Planting without fertilizer

Drycreek

Well-Known Member
Guys, this year fertilizer is gonna be higher than giraffe buttocks, so I’m planning to plant without fertilizer. This is my simple plan, any ideas or comments welcome. Keep in mind that I have only a disc and a drag as far as implements go, and I can only plant the openings that I have now.

I plan to mow my plots if necessary and disc one time with the blades almost straight. This gives me shallow grooves for the seed to fall in when I drag the plot and the result is almost like drilling the seed in. I’m planting buckwheat in all plots for the spring/summer plots and wheat next fall, all with the same procedure. The plots have wheat, or what’s left of it, now.

Okay, tell me what you think.
 
Wheat is a heavy nitrogen user. Might be better to rotate a clover/any legume (inoculated) in behind it for a summer crop rather than buckwheat to gain some nitrogen credits? It is sometimes helpful to remember that wheat doesn't need fertilizer to be grazed though. Fert for it is only a concern if you need grain production.
 
I plan to plant buckwheat too, into the winter brassica plot. Will the decomposing turnips put any nitrogen back into the soil when tilled? I'm putting in a small enough area, that I will prolly go ahead and use some urea, IF I can find some at the local coop.

Buckwheat was just too good to t&m into last fall to go away from it.
 
Wheat is a heavy nitrogen user. Might be better to rotate a clover/any legume (inoculated) in behind it for a summer crop rather than buckwheat to gain some nitrogen credits? It is sometimes helpful to remember that wheat doesn't need fertilizer to be grazed though. Fert for it is only a concern if you need grain production.

Clover gets clobbered in east texas summers

Iron and clay cowpeas will work if you have >/= 2 acres.....deer love them

Sunn hemp would be another option of N2 fixation

bill
 
Have you tried Hubam clover? I believe it tolerates heat much better than other varieties.
 
Have you tried Hubam clover? I believe it tolerates heat much better than other varieties.


Yes, I soil test yearly until my ph is right, then usually every two or three after that. I’ve never heard of Hubam clover. Is it a white variety ?

As Bill said, you really have to pick your spots to get away with clovers here and I don’t have but one of those on my deer lease and it’s planted to clover right now. It stays about deer lip high all the time. To add to that, clover needs to be planted in the fall here in order to make it, then it will probably make a good plot the next year until about the middle of June.

Cat, grazing is all I’m looking for in wheat. That seems to be the best thing I can grow for deer in the fall and I usually add either MRC or Daikon radish to it. I used to plant Austrian Winter Peas with it but I could never see evidence that the deer were using it much.
 
Sounds like between your hogs and summer stress it's going to be difficult to find a legume to fixate some nitrogen that can survive. You might play around with the SmartMix calculator. I think you have to create a login for it but it's easy to use and will give you lots of ideas.

Your fall mix of wheat and med red is perfect in my opinion. I'm also a big fan of chicory as it's very deep rooted and handles dry time very well.

I'll let weeds do summertime work for me sometimes. They always grow and typically provide something the soil needs.

Here's the link for the calculator. Careful though, it's addicting.
SmartMix Calculator
 
Hubam is a tall white sweet clover. It is stemmy with little leaves. Great for bee pasture. Deer will browse it, but it isnt what most of us think as clover. My hogs graze durana and patriot white clover, but they arent bad to root in it.
 
Hubam is a tall white sweet clover. It is stemmy with little leaves. Great for bee pasture. Deer will browse it, but it isnt what most of us think as clover. My hogs graze durana and patriot white clover, but they arent bad to root in it.
It was a suggestion more for N fixation vs browse/food.
 
Sounds like between your hogs and summer stress it's going to be difficult to find a legume to fixate some nitrogen that can survive. You might play around with the SmartMix calculator. I think you have to create a login for it but it's easy to use and will give you lots of ideas.

Your fall mix of wheat and med red is perfect in my opinion. I'm also a big fan of chicory as it's very deep rooted and handles dry time very well.

I'll let weeds do summertime work for me sometimes. They always grow and typically provide something the soil needs.

Here's the link for the calculator. Careful though, it's addicting.
SmartMix Calculator

Thanks Cat, I like the MRC also. I haven’t really tried chicory up here but did in a place I used to own. The deer liked it too !

I have planted IC peas three times in these plots. First year they lasted until the last of July, the second year until the last of June. You getting my drift ? I love cow peas but the deer love them even more than I do and my plots aren’t big enough to have peas past mid summer. Last year my spring plots failed. Temps were too cool and too wet are my guesses as to why. Then it stopped raining and now we are dry. The county where my lease is located is under a burn ban. In March ?:eek: If things don’t improve we will be in a drought. That’s one reason I was thinking buckwheat, it’s drought tolerant and mayb will stand in for fertilizer next fall. This is my wheat (best plot) as of 2-26-2022. 85244138-2B75-4F71-B42D-7A0D01618DEB.jpeg
 
Thanks Cat, I like the MRC also. I haven’t really tried chicory up here but did in a place I used to own. The deer liked it too !

I have planted IC peas three times in these plots. First year they lasted until the last of July, the second year until the last of June. You getting my drift ? I love cow peas but the deer love them even more than I do and my plots aren’t big enough to have peas past mid summer. Last year my spring plots failed. Temps were too cool and too wet are my guesses as to why. Then it stopped raining and now we are dry. The county where my lease is located is under a burn ban. In March ?:eek: If things don’t improve we will be in a drought. That’s one reason I was thinking buckwheat, it’s drought tolerant and mayb will stand in for fertilizer next fall. This is my wheat (best plot) as of 2-26-2022. View attachment 23455
It looks like it's time to make some bacon. Planting without fertilizer works pretty good in our soil, but I don't think it will work as good in your sandy soil.
 
Wheat, or what’s left of it. It’s eaten down pretty close in my best plot, and almost nonexistent in the others. Native forbs are covering the ground also.
I keep forgetting about those damn hogs. That's a tough one. Will your wheat rebound and make a crop, or is it about toast?

I think what's equally as important as biological fertility is going to be a residue layer. Those are tough, because the great residue generators are also delicious seeds as I'm sure you're well aware.
 
I keep forgetting about those damn hogs. That's a tough one. Will your wheat rebound and make a crop, or is it about toast?

I think what's equally as important as biological fertility is going to be a residue layer. Those are tough, because the great residue generators are also delicious seeds as I'm sure you're well aware.

You know Mark, it used to make a crop after the browse greened up and the deer quit feeding in it. I don’t know if it will since the hogs have “discovered” it. They used to never eat in my plots but they do now, and have for the last several years. I blame them for my fall planted MRC never making it through spring. That may not be true but it looked really good in the winter then suddenly it was gone. Not dead, just gone. They will literally eat almost anything !:(
 
I cant believe your pigs come out in the day time. I have not even got a day time game cam pic of a hog in almost a year

They haven’t been molested at that plot in six months or more. That will change shortly. I’m still just as mad at them as I always was, I’m just not as into sitting up until midnight as I once was. :D One shot and a dead hog will have them running at night again. I have more pics of them at night.
 
Guys, this year fertilizer is gonna be higher than giraffe buttocks, so I’m planning to plant without fertilizer. This is my simple plan, any ideas or comments welcome. Keep in mind that I have only a disc and a drag as far as implements go, and I can only plant the openings that I have now.

I plan to mow my plots if necessary and disc one time with the blades almost straight. This gives me shallow grooves for the seed to fall in when I drag the plot and the result is almost like drilling the seed in. I’m planting buckwheat in all plots for the spring/summer plots and wheat next fall, all with the same procedure. The plots have wheat, or what’s left of it, now.

Okay, tell me what you think.
Buckwheat is a good choice and very forgiving of poor soil nutrients levels. My experience is the stuff will grow in near beach sand low fertility soils. A problem I have had with it is little-to-none regrowth after the deer hit it. So, depending when you put it in and when it gets consumed, you may need to consider layering several sequential seedings of it a few weeks apart.

A tip for you depending on what you want in the future. Consider moving to a perennial high-legume mix that will work in your area and soils. That is what I did several years back. When fertilizer went sky-high two years ago I just stopped fertilizing and so far everything is doing well. I have plenty of N in my soils with the legumes, naturally high P, but very low K. So I will need to put in some potash every three years -- this year now being the 3rd year since stopping the fertilizing. For me the benefits of the high-legume mix is not having to replant every year and very little need for fertilizer. If you try this, do some research on the persistence of the items you are considering in your mix -- get the longest-lived most persistent varieties you can. My current mix will go more than five years before replanting; it may even go ten or more (I just don't have ten years experience yet with it to prove that).

If you don't have a baseline soil test it is a good idea to spend the few tens of dollars to get one done. I get one on each of my plots every other year which seems to work well for me.
 
Back
Top