[Wildman18]

I have 300+yd's by 50yd's wide give or take... As of now I have clover winter rye winter peas and a mix of turnips kale rape and groundhog radishes...

All was planted last year around Aug.

My question is should I spray or cut down the rye?

Should I let the turnip mix to go to seed? They will come back for a few years if I do.

Any Idea's on what I could do.. I had thought on planting soy bean's this year. It is in the middle of urban land.

Also if I let the stuff go what are the positives or negetives..

In the pic, the yellow is the turnips the plot goes across the creak up the hill. on the other side of the tower I have sorgoum and yellow clover.. It also goes 50 yd's behind me but I am letting it grow in.. Trying to keep the deer away from the poachers. They will bed there if it grow's thick.

I have my own thought's but I believe in the theory that the more brains at work the better the outcome..

 

[Darron B]

If the rye isn't planted too heavy you can leave it and it will break off on it's own by early summer leaving you with a nice stand of clover. I don't know normally mow my rye. Plus it gives cover to young turkeys and deer before it breaks off.

The brassicas can be a mess.....spray spray spray.

 

[Wildman18]

A mess what do you mean... That they just keep coming back? I let them seed them selves a few years back and I am still getting them. I was going to cut them back after the bee's got the fill of the flowers.There has been an enormous amount of bees on the flowers.

All in all I was going to wait for turkey season to end or atleast the last part before I cut the Turnips back.

I wanted to put something that will bring the deer in from all the wood lot's in the urban areas. Bean's are the one thing I can think of. Clover is in all the urban back yard's as is a lot of grass/hostas.. I would leave the thick plots of clover and plant beans everywhere else... As the beans mature and dry I planned to over seed with a ceral grain and turnip's..


What do you think?

 

[Darron B]

A mess what do you mean... That they just keep coming back? I let them seed them selves a few years back and I am still getting them. I was going to cut them back after the bee's got the fill of the flowers.There has been an enormous amount of bees on the flowers.

All in all I was going to wait for turkey season to end or atleast the last part before I cut the Turnips back.

I wanted to put something that will bring the deer in from all the wood lot's in the urban areas. Bean's are the one thing I can think of. Clover is in all the urban back yard's as is a lot of grass/hostas.. I would leave the thick plots of clover and plant beans everywhere else... As the beans mature and dry I planned to over seed with a ceral grain and turnip's..

What do you think?

If you don't spray the brassicas they will seed out and keep coming back....a mess IMO. This is one reason why I plant very small sections of brassicas so I know the deer will eat them to the ground. Anymore I plant my rye/clover/pea mix exclusively. Very simple and easy to maintain. Leave the rye and let it fall over on its own while the clover is happily growing underneath. When the clover starts getting weedy till it up and replant rye mix.

 

[Wildman18]

In the pic: on the other side of the tower I planted sorghum and yellow clover... I put it in because the yellow clover get 2 to 4 feet tall and the sorghum would compliment it. I thought that it would be a great bedding site on a point. Ferther up the creak/powerline is cliff side. The wind comes from the Right of the tower... I have thrown a 5ft wide row of sorghum from the top by the tower angling to the left toward the middle of the hill side (one that is facing the pic)and another one straight across the hill. My stand is on the left off of the powerlines mid-way up the hill. 15yd's off the tree line... What do you think?

Have you ever planter yellow Clover?

I don't want to stick to one kind of plot... I trust what you say as I have been planting plots for 10+ years and know that your mix is a fairly low maintance plot That works. I also know that if you have green field in the ag. land it really draws them in. With this plot being in the urban land the green fields are everyones back yards. That is why I was thinking about the beans. But I feel that it is going to be a lot of work..:yikes: So I may not mess with it.. Time will tell. It is all on how much time I have...

 

[Darron B]

In the pic: on the other side of the tower I planted sorghum and yellow clover... I put it in because the yellow clover get 2 to 4 feet tall and the sorghum would compliment it. I thought that it would be a great bedding site on a point. Ferther up the creak/powerline is cliff side. The wind comes from the Right of the tower... I have thrown a 5ft wide row of sorghum from the top by the tower angling to the left toward the middle of the hill side (one that is facing the pic)and another one straight across the hill. My stand is on the left off of the powerlines mid-way up the hill. 15yd's off the tree line... What do you think?

Have you ever planter yellow Clover?

I don't want to stick to one kind of plot... I trust what you say as I have been planting plots for 10+ years and know that your mix is a fairly low maintance plot That works. I also know that if you have green field in the ag. land it really draws them in. With this plot being in the urban land the green fields are everyones back yards. That is why I was thinking about the beans. But I feel that it is going to be a lot of work..:yikes: So I may not mess with it.. Time will tell. It is all on how much time I have...

Never planted yellow clover. Only clover I plant is white (alice, ladino) and red (mammoth).

As far as beans go......IMO, unless you have 2 acres or more ground the beans will get wiped out too fast. I have thought about planting beans too, but none of my plots are over an acre in size so I don't bother. Not to mention spring plantings can be a mess due to weeds. Another reason I like planting in August or after.

That's why I like the rye/oat/pea/clover mix. Even in the smallest of plots it can withstand heavy grazing and basically feed deer from two weeks after planting all the way through the next spring. Very cost effective and low maintanance.

Good luck with your plotting this year!

 

[mjd020208]

If you are trying to attract deer I would go with beans. Only thing is you will have two problems. 1) keeping deer out until they are established. I myself am going to try plotsaver milo granite and different scents on the perimeter of my beans to keep them out. IMO nothing attracts deer better than beans. 2) problem will be what to do until the bean pods turn hard. Where I hunt the deer won't eat the beans until they dry up a bit. Which is usually end of oct into nov. if that was my piece I would save a 50x50 for clover. And try to work on saving the beans for 45 days. The deer won't eat turnips this time of year once the flower there is no desire for them. The frost is what turns the green into sugar. As you know deer don't need carbs this time of yr. you could always over seed the soybeans with turnips when the beans turn yellow. This has been done with radishes for yrs. good luck

 

[Mr.BucksTWP]

For a situation like this you want to keep your perennials and annuals separate. Since the plot is not very big i would designate it as an annual plot or a perennial plot. Plus, you said you have clover not too far from there and there is a lot of grass and clover in residential yards. Beans probably won't work because once the deer and groundhogs find them they will never make it. If the plot was bigger they might have a chance. I would designate the existing food plot that has the flowering turnips as your annual and just keep planting brassicas, radishes, etc...in there. The key to holding deer there once prime time hunting begins is to have corn (carbs) and some type of winter food source. Set up a feeder and start spinning in september so the deer get use to it. The only way to hold deer is to have corn, winter food source, bedding, and minimal pressure.

We only plant AntlerKing products so for this situation: if you absolutely have to have beans I would plant REDZONE. It has 2 types of forage and grain beans, variety of buckwheat, sorghum, peas, sunflowers. The other types of forage will help the beans from getting hit too hard.
Or in August go in there and plant some Honey Hole around the turnips you already have there. At least you will know that you will have food there when hunting is at its best.

 

[Darron B]

I wouldn't plant brassicas for more than two years in a row due to disease issues. JMO.

 

[Mr.BucksTWP]

That is true...you shouldn't plant brassicas in same spot for more than two years because of disease...clubroot, root knot, leaf spot, white rust, ect..can occur. Just rotate an annual there and you should be fine.