summer plot follow up.....

David

Active Member
My summer plot is off to a great start, very happy with it considering its my first attempt. Some may have read my question about clover plots in the deep south and i thank all of you for replying. That will be a work in progress over the next few years. But my mind keeps running about this idea of year round food sources.

I put in 3 acres of beans/peas/buckwheat, and its doing great, but what do i do with it in the future? What is a typical transition out of summer plots look like?. I am speaking of the same physical location, not in addition to. If my beans/peas dont have pods, if we have a terrible summer and the whole thing dies, or even if it lives to maturity....what do i do with it in the end?

i would love to have something growing under it or beside it as it dies out. (i could disc half of it late summer to have two plots side by side, but that thought seems counter productive if they are still using it).

keep in mind not far away i am will have 2 smaller plots that i will continue clover in, and have oats/wheat as a nurse crop, also going to add chicory this year.

thanks

David
 
In the past, I have broadcast wheat, crimson, arrowleaf and medium red clover, while the cowpeas were still standing, in late September. The first good frost and the cowpeas will be killed off and the wheat and clovers will carry you thru to the following September.

This is assuming that weeds haven't taken over the cowpeas, due to overgrazing. If so, I'd disc them up and go with the oats, 3 clovers, radish and some winter peas.
 
The first frost will wipe out the BW, too. For standing beans, what I do is broadcast winter rye and a medium red clover into them just as soon as the leaves start to yellow. After harvest of the beans you'll have plenty of WR to nurse the clover, and in the spring you'll have both come back very early in the year. Mow the rye or leave it standing for fawning cover.

Another smart option is to terminate one field (say a tired clover patch) in late June for a brassica planting of radish, rape and turnips. Those will feed deer well into the winter, particularly if you get good bulb production. The following spring, you work that as early as you can and plant oats and clover. Tons of different ways of going about it. Get yourself the QDMA food plots book and learn about the various warm and cool season plants commonly used in food plots. :)
 
Jason and Doc, I have read both craig harpers book and the qdma book on food plotting cover to cover.

They are both great.
 
David, I can't imagine beans and peas making it to maturity in SC, or anywhere in the south, with our deer numbers so generally you can just plow it all in and plant normal fall stuff by the first of Sept. In the off chance it does, broadcasting cereal rye, wheat, and clovers over the beans/peas in late September should get you a stand of those after the frosts kill the beans. Go watch Dr. Grant Woods' Growingdeer.tv . He has several episodes about doing just that.
 
David, I can't imagine beans and peas making it to maturity in SC, or anywhere in the south, with our deer numbers so generally you can just plow it all in and plant normal fall stuff by the first of Sept. In the off chance it does, broadcasting cereal rye, wheat, and clovers over the beans/peas in late September should get you a stand of those after the frosts kill the beans. Go watch Dr. Grant Woods' Growingdeer.tv . He has several episodes about doing just that.
Last night I went back to read one of my books and found this graph.....it's what is driving me to ask these questions. If u read my post on clover u will begin to see what I am getting at. How do we as plotters increase the food available at this time of year?

Hard and soft mast are huge. (Not included in the graph)

Often I think unconventional. Will buck wheat grow in august?

Farmer D, u posted this link yesterday

http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center...ition/Text-Version/Legume-Cover-Crops/Cowpeas

It seems to say cowpeas are the toughest hot weather plant around. Can I expect a 60 day growth window of cowpeas put in in mid august? I realize the first frost would kill them, but that's about the time our nurse crops should be filling the gap? I don't need 1000's of lbs per acre of food this time of year, what about 100's?

I want to grow a healthy herd....year round food is my goal. It just seems so strange to me that during the hunting season, according to this graph, we as plotters are least effective.
6a8746c62ed41ee8248975866467e00c.jpg


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Last night I went back to read one of my books and found this graph.....it's what is driving me to ask these questions. If u read my post on clover u will begin to see what I am getting at. How do we as plotters increase the food available at this time of year?

Hard and soft mast are huge. (Not included in the graph)

Often I think unconventional. Will buck wheat grow in august?

Farmer D, u posted this link yesterday

http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center...ition/Text-Version/Legume-Cover-Crops/Cowpeas

It seems to say cowpeas are the toughest hot weather plant around. Can I expect a 60 day growth window of cowpeas put in in mid august? I realize the first frost would kill them, but that's about the time our nurse crops should be filling the gap? I don't need 1000's of lbs per acre of food this time of year, what about 100's?

I want to grow a healthy herd....year round food is my goal. It just seems so strange to me that during the hunting season, according to this graph, we as plotters are least effective.
6a8746c62ed41ee8248975866467e00c.jpg


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As I continue to think about this, I can't help but think that soft mast may be a huge factor. I only have 10 fruit trees. Should I focus my thought towards soft mast? I am very lucky in that I have hundreds of mature white/red oaks that nearly require a hard hat most years.



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You are in South Carolina (like me)...you can plant cowpeas in August easily. You could also plant them in October and they would grow. By September/October acorns start falling and the deer will gravitate towards them. Plant the LC grain mix in October and you will be set.

Cowpeas are not a reliable nutrition provider unless you can plant enough to outpace the deer. A mixture of crimson clover, arrowleaf clover, and chicory can get you through most of the summer stress period.
 
You are in South Carolina (like me)...you can plant cowpeas in August easily. You could also plant them in October and they would grow. By September/October acorns start falling and the deer will gravitate towards them. Plant the LC grain mix in October and you will be set.

Cowpeas are not a reliable nutrition provider unless you can plant enough to outpace the deer. A mixture of crimson clover, arrowleaf clover, and chicory can get you through most of the summer stress period.
I have said before that my problem is between my ears. My mind wants to find a non-traditional way around a probkem. I definitely need to consider the impact of mast on this sept/Oct food plotting handicap.

My view of things is probably scarred due to last year's 90 day drought starting around labor day. I saw my clover plots sit with zero germination through the majority of the hunting season amd that was my first attempt ever at plotting.

Just trying not to get caught with my pants down again in october.



a2af55e06339f45cce63417352993eff.jpg


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You are overthinking it. Let nature provide the food in October...it's already set up to do so. Acorns provide the ideal nutrition for a deer, and I've never seen a deer choose something else over an acorn. Hell when the acorns are falling my deer even ignore Austrian winter peas.
 
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