Overgrown plot for throw and mow, need opinions

[Charlieyca]

So I have a 1/2 acre kill plot that last year was brassicas with crimson clover and rye mixed in. The front half canopied and smothered out the rye and clover. The back half had plenty of rye and clover left to grow and make a decent spring plot.

I planned to let this plot become a perennial white clover/chicory plot starting this fall after planting with a nurse crop of rye and red clover. I planned to do throw and mow, but there is a lot of weeds and grass going to seed in parts of it.
option 1) spray asap, spread sorghum, buckwheat and ironclay peas, and then mow. Let that crop become my fall mow down thatch.
option 2) mow, wait a week, spray, then let it go until september for fall planting
option 3) do nothing until september, leave it standing and spray, throw, and mow in september.

Goal is long term perennial white clover plot surrounded by fruit trees.
Here is the plot. Notice the front half green with weeds, back half is brown rye and dead crimson clover with very little weeds.

 

[Mitch123]

Leave and plant the clover in the fall I say. The clover will get good roots in the fall and then boom come spring time. You can also frost seed some clover in the winter months if you have some bare ground to get some really good cover.

 

[Jeff H]

My first thought is to leave it till Fall, burn it down with a heavy dose of gly and mow the thatch over your clover seed. Fall planting clover is so much more rewarding.
My second thought would be to spray with Cleth and mix in 3/4oz per gal of gly. Wait 7-10 days and throw n mow buckwheat mowing it as high as you can. Buckwheat is your friend and what clover is left will rebound from the light gly mix well enough. Repeat in the Fall applying clover seed heavier in bare spots and use the buckwheat as your thatch.

 

[Charlieyca]

I have a bag of buckwheat leftover, and have been wanting to try sorghum for a dove plot in this area. Any suggestions to mix with buckwheat and sorghum for a summer time plot?

 

[Jeff H]

You might do the buckwheat in the area with better clover growth and sorghum in the overgrown front half. The sorghum will shade out most anything. The turkeys will love the buckwheat and the doves will love the sorghum. Quite the little bird paradise.

 

[Charlieyca]

Fish started biting and forgot about this plot! looks like it is going to sit fallow until fall or we get some really windy days!

 

[Mennoniteman]

Fish started biting and forgot about this plot! looks like it is going to sit fallow until fall or we get some really windy days!

I think waiting is as good an option as any. Sometimes with food plots you can run yourself ragged trying to get in a new planting and on hindsight would've been better off doing nothing. Rule of thumb, starting any seed in midsummer is a gamble, wholly dependent on rain, while established growth (that you would otherwise kill) will continue to provide food and ground cover in dry weather.

 

[Chainsaw]

I'd consider mowing it now after walking every inch of it to flush out any fawns. And then spray it mid August and then throw and mow. This would break some of the weed seeding cycles. I'm in northern NY so the mid August date may not apply to you-don't know.

 

[Charlieyca]

Just finished spraying this plot, went with the wait and see, going to mow it down over seed after this hurricane.