soil test results...

[David]

Keep in mind my complaints about the soil are from a production view. 2 of my other plots are gorgeous. Here is a picture of the soil profile from my "homestead plot" near the house (that is 14 inches from the grass to the bottom of the red dirt edge). It's the first year in a generation it's had any agricultural in it, and I am very pleased with it.
Due to daddy duty I couldn't walk out to the field in question. Tomorrow I will make my daughters walk with me to the area I am concerned about to dig a hole and take a picture.

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[David]

Soil profile from the area in question, that's 20 in from the grass on top to the small green plant in the bottom

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[X-farmerdan]

You do see the difference, right?

 

[David]

Oh yes.

Contimplating either reshaping the plot to include better soil, or working on the current soil.

Probably going to reshape it.

 

[MarkDarvin]

I would keep trying at it, but I'd change your plan a little bit. Put the tillage equipment away, and hook up the mower. I'd alternate between high residue and low residue crops each spring and fall. One of the things most miss in the throw and mow system is biology. Lots of thatch is good, but it needs to get broken down as it's produced, or the soil building process stops.

If you have risk of dry conditions down there, here's how I'd tackle it.

overseed with rye later fall
let the rye set green seed heads in the spring
throw cowpeas, sunflower, buckwheat into your standing rye and mow it down
When you're ready to plant brassicas, broadcast your seed into your standing cowpea, sunflower, buckwheat, and mow it down.
overseed with rye later fall

Then repeat.

 

[David]

Thanks again fellas. Since no one had magic beans for sale I guess I will get to work on a real plan.

 

[Longleaf]

Yeah the only magic bean is kudzu ! The warm season grass crops like I mention are going to be about the best bet for getting organic matter down in that clay. Some brassica roots in the fall, combined with some cereal rye roots. Keep the tillage to just what you need to get your amendments started down through the soil, and break the crust on the surface so your seeds can get a start.

MarkDarvin is on track too, but we have such a longer growing season during the summer. Rye is headed out and done by the end of April most years. That leaves 4 long months of HOT weather for something to be growing. May as well be something that will help you build OM.

 

[David]

2 weeks ago I planted grain sorghum on the acre we are discussing. I applied 200 lb of 19 19 19. Is it worth the time and effort for me to apply nitrogen in a few more weeks. I plan on using this acre to ease my way into a three-acre plot of the LC mix. So this grain sorghum will only be standing for about 90 days.

 

[David]

Here is the sorghum coming up. Amazingly some clover survived the gly and discing, some black berry did also, however I'm not worried about them.

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[David]

grain sorghum is looking good. i really hope to see seed heads mature. I took the advice of some on here to throw this out as a way to begin to build the soil, but i would love to feed the herd also. This will be the last third of the three acre plot to be planted in the LC mix. In my head i am hoping this survives till the end of September. you can see the dead oats in the back ground....they cover 2 acres. The deer are rediscovering the dried grain heads.

I am blown away at the oats....they were planted in mid September and have supplied food ever since. between grains and clover, its pretty simple and affordable to do this food plotting stuff. The brassicas are going to be the last leg for me to learn.

 

[David]

Everything's going well in this corner of the plot. The grain sorghum has headed out. I'm going to keep my eye on this and figure out what I'm going to do in the fall and how I'll replant this.

This year I'm waiting things out. Last year I feel like I would plan ahead and regardless of circumstances I would move forward. This year I'm attempting to react more.

Thanks for the advice to whom ever suggested grain sorghum, it's fun to grow somwthing successfully. Hopefully this is also helping the soil in this corner.

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[USC country]

Looking forward to seeing how the brassicas do for you. While I’ve never dedicated a full plot to them I have added radish and turnips to my mix quite a few times and they never get touched. I hope they work out for you! Didn’t realize you were in SC until I read this thread.