My first throw-n-mow attempt at food plotting

[shawn cox]

Here are a few of my plots that I did in the throw n mow method last fall. Some I actually mowed and some I just let the dead vegetation fall on it. We went right around 90 days with no rain right after I planted. We did not get any rain until the middle of December. I was worried the birds had ate all of it or that it would be too late to work. I was surprised how well it has done. The deer are absolutely loving the clover. I planted winter rye as the nurse crop and I have one sandy plot that I planted arrow leaf clover and chicory in because it stays so dry and I read they were good for sandy soils. They are still struggling a little bit in it because it has been dry for us. As you can see my plots are not weed free but I am fine with that. I still have the rye standing and I am just going to let it die on its own. I am leaving it for fawning cover. The seem to like it as a little cover in the plots as well. I planted a mix of Landino, Durrana, Crimson, Medium Red and Arrow leaf clovers in the plots. I even tried AWP that came up great with the throw and mow but the deer ate them up. I will do them again but I will do the whole 2 acre plot in them with clover planted around the edges. I mainly tried them just to see if I could get them to come up with that planting method. I relay like this method and for me with no tractor right now it was a no brainer for me. So if you have ever been on the fence about it, try it on a plot and see what you think. I would love to see how they would have came out if I would have got the right rain when I planted them. My deer love them I see beds in them so it is working great for me.

 

[shawn cox]

a few more plot pics

 

[Merle Hawggard]

They look wonderful! Certainly should feed quite a few kinds of wildlife.

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[dogdoc]

Good job, very impressive.

 

[Mitch123]

Never tries this method, but these are some of the best looking pics I've seen of the method! With not much rain as well it's impressive. What ratios of seed did you use?

 

[Semisane]

Well done Shawn. Great pictures.

I'm on my third year of no till with similar results. I use either throw & mow on two of my plots and throw and roll on a third. Both methods seem to produce about the same results. It's so nice to be free of the expense and hassle of a tractor.

 

[shawn cox]

Well done Shawn. Great pictures.

I'm on my third year of no till with similar results. I use either throw & mow on two of my plots and throw and roll on a third. Both methods seem to produce about the same results. It's so nice to be free of the expense and hassle of a tractor.

Thanks, I really want a tractor but my budget doesn't allow it so I am thankful this method works so well. I had a couple plots I couldn't get mowed when my buddy brought his mower so I just rolled them with the 4 wheeler tires.

 

[shawn cox]

Never tries this method, but these are some of the best looking pics I've seen of the method! With not much rain as well it's impressive. What ratios of seed did you use?

I used around 5 lbs to 8 lbs per acre for the different clover varieties and I used 50-70 lbs per acre of Abruzzi rye as my nurse crop. A common problem with this method is people going too heavy on the seeding rate of the nurse crop.

 

[shawn cox]

They look wonderful! Certainly should feed quite a few kinds of wildlife.

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Thanks

 

[shawn cox]

as you can see. they are making trails through the rye and eating the clover. It has worked great so far. It is ugly but the deer don't mind.

 

[shawn cox]

This is what the plot looks like up under the rye. This is an area where they have knocked down some of the rye to get to the clover.

 

[shawn cox]

another spot they have knocked most of the rye down

 

[shawn cox]

what it looks like underneath

 

[shawn cox]

A nice white clover plot

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

as you can see. they are making trails through the rye and eating the clover. It has worked great so far. It is ugly but the deer don't mind.]

That’s not ugly man…..that’s beautiful! You just gotta retrain your eyes and you reprogram your brain. Plots don’t have to be “clean” looking to be effective.

 

[shawn cox]

That’s not ugly man…..that’s beautiful! You just gotta retrain your eyes and you reprogram your brain. Plots don’t have to be “clean” looking to be effective.

Thanks man, Oh I am past the pretty and clean aspect of it. This year the uglier it looked the better it performed. My deer are happy.

 

[shawn cox]

 

[shawn cox]

See anything is possible with the right rain. I had a bag of LabLab left over from last spring. It had been sitting in our shed at camp. I figured I might as well throw it out in my plot to see how it does. I didn't want to disturb the clover so I just threw it out to see if it would come up. God blessed us with the perfect rains and up it came. I am interested to see how well it does mixed in with the clover or if it will hurt some of the clover by shading it out. I hope it will help the clover during those hot clear sky summer days from drying it out.

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

That’s a good idea. It may work well with a light seeding of milo if the deer wipe out the beans. I definitely agree with you that it needs some shade.

 

[widow maker]

awesome plots. Thanks for sharing. going to try one myself this year on land I just purchased. did it years ago on my old land but can't remember everything I did.