Throw and go, NO?
- Thread starter Twolftg
- Start date
Crimson n' Camo
Active Member
Weeds and JG will work fine if you have enough of it.
catscratch
Well-Known Member
They will work. Johnson is fine for a fall crop but not so good for summer crops as it tends bounce back from sprays and out compete your planting.
Crimson n' Camo
Active Member
If you're in Texas then I'm guessing your weather conditions and all aren't too far off from mine here in south Alabama. Right now is a horrible time to be planting. Most folks here won't plant fall plots until mid Sept at the earliest. Many wait until early Oct.,,,Very hot and dry right now......need moisture for success.
X-farmerdan
Well-Known Member
I agree!! It's a subtle factor that certainly is part of theconsideration equation!
Jason Broom
Well-Known Member
Broadcast 100# of winter rye on thoroughly disced sandy soil, then cultipack it. Germination will be so-so and you'll get some production of stalks and seed the following year, simply because rye is that tolerant of low-pH, low-nutrient soils.
Now, there are several avenues you can take with that standing rye. You can actually mow it a couple of times before seed hardens, so that you get virtually no volunteer rye in your next crop. You can let it mature and then roll/crimp it before drilling in the next crop. Your follow-on crop will do much better than if you had disced. You can also broadcast another crop (BW is a good choice) into the standing rye before mowing it. Germination won't be quite as good as if you'd disced it, but the resulting plant growth will actually be better.
A third option is to flail and then disc in the mature rye, but you'll get WAY too much seed in your next plot. Why is that, you ask? Well, Nature produces an overabundance of seed, knowing that a bunch of it will get eaten or rot before it has a chance to germinate during the next cycle. If you want to utilize the rye seed that grew from the previous year's planting, you can mow/flail the stalks, but don't disc it in! Add other seed types to it and use the throw-n-mow process to imitate nature, creating diversity while allowing the soil to continue doing its job of converting what has grown and died into the nutrients and OM needed for the next round of things that will grow and die.
Supplementing or augmenting Nature's processes, creating "managed meadows", is a lot less stressful on the soil...and the guy managing it.
Now, there are several avenues you can take with that standing rye. You can actually mow it a couple of times before seed hardens, so that you get virtually no volunteer rye in your next crop. You can let it mature and then roll/crimp it before drilling in the next crop. Your follow-on crop will do much better than if you had disced. You can also broadcast another crop (BW is a good choice) into the standing rye before mowing it. Germination won't be quite as good as if you'd disced it, but the resulting plant growth will actually be better.
A third option is to flail and then disc in the mature rye, but you'll get WAY too much seed in your next plot. Why is that, you ask? Well, Nature produces an overabundance of seed, knowing that a bunch of it will get eaten or rot before it has a chance to germinate during the next cycle. If you want to utilize the rye seed that grew from the previous year's planting, you can mow/flail the stalks, but don't disc it in! Add other seed types to it and use the throw-n-mow process to imitate nature, creating diversity while allowing the soil to continue doing its job of converting what has grown and died into the nutrients and OM needed for the next round of things that will grow and die.
Supplementing or augmenting Nature's processes, creating "managed meadows", is a lot less stressful on the soil...and the guy managing it.
Crimson n' Camo
Active Member
Yep....that's why I think the discussion about good seed beds and optimal seed to soil contact through tillage needs some asterisks out there beside it. I've always used 100# of cereal grains when planting whether it was back when I was tilling heavily or whether now that I'm no-tilling. By the time ALL factors are taken into consideration....I get a much better stand now that I've been no-tilling for a few years from the standpoint of density, health, browse tolerance....the whole nine yards.
Twolftg
Active Member
So your saying you have been canoeing around the local lake in a boat made out of screen doors?
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Just youtube Ray the soil guy. Hard to beat his descriptions. Now for the good Doctor. I think the problem that everyone, including myself that does any no till planting, is accepting what, and to quote him, a "perfect plot" might be. Will it be a monoculture or only the plants from the seeds you have planted?? Probably not. Will the deer give a damn?? Pretty sure they won't since they survived quite well for millions of years on just Mother Natures throw and mow technique. If he were to explain the different techniques, I would get his comments, but to just across the board and say that one is wasting their time, well he has someone padding his pockets is my call.
I have no problem if one chooses tillage, but there are multiple ways to hunt a deer, and there are multiple ways to plant a plot, no right to say what is a waste if it works. Sure are a lot of big time farmers making bunch more money then he, in my area that are on the wagon of no till and always a cover crop. Go figure, guess they don't know of this Dr Kroll.
I have no problem if one chooses tillage, but there are multiple ways to hunt a deer, and there are multiple ways to plant a plot, no right to say what is a waste if it works. Sure are a lot of big time farmers making bunch more money then he, in my area that are on the wagon of no till and always a cover crop. Go figure, guess they don't know of this Dr Kroll.
