Recent content by Brian

Using a soil probe, always between 4-6” deep and with about 12 separate samples spread across a relatively small 1/2 acre plot.

Native grasses and “yankee weed” (dog fennel) mostly with some forbs in the spring (but they’re choked out by the grasses pretty quickly). The grass and weeds are chest high by august and I won’t walk through the plot because it’s full of water moccasins hunting field mice. There’s also a good...

SW Mississippi

Sorry if I was unclear! It has only improved .2 - from 2.2 to 2.4 - after almost ten years of throw-n-mow.

My standard mix is 100# wheat or rye and 5# daikon radish per acre plus a mix of crimson and arrowleaf clover. I let my plots go fallow over the summer and its so thick by the end of the summer that I have to cut in late August so that I can plant in mid-October. I'm still getting a good...

I wanted to post a follow-up on this old thread. My original 2017 and 2019 soil test result and current results are shown below; after 6 years of trying to improve my soil in the Bluff plot by using throw-and-mow exclusively with no discing, my OM readings have only increased from 2.2 to 2.4...

See the "Exceptional Drought" area in Louisiana and SW Mississippi? I'm fairly confident that if you plotted the geographic center of the D4 zone it would fall on my property! Normal rainfall by now is 50.38"... but we've only had 32.98" so far. I know many of you would love to have that much...

I’ve done the same thing mixing clover seed with grits and it really helped me get an even light application with a Solo spreader.

Ouch - now I'm embarrassed griping about the lack of rain since the first of September... I was at 46" of rain for the year at that point!

After an incredibly wet summer the valve was turned off in early September and we've been in a serious late summer drought. Last week I started seeing rain predicted for the middle of this week and when I checked the weather forecast Friday and it showed a 90% chance of rain for next Wednesday...

I grow them for the greens, which work well in a mix because they don't shade out the small grains and clover like rape or turnips - the root is just a nice bonus (when I get them!) With 10# of brassicas seed I will just store them in the back of a closet. I seriously doubt the seeds will...

Normal planting window here is Oct. 1 - 15 due to army worms, but after a very wet summer we're bone dry now with no rain predicted. Given the forecast I may not be planting until early November - I was planning to include daikon radishes at 3#/acre in my mix, but with the late start I'm...

If you're broadcasting into disced and smoothed dirt then dragging should be sufficient - I've done it that way several times myself. Depth of planting isn't really an issue with wheats or oats BUT you want to make sure that you make enough passes with your drag so that the seeds are thoroughly...

I’m in SW Mississippi too, a few miles west of Centreville in Wilkinson County. Where are you located? I would not even consider planting now because it’s too dry and still a little too early - anything planted before the end of September is inviting army worms. I usually plant mid to late...

Does anyone have any idea how long until fertilizer prices fall? I'm trying to figure out whether I bite the bullet and buy fertilizer or put it off a year. I've had some significant K loss in my plots since my last soil test two years ago and trying to figure out whether I bite the bullet and...