No till milo with conventional old JD drill

Brinktown

Member
I thought I’d share a positive experience we had with planting milo last year. We got a free bag from quail forever. We decided to plant it in strips down the middle of our food plots. IMG_3008.JPG
 
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We were short on time. So we planted it without tilling. Our drill is an old JD with single disc openers. We ran it through the tall rye/weeds first in hopes the seed would make it to the soil before we matted down the vegetation. I don’t think any of the seed was actually planted in the soil, but some made it to the surface. Some of the seed was caught in the mat of vegetation.

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We completely overshot the recommended seeding rate by probably 4x. I went back and forth down the strips with the drill until the seed was gone, knowing we weren’t getting the best seed to soil contact. By the end, the rye was matted down. I followed with the cone spreader and 13-13-13. Finally, I ran over the strips with a heavy dose of gly to kill the weeds. Completed all of this on June 9th.

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August 4 we returned to plant brassica mix and checked on the milo. The mat of rye did an excellent job of holding moisture in the soil and preventing weeds. Corn fields across the county had plants curled up from the drought and our milo looked great.

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You've got some very nice pics of your experiment, and also a beautiful crop of milo. Milo, millet, and sorghum are easy to start, it's too bad that soybeans aren't that easy to seed. And free seed is always a bonus! What is the process to get the seed?
 
By the end of October, the milo in some of the strips was more than half eaten by the deer. Some strips were 1/3 eaten. It was pretty much wiped out by middle to late November. The strips probably totaled 1.5 acres spread in several plots with relatively high deer density.

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You've got some very nice pics of your experiment, and also a beautiful crop of milo. Milo, millet, and sorghum are easy to start, it's too bad that soybeans aren't that easy to seed. And free seed is always a bonus! What is the process to get the seed?

Thanks! We joined the local chapter of quail forever. The chapter receives seed from the national organization and we asked for some. I think you can get beans, corn, milo, mixes


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Very nice!! Just a couple of ideas for you to consider. Maybe mount a weed wiper on the bucket of the tractor and use a 50/50 solution of glyphosate and water to kill everything before your planter comes thru. You just can't go real fast, but you don't have to haul much water.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wee...jZThAhXQneAKHZMEDOQQ_AUIDygC&biw=1600&bih=796

The 2nd picture in post #3, if you went with some heavier springs, up front, that would give you more downforce(?). It wouldn't work in my Georgia red clay, but if you have lighter soil, you may get closer to no-till. Not perfect, but if you've got good soil, something to consider.
 
Interesting ideas! Thanks! I haven’t thought about a weed wiper before. Would be nice to avoid the gly mist in the air. Do you think the wiper would be as effective?


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That's all I ever use any more. Just makes my life simpler. This is a 3/4 acre of clover that was taken over by grass. Killed the grass and some tall broad leaf weeds. Short broad leaf weeds not so much, but it released the clover and it thickened up nicely. I weed wiped 12 acres and used 1 gallon of glyphosate and 1 gallon of water.


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