, winter rye, blue lupine, etc. a simple mix would be something like winter rye, winter wheat, oats and crimson or berseem clover. most all those could be found at local grain elevators. call around and ask question if they don't have it if they know where you can find it! Good luck!

 

Foley's Farm Supply out on HWY 23 should have the seed you need

 

We let a local farmer use the land and the deadline for reporting acreage to our local FSA is July 15th.

I am going to call the farmer and talk to him tonight. Think I am going to keep it very simple - Winter rye and Crimson Clover. Till, plant rye, pack, plant clover, re-pack. Plan on doing 3 separate areas on the field for different winds.

 

Update: Local co-op has winter rye in stock - Sticking with only winter rye this year.

Next steps:

Harrow the tilled field late August- Thinking of using a box spring behind the pioneer... Also heard that pallets, and chain linked fence will work. Will need to look around a bit.

Hand seed broadcaster late August - Going extremely simple and will be getting a Scotts 5lb broadcaster from Walmart