When to mow?

[FarmerD]

If it's all tall and thick, it's not a problem! It should kill it all, assuming it's all actively growing.

If it's thick, short and tall, some of the short will continue to grow (if the rope wicks doesn't touch it), after the tall dies away, at which time, you can go back over it, for "round 2". And I am assuming you're wanting to kill everything.

You can always go over it once, wait a couple of weeks and no-till then go back over it again with the wiper. It won't be perfect, but it might be ok.

No way to shut it off, on this model, but you can always dump the solution out into a container, or I could tighten down the filler cap and put a plug in the vent and rotate the rope wicks to the top.

For a complete burn down, a sprayer is ideal, however, you may still get more weeds to germinate later, that you have to deal with. I use this to clean up my clover plots, mainly.

 

[momark]

Well, it just looks so much easier to use than a regular sprayer, plus the no drift thing. I think I would opt for the attachment to fel bucket though. You could easily adjust the height that way.

 

[FarmerD]

Yes you could, with it on the fel!

We sometimes strive for the pristine food plots, but the deer prefer something otherwise. Right now the does are bedding in my oat fields where they feel comfortable, to hopefully have their fawns. Structure in a food plot is not necessarily a bad thing!

 

[FarmerD]

Besides, a deer's diet is made up of a variety of things and some weeds are part of that!

 

[Mennoniteman]

There's many charts out there of what whitetail deer eat and they don't all agree. This one is on pondking's website;


I find that my deer that have a ready access to lush clover and brassica spend most of their feeding time in my food plots, including in the fall, whereas some deer in our PA big woods counties never even see a field in their lifetime. I wonder if how the people compiling a chart take into account what food that deer have available in different areas, climates, and season? It'd be nigh impossible to make a chart that even comes close to representing all the different areas and climates that whitetails live in.

 

[FarmerD]

You are right! Definitely some differences in these charts. My chart came from a site that had done research in Alabama, so the different "locations" could be the reason! The bottom line, I guess, is that there is variety in a deer's diet! The one common thing is that in the fall (Mast, acorns and fruit), pretty much trumps everything!

 

[FarmerD]

There's many charts out there of what whitetail deer eat and they don't all agree. This one is on pondking's website;

View attachment 15928
I find that my deer that have a ready access to lush clover and brassica spend most of their feeding time in my food plots, including in the fall, whereas some deer in our PA big woods counties never even see a field in their lifetime. I wonder if how the people compiling a chart take into account what food that deer have available in different areas, climates, and season? It'd be nigh impossible to make a chart that even comes close to representing all the different areas and climates that whitetails live in.

I believe you are right! Clover is King for me, however it is, with our heat right now, thinking about going dormant, but it will spring back to life this fall. When the acorns & persimmons are dropping the deer will be found there. When they are gone, they will come back into the clover plots, then around the middle of November will start tearing up our brassicas, after a few good hard frosts.

 

[momark]

FarmerD, I agree, no need to be pristine. I just want at least an 80-90% percent kill so I can do either a throw and mow or light tillage plot. Unfortunately, I do not have a no-till planter(yet?) Once the plot is established I'm ok with some weeds as long as it's not totally out of control.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Spraying/ weed wiping is an essential part of clover management, and mowing several times a season is just as essential to keeping a clover patch going strong. Mowing does two critical things, it rejuvenates the clover and eliminates certain weeds like horseweed that are resistant to glyposate but don't tolerate mowing. Certain longstemmed weeds like ragweed that shoot out above the clover are very susceptible to mowing.
In zone 6B I like to mow around June 1st and August 1st, depending on the localized rains, mowing too close to fall is a serious mistake, the clover doesn't have time to grow adequately before fall and you won't have the amount of tonnage on the plot to last you into December, which is what a good plot does in my zone. Because I usually have my clover thick and tall going into the fall I have deer eating frozen wilted clover leaves right off the ground on in mid-February.
Usually before mowing the clover it's looking tall, ragged, dull colored, and a lot of tough stems. After mowing it regenerates (if it rains) and looks lush and bright green again with a fresh new growth of leaves. Mowing clover should not be low, I usually shoot for 6-8 inches, depending on the variety, and should not be too often, mowing too low& too often can do as much damage as good. Mowing at the proper height exposes a layer of younger leaves that are ready to be grazed right away, if there's no leaves left you know that you are mowing too low.
An exception would be white dutch clover, which usually isn't planted for food plots, that stuff barely grows high enough to mow 8" high, you wouldn't be taking anything off, that's a good clover to plant if someone only has a lawnmower to mow with.

 

[coolbrze0]

Good info guys!