Keystone Krops
- Thread starter Mennoniteman
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Mennoniteman
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I'm probably going to skip next year, it'll be interesting how my fall soil tests will look like with such a large amount of p and k. We have really nice farm dirt but it's shale ridgetops with low nutrients and for years I have been applying less fertilizer than the soil tests called for because of the cost. Maybe we'll finally test close to perfect numbers! But it was disappointing to go heavy on 6 plots and have zero left for the last two small plots, now I have to get a few bags more and put the spinner on the tractor.
Those fertilizer buggy's are easy to set and very accurate, there's no excuse to not get it right.
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
Have you started drilling oats into your clover for this season?
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I actually drilled rye into most of my clover last fall for winter feed for the deer, and that rye looks like it overwintered well, and since rye is allelopathic I won't be drilling oats into clover this spring.
How's your plots looking? Is your snow all melted yet?
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
My plots did awesome last fall. I was able to hold deer all the way to the first blizzard, and more than ever. The dirt project of 2021 was proven successful last fall. It took a full year to get the perennials up and filled out and it was a huge success.
We're a long ways from spring here. I think we'll have snow for 3-4 weeks yet, and then it'll be wet for a while. We need the moisture though. Our subsoil hasn't recovered from 2021 yet.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I'd have thought the melting snow would be a huge source of moisture?
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
Rule of thumb I've been told is to expect an inch of water per foot of snow. Even so, my land is heavy duty clay and flat as a pancake. It doesn't soak in quickly, and it runs. I've done some work on small ponds and ditches to hold as much water as I can with the tools I have, but it's just a drop in the bucket. I need to get back to those years where I'd get 2-8" of rain every week or two. I'm set up to handle them now.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
A heavy thatch should help prevent runoff?
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
Not that kind of runoff. Before I fixed the problem, I'd get 8" of water in my plot in the spring.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Us Pennsylvania farmers can't even imagine mid-west soil conditions with the constant wind, the lack of trees, and the vast wide open flat spaces. If you find a flat spot in PA you're probably sitting at your kitchen table. And if you turn over soil and let it lay you will will just shortly have jungle of weeds, bushes, briars, and trees growing. Most of my food plots that I have in several different counites are ridgetop with a solid base that can be mowed and planted soon after a rain, but I do have a few mucky plots in the bottom of ravines that are too wet in the spring to drive through with anything, but those have plenty of moisture in the summer, even in a drought.
One thing I do enjoy is looking at these different soil conditions and farming practices. Of course I obviously don't know understand your soil type type there, it sounds like low lying ground, perhaps river bottom or swamp edge? How deep does your clay go? Is there any way to break it up with a 3' deep ripper and get some your overabundant spring moisture into the subsoil for a summer reserve?
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
It's that time of year; a pit stop to refuel the corn planter. Success in growing corn relies on half a dozen different things, one very key factor is the optimal planting date for your specific zone and soil conditions. If we plant as close to April 12 as possible we have a much better success rate than planting anytime in May.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Last year there was snow on the ground on the north side of our shed on corn planting day, this year it was 83 degrees. It doesn't matter what the weather, I always plant on the same date, just like they plant corn in Canada. The date is important.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
30". With modern corn growing methods such as better seed hybrids, better herbicides, and banding fertilizer, there's very few people planting 36" rows anymore because the yields are higher with 30". But 30" is very tight to get through later with the tractor for spraying or side dressing nitrogen fertilizer. But I don't side dress nitrogen because our soil holds it pretty well from planting time. Occasionally I run over a few stalks spraying glyphosate at the 4" weed stage.
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
That's a nice sight to see. We're on our last days of snow going out here. Spring has sorta petered out for the 7 day forecast, but it's not gonna slow me down. I'm going to be seeding cereals this weekend if I have to canoe to my food plots.
How are your cool season plots looking?
How are your cool season plots looking?
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I will get some pics of my clover plots soon. Most are jumping out of the gate this spring but one is struggling and I'm not sure why. I will need your opinion on the problem and remedy.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I planted 4 acres of standalone corn that looks beautiful, with nice big ears, and the deer didn't bother it much as it grew. A half mile away I planted 2 acres adjacent to a 2 acre clover patch, no fencing, and some deer walk through the corn to get to the clover. The corn planting is a total failure, no one ear or even a nubbin grew, because even though the deer were nibbling the corn stalks themselves as they grew, the stalks still grew 6 feet high, but then they ate all the silk off the top of the ears even faster than it pushed out, which was the end of the corn crop. Note to self, corn will probably do well on smaller plots if there's no deer attractant close by, but if deer are traveling through the plot to get to other food they will be nibbling as they go. It seems like eating corn stalks and silk is an acquired taste for deer, not a normal food, but once they get started they go to town on it.
P.S. So I disked it down and planted a fall plot of oats & radishes.
P.S. So I disked it down and planted a fall plot of oats & radishes.
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KSQ2
Well-Known Member
Raccoons are the main culprit around here for smaller corn planting failures.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Raccoons are a manageable problem with a little bit of sweat equity, but deer are not, several big does addicted to tassel silk will wipe out an acre.
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