Summer No-till Plot - Buckwheat & Sunn Hemp

[yoderjac]

I normally plant my summer plot in late May to mid-June, but we had several days of good rain in the forecast, so I decided to plant a little early this year. It was May 5th when I planted. For background, last fall, I planted Winter Rye, Crimson Clover, and Purple Top Turnips in this field. Deer used the field well. This spring, I waited until the PTT was in full bloom and then I mowed the plot high . The winter rye and crimson bounced back quickly and the WR headed out but was still green and actively growing by early may. Here was the planting process I used.

In the morning, I sprayed the field with glyphosate. I then took a break to let gly get absorbed. The area is an acre and a half. After lunch I mixed Sunn Hemp and Buckwheat (50/50) in my 3pt broadcast spreader and seeded the field. I then hooked up the cultipacker and ran it over the field.

Note that the dark green to the left of the blind was spring oats and crimson clover planted earlier this spring for turkey. This picture was taken on May 11th about a week after planting. You can see that some of the WR is beginning to die but much of it is still green.

This picture was taken on May 17th. We winter rye is now dead and laying down much better. You can see both buckwheat and sunn hemp have germinated and are coming up through the WR. I've been using this technique for quite a few years and it works out well for me. Now that I'm retired, it is much easier to coordinate planting before a good rain. Timely rain covers a multitude of sins.

I used no commercial fertilizer on the plot. I selected seeds that complement each other, compete well against our summer weeds, and that provide good nutrition for our deer. I will tolerate whatever weeds grow in the plot.

Over the next weeks and months, I'll take a few more pictures.

 

[Flatiron75]

Deer eat sunn hemp?

 

[yoderjac]

Deer eat sunn hemp?

Yes, It is a high protein food source for deer. They love the young plants. This plot is right next to our barn and our retirement house which is under construction. There is no daytime use but we have deer in this plot every night. Like most plants, as sunn hemp gets older and larger it becomes less attractive.

This is a plot intended to primarily cover the summer stress period here. It will be planted again in the fall. Sunn hemp will be over 6' tall by then. Both Sunn Hemp and Buckwheat are short term food sources for deer and last about 3 months. They will use it for cover after that and turkey love the buckwheat seed. I will mow it before planting in the fall leaving strips of it standing in strategic locations to guide deer movement for fall.

 

[yoderjac]

Seems to be coming right along as of today.

 

[victory]

Nice layer of duff Yoder. Talk about soil improvements.

 

[yoderjac]

Nice layer of duff Yoder. Talk about soil improvements.

What do you want to know about soil improvements? I'm happy to share my experiences if you like.

 

[Flatiron75]

If that's buckwheat coming through that duff (post #4 pic) - that might be the answer to our "turkeys eating all our BW seed" problem. When we plant BW in a nice, disced, harrowed, culti-packed field, the turkeys clean it all up as seed. Might have to plant a batch of WR and use it as thatch cover for BW seed the following spring.

 

[yoderjac]

If that's buckwheat coming through that duff (post #4 pic) - that might be the answer to our "turkeys eating all our BW seed" problem. When we plant BW in a nice, disced, harrowed, culti-packed field, the turkeys clean it all up as seed. Might have to plant a batch of WR and use it as thatch cover for BW seed the following spring.

It is both buckwheat and sunn hemp. It was a 50/50 mix. I used to use a 2-bottom plow and a tiller to get a beautiful seed bed for my food plots. Looked like a perfect farm field. Over time as I learned, I was able to correct my mistake over time. This might also answer @victory question regarding soil health. What was happening is that tillage introduced oxygen into the soil. This caused the organic matter (OM) we had in the soil to burn up at a much higher rate. It also destroyed soil tilth and the microbiome that promotes nutrient cycling. This took time, but it degraded my soil and I found I was adding more and more commercial fertilizer to get the same results.

When I moved to no-till/min-till verses traditional tillage, it took time, but eventually I was able to rebuild the OM in my soils and restore the soil health. I have used no commercial fertilizer in the last 7+ years and my food plots are serving deer as well or better than ever.

Addressing your issue more directly, I'll tell you how I did this. Last fall I planted a mix of WR/CC/PTT. When the PTT got to the stage this spring where it produced flower, I mowed it high before it could go to seed. We have a local flock of turkey. I have security cameras mounted on my barn. I had a knee replaced this spring, so I spent a lot of time watching turkey behavior on the camera before the season. There are pictures and videos on this thread. Turkey Time Thread

I decided to plant a small field this spring to attract the hens to an area near my blind this spring hoping they would bring gobblers in tow. I planted the area in a mix of spring oats and crimson clover. You can see that in the pictures on that thread and videos as well as this thread. I killed two gobblers the first two days of the season out of that blind and someone else killed the third gobbler. The rest of the year I've only seen hens on the cameras. I've been watching the hen behavior. Eventually, instead of seed the larger group of hens together, they began spending more time in smaller groups and alone. You could see from the daily video, eventually the amount of time they spend in that field declined and then they stopped. Once they started incubating the nests, they would only move short distances to eat a little and then return to the nest.

That was about the time I planted my buckwheat/sunn hemp mix this spring. I'm sure the duff made it harder for turkey to find individual seeds, but the timing also helped in that there was almost zero field use by hens when I planted. I also planted with good rain in the forecast. Both buckwheat and sunn hemp germinate and grow quickly. It did not take long for germination to take place.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cutman]

I got my spring/summer plots in this weekend and thought of this thread.

The first plot was a mixture of wheat, oats, crimson clover, vetch, and chicory. Here it is during the early spring.



I let it die a natural death and then drilled a mixture of sorghum, sunn hemp, cowpeas, and buckwheat Sunday after an inch of rain. Yesterday I mowed the dead wheat and oats.



We have good rain in the forecast all week, so hopefully the weather gods cooperate. I did not spray this plot because it was amazingly weed free. I expect the deer to hammer everything other than the sorghum. Hopefully I have a beautiful field of sorghum in a few months.

Plots 2 and 3 are crappy soil and rarely grow anything worthwhile. I drilled a mixture of brown top millet and proso millet for the doves.

 

[Flatiron75]

^ ^ ^ Pic #1 looks great. All that wheat, oats, crimson clover, vetch & chicory all died on their own??? Just curious - why didn't you let that plot feed deer all summer - or at least most of it??

 

[cutman]

We’ve been in drought for most of the year. The plot was stone dead.

 

[yoderjac]

In my case, it depends on my objectives for that specific field. My mix for fall/winter is WR/PTT-GHR/CC. By spring the GHR and PTT are done, WR is soon rank and not providing much deer food. I still have crimson clover and the WR heads in the field. Depending on my time available and what I've done with other fields, I will mow the PTT before it bolts and then let the field stand all summer. If I'm trying to cover a summer stress period, I'll replant in Buckwheat and Sunn Hemp.

In the case of this particular field. I plan to replant in the fall. This is on my retirement property, not the farm, and there is no change of improving the herd. So, summer stress period coverage is futile. However, it never hurts to provide summer food in my area. My main purpose was to provide the buckwheat seed for turkey. I like to keep them around in the summer. More importantly, I want to leave strategic strips of sunn hemp standing in the fall. The vertical cover in the field breaks it up and makes deer more comfortable using it during daylight hours.

 

[yoderjac]

It is coming along nicely: