Recent content by shaman

I woke up this AM with about an inch of rain on the ground and another inch predicted. Golly! What a relief. I spent all of Labor Day Weekend with #2 son, Moose, working on the plots.We had 32 1/4 plots. When we started Saturday AM, he still had a couple to till up and I had some that had not...

I published an update on the food plots on my weblog. I thought y'all would like to see it: Catching Up on Food Plots

Just so y'all know, my land was subsistence farmed since the early 1810s. After WWII they converted to tobacco and cows and hay. It's generally great for deer and turkey hunting, but fertility is not its strong suit. What's done well in the past is ladino clover and wheat.

I'm trying a mix with alfalfa in it this year, just to see. What I've heard is that alfalfa does not do well in our local soils, and guys who try it end up sinking too much money into soil amendments to make it work. We'll see. I've had good luck with perennial clovers like ladino in the...

Thanks all.

I have a new spot to deal with. I was not expecting this to come up. In the process of clearing for the new house, the bulldozer guy cleared off a fenceline for me that had grown up with red cedar. I had not expected this much disturbed, but I now have 150 yards of old pasture opened up...

I concur. This is the exact opposite of my current situation. I'm swimming. I was due to get the hay mowed this week, but there has not been two days without rain in weeks. Rain last night. It's due to rain today and for the rest of the week.

Crimpers-- that reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask. Can someone explain why crimping is better than mowing? With a bush hog? With a hay mower? The former, I already have. A hay mower I can borrow easily. What does crimping buy me?

I thought oxygen in the soil was a good thing. Isn't it necessary for legumes to bond nitrogen?

Yoderjac: That's interesting. I hadn't thought of it like that before. In the past, I've had a couple plots tilled up for me. The guy just went in and tilled as deep as he could and I never sprayed or anything and got fairly decent plots. How long should I wait after tilling to apply gly?

It's nearing the deadline I gave the guy doing my hay to be done. It's probably going to have to slide. There won't be 2 dry days to rub together in the next two weeks. However, I wanted to get things right in my head before it happens. 1) How long after haying should I spray gly? Usually...

Nevermind. This was a bad idea

AMS and Nitrosurf: is this an either/or thing or do I need both?

Thanks. I had no idea about AMS. How much AMS per gallon are we talking?

I need someone to check my cypherin' here. I haven't done this much brain work since I retired-- haven't even needed to take off my boots once. I have a sprayer that takes 25 gallons of water and sprays 2.2 gallons per minute with a 140" spread out of the boom. I want to spray Gly on 1 acre...