Good first spring plot in Oklahoma

Stevieray

Active Member
I purchased 80 acres in Seminole county Oklahoma and planted fall plots with little success. I have food plotted everything from Eagle Soybeans, corn, clover, turnips for several years on lease land with success.

I want to plant something this spring that will benefit wildlife and be a good soil amendment for 2017 fall plots. The current coverage is older pasture.

Any suggestions?
 
Hard to beat buckwheat for a soil builder...

Was the reason your plots didn't live up to your expectations due to lack of soil moisture or soil not properly amended?
 
I would also recommend buckwheat this spring. Great weed suppressor and when tilled under will provide some great soil building green manure. Next fall when you till it under plant a mix of rye, oats, radishes, and red clover. The following spring the red clover will take off and provide forage all spring and summer. Clover, being a legume, will fix nitrogen back in the soil. Then till under the following fall and repeat. Only 1 tilling a year on the soil. Within a couple of years you will have rich healthy soil.
 
Barley, buckwheat, sunflower. Provided you fertilize this spring, I'd just broadcast your fall plot + nitrogen into it and mow it down on top of your seed.

I did a similar plot this past year and it worked fantastic. I put in cowpeas, buckwheat, and barley in spring. I let it go until I was ready to seed rye for the fall. Spread the rye and ammonium sulfate, mowed it down, and walked away. I did come back about 6 weeks later and hit it with some extra nitrogen. It was a small plot, and the deer never exhausted the rye despite being in it almost every day. It got more pictures and time than the brassica plots.
 
I would also recommend buckwheat this spring. Great weed suppressor and when tilled under will provide some great soil building green manure. Next fall when you till it under plant a mix of rye, oats, radishes, and red clover. The following spring the red clover will take off and provide forage all spring and summer. Clover, being a legume, will fix nitrogen back in the soil. Then till under the following fall and repeat. Only 1 tilling a year on the soil. Within a couple of years you will have rich healthy soil.
Nice to hear from you, I don't know if you remember but I believe we were the ones who got Ross Seed to become an Eagle soybean distributor. Thanks for the suggestion I have not been food plotting for the last several years. I finally purchased my own property.
 
Hard to beat buckwheat for a soil builder...

Was the reason your plots didn't live up to your expectations due to lack of soil moisture or soil not properly amended?
It was the main reason, then the hogs did a lot of damage. I planted two 1/2 acre Mossy Oak Bio Logics Outfitter Blend.
 
I would also recommend buckwheat this spring. Great weed suppressor and when tilled under will provide some great soil building green manure. Next fall when you till it under plant a mix of rye, oats, radishes, and red clover. The following spring the red clover will take off and provide forage all spring and summer. Clover, being a legume, will fix nitrogen back in the soil. Then till under the following fall and repeat. Only 1 tilling a year on the soil. Within a couple of years you will have rich healthy soil.
Did you buy the rye, oats, radishes, and red clover mix from? I would like to plant that mix this fall. I get Bio Logic seed at a good price since my brother and I own Mossy Oak Properties Agrirec Land in Illinois and Indiana.
 
Did you buy the rye, oats, radishes, and red clover mix from? I would like to plant that mix this fall. I get Bio Logic seed at a good price since my brother and I own Mossy Oak Properties Agrirec Land in Illinois and Indiana.
I am not dogdoc but most of us here in Oklahoma buy all this from the Farmers Coop's and mix it ourselves...save a bunch of money that way and you get exactly what you want and nothing you don't...
 
I buy most my seeds from Ross in El Reno but have also bought seed from S&S Farm Center in Shawnee. Close to my land.
Forgot to mention that I also toss in sunflowers in my fall planting. They die with the first freeze but are cheap and the deer absolutely love young tender sunflower plants. Great early season draw.
 
You might want to check the ph of the soil. I had a place in Hughes county for years and we did have some great plots but we had to amend the soil with lime to get the ph up. We wasted a lot of good seed and fert on bad soil before we tested it.
 
I buy most my seeds from Ross in El Reno but have also bought seed from S&S Farm Center in Shawnee. Close to my land.
Forgot to mention that I also toss in sunflowers in my fall planting. They die with the first freeze but are cheap and the deer absolutely love young tender sunflower plants. Great early season draw.
What are the percentages of rye, oats, radishes, sunflower and red clover in your mix and what is the lb per acre? I will be planting 3 acres total.
 
My oats hardly ever have a winter die off. Maybe once every 5 years so I plant with expecting my oats to live. If you think you are going to have a winter kill with oats then go with an extra 25# of rye. If my co-op has bagged wheat/rye mix I use that instead of straight rye. But my usual mix is:
50# of rye or wheat or mix of each
50# of oats
15# sunflowers
5# daikon radishes
15# red clover.

Broadcast everything together except the clover and then lightly till to cover the seeds. I then broadcast the clover and use a homemade drag to cover the clover. Radish seeds are much larger than other brassicas.
 
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