Soybean Question

[tyeager67]

I have a food plot that is lower in elevation, one half of it I planted with eagle Forage soybeans this past spring, they can in amazing (5'++). The other half is slightly lower in elevation. I planted brassicas in it and we had a ton of rain!! They didn't come in that well. This bottom part seems to hold
Water a little bit, if we get heavy rains. I was wondering if soybeans are more tolerant of moisture than brassicas? Any suggestion? Or I there is anything else's that would be a better choice to with stand the moisture.

Thanks,

Ty

 

[swat1018]

Alsike clover.

 

[Chainsaw]

I have a food plot that is lower in elevation, one half of it I planted with eagle Forage soybeans this past spring, they can in amazing (5'++). The other half is slightly lower in elevation. I planted brassicas in it and we had a ton of rain!! They didn't come in that well. This bottom part seems to hold
Water a little bit, if we get heavy rains. I was wondering if soybeans are more tolerant of moisture than brassicas? Any suggestion? Or I there is anything else's that would be a better choice to with stand the moisture.

Thanks,

Ty

Tiling wet spots to drain the soil off can work wonders and it may be an option for your field. It is done often in this area; actually most if not all of the agricultural fields in this area have been tiled. A friend of mine had a field that couldn't grow any crops; it was simply too wet even in years sort of dry for the area. He tiled it and turned it into a productive field with it's first planting after tiling. I have not done any tiling myself but should have tiled at least one particular field I have; some years it grows super crops and some years it is just too wet. White clovers do well in it most years but even clovers don't grow in standing water.One field we have which was tiled over forty years ago and before I owned the property still drains off nicely and it grows good crops even in wet years.

 

[tyeager67]

I have heard of tiling but am not sure of how large an undertaking this is. I will have to look into it. Thank you

 

[Mennoniteman]

Brassica is a planting that is easily drowned. Small grain can handle a bit more moisture. I second the tiling option.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I have heard of tiling but am not sure of how large an undertaking this is. I will have to look into it. Thank you

Tiling has a few tricks to it, but it's not rocket science. It's just putting coils of black 4" corrugated perforated drain pipe in trenches about three feet deep and covering with a foot of 2B crushed stone, then backfilling with dirt. Big tiling companies have a huge machine that plows the pipe and stone in the ground in one pass, but you can do a small tile project with your friend's miniexcavator, just dig a sloping trench looping around above where the wet spot is and then through the bottom of it sloping all the way to the creek, throw the pipe in and cover with a bit of crushed stone, backfill with dirt and plant your field. Then make steaks for your friend with the excavator.
You want to make a map that shows where the tile lines are, that gets filed away with the deed to the property.

 

[tyeager67]

Thank you all so much for the input, I appreciate it very much. This is definitely something I will consider.

 

[FarmerD]

Maybe some/several flat ditches might help, to get water off the land, quickly ...... if you have a place for it to run off to. I just used a 3 pt hitch scrape blade, turned at an angle to do this.

 

[Jason Broom]

You have a field that holds water "a little bit" if you get heavy rains? You had "a ton of rain" and brassicas "didn't come in that well"?

I wouldn't go to the effort and expense of tiling for that, when this is just a wildlife food plot. Sounds to me like you had extraordinary circumstances one year and that's nothing to base a dramatic change on. How many years have you planted this field? Does it hold water, in spots, every single year? Have you grown other food plot items in this spot, with good results?

Maybe you can tile it and turn it into another ag field, or maybe you can plant alsike clover, aeschynomene and high-bush cranberry, turning lemons into the kind of lemonade wildlife would love?

 

[j-bird]

Try surface ditches first as they will be easier and cheaper. Ditch to prevent water running to this area AND to help water escape the area. Then if still an issue then look to tile. Also consider the soil as well. If it has a high percentage of clay even tile may not be enough. Single bottom plow can easily and quickly make a surface ditch.

 

[tyeager67]

Thanks guys. I will say this year we did get a lot of rain, but this particular side of the field always stays more moisten the the other end. It was an old blueberry field that I cleared for food plots. I have grown brassicas is in it for the past 3 years with marginal results. The opposite end I have planted once with soybeans and they came in better than I expected so I was thinking of planting the entire field in soybeans next year. The only thing I can attribute the poor results of the brassica planting is the moisture.

 

[Mennoniteman]

As swat1018 said, don't overlook clover. A lot of clover strains will do better than brassica in wet areas, and clover does well in marginal soils, provided that your ph is good, or add lime. Clover is a valuable component of any good food plot plan and will feed your deer when the soybeans don't. Overseed the clover with a combo of rye wheat and oats in the fall, and alongside your soybeans you now have year-round deer food. If I was limited to one species only for food plots it would be a no-brainer, definitely clover, because it's so cheap, easy, grows like weeds, easy to spray, has a long growing season, is nutritious, draws deer like flies to a manure pile, and in general is just a very versatile plant.

 

[DIY]

Thanks for the clover tips. I was not aware of Alsike clover. I have a few wetter than average areas where I’m going to try it out.

 

[Drycreek]

Try surface ditches first as they will be easier and cheaper. Ditch to prevent water running to this area AND to help water escape the area. Then if still an issue then look to tile. Also consider the soil as well. If it has a high percentage of clay even tile may not be enough. Single bottom plow can easily and quickly make a surface ditch.

I did this in a creek bottom plot. The creek overflows sometimes and all the water doesn't drain out, so I set up my level, figured out what I had to cut to get drainage, and took my dozer and cut a flat bottomed ditch about blade wide to drain it. I wasted the dirt over the low place in the plot. It has worked for five years now.