Fall planting has begun in Florida

[FL Plotter]

Well boys, the summer has not been friendly to us down here. Rain, rain, and then some more rain. Got a couple of Saturdays of cleth spraying and mowing in, but it was not enough to keep the weeds and grasses at bay. As is typical with our clover, it got burned up in August and there just isn't much for the herd to eat right now as our fawns are dropping. Normally, we plant in mid-October, but I have a new plan this year.

I split 3 of my plots in half and put down rye/wheat/oat mix in half. I push spread the 13-13-13 and seed then mowed, then disced it in. Then cultipacked. Now Irma is watering it. Can't wait to see it next weekend! The herd watched as I worked.

 

[FL Plotter]

Some of the finished product......4 plots 1/2 planted...real good start! The last plot with the tractor and cultipacker in it has a rye/wheat/oats plus durana/Lousiana S-1/Kenland red clover plus chicory.

 

[THE LLC]

That is a VERY good plan.

 

[FL Plotter]

During the winter, my plots were getting so much pressure, that they would eat the grains down to nothing. Last year, I doubled my grain seed amount and then layered in some WR about a month after the first planting to get it really thick. That solved the problem of my grains not being thick enough when they were needed, but made the grains too thick for the clover and chicory to establish properly (too much shade).

This year, I put grains in half the 1 acre plots and next spring, that portion will get tilled for some Alyce Clover. The other half of those plots will get less grain and much more clover and chicory in October. I also am trying a late yielding red clover (Kenland) for the first time to try and extend the clover into August/September.

So grains feeding from now until Feb, then the 3 different clovers should kick in Mar thru August with the chicory. While the clovers are feeding, I'll plant some Alyce clover in the 1/2 the plot that is just grains, and that should augment until September. The beauty is that I can Cleth all of that without damage, and wick the dog fennel, to keep the plots reasonably clean.

But you know what they say, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plan!!

 

[THE LLC]

We have the same problem. Too many deer not enough food. One suggestion for getting clover on in to August---arrowleaf clover.

 

[Brian]

During the winter, my plots were getting so much pressure, that they would eat the grains down to nothing. Last year, I doubled my grain seed amount and then layered in some WR about a month after the first planting to get it really thick. That solved the problem of my grains not being thick enough when they were needed, but made the grains too thick for the clover and chicory to establish properly (too much shade).

Just curious about your planting rate on the grains- I keep looking for the sweet spot of enough grains to keep the herd fed during the winter without creating too much shade in the spring and summer.

 

[Brian]

We have the same problem. Too many deer not enough food. One suggestion for getting clover on in to August---arrowleaf clover.

I've been using crimson and arrowleaf, but it's gone by the end of July. Would adding red clover to the mix extend the life of the plot later into the summer? (I know red clover is a perennial and not a good reseeder, but seed is cheap enough to treat it as an annual.)

 

[FarmerD]

Medium red clover extends my food plots to September

 

[FL Plotter]

Lots of good discussion here.

1) I was using 100# acre of grains (broadcast) and it was not enough. Went to 150#' not enough, but not bad. Last year went to 150# an acre, then a few weeks after the initial planting was green, I broadcast 50# WR right into the greenery to thicken it up. Great thick plot in the winter when I needed it, but way too much in Mar/April when the clover and chicory tried to grow. I think the answer is around 150# per acre and if it gets too thick in the spring, mow it so it doesn't inhibit the clover and chicory.

2) Crimson doesn't last down here past April. We tried Arrowleaf last year, but it was a really dry fall during planting and I fear I didn't get good germination on it. Not a fair test of Arrowleaf, but not sure it was going to solve my August/September problem anyways. I might try it again in the future though.

3) This year, we went with a red clover (Kenland) based on a chart I found from UF that showed Kenland does well in FL and hits its max production in August. We will see.....

 

[Brian]

Medium red clover extends my food plots to September

View attachment 9472

That's good info- I plant crimson @ 12# and arrowleaf at 4#/acre. How much red clover should I add?

 

[FarmerD]

You have to adjust this based on your deer density and how many acres you plant. It's trial and error, but a place to start. Arrowleaf can shade out some of the white and red clovers, as well, so don't go too heavy with it. You can see that there are more seeds per pound with arrowleaf vs crimson and red clover.

 

[dogghr]

That's good info- I plant crimson @ 12# and arrowleaf at 4#/acre. How much red clover should I add?

I use 50-100#/ac and as high as 200#. of grain and you will have no worry of dealing with it next summer if you stay around the lower amounts.. WC I use about 6# and RC usually 8-12#. A mix of grain and RC is a great plot saver for late season if for some reason the original plot fails. And RC will easily holdover into following fall if you want to not do a new rotation planting. Just over seed it at that time with a grain and oats, and you have a great plot with little effort.

 

[Brian]

As I've mention before, I've always planted wheat and oats in the past, so I've never had any problems with my clover - the oats don't survive even our mild winters and the wheat isn't thick enough to cause any problems. However, this year I'm planning to replace wheat with rye (but keep the oats) to try and help build my soil. Given the talk in this thread about rye shading out clover in the spring and summer I've been doing some more reading and I've seen a couple of recommendations that "When growing a winter rye and legume mixture, the rate of winter rye seeding should be reduced to no more than a bushel per acre to allow space for the legume to grow." The same article suggested up to 3 bushels/ac. when planting rye alone, but the discussion was all in the context of cover crops.

Does a bushel of rye/ac. (plus enough oats to hit my total grain planting rate) sound about right in a plotting situation?

 

[THE LLC]

50 lbs/ac of rye. Personally I never exceed 50 lbs/ac of grains when planting with clover. If I were doing a crimson clover/grain mix where I'm using wheat and rye (my deer don't care for oats), it would be 10 lbs/ac crimson, 25 lbs/ac wheat, and 25 lbs/ac rye.

 

[Brian]

50 lbs/ac of rye. Personally I never exceed 50 lbs/ac of grains when planting with clover. If I were doing a crimson clover/grain mix where I'm using wheat and rye (my deer don't care for oats), it would be 10 lbs/ac crimson, 25 lbs/ac wheat, and 25 lbs/ac rye.

I have the same situation FlPlotter mentioned in post #4 - I've been plantings grains at 100#/ac. Since I purchased my place 3 years ago and my deer keep it mowed down! My most heavily utilized plot looked like a freshly mown yard all winter and the other never got past the "shaggy" stage (and I'm cutting it back to 85# this year)

I assume my deer like oats - it all gets eaten! Even though I'm not too good at distinguishing one grain from another I believe my oats are getting winter killed even though I'm pretty far south. That's why I was focusing on the max planting rate of rye - i think it will be the only thing growing when the clover kicks in in the spring. But if there's something wrong with my thinking please let me know - I'm still new to this and I'm here to learn!

 

[FarmerD]

Just something else for you to consider

http://www.growingdeer.tv/#/over-15-tips-for-the-best-food-plots-and-nutritious-native-browse

 

[dogghr]

Just something else for you to consider

http://www.growingdeer.tv/#/over-15-tips-for-the-best-food-plots-and-nutritious-native-browse

Always good to see Grant putting into video what he has gleened from this and the older forum in habitat management. Hes got good ideas, but most have been preached for quite some time by some good people for free and with no industry support for years. I do agree with what he says, but laugh at the same time as it is old stuff for most on this and the older forum.
I do agree with wheat in that deer love it and will feed thru late spring on it, but once other stuff comes on, not so much. My only complaint with wheat oppossed to rye, is that wheat tillers in growth more than rye and can be more of a problem if using a rototiller as I used to do. Either can be overseeded into early Nov with decent results which is good to remember if one has a failed plot for some reason.
The OP mixing both in his plot works very well and covers attributes of both these grains at the same time.

 

[FL Plotter]

2 week update:
Out of the 4 plots planted, all are doing well. One is getting hammered a bit more and shows less growth but part of this experiment was to feed the herd right now during the stress period...worst case is that I overseed some WR into it later to thicken it up. It also has a spreading patch of bermuda grass that I need to burn off as it's stealing nutrients from my target crop. The one plot with clover and chicory mixed in is doing phenomenal....we usually plant in Mid-Oct when it's drier and I think the head start of clovers/chicory in this plot will pay dividends in spring/summer clover coverage. Time will tell.
Also sprayed out 120 gallons of gly and tilled a couple of plots.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I'm enjoying your pictures. Your Florida climate and growing seasons are so different from what I'm used to that any input from me based on my Pennsylvania experiences isn't going to help you any, but it's very evident that you know exactly what you are doing. Thanks for sharing, and I predict that your plots will turn out beautifully.

 

[FL Plotter]

I was just in the Poconos for a vacation....your weather beats ours right now.

This is our 10th year of plotting and we've just about got it dialed in. Still experimenting a little though to find that right clover mix to carry the herd farther into August and September. So far, the Durana that Harvey Nail gets from New Zealand has been the best....even better than actual Pennington Durana...which makes no sense to me, but we've tried both. We'll be planting the remaining plots in the next two weeks, so it will be interesting to see how this staggered planting looks later in the year.