What happened ?

[FarmerD]

Here's a "What have you got to lose, today", thought and a couple of facts.

1. Cowpeas, unlike soybeans will regrow if they have been nipped off to the dirt. If it weren't for the weeds and grasses you have, the cowpeas could recover. I've seen a 6" tall plant, have 24 leaves nipped off of it and kept trying to grow.

2. Cowpeas can take a dose of 22 ounce/acre (maximum) of glyphosate, and come back .... yes they can, I've done it, if you have anything left in there, it may be an option for you.

Worth a try and what have you got to lose? If you do it and if you see any peas recover, put an exclusion cage up around them. Next year, it won't matter what you put inside the hot fence, as it will keep most of the critters out.

Sunn Hemp, I have no experience with, but from what I have heard, you'll want to keep it mowed under 3' tall. If it gets 6' tall, usage goes down and you have a hard time working it back in to the soil.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Here's a "What have you got to lose, today", thought and a couple of facts.

1. Cowpeas, unlike soybeans will regrow if they have been nipped off to the dirt. If it weren't for the weeds and grasses you have, the cowpeas could recover. I've seen a 6" tall plant, have 24 leaves nipped off of it and kept trying to grow.

2. Cowpeas can take a dose of 22 ounce/acre (maximum) of glyphosate, and come back .... yes they can, I've done it, if you have anything left in there, it may be an option for you.

Worth a try and what have you got to lose? If you do it and if you see any peas recover, put an exclusion cage up around them. Next year, it won't matter what you put inside the hot fence, as it will keep most of the critters out.

Sunn Hemp, I have no experience with, but from what I have heard, you'll want to keep it mowed under 3' tall. If it gets 6' tall, usage goes down and you have a hard time working it back in to the soil.

I agree with all of the earlier comments, although bad seed is rare. I think the peas got too much pressure before they could establish. It always looks like that for me on small plots. Your plot is too small for rr soybeans unless you want to mess with the hot fence. The deer hit beans even harder than peas if anything. If you want a good fall shooting plot that can handle some pressure I'd suggest trying a late summer planting of a combination LC mix, oats, rye, AWP,and brassicas. The small grain outgrows grazing pressure and helps protect the other components of the mix. And burn down twice before planting to give the plot an edge on the weeds. Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

You will definitely have to fence off your RW beans, Anything smaller than an acre on medium to high deer density areas will get wiped out in no time. Add hogs to the mix and they wont have a chance. If you can get a bigger plot in it will help. You won't be disappointed with the RW beans if you can get them to canopy without being wiped out. Definitely add an exclusion cage to your bean plot, I think you will be very surprised at what very few deer can do to a bean or pea plot. I had a doe and 2 fawns wipe out a 2 acre bean plot last year. There were a few bucks that helped but the doe and fawns were in them night and day. The advantage I have in Illinois is I have 1000's of acres of beans surrounding my food plots which typically allows my plots to succeed. Check out a post that Lock N Load Outfitters made on Facebook, they had a large RW bean plot wiped out already this year and they are re-planting now. I would bet with your longer growing season you could get away with planting some RW beans now and have a solid plot come hunting season. Good Luck!

 

[Drycreek]

Thanks guys, I've been away shooting a charity sporting clays event that I do each year. It was hot today !

Browsing pressure may be what made my peas fail, not burning twice probably contributed to it. That's the best SWAG I have.

These are IC peas planted on another property just a week before the ones that failed. Deer density is not as much here, but the prep and plant method was the same. I should add that this plot is about an acre and a half, and I had RR Eagle beans planted here two years in a row with great success. The second year had lots of pods set and they fed deer well into winter.

 

[Drycreek]

Yet another plot on another property that holds even less deer and also has had timber thinned the last two years in a row, making for even more browse.

 

[Drycreek]

I'm bringing this thread back to the top to say that I went to this property today and mowed both plots, the two acres and the 3/4 acre one. It's not too long until fall planting now. I saw zero peas. I pulled the camera that I had on the larger plot and it is evident that the deer did indeed just eat the peas up. The peas simply couldn't handle the pressure ! Can't remember who said that last year being the first time to plant here, that the deer didn't know what they were. Well, now they know ! I had up to eight deer in the pics at times and that's about a 100' slice of a 500 yard long food plot. There's no way to know how many were out of frame. You could see the progression of the peas and then see them eaten down and the weeds start to take over. I'll not plant peas in here again by themseves. Maybe I'll put a few in with the sunn hemp next year just for kicks though.

In my "kill" plot, I will plant a Granpa Ray's blend of clovers, alfalfa, and I think there's a little brassica in it too. I'll use wheat for a nurse crop. Hopefully the clovers will outrun the hungry mouths. Thanks for your comments and advice !

 

[SwampCat]

I am in SW AR and I wouldn't think I could get away with .75 acres of any kind of peas/beans. Four or five acres is the minimum I would try and one of my five acre eagle seed forage bean plots was eaten almost to the ground this year, but cover a JD 790 tractor last year. They found something different to eat on last year. My beans this year were eaten up and didn't shade out the weeds. More weeds in the plot this year than there are beans, now.