A Soil Test

[shawn cox]

Just think about it the leaves on dog fennel break down quickly and the stalks take some time. I have a good bit of it but I also don't worry about it. Very easy to manage. I also have some places that I am trying to build up the om and I hope to be able to plant them this year. I had a guy tell me about creating briar patches to help build up the soil. I have3 areas that I have giant briar patches on it. I have to get soil samples on them and I can't wait to see what they report


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[Crimson n' Camo]

Just to catch us up on where I’m at now with the field…..I mowed it a couple days ago ahead of this rain just to remove the rye overstory and release the stuff under it. I mowed it tall so that I really didn’t get much of the new growth and only took the tops off of the rye.

Here’s the idea with a clover mix. The crimson grew early in the spring, the yuchi took over as the crimson died out, now the durana takes over and grows for the rest of the summer or until conditions make it go dormant. There may be other good clovers to add in too….like medium red for example....tailor your varieties to your area...I'm in the deep south. Over time I may just add a little of this and that to my seed mix. If you manage it right then you’ll have some keep coming back each year even if you don’t add it again the next year. This is a very low maintenance way of keeping your plots attractive…….

Durana clover coming in……..Again this is just some that was added to the mix 3 years ago. All clovers will be reseeded this year now that my Ca levels and pH are in order. Currently getting some good rain events which are supposed to be followed up by temps going into the 90's later in the week. This understory should explode over the next week or two.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

A time lapse sequence taken from the same spot showing the last week of growth after being mowed. You can see the durana jumping up now……..That's three different clovers that have now grown in this same spot over the course of the last few months....I'm hoping the durana continues to put on more growth.


One week ago......

Today.......

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

If you could grow a whole field full of yuchi clover seed heads like these, then you probably wouldn’t even have to buy more seed the following year. I’d like to say that all of mine look like this but I think browsing pressure may have stunted it too much. Maybe next year I’ll be able to grow more of it and overwhelm the local deer with more than they can demolish.

 

[Lewi B]

Thanks for the update.

 

[shawn cox]

Looks good CNC this rain this week should do wonders for that Durana, we are supposed to get some good rain this week also. My durana is just starting to take off like yours. My deer are eating great. I have not released mine yet the deer are slowly doing it for me by knocking the rye down. Our fawns are just starting to drop so I am going to hold off for a while before I cut it.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

Looks good CNC this rain this week should do wonders for that Durana, we are supposed to get some good rain this week also. My durana is just starting to take off like yours. My deer are eating great. I have not released mine yet the deer are slowly doing it for me by knocking the rye down. Our fawns are just starting to drop so I am going to hold off for a while before I cut it.

I pretty much just mowed mine due to boredom one day. My rye was pretty thick though. I have to plant it thick in the fall to help keep up with grazing pressure….

 

[shawn cox]

I pretty much just mowed mine due to boredom one day. My rye was pretty thick though. I have to plant it thick in the fall to help keep up with grazing pressure….

I know what you mean, I feel like I need to be doing something to mine. It is testing my patience bad lol. I may have to do half of a plot as a test to see which route is better. Cutting and releasing the clover or just letting it be.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

I know what you mean, I feel like I need to be doing something to mine. It is testing my patience bad lol. I may have to do half of a plot as a test to see which route is better. Cutting and releasing the clover or just letting it be.

Yep, you might could call it “Do-nothing Food Plotting”……The toughest part is not doing anything!!!


The one thing that I WOULD DO…….Keep nutrient levels bumped up to where they need to be. It’s very likely that your K levels are falling if you haven’t added any since fall planting. Also, a light dose of N probably wouldn’t hurt either as that hay gets to the ground. You may have added lime in the past but be sure to keep a check on it over time. As you grow your OM in the soil….you’ll grow your holding capacity…..and you’ll want to top your Ca levels back off.

 

[shawn cox]

Yes I am in the process of getting ready to check my levels and see what all it needs.


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[Crimson n' Camo]

I finally got my OM% test back this morning. There was some kind of mix up with it being e-mailed to me. I’m up to 4.2% OM now…..That’s a whole lot better than 0…..

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

One of the cool things about this planting method is that once you introduce a new seed to the soil bank…..it’s very likely to show up again. A random watermelon vine……..

Dipper guords………..

Black-eyed peas………I was cleaning out the cabinets and had a old bag I never cooked. I just threw the seed out into the field and now I see a good many coming in. Maybe they’ll make a few beans for the dinner table. I expect the deer will eventually get ‘em though.

I’m gonna start highlighting some of the plant diversity growing in my field to show just how many different species are present. Some folks will likely cringe at some of them and applaud others. These are my pioneers though…..They’re carving out the paths into my soil profile that other plant roots will follow in the future. They are the Louis and Clarks of the plant world. I will likely continue to add more plant species to the mix over time now that things are getting more fertile.


Let’s just put all our clover into one basket for the sake of our specie count. So we’re up to 4…….clover, watermelon, guords, peas.


#5 Teaweed………

This is a pretty cool plant that has the potential to grow into a semi-woody bush 4-5ft tall. It’s high in nutritional value and the deer will absolutely hammer it in the latter summer months. It’s also VERY browse tolerant….continuing to put out more and more new growth after being browsed. I caged a few plants last year and let ‘em produce a lot of seed. I harvested the seed before fall planting and spread it around the field. Looks like it worked pretty well……..

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

This is what teaweed will look like later in the summer. It’ll grow in dense patches. Check out the exclusion cages in the back……….Do you reckon the deer are browsing on it???


"Sweet Tea is a special selection of a perennial plant in the Mallow family named Sida that is highly attractive to deer. It is a Southeastern native which regenerates from the roots every year. It is well over 30% crude protein and higher in phosphorus and calcium than iron clay peas, alfalfa or soybeans. Sweet Tea is shade and drought tolerant, and once established, tolerates very heavy grazing."

 

[shawn cox]

This is what teaweed will look like later in the summer. It’ll grow in dense patches. Check out the exclusion cages in the back……….Do you reckon the deer are browsing on it???


"Sweet Tea is a special selection of a perennial plant in the Mallow family named Sida that is highly attractive to deer. It is a Southeastern native which regenerates from the roots every year. It is well over 30% crude protein and higher in phosphorus and calcium than iron clay peas, alfalfa or soybeans. Sweet Tea is shade and drought tolerant, and once established, tolerates very heavy grazing."

I need your tips on how to get the sweet tea to grow. I tried some last year and it never came up. I also potted some and started at home. I then moved them to my property but I think the drought might have got to them.

 

[Rickey]

Where are you getting teaweed? I can ask my local feed and seed to get some but wondered if it was under a different name.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

I’ve heard others say the same thing about trying to get it established. I’ve been lucky and had it to just come in naturally here on my place. It’s actually growing in several areas. I caged the couple plants you saw in the pic and then used some pruning sheers to just chop it up in little pieces. I didn’t actually try to harvest the seed….I just took small portions of the whole plant and scattered them around my field to get new patches started. One full grown plant puts off thousands of seeds.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

I thought I had a better pic than this one but it'll do. You can still get an idea though of the amount of seed produced from one full grown plant.....see all the little seed pods.....that's just a fraction of what's on the whole plant. If I were trying to establish some of this in my plots then I'd probably take some exclusion cages scattered around the plot and try to get one or two plants established within the basket....once that happens then it should start seeding itself if you can grow them to maturity like this.

 

[shawn cox]

Yours looks outstanding. I think I am just going to see if I can germinate it again and just grow it at home until it gets bigger and then transplant it and cage it.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

Thanks! The type of browsing pressure you see on that teaweed is why I can’t just plant this or that summer crop and expect to produce a bunch of biomass from it. They even eat the ends of the leaves off of milo and such.


On top of that, with me having such poor soil conditions in the past, heat and drought stress really effected plant growth. There was very little buffer against it. As soon as the rain stopped and the heat cranked up…..Kapow!.....conditions were zapped.


Here’s another old pic. Look at the stress this ragweed was showing. If “weeds” are getting stressed that much, then more finicky crop plants don’t stand a chance when stress is applied. Better soil conditions provide a greater buffer against this type of stress……Hopefully we won’t see this anymore.

 

[shawn cox]

Thanks! The type of browsing pressure you see on that teaweed is why I can’t just plant this or that summer crop and expect to produce a bunch of biomass from it. They even eat the ends of the leaves off of milo and such.


On top of that, with me having such poor soil conditions in the past, heat and drought stress really effected plant growth. There was very little buffer against it. As soon as the rain stopped and the heat cranked up…..Kapow!.....conditions were zapped.


Here’s another old pic. Look at the stress this ragweed was showing. If “weeds” are getting stressed that much, then more finicky crop plants don’t stand a chance when stress is applied. Better soil conditions provide a greater buffer against this type of stress……Hopefully we won’t see this anymore.

I just got off the phone with SouthernHabitats about getting either some more seed or some plugs. They are supposed to call me back about the plugs. I really wanted to get it going last year. Your post reminded my old brain about it lol. Yes last year our weeds were even dying from the drought and the food plots stood no chance. That sun high in the sky will just bake everything here.