Bill, in terms of your bare root shrubs, we have the same thistle problem. We take 5 gallon buckets and place them over the trees. Then spray the thistles. Leave the buckets on until the spray dries to the thistles.
That does make a lot of sense. My problem is that under all those thistles are the trees that are growing from the acorns we planted back in November. At first, it seemed like no big deal, but the thistles kept getting thicker and taller and soon completely covered all the trees. I can't see that as a good thing. I mowed them last week and will spray the area with Sonora (has an active ingredient that will kill thistles but not the small oak trees.) Hopefully, that will clear those areas up enough for the seedlings to get sun and moisture the remainder of the summer.
Bill, Take a gallon milk jug, drill 1/16 dia hole in the bottom, fill with water set by your trees. Slow release water source. I've used this method. Great series!
Welcome Carsen. Your learning from a living legend. Your a lucky man. Bill the drought has just been horrible. I sure hope we can turn the corner here soon.
We did get a decent rain yesterday and if we can follow that up soon with another one, I think we should be headed in the right direction. I will still have to replant everything I planted to beans. I will just drill Wintergreens into them.
We were very dry for a long time here in Northern Indiana, but a couple weeks ago the rains finally started hitting us, and boy did crops take off. My alfalfa / clover, has never looked so good. Now I just hope we are blessed enough keep receiving rain periodically. I pray you get rain soon. You care so much about the land and the deer that live on it, that's plain to see. I hope rain comes and your hard work is rewarded!!!
Thanks for the kind words and the prayer for rain! It worked! We did get about 1 1/2 inches yesterday, so if we can follow that up with some more in the next few days, we should be turning a corner. Have a great day.
Hi Bill, sorry to hear about the crop failures. I agree that brassicas are hard to beat for shear tonnage, the last 2 years 1 1/2 acres they have stood has stood up to 15-20 deer feeding on it from November-February. We are in the middle of a severe drought again this year in central MN. Good luck with the rescuing the plots and thanks for the video.
Thanks Art. Hopefully your drought breaks soon. I will be busy planting brassicas and cereal grains in a couple of weeks to get food back into the places where it failed this spring.
A cheap fix to fill the open space " weak areas" At your local coop bin run oats Can get them for $8-$9 for a 40lbs bag they are a great nurse crop/ companion crop awesome fibrous roots for building good soil structure, extremely easy to grow, deer love em, good for microbial life, cheap, maybe even mix in like 4-5 lbs per ac of alfalfa
here in north georgia its been raining almost every day ,we where able to get corn in early and it looks great !! i had major knee surgery in may, so trying to get ready to put in more food for the fall once i can walk again . but we are so thankful for almost too much rain here !! thanks for a great video !!
It was the driest spring I can ever remember. I am glad we are getting rains now, but they are too late for some of my plantings. I will have to replant many acres this year. Bummer.
@@bill-winke thanks for the reply. Keep a eye on that corn….if that corn doesn’t completely dry up and if y’all still get some rain once it gets close to tassel that will still make a lot of corn. I had a ton of food plot corn last year that I completely wrote off, it ended up getting a few showers at the right time and it still made some corn. If you plant your soybeans in a much higher population than the typical 140,000-160,000 the deer will have a much harder time keeping it ate down. I appreciate your content, I’ve got a food plot UA-cam channel as well, and your doing awesome with it.
Bill, this spring was so dry, the driest I can ever recall. Hoping and praying the rains come by the end of summer for the fall plantings. After last summer and fall and the devastating drought, it would be a welcome change for sure. The farm is looking good!!
Thanks. I appreciate it. Yes, I think it was one of the driest Junes on record in parts of Iowa. That is such a critical month for getting things growing. It was hard on a lot of plantings.
Have you considered planting cover crops first to help retain soil moisture? The sun is just baking that bare dirt especially on those ridge top plots. I used to have the same issues that you are until I switched planting methods.
Couldn’t agree more I had to switch and now I’m planting rye and crimpson clover and first green up I’m getting a great plot and then crimping and drilling and not only soil is great but last season I couldnt believe the amount of deer I have seen
I will look into it on that plot. I am sure that is good advice for that sun baked piece of dirt. I had to till that one pretty aggressively this spring as it is old pasture and was very bumpy. Had to smooth it out. I expect never to till it again unless I go to alfalfa.
@@bill-winkeUnderstandable. Now that it's a good seed bed, this fall I'd plant a blend of cool season annuals that include wheat or rye into the plots that failed. Next spring you should be able to kill off the wheat/rye by spraying, mowing or crimping it and then plant summer food into the dead thatch leftover. All of which I'm sure you are already aware of lol Love watching all your videos and good luck to you guys this fall!!
Yes, I recognized that weed in your corn! The weather has been unpredictable and drought has also been a problem for me. My pond is very low, so I’ve ordered some betonite clay to stop some slow leaks. I’ve had problems with my perennial plantings and started a watering program quite some time ago. I use a water tank on a trailer with pumps to be quicker and efficient. It’s no fun, but most plantings are doing reasonably well. I’m retired, so I have the time to water but is really boring and I don’t like it. I dream big too then baby it to work out better.
I have five or six ponds that don't hold water. I asked my neighbor about that and he thinks they were dug too deeply and got into the rock layer and just won't hold water. I doubt they are worth fixing short of maybe using some kind of liner because the dirt work and the tons of bentonite alone would be a fortune to fix them. I will look into the cost of liners. Thanks for the input and support. Have a great day.
Yes, Jordan. That view was one of the reasons I fell in love with the farm. Jordan, I and Ethan celebrated Summer Solstice there on June 21. We sat there on the rocks until after the sun set on the longest day of the year. Was pretty cool. That will be a new tradition for us.
Rough year to start seedling trees. I started some 3 years ago in NE, and my chokecherry is a trooper! My bur oak is struggling, having lost 20%, but I think some are being attacked by deer or small mammals. Tree tubes arrive tomorrow!
I hate to have to tube them as I would very quickly run out of time and money. Hopefully, I can keep the herd down long enough to get this habitat work done. I have a new project that starts this coming year in which I have to plant 11 acres of steep ground to seedling trees/shrubs at a rate of 800 per acre. I have selected ninebark, plum, chokecherry, oak, and I can't remember the fifth. Will be a ton of work.
I have some here, but my forester says it will damage trees that have already leafed out. Have you seen it work without damaging the young trees? If so, what rate?
Bill, I’m having the same drought issues here in Mo. If my clover doesn’t recover, Im planning on a light disking, a spaciously broadcasting of brassica, then using a cultipacker … hopefully just before a rain. We will see!
Steve, that will definitely work. The brassicas like the green nitrogen that comes from recycling clover plots also. Hopefully, it rains and you don't have to do that.
same situation with drought until 7 days ago. in lower ground I was surprised how well the whitetail ins clover and chicory did in the fusion blend. i think ill be using a lot more of that and not worry so much about the other species i can plant
Hope you try a couple different blends through Whitetail Institute!!! Heard really good things about the “Destination” blend and I really like “Pure attraction” also Whitetail Oats!!!
I had the chance to test a unnamed bag of seed from Whitetail Institute. The plants that grew looked just like Destination. Deer would walk past the Power Plant and Winter-Greens just to get to the test seed.
I do have some Pure Attraction to plant this summer so I will report on that. I will look into the other blends. I also have Tall Tine Tubers. Next year I will test some of the others. Thanks for the input and support.
Finally got some good rain in Linn county today hopefully my plots start growing. Gounds like concrete only thing thriving is thistle and garlic mustard.
great vid. Thats farming but what can you do ? Im exited planting my acre here in brassicas for the first time at the homestead, 63 years old and recently bought my first trail camera that gave me a picture of a deer I might shoot , nice knowing hes around ,, maybe 120 inch. I grew up hunting central Ill. bucks and fell in love with big horns. I might just fatten him up and hope a bigger one shows up and my guy survives another year or two. Maybe you can dig a well up there , your a resourceful fellow Ill bet you could drill your own.
Owl, that is great news. I think you will really enjoy that trail camera this fall. I appreciate your optimism regarding my ingenuity. I do have a spring nearby and I can pump water from that into a tank on the tractor to water the trees if I need to, but I doubt I will ever water food plots that way.
Yes, in this county there is a "Bluff Land Protection Act" that prevents people from placing any kind of building, even a temporary one, on the bluff tops. I like that because it keeps the skyline from getting trashed with a bunch of cabins, etc.. So we will set the Redneck Cabin somewhere within a short walk of the view and still be able to enjoy it.
That’s pretty cool. Never heard of that. Not much bluff country here in VA. It’s either flat or mountains. That Tedneck cabin is pretty trick. It’s going to be a win no matter where you put it
Yes, 2012 was bad, but so was 2019 in southern Iowa. We had a few years that were super dry down there. Hopefully we keep getting a few timely rains now to keep things growing and keep the EHD at bay in areas that are susceptible to that.
I plant winter greens every year definitely their best brassica blend. Mix some tillage radish with the winter greens. 25% or so. The deer love them September and October. And then they seem to hit wintergreens kale and rape in November and December
Thanks for the input. Another brassica plant I have seen the deer hit early is dwarf Essex rape. I have never planted it outside of a blend, but back when it is in a blend I have planted, the deer went through early and picked the DER right out of the plot in September and October.
Very tough year l, all my cover crop attempts seemed to have failed even on a river bottom farm. Ironically we are finally getting good rain today so the fall should be salvageable.
Agreed. The spring was super dry. Planted and then nothing. I do think, as you state, that we can find something to rescue these failed spring plots. I am banking on Wintergreens.
When you get some rain, if that corn and milo leaves stay purple that is a sign of low phosphorus. Probably to dry now for the plant to uptake much nutrients at all. Just an observation. Love the show.
I think it is the stress doing it, but I will watch to see if it grows out of it. I did a soil test there and the field was very low on P so I hit it hard with the fertilizer blend. Hopefully, that kicks in once the plants get their feet into the ground.
If you can drill it in, that would better. The clover likely will recover if you get rain and some cooler temps. I would wait until early August and then see if your clover has revived. If not, I think drilling winter rye is good, or brassicas like the Wintergreens. I don't think I would just throw the seed out unless the clover is so far gone that their bare dirt. You need to be able to get the seed to the soil to get it to germinate. Good luck.
Your Forester needs to do his homework-we use Transline at labeled rates in our tree plantings for thistle control. I believe it's the forestry label for the old Stinger herbicide, which was the the ag label? We got rain today!!!
We did get that rain. Thanks. I am going to find that herbicide right now. The thistles are taking over my direct seeding areas. I appreciate the help.
bill - look into clopyralid for removing that infestation of thistles. a corteva rep sent me some documentation on management with clopyralid and aminopyralid. oaks are susceptible to milestone, while transline is safe to spray for managing tree plantations and such.
I just looked it up. Appears to be a great solution, but expensive. $160 per gallon, though a gallon might last several years at the one pint per acre application rate.
@bill-winke it's definitely not cheap. I'm planning a direct seeding project and have a thistle problem as well. Sprayed gly 2 weeks ago now gotta burn and then plant a brassica cover crop. Clopyralid can be sprayed on brassicas and will control the thistle and not hurt the oaks. I've learned site prep is most important part. I had a disgusting thistle colony that made my skin crawl and hand spraying sucks!
I cut grass for a living here in Tennessee and when we have mast oak crops like we did 2 years ago,peoples yards will have hunderds of tiny oak saplings growing till may.and those seeds weren't buried at all.6 inches is definitely excessive.i think just spreading some leaves or woodchips would work better than drilling.
If you don't bury them two bad things happen. 1. The deer and turkeys eat them all fall and winter. 2. If they germinate and then dry out they die without the good seed to soil contact. Six inches is too deep for sure. My goal is always 2 to 3 inches.
3 to 5 gallons of water a tree. add a bag of miracle gro per 40 gallons of water. you can get the off brand stuff at menards and walmart at half the price. I add a 1/3 of a bag to 5 gallons of water to my established apple tree 4 times a year. your eli cook article about 6 or 7 years ago was great info.
Good input. Thanks. Yes, Eli is the man when it comes to planting and growing apple trees. I wonder what he would do with all these wild apple trees I have on this farm - hundreds of them. I need to find out if they are worth pruning. Would be a month long job! Have a great day.
sure wish this drought wouldnt have happend the year you did all that work. I think you said you didnt have a huge deer herd, but those oaks could be being eaten as soon as they come up. i have a semi suburban deer heard by my 1.5 yr old house and the second an oak pops up, they nip them off. its incredible how fast they eat everything. i have oaks all around and not a single oak tree will grow unless i cage it off as soon as it pops up
I don't think the deer are getting them. I have been checking them often and they just aren't coming up (yet). I am still finding really small (one inch tall) trees when I check so they are not done coming out. My guess is that they will keep popping out for most of the summer, but the overall results are less than I had hoped. There are decent numbers of trees in some spots (plenty, actually), but other spots don't have any. Same seeds, planted the same day, so it has to be site specific. The areas with the least trees coming up are east facing. That means they likely warmed slower this spring and also that the soil as likely softer in the fall when we planted, so maybe those areas went in too deep. I will have to watch that closely on the next round. Doing another 15 acres this fall.
@@bill-winke good luck and I'm enjoying living vicariously through you on this big property. will be interested in how the red osier does. I've seen jeff sturgis say he planted thousands of them and the deer just ate it all. hope you have better luck. after this fall my lease with the farmer will be up so i'll be trying some of these same things in a 18 acre field
We had 6 straight hours of thunder 2day in MN. So depressing when it's so close & misses u. The rain guage was @ 1/10". High ground is the worst. Really looking forward to getting some kale/trophy rape but it's not a guarantee in 2023 , lol 😮.
Agreed. I think as long as the deer can leave it alone, that corn still has a chance. The beans are done though. They will grow and will be maybe a foot tall, but never as productive as they would have been if we had the spring rains. I will just drill brassicas into them.
Have you been able to discuss hunting with your neighbors yet? I remember you touching on it a few times during the MWW days. Curious to know what their thoughts are having you as a neighbor as well as if they have the same goals for mature deer vs "if its brown its down".
Most of the neighbors up here are old school so I am just going to let them do it their way. I don't need to try to convince people to do things my way. Eventually, if I am having success they will start letting younger bucks go too. That is the main thing. In this area, people do shoot does pretty regularly, but they tend to shoot bucks that are too young. That will change slowly.
It’s hard or near impossible to make any solid assessment on what did or didn’t work with the drought you have had. That special plant was interesting. lol Wonder if a bird carried that seed? Did you report it to local LEO?
Agreed George. I needed spring rains to really tell how those plantings would work. Better luck next year. Now on to damage control/rescue phase of the food plot strategy. There has been wild weed in NE Iowa since I was a boy. Not that I would know that firsthand! We used to call it Ditch Weed. Funny story: One time a buddy and I were camping along a trout stream and found a patch. For fun we picked some and hung it over a tree branch near the tent to dry. Not that we were going to try to smoke it, we were just having fun. We went for a walk into town for something to drink (turns out we misjudged how far away town was - ended up being 13 miles one way, but that's another story). When we finally got back around midnight from our little walk we found that the cows in that pasture had ransacked our camp and eaten all our wacky weed.
@@bill-winke I really had hoped we wouldn’t have had droughts 2 years in a row, but we did. We had a real bad one last year, followed with a flash freeze over winter, a real wet early start to year and then an early drought. I have no clue how all of my young trees and other stuff made it. 13 miles… sheesh. Hope you got a couple drinks. 😅
I only disked one field and that was because it was really bumpy as it was a cattle pasture before. I don't plan to disc much in the future other than to get a new field into shape. Once they are in shape I have the equipment to no-till from then on. My soybean plots end up being blends most of the time anyway, since I almost always broadcast either winter rye or brassicas into them in the late summer.
@@bill-winke are you considering a blend come the next plant season I know it can be done with a drill but most I've seen are pretty close together look at a company called green cover I think it's the best food plot/soil fixer by far worth looking into
But Roundup will kill the trees too. There are lots of little oaks down in those thistles. So I need something that will kill the thistles but not the trees.
Wipe, don’t spray. Search “ Smucker Red Weeder”. Only wipe it on the thistles. Still takes time and effort, but kills them instead on cutting them off and letting them regrow.
@@Tommymentenson Ah yes, never thought of that. That makes sense. I actually made a wiper for the four wheeler many years ago that I could drive through clover fields to clean them up. Not sure what ever happened to that. Was pretty handy. Good advice.
Beans are Tough... I have wasted more money on beans than any other food plot. For warm season I like Alfalfa as it is deer candy all spring summer and fall until first frost. You don't get the late fall beans, but I think they like corn better for carbs. Once established Alfalfa will hold them like beans and stands up to drought better. It will get buggy, however the Turkeys will bug in a plot all day so I don't like to spray to kill the insects if the turkeys are feasting in the plot. Once the ground is shaded from some alfalfa, a guy may be able to mow then no till drill beans in a wide spacing into alfalfa, I have been wanting to try that method myself.
I think you are right about beans. I have only done well with beans in big fields or when fencing smaller plots. I thought maybe on this farm, with less deer, I could make them work, but the slow growth killed me. I love it when then work, but otherwise, what a waste of time. Nice part is that I can rescue all those plots in a couple weeks with the Wintergreens and still have something for the fall.
Thats how my power plant did last year. Started off ok, emerged just fine, but it seemed like once it emerged it fizzeled out. It was too hot and too dry too. I think its good seed, but to sensitive to our climate
Agreed. I wanted to give it a fair test up there on that ridge, but it didn't happen. I will have to kill that area as mostly what is there now (after the deer pounded the slow growing plants) is just weeds. I will clean it up and drill Wintergreens into that area this year. Maybe try Power Plant there again next year (or a spot that isn't as likely to dry out). Have a great day.
Its frustrating for sure. We are moving into an el nino weather pattern to last 4 to 6 years. It means for us, hot but wetter then usual in summer and frigid cold and wet winters. Maybe next year I will try Power Plant again as well. Just hoping this new weather patter coming will help this drought and fill our Aquaphors as well. Keep it up Bill, love the videos!
@@nicschaalma3508 It will stress them a little, but you won't lose a very high percentage. They just kind of move out of the way of the disc openers. Less than 10%loss in my experience. If it was a thick stand, that number might be higher.
I got mine from Wildlife Farming. wildlifefarming.com/Catalog I have the one that carries their house brand, but they sell others also, I think. They are a good source for sprayers and other food plot related equipment. Good luck.
It all failed, tillage or no-till. None of the spots where I planted beans did well. I got them in just a bit shallow for how dry it was, but overall, nothing did well that was planted this spring except the corn (which did go into tilled ground in that bottom).
The stuff getting pounded, put the longest strongest electric double fence around it. Or at least some of it . To test n see how bad they are actually browsing do a test. Put some tomato cages up. Who cares if they aren’t eating in the summer. You want them eating the leaves in the fall, n beans it’s made in the winter.
Good input Jeremy. I have used electric fences in the past. It works but sure is a pain to install and maintain. Also, I do want the deer to have good nutrition during the summer too, that is part of helping them to be as healthy as possible which results in the best venison and the biggest antlers. Thanks for the comment and input.
@@bill-winke should’ve been a little clearer in my previous msg with the part about who cares, if they aren’t eating it in the summer. What I should’ve said is that section, of them. Because I Completely agree on both. 250%, the maintenance and nutritional but fence it off enough to get that section started, use solar panels , to keep battery banks charged up.= Less maintenance . I’ve ran fences all summer on solar and 2 battery banks without having to change batteries. But, then again that’s partly what you have interns for right lol. When that section can handle the browse pressure without being wiped out, move it to another section that they’ve been browsing due to that one being fenced in.. Until it gets established, n right on down the line. That way they aren’t loosing, any nutritional help. But they are going to have more nutritional help through the roughest part of the year, late fall and winter. It’s kind of a catch 22. If there’s not enough there at all coming up because they are keeping it browsed down heavily. are they really “all” getting the nutrients needed? When they really need them the most? Without good winter food, they can’t start to recover from rut and winter weight/ nutritional lose near as fast. N with a good stand, you can come broadcast right into it with, brassicas, rye, wheat, oats in the late summer, early fall. The bean leaves will turn yellow and the brassicas n wheat n rye will already be established and take over, but those mature beans that made pods is great too late season. And another bonus is it’s more attraction in that hunting area, During the hunting season, which is when most are killed. Weather it be by car, traveling looking for food, or does, or spooked out by a hunter, or harvested by a neighbor. N just another way to help curve the rate which bucks, make it to the next age group. I wouldn’t call the beans a fail because of heavy browse pressure because some are getting the nutrients. But, they’d be a lot more tonnage to go around just using the fences as a establishment tool say 1/4 acre at a time, 3 weeks at a time or so or just move it every trip up. Don’t make a special one just to move it so, just enough to get them where they won’t be completely browsed down to nothing. Works great here in ky. Once the deer get shocked once or twice they don’t even fool with it, they go to what’s not fenced. Again every little bit helps.
Everybody looks at beans as a failure when they look like that Pull a stem up out of the ground with the roots and look at how much plant available nitrogen is sitting underground For your next crop/ plot Fed deer spring & summer, produced plant available nitrogen = job well done
How do you drill the brassicas in without getting them in too deep. I just bought a rtp gen 3 but very worried about how to plant the brassicas. I usually just broadcast and cultipack? thanks.
I do drill them with the RTP. I use either the .5 inch setting if the ground is soft or the 1 inch setting if the ground is firm. That has worked well for me. In the past, I always mixed the brassicas with cereal (winter) rye in the bin and planted them together, but the RTP guys tell me you can scale the rate down enough to plant pure brassicas. I will try it both ways this year. Have a great day.
put some composted manure, fertilizer and mulch around some of your better trees.....hand water for survival.....no need to burn them after all your work....drill brassicas into beans
Good advice Jim. I should be planting chestnuts this year (if all goes according to plan) and I will treat those trees much better than the stuff I put out this spring. I wanted to test the area for survival by just planting and letting them go. Over the next three years I am obligated through a contract with the USDA to plant around 9,000 trees more or less by hand on the steeper slopes of the farm and I wanted to see on a small scale how well trees would survive here with minimum maintenance. So far so good.
Plant a blend of rye, clover and brassicas etc. Rye/Wheat/Oats will improve the soil so you can drill right into it in the spring/summer. Soil builder blends help to rebuild topsoil, organic matter, and retain moisture. Dr Grant Woods has it figured out
I have studied Grant's system. Grant is also dealing with a lot worse soil than I am here. Much of my area has a Corn Suitability Rating (CSR2) in the 60s and 70s which is pretty high for ridge ground. The bottoms are even higher into the 80s and 90s! That is why farmland in Iowa sells for $15,000+ per acre. It is very fertile. In a normal year of rainfall, the crops very quickly grow past the deer and do fine. This year we had such a dry spring that it changed everyone's views on what should be done. But your point is still a good one and well taken. I need to talk more about cover crops especially to reduce herbicide dependency. I normally broadcast either cereal rye or brassicas into my soybeans in late summer. Corn is usually too thick to broadcast into with any hope of getting sunlight, so I have never tried to do a cover crop after corn. When it comes to organic matter, it is pretty hard to do better than 7 foot tall corn knocked down during the winter. A corn beans rotation is a good one in this country with cover crop following the beans.
Cheaper than rye find a local farmer harvesting winter wheat and pay him the price he's getting paid at the elevator Wheat is about $6-7 per bushel (60ish lbs) Fill a garbage bin or 2 Rather than rye for $17+ for a 50lbs bag
Good suggestion. I have some really poor dirt in some spots (where things are growing) and I am sure that part of the problem there is pH. Some of it is just clay too, but pH is a huge factor.
Bill, Now this is between you and me so don't tell your sponsors. But the absolute BEST failed spring plot rescue approach, is this... Go to your local hardware store and buy their brand bird food blend. The same bird food Granny puts in her bird feeder. Usually between $14- $18 for 40#. Now drill it into the failed plot at 12-15# per acre. That's $5/acre! You can thank me later! :)
I have heard people talk about that before. I think if you get to it soon enough, you are OK, but most of those blends (in my experience) are just sorghum/millet/sunflowers. You can't plant those in the late summer and expect a crop, so for the kind of rescue I am looking at, I need something that makes food right away. That's why I like the brassica blends like Wintergreens and possibly some cereal grains (like winter rye) in a few spots. Good luck.
@@bill-winke thanks for the response! I think it'd be worth a shot to do an experiment. It'd get something going you can drill that right with it. I live in a 12" rainfall area (west NE) and often drill it this time of year after wheat comes off in July. It seems to go more off daylight hours so you'll get some growth. After Aug 1 it'll get 8" tall and shoot a seed head. I use it and have great success! Take care!
Yes, was getting ready to go to work when it started raining. We got maybe 1 1/2 inches. So I will see if there is any followup rains in the next couple days. If so, I won't have to water.
Must be. Looks good on mine. I think if your internet is slow for some reason UA-cam automatically feeds you a lower resolution stream that looks blurry. Hope it straightens out soon.
Thanks...our spring food plots are all smoked with no rain for 2 months. We will spray the weeds and start planting our fall plots in a few weeks. We have to accept the things we cannot control. Bob SWWI
Hey bill been watching you since mw and I have to ask if you would consider different techniques? Ur still planting monocultures single species..move to polycultures…more species working together to help the soil and also benefit the deer..u prolly already know this stuff but get away from tilling! Rye cover crops and drilling in ..just talking out loud ..looking forward to ur season
I appreciate the support. There is a method to my madness. Most of my "monocultures" are soybeans or corn. I usually end up overseeding the beans in the late summer with brassicas, even if they are growing well. Corn is the only thing that doesn't quite fit into polyculture mindset of how this should be done, but I do like hunting over corn so I will keep planting it. Something about corn just makes me feel like I am part of a Michael Sieve painting - it is how hunting in this area is supposed to look and feel. Plus, the deer love it and need the energy in the winter. I grew up on a farm, so I guess it is hard for me not to like hunting over grain. I don't really till my fields other than two situations: when the field is brand new and I need to get it into shape or when I am incorporating clover into the ground as "green nitrogen" to follow up with brassicas.
@@bill-winke of course we all have a method to the madness! I do miss the episodes on mw on ur old farm..still can’t get over the episode u found bubba! Man idk how u didn’t want to cry! Lol
@@mr.Mikeyboy I did want to cry. I was just happy to actually find him. I was pretty sure he was dead because he just dropped off the map after being visible on camera all through early September.
@@bill-winke I live in ny and I can’t get over the deer that Midwest has some real trophies …I can’t even imagine some of the bucks you have harvested standing in front of me..simply amazing
I would not try to manicure around the tree planting. I have seen better success just walking away. You will be amazed in 3-4 years how well they have done once they grow above and begin shading out the weeds (like the thistle)
I think that is good advice for the seedlings as the weeds will hide them from the deer for a while, but down under those thistles I also have the direct seeded oaks (from acorns) that are only six inches to a foot tall. I fear they will be shaded out too aggressively year one if I don't kill off those thistles that are taking over.
Yes, it is like candy to them. They pull out the tops and eat the core of the top part and then let the rest lay there on the ground. That more or less causes the corn plant to send up a deformed sprout that usually doesn't produce an ear after that. It is bad when they do that.
What’s the secret to staying healthy for you. I know you’re a track coach also but do you run everyday at your age. I guess you look healthier than most your age is what I’m saying. Spot on with the greens. Fail proof option there when Mother Nature is doing her thing.
Thanks Jay. I think it is just genetics, to some extent. Also, not eating lots of sugar. I skip meals occasionally, and I think that helps. I am not really strong, I am just not overweight. I used to lift a lot with the kids when they were coming up through sports, but I have fallen off in the past couple years. I need to get back to that. Basic lifts (bench, curl, shoulders, deadlift, core) and exercise bike (along with some specialized single-leg lifts like split squats, etc.). I don't run. I tore my ACL back when I was 20 and never got it fixed and if I run much, I end up eventually spraining the crap out of that knee and it takes a couple months to come back. As long as I keep the knee strong (exercise bike) and don't beat the knee up too badly from running (the MCL is pretty loose now from reinjuring), I get by fine. Maybe someday I will have to get it repaired, but for 39 years I have been able to manage it through exercise bike workouts - just had to give up sports - which stunk.
That will definitely work on the taller trees, but I didn't mention in the video that under all those thistles are also the young trees that are growing from the acorns we planted last November. I can maybe spray roundup lightly on the thistles hoping it doesn't make it through the canopy to the smaller trees underneath. That will probably work. Or I can do what one guy suggested and that is to wipe roundup on the thistles using some kind of mop or similar arrangement. That would keep from spray hitting the smaller trees underneath.
Bill, in terms of your bare root shrubs, we have the same thistle problem. We take 5 gallon buckets and place them over the trees. Then spray the thistles. Leave the buckets on until the spray dries to the thistles.
That does make a lot of sense. My problem is that under all those thistles are the trees that are growing from the acorns we planted back in November. At first, it seemed like no big deal, but the thistles kept getting thicker and taller and soon completely covered all the trees. I can't see that as a good thing. I mowed them last week and will spray the area with Sonora (has an active ingredient that will kill thistles but not the small oak trees.) Hopefully, that will clear those areas up enough for the seedlings to get sun and moisture the remainder of the summer.
Ahh, the ol’ Wildwood flower must be the new pure attraction. “Take a trip and never leave the farm”
Yes, as I have mentioned, if I seem to be really mellow on stand this fall, you will know why.
Bill, Take a gallon milk jug, drill 1/16 dia hole in the bottom, fill with water set by your trees. Slow release water source. I've used this method. Great series!
That is great advice Mark. Thanks for that and thanks for the support.
everything he does is just truly amazing , so much patience,pride and reward in the end- AWESOME
I appreciate the comment. Have a great day.
Bill your so down to earth, I loved the marestail in the corn comment. 😂 Thanks I needed a good laugh. Your great , thanks for the content!
Not marestail. hemp/ MJ.
I appreciate it. Yes, my joke is that I need to cut it all down and burn it.
@@williamshaver5524 I know what he’s talking about .
@@bill-winke I gotcha
Another great video!
I had to smile when I saw that deer run across the screen, behind you, at around the 1:09 mark!
2:50 mark....."Dry it down...The good stuff"!!! LOL
Yes, that stuff grows wild in many parts of NE Iowa. Strange. When I was a kid we called it "Ditch Weed".
Welcome Carsen. Your learning from a living legend. Your a lucky man. Bill the drought has just been horrible. I sure hope we can turn the corner here soon.
Thank you!!
We did get a decent rain yesterday and if we can follow that up soon with another one, I think we should be headed in the right direction. I will still have to replant everything I planted to beans. I will just drill Wintergreens into them.
We were very dry for a long time here in Northern Indiana, but a couple weeks ago the rains finally started hitting us, and boy did crops take off. My alfalfa / clover, has never looked so good. Now I just hope we are blessed enough keep receiving rain periodically. I pray you get rain soon. You care so much about the land and the deer that live on it, that's plain to see. I hope rain comes and your hard work is rewarded!!!
Thanks for the kind words and the prayer for rain! It worked! We did get about 1 1/2 inches yesterday, so if we can follow that up with some more in the next few days, we should be turning a corner. Have a great day.
Hi Bill, sorry to hear about the crop failures. I agree that brassicas are hard to beat for shear tonnage, the last 2 years 1 1/2 acres they have stood has stood up to 15-20 deer feeding on it from November-February. We are in the middle of a severe drought again this year in central MN. Good luck with the rescuing the plots and thanks for the video.
Thanks Art. Hopefully your drought breaks soon. I will be busy planting brassicas and cereal grains in a couple of weeks to get food back into the places where it failed this spring.
A cheap fix to fill the open space " weak areas"
At your local coop bin run oats
Can get them for $8-$9 for a 40lbs bag they are a great nurse crop/ companion crop awesome fibrous roots for building good soil structure, extremely easy to grow, deer love em, good for microbial life, cheap, maybe even mix in like 4-5 lbs per ac of alfalfa
here in north georgia its been raining almost every day ,we where able to get corn in early and it looks great !! i had major knee surgery in may, so trying to get ready to put in more food for the fall once i can walk again . but we are so thankful for almost too much rain here !! thanks for a great video !!
Thanks Nelson and good luck with the recovery. Have a great day.
Bill, it’s been a rough year for food plots. I enjoy watching your channel! Many folks in the Same boat with no rain this year.
It was the driest spring I can ever remember. I am glad we are getting rains now, but they are too late for some of my plantings. I will have to replant many acres this year. Bummer.
@@bill-winke thanks for the reply. Keep a eye on that corn….if that corn doesn’t completely dry up and if y’all still get some rain once it gets close to tassel that will still make a lot of corn. I had a ton of food plot corn last year that I completely wrote off, it ended up getting a few showers at the right time and it still made some corn. If you plant your soybeans in a much higher population than the typical 140,000-160,000 the deer will have a much harder time keeping it ate down. I appreciate your content, I’ve got a food plot UA-cam channel as well, and your doing awesome with it.
I really enjoy your content, thank you for putting it out to watch!
It is my pleasure. Thanks for watching it.
Nice relaxing green cover crop you have growing there bill 😂. Keep up the good work. 🦌
Yes, if you see me really mellowed out on the stand this year, you will know why.
@@bill-winke That's funny right there
Great video! And thanks for the new shirt! High quality and fast shipping. Everyone should get one!!!
Thanks Frosty. We really appreciate your support. Have a great day.
Love it bill appreciate insight !!
Thanks Gator. Much appreciated. Have a great day.
Bill, this spring was so dry, the driest I can ever recall. Hoping and praying the rains come by the end of summer for the fall plantings. After last summer and fall and the devastating drought, it would be a welcome change for sure. The farm is looking good!!
raining every week in Michigan since second week of June.....he got pounded with the current storm
Thanks. I appreciate it. Yes, I think it was one of the driest Junes on record in parts of Iowa. That is such a critical month for getting things growing. It was hard on a lot of plantings.
Thanks for the update Bill, great content as always.
Thanks Mitchell. Much appreciated. Have a great day.
Pretty cool having the deer run across in background
Thanks Ricky. That really was cool.
Have you considered planting cover crops first to help retain soil moisture? The sun is just baking that bare dirt especially on those ridge top plots. I used to have the same issues that you are until I switched planting methods.
Couldn’t agree more I had to switch and now I’m planting rye and crimpson clover and first green up I’m getting a great plot and then crimping and drilling and not only soil is great but last season I couldnt believe the amount of deer I have seen
I will look into it on that plot. I am sure that is good advice for that sun baked piece of dirt. I had to till that one pretty aggressively this spring as it is old pasture and was very bumpy. Had to smooth it out. I expect never to till it again unless I go to alfalfa.
@@bill-winkeUnderstandable. Now that it's a good seed bed, this fall I'd plant a blend of cool season annuals that include wheat or rye into the plots that failed. Next spring you should be able to kill off the wheat/rye by spraying, mowing or crimping it and then plant summer food into the dead thatch leftover. All of which I'm sure you are already aware of lol
Love watching all your videos and good luck to you guys this fall!!
Yes, I recognized that weed in your corn!
The weather has been unpredictable and drought has also been a problem for me.
My pond is very low, so I’ve ordered some betonite clay to stop some slow leaks. I’ve had problems with my perennial plantings and started a watering program quite some time ago. I use a water tank on a trailer with pumps to be quicker and efficient. It’s no fun, but most plantings are doing reasonably well. I’m retired, so I have the time to water but is really boring and I don’t like it.
I dream big too then baby it to work out better.
I have five or six ponds that don't hold water. I asked my neighbor about that and he thinks they were dug too deeply and got into the rock layer and just won't hold water. I doubt they are worth fixing short of maybe using some kind of liner because the dirt work and the tons of bentonite alone would be a fortune to fix them. I will look into the cost of liners. Thanks for the input and support. Have a great day.
10:45 the view I don’t have words for how beautiful that is
Yes, Jordan. That view was one of the reasons I fell in love with the farm. Jordan, I and Ethan celebrated Summer Solstice there on June 21. We sat there on the rocks until after the sun set on the longest day of the year. Was pretty cool. That will be a new tradition for us.
Rough year to start seedling trees. I started some 3 years ago in NE, and my chokecherry is a trooper!
My bur oak is struggling, having lost 20%, but I think some are being attacked by deer or small mammals. Tree tubes arrive tomorrow!
I hate to have to tube them as I would very quickly run out of time and money. Hopefully, I can keep the herd down long enough to get this habitat work done. I have a new project that starts this coming year in which I have to plant 11 acres of steep ground to seedling trees/shrubs at a rate of 800 per acre. I have selected ninebark, plum, chokecherry, oak, and I can't remember the fifth. Will be a ton of work.
@@bill-winke luckily I am only looking at tubing 25 bur oak as part of a shelter belt project, so the price is not outrageous.
Hey Bill, try some oust xp on the thisle. I use it on ferns and stiltgrass where there's regen coming. Smoke some of the weed and go spryin😅
I have some here, but my forester says it will damage trees that have already leafed out. Have you seen it work without damaging the young trees? If so, what rate?
Bill, I’m having the same drought issues here in Mo. If my clover doesn’t recover, Im planning on a light disking, a spaciously broadcasting of brassica, then using a cultipacker … hopefully just before a rain. We will see!
Steve, that will definitely work. The brassicas like the green nitrogen that comes from recycling clover plots also. Hopefully, it rains and you don't have to do that.
same situation with drought until 7 days ago. in lower ground I was surprised how well the whitetail ins clover and chicory did in the fusion blend. i think ill be using a lot more of that and not worry so much about the other species i can plant
Good input. I will get some of that into the ground. Thanks.
Hope you try a couple different blends through Whitetail Institute!!! Heard really good things about the “Destination” blend and I really like “Pure attraction” also Whitetail Oats!!!
I had the chance to test a unnamed bag of seed from Whitetail Institute. The plants that grew looked just like Destination. Deer would walk past the Power Plant and Winter-Greens just to get to the test seed.
I do have some Pure Attraction to plant this summer so I will report on that. I will look into the other blends. I also have Tall Tine Tubers. Next year I will test some of the others. Thanks for the input and support.
Finally got some good rain in Linn county today hopefully my plots start growing. Gounds like concrete only thing thriving is thistle and garlic mustard.
Yes, I have the same thing in my plots. Weeds seem to grow well without rain!
great vid. Thats farming but what can you do ? Im exited planting my acre here in brassicas for the first time at the homestead, 63 years old and recently bought my first trail camera that gave me a picture of a deer I might shoot , nice knowing hes around ,, maybe 120 inch. I grew up hunting central Ill. bucks and fell in love with big horns. I might just fatten him up and hope a bigger one shows up and my guy survives another year or two. Maybe you can dig a well up there , your a resourceful fellow Ill bet you could drill your own.
Owl, that is great news. I think you will really enjoy that trail camera this fall. I appreciate your optimism regarding my ingenuity. I do have a spring nearby and I can pump water from that into a tank on the tractor to water the trees if I need to, but I doubt I will ever water food plots that way.
Great view from that ridgetop. If the deer don’t like it at least it makes for good scenery
I was thinking that as well, awesome spot for that little cabin for just the view.
Agree. Very pretty.
Yes, in this county there is a "Bluff Land Protection Act" that prevents people from placing any kind of building, even a temporary one, on the bluff tops. I like that because it keeps the skyline from getting trashed with a bunch of cabins, etc.. So we will set the Redneck Cabin somewhere within a short walk of the view and still be able to enjoy it.
@@bill-winke I did not know that, I like that idea.
That’s pretty cool. Never heard of that. Not much bluff country here in VA. It’s either flat or mountains. That Tedneck cabin is pretty trick. It’s going to be a win no matter where you put it
Bill, looks like the hunting season will be relaxed with that cover crop. 😇
If you see me really mellowed out on stand this year, you will know why!
@@bill-winke😂😂😂 Uncle bills left handed bow adventures
Going to be some slow moving deer for sure
Bill i wouldve never guessed but 🍻 the deer love it dont ask me how i know 😆
Good one Mark.
I've been watching a few buck feed in my neighbor's struggling bean field. This summer has been dry but not as bad as 2012.
Yes, 2012 was bad, but so was 2019 in southern Iowa. We had a few years that were super dry down there. Hopefully we keep getting a few timely rains now to keep things growing and keep the EHD at bay in areas that are susceptible to that.
I plant winter greens every year definitely their best brassica blend. Mix some tillage radish with the winter greens. 25% or so. The deer love them September and October. And then they seem to hit wintergreens kale and rape in November and December
Thanks for the input. Another brassica plant I have seen the deer hit early is dwarf Essex rape. I have never planted it outside of a blend, but back when it is in a blend I have planted, the deer went through early and picked the DER right out of the plot in September and October.
Ethan better start digging up thistles!
Exactly. What else is he here for?
Very tough year l, all my cover crop attempts seemed to have failed even on a river bottom farm. Ironically we are finally getting good rain today so the fall should be salvageable.
Agreed. The spring was super dry. Planted and then nothing. I do think, as you state, that we can find something to rescue these failed spring plots. I am banking on Wintergreens.
When you get some rain, if that corn and milo leaves stay purple that is a sign of low phosphorus. Probably to dry now for the plant to uptake much nutrients at all. Just an observation. Love the show.
I think it is the stress doing it, but I will watch to see if it grows out of it. I did a soil test there and the field was very low on P so I hit it hard with the fertilizer blend. Hopefully, that kicks in once the plants get their feet into the ground.
My clover field is all dried. Should I put winter rye over it in late August to save my deer plot? I am in central Wisconsin
If you can drill it in, that would better. The clover likely will recover if you get rain and some cooler temps. I would wait until early August and then see if your clover has revived. If not, I think drilling winter rye is good, or brassicas like the Wintergreens. I don't think I would just throw the seed out unless the clover is so far gone that their bare dirt. You need to be able to get the seed to the soil to get it to germinate. Good luck.
@@bill-winke Thank you, lets pray for rain
Your Forester needs to do his homework-we use Transline at labeled rates in our tree plantings for thistle control. I believe it's the forestry label for the old Stinger herbicide, which was the the ag label? We got rain today!!!
We did get that rain. Thanks. I am going to find that herbicide right now. The thistles are taking over my direct seeding areas. I appreciate the help.
bill - look into clopyralid for removing that infestation of thistles. a corteva rep sent me some documentation on management with clopyralid and aminopyralid. oaks are susceptible to milestone, while transline is safe to spray for managing tree plantations and such.
I just looked it up. Appears to be a great solution, but expensive. $160 per gallon, though a gallon might last several years at the one pint per acre application rate.
@bill-winke it's definitely not cheap. I'm planning a direct seeding project and have a thistle problem as well. Sprayed gly 2 weeks ago now gotta burn and then plant a brassica cover crop. Clopyralid can be sprayed on brassicas and will control the thistle and not hurt the oaks. I've learned site prep is most important part. I had a disgusting thistle colony that made my skin crawl and hand spraying sucks!
I cut grass for a living here in Tennessee and when we have mast oak crops like we did 2 years ago,peoples yards will have hunderds of tiny oak saplings growing till may.and those seeds weren't buried at all.6 inches is definitely excessive.i think just spreading some leaves or woodchips would work better than drilling.
If you don't bury them two bad things happen. 1. The deer and turkeys eat them all fall and winter. 2. If they germinate and then dry out they die without the good seed to soil contact. Six inches is too deep for sure. My goal is always 2 to 3 inches.
3 to 5 gallons of water a tree. add a bag of miracle gro per 40 gallons of water. you can get the off brand stuff at menards and walmart at half the price. I add a 1/3 of a bag to 5 gallons of water to my established apple tree 4 times a year. your eli cook article about 6 or 7 years ago was great info.
Good input. Thanks. Yes, Eli is the man when it comes to planting and growing apple trees. I wonder what he would do with all these wild apple trees I have on this farm - hundreds of them. I need to find out if they are worth pruning. Would be a month long job! Have a great day.
@@bill-winke prune lightly. 10%. Give u good wood to cook venison over
sure wish this drought wouldnt have happend the year you did all that work. I think you said you didnt have a huge deer herd, but those oaks could be being eaten as soon as they come up. i have a semi suburban deer heard by my 1.5 yr old house and the second an oak pops up, they nip them off. its incredible how fast they eat everything. i have oaks all around and not a single oak tree will grow unless i cage it off as soon as it pops up
I don't think the deer are getting them. I have been checking them often and they just aren't coming up (yet). I am still finding really small (one inch tall) trees when I check so they are not done coming out. My guess is that they will keep popping out for most of the summer, but the overall results are less than I had hoped. There are decent numbers of trees in some spots (plenty, actually), but other spots don't have any. Same seeds, planted the same day, so it has to be site specific. The areas with the least trees coming up are east facing. That means they likely warmed slower this spring and also that the soil as likely softer in the fall when we planted, so maybe those areas went in too deep. I will have to watch that closely on the next round. Doing another 15 acres this fall.
@@bill-winke good luck and I'm enjoying living vicariously through you on this big property. will be interested in how the red osier does. I've seen jeff sturgis say he planted thousands of them and the deer just ate it all. hope you have better luck. after this fall my lease with the farmer will be up so i'll be trying some of these same things in a 18 acre field
@@mikemellon80 So far so good on the red osier. Doesn't look like the deer are eating them yet.
We had 6 straight hours of thunder 2day in MN. So depressing when it's so close & misses u. The rain guage was @ 1/10". High ground is the worst. Really looking forward to getting some kale/trophy rape but it's not a guarantee in 2023 , lol 😮.
You have some time. Hopefully, a couple of them hit you rather than skirting. Good luck.
Tough year for any crop. I think you’ll be surprised what the corn does in the next month or two. Dream BIG
Agreed. I think as long as the deer can leave it alone, that corn still has a chance. The beans are done though. They will grow and will be maybe a foot tall, but never as productive as they would have been if we had the spring rains. I will just drill brassicas into them.
Hopefully some of the rain we got hammered with in central iowa today makes it your way!
We probably got an inch out of that, maybe a bit more. We definitely needed it.
Have you been able to discuss hunting with your neighbors yet? I remember you touching on it a few times during the MWW days. Curious to know what their thoughts are having you as a neighbor as well as if they have the same goals for mature deer vs "if its brown its down".
Most of the neighbors up here are old school so I am just going to let them do it their way. I don't need to try to convince people to do things my way. Eventually, if I am having success they will start letting younger bucks go too. That is the main thing. In this area, people do shoot does pretty regularly, but they tend to shoot bucks that are too young. That will change slowly.
was that hemp volunteer? :P that stuff grows wild in Iowa? curious watchers wanna know....
It does. When I was in high school we jokingly called it Ditch Weed.
hey ill need my plant back when its done growing pleasse.. deer love that plant so you should grow more...
Yes, this farm has tons of it! Amazing right?
@@bill-winke I have hunted public land that has had some plants on it and the deer seem to go towards those location more often than not
It’s hard or near impossible to make any solid assessment on what did or didn’t work with the drought you have had. That special plant was interesting. lol
Wonder if a bird carried that seed? Did you report it to local LEO?
Agreed George. I needed spring rains to really tell how those plantings would work. Better luck next year. Now on to damage control/rescue phase of the food plot strategy. There has been wild weed in NE Iowa since I was a boy. Not that I would know that firsthand! We used to call it Ditch Weed. Funny story: One time a buddy and I were camping along a trout stream and found a patch. For fun we picked some and hung it over a tree branch near the tent to dry. Not that we were going to try to smoke it, we were just having fun. We went for a walk into town for something to drink (turns out we misjudged how far away town was - ended up being 13 miles one way, but that's another story). When we finally got back around midnight from our little walk we found that the cows in that pasture had ransacked our camp and eaten all our wacky weed.
@@bill-winke I really had hoped we wouldn’t have had droughts 2 years in a row, but we did. We had a real bad one last year, followed with a flash freeze over winter, a real wet early start to year and then an early drought. I have no clue how all of my young trees and other stuff made it. 13 miles… sheesh. Hope you got a couple drinks. 😅
The strip of field to the scrape tree...
Mary jane lane!
Yes, good eye. That area is loaded.
If you would have made a blend and threw away the disck and just drilled you possibly would have kept your moisture in the ground
And the deer wouldn't browse so much down so fast because of everything growing at different rates
I only disked one field and that was because it was really bumpy as it was a cattle pasture before. I don't plan to disc much in the future other than to get a new field into shape. Once they are in shape I have the equipment to no-till from then on. My soybean plots end up being blends most of the time anyway, since I almost always broadcast either winter rye or brassicas into them in the late summer.
@@bill-winke are you considering a blend come the next plant season I know it can be done with a drill but most I've seen are pretty close together look at a company called green cover I think it's the best food plot/soil fixer by far worth looking into
We have wild hemp all over no matter how many years we plant and spray over it
Interesting stuff. Just growing wild in the plots and the nearby field edges.
Wipe the thistles with straight roundup. I’ll them roots and all. Shucker still offers a handheld one. Less work than cutting them.
It will kill them. Smucker is the company name.
But Roundup will kill the trees too. There are lots of little oaks down in those thistles. So I need something that will kill the thistles but not the trees.
Wipe, don’t spray. Search “ Smucker Red Weeder”. Only wipe it on the thistles. Still takes time and effort, but kills them instead on cutting them off and letting them regrow.
God I hate autocorrect
@@Tommymentenson Ah yes, never thought of that. That makes sense. I actually made a wiper for the four wheeler many years ago that I could drive through clover fields to clean them up. Not sure what ever happened to that. Was pretty handy. Good advice.
Beans are Tough... I have wasted more money on beans than any other food plot. For warm season I like Alfalfa as it is deer candy all spring summer and fall until first frost. You don't get the late fall beans, but I think they like corn better for carbs. Once established Alfalfa will hold them like beans and stands up to drought better. It will get buggy, however the Turkeys will bug in a plot all day so I don't like to spray to kill the insects if the turkeys are feasting in the plot. Once the ground is shaded from some alfalfa, a guy may be able to mow then no till drill beans in a wide spacing into alfalfa, I have been wanting to try that method myself.
I think you are right about beans. I have only done well with beans in big fields or when fencing smaller plots. I thought maybe on this farm, with less deer, I could make them work, but the slow growth killed me. I love it when then work, but otherwise, what a waste of time. Nice part is that I can rescue all those plots in a couple weeks with the Wintergreens and still have something for the fall.
Thats how my power plant did last year. Started off ok, emerged just fine, but it seemed like once it emerged it fizzeled out. It was too hot and too dry too. I think its good seed, but to sensitive to our climate
Agreed. I wanted to give it a fair test up there on that ridge, but it didn't happen. I will have to kill that area as mostly what is there now (after the deer pounded the slow growing plants) is just weeds. I will clean it up and drill Wintergreens into that area this year. Maybe try Power Plant there again next year (or a spot that isn't as likely to dry out). Have a great day.
Its frustrating for sure. We are moving into an el nino weather pattern to last 4 to 6 years. It means for us, hot but wetter then usual in summer and frigid cold and wet winters. Maybe next year I will try Power Plant again as well. Just hoping this new weather patter coming will help this drought and fill our Aquaphors as well. Keep it up Bill, love the videos!
Looks like my beans in wi. You drilling brassica ? Or discing and broadcast ?
I will drill it. That way I can keep the beans that are still there, as I am sure there will be some given the fact that we finally got some rain.
@@bill-winke drilling into a failed ish planting of beans won’t affect what beans are There ?
@@nicschaalma3508 It will stress them a little, but you won't lose a very high percentage. They just kind of move out of the way of the disc openers. Less than 10%loss in my experience. If it was a thick stand, that number might be higher.
What spayer are you using? Im looking for a sprayer like that one.
I got mine from Wildlife Farming. wildlifefarming.com/Catalog I have the one that carries their house brand, but they sell others also, I think. They are a good source for sprayers and other food plot related equipment. Good luck.
Interesting update. Another nail in the tillage coffin.
It all failed, tillage or no-till. None of the spots where I planted beans did well. I got them in just a bit shallow for how dry it was, but overall, nothing did well that was planted this spring except the corn (which did go into tilled ground in that bottom).
The stuff getting pounded, put the longest strongest electric double fence around it. Or at least some of it . To test n see how bad they are actually browsing do a test. Put some tomato cages up. Who cares if they aren’t eating in the summer. You want them eating the leaves in the fall, n beans it’s made in the winter.
Good input Jeremy. I have used electric fences in the past. It works but sure is a pain to install and maintain. Also, I do want the deer to have good nutrition during the summer too, that is part of helping them to be as healthy as possible which results in the best venison and the biggest antlers. Thanks for the comment and input.
@@bill-winke should’ve been a little clearer in my previous msg with the part about who cares, if they aren’t eating it in the summer. What I should’ve said is that section, of them.
Because I Completely agree on both. 250%, the maintenance and nutritional but fence it off enough to get that section started, use solar panels , to keep battery banks charged up.= Less maintenance .
I’ve ran fences all summer on solar and 2 battery banks without having to change batteries.
But, then again that’s partly what you have interns for right lol. When that section can handle the browse pressure without being wiped out, move it to another section that they’ve been browsing due to that one being fenced in.. Until it gets established, n right on down the line. That way they aren’t loosing, any nutritional help. But they are going to have more nutritional help through the roughest part of the year, late fall and winter.
It’s kind of a catch 22.
If there’s not enough there at all coming up because they are keeping it browsed down heavily. are they really “all” getting the nutrients needed? When they really need them the most? Without good winter food, they can’t start to recover from rut and winter weight/ nutritional lose near as fast.
N with a good stand, you can come broadcast right into it with, brassicas, rye, wheat, oats in the late summer, early fall. The bean leaves will turn yellow and the brassicas n wheat n rye will already be established and take over, but those mature beans that made pods is great too late season. And another bonus is it’s more attraction in that hunting area, During the hunting season, which is when most are killed. Weather it be by car, traveling looking for food, or does, or spooked out by a hunter, or harvested by a neighbor. N just another way to help curve the rate which bucks, make it to the next age group.
I wouldn’t call the beans a fail because of heavy browse pressure because some are getting the nutrients. But, they’d be a lot more tonnage to go around just using the fences as a establishment tool say 1/4 acre at a time, 3 weeks at a time or so or just move it every trip up. Don’t make a special one just to move it so, just enough to get them where they won’t be completely browsed down to nothing. Works great here in ky. Once the deer get shocked once or twice they don’t even fool with it, they go to what’s not fenced.
Again every little bit helps.
Everybody looks at beans as a failure when they look like that
Pull a stem up out of the ground with the roots and look at how much plant available nitrogen is sitting underground For your next crop/ plot
Fed deer spring & summer, produced plant available nitrogen = job well done
Good point. I just assumed that the root system was also under developed given the fact that the tops are weak, but that is not necessarily the case.
How do you drill the brassicas in without getting them in too deep. I just bought a rtp gen 3 but very worried about how to plant the brassicas. I usually just broadcast and cultipack? thanks.
I do drill them with the RTP. I use either the .5 inch setting if the ground is soft or the 1 inch setting if the ground is firm. That has worked well for me. In the past, I always mixed the brassicas with cereal (winter) rye in the bin and planted them together, but the RTP guys tell me you can scale the rate down enough to plant pure brassicas. I will try it both ways this year. Have a great day.
You have to split the pumpkin and they will eat it
Correct, glad you mentioned.
I will do that. I hope we have a late frost this year as the pumpkins took forever to germinate. Thanks for the input.
In some areas you don't have to split em the deer will eat em out and leave em like a cereal bowl
@@bill-winkewe’re just now planting pumpkins here in Ky. We’ve had enough rain to worry about ehd
put some composted manure, fertilizer and mulch around some of your better trees.....hand water for survival.....no need to burn them after all your work....drill brassicas into beans
Good advice Jim. I should be planting chestnuts this year (if all goes according to plan) and I will treat those trees much better than the stuff I put out this spring. I wanted to test the area for survival by just planting and letting them go. Over the next three years I am obligated through a contract with the USDA to plant around 9,000 trees more or less by hand on the steeper slopes of the farm and I wanted to see on a small scale how well trees would survive here with minimum maintenance. So far so good.
Plant a blend of rye, clover and brassicas etc. Rye/Wheat/Oats will improve the soil so you can drill right into it in the spring/summer. Soil builder blends help to rebuild topsoil, organic matter, and retain moisture. Dr Grant Woods has it figured out
I have studied Grant's system. Grant is also dealing with a lot worse soil than I am here. Much of my area has a Corn Suitability Rating (CSR2) in the 60s and 70s which is pretty high for ridge ground. The bottoms are even higher into the 80s and 90s! That is why farmland in Iowa sells for $15,000+ per acre. It is very fertile. In a normal year of rainfall, the crops very quickly grow past the deer and do fine. This year we had such a dry spring that it changed everyone's views on what should be done. But your point is still a good one and well taken. I need to talk more about cover crops especially to reduce herbicide dependency. I normally broadcast either cereal rye or brassicas into my soybeans in late summer. Corn is usually too thick to broadcast into with any hope of getting sunlight, so I have never tried to do a cover crop after corn. When it comes to organic matter, it is pretty hard to do better than 7 foot tall corn knocked down during the winter. A corn beans rotation is a good one in this country with cover crop following the beans.
Cheaper than rye find a local farmer harvesting winter wheat and pay him the price he's getting paid at the elevator
Wheat is about $6-7 per bushel (60ish lbs)
Fill a garbage bin or 2
Rather than rye for $17+ for a 50lbs bag
If your in an area that nothing is growing the tree won't live either. Put some lime in the holes.
Good suggestion. I have some really poor dirt in some spots (where things are growing) and I am sure that part of the problem there is pH. Some of it is just clay too, but pH is a huge factor.
Bill,
Now this is between you and me so don't tell your sponsors. But the absolute BEST failed spring plot rescue approach, is this...
Go to your local hardware store and buy their brand bird food blend. The same bird food Granny puts in her bird feeder. Usually between $14- $18 for 40#. Now drill it into the failed plot at 12-15# per acre. That's $5/acre!
You can thank me later! :)
I have heard people talk about that before. I think if you get to it soon enough, you are OK, but most of those blends (in my experience) are just sorghum/millet/sunflowers. You can't plant those in the late summer and expect a crop, so for the kind of rescue I am looking at, I need something that makes food right away. That's why I like the brassica blends like Wintergreens and possibly some cereal grains (like winter rye) in a few spots. Good luck.
@@bill-winke thanks for the response! I think it'd be worth a shot to do an experiment. It'd get something going you can drill that right with it. I live in a 12" rainfall area (west NE) and often drill it this time of year after wheat comes off in July. It seems to go more off daylight hours so you'll get some growth. After Aug 1 it'll get 8" tall and shoot a seed head. I use it and have great success! Take care!
Water, water, water. You have the tool. Dont let mother nature win.
Yes, was getting ready to go to work when it started raining. We got maybe 1 1/2 inches. So I will see if there is any followup rains in the next couple days. If so, I won't have to water.
Bill...the image quality seems blurred.....is it my computer?
Must be. Looks good on mine. I think if your internet is slow for some reason UA-cam automatically feeds you a lower resolution stream that looks blurry. Hope it straightens out soon.
Thanks...our spring food plots are all smoked with no rain for 2 months. We will spray the weeds and start planting our fall plots in a few weeks. We have to accept the things we cannot control. Bob SWWI
Hey bill been watching you since mw and I have to ask if you would consider different techniques? Ur still planting monocultures single species..move to polycultures…more species working together to help the soil and also benefit the deer..u prolly already know this stuff but get away from tilling! Rye cover crops and drilling in ..just talking out loud ..looking forward to ur season
I appreciate the support. There is a method to my madness. Most of my "monocultures" are soybeans or corn. I usually end up overseeding the beans in the late summer with brassicas, even if they are growing well. Corn is the only thing that doesn't quite fit into polyculture mindset of how this should be done, but I do like hunting over corn so I will keep planting it. Something about corn just makes me feel like I am part of a Michael Sieve painting - it is how hunting in this area is supposed to look and feel. Plus, the deer love it and need the energy in the winter. I grew up on a farm, so I guess it is hard for me not to like hunting over grain. I don't really till my fields other than two situations: when the field is brand new and I need to get it into shape or when I am incorporating clover into the ground as "green nitrogen" to follow up with brassicas.
@@bill-winke of course we all have a method to the madness! I do miss the episodes on mw on ur old farm..still can’t get over the episode u found bubba! Man idk how u didn’t want to cry! Lol
@@mr.Mikeyboy I did want to cry. I was just happy to actually find him. I was pretty sure he was dead because he just dropped off the map after being visible on camera all through early September.
@@bill-winke I live in ny and I can’t get over the deer that Midwest has some real trophies …I can’t even imagine some of the bucks you have harvested standing in front of me..simply amazing
Why is there so many devils lettuce plants?? Lol
That is a good question. They seem to grow wild in a big part of this area. You can see them in road ditches if you look closely enough.
Crazy Jeff Sturgis says this is exactly what happens
So we just not talking about that volunteer plant??? 😅
They just grow wild in many parts of Iowa. Not sure how they got started, but they were there even when I was a boy. We called it "Ditch Weed".
@@bill-winke oh yeah I did hear about it on the news a long time ago
Any sign of EHD ?
Too early for that. In my experience you don't start to see it until late August. I hope we miss it. That stuff is heartbreaking.
I would not try to manicure around the tree planting. I have seen better success just walking away. You will be amazed in 3-4 years how well they have done once they grow above and begin shading out the weeds (like the thistle)
I think that is good advice for the seedlings as the weeds will hide them from the deer for a while, but down under those thistles I also have the direct seeded oaks (from acorns) that are only six inches to a foot tall. I fear they will be shaded out too aggressively year one if I don't kill off those thistles that are taking over.
I didn’t realize deer like green corn.
Yes, it is like candy to them. They pull out the tops and eat the core of the top part and then let the rest lay there on the ground. That more or less causes the corn plant to send up a deformed sprout that usually doesn't produce an ear after that. It is bad when they do that.
What’s the secret to staying healthy for you. I know you’re a track coach also but do you run everyday at your age. I guess you look healthier than most your age is what I’m saying.
Spot on with the greens. Fail proof option there when Mother Nature is doing her thing.
Thanks Jay. I think it is just genetics, to some extent. Also, not eating lots of sugar. I skip meals occasionally, and I think that helps. I am not really strong, I am just not overweight. I used to lift a lot with the kids when they were coming up through sports, but I have fallen off in the past couple years. I need to get back to that. Basic lifts (bench, curl, shoulders, deadlift, core) and exercise bike (along with some specialized single-leg lifts like split squats, etc.). I don't run. I tore my ACL back when I was 20 and never got it fixed and if I run much, I end up eventually spraining the crap out of that knee and it takes a couple months to come back. As long as I keep the knee strong (exercise bike) and don't beat the knee up too badly from running (the MCL is pretty loose now from reinjuring), I get by fine. Maybe someday I will have to get it repaired, but for 39 years I have been able to manage it through exercise bike workouts - just had to give up sports - which stunk.
place a trash bag over the trees, then spray a contact killer on a calm day. to kill the thissels.
That will definitely work on the taller trees, but I didn't mention in the video that under all those thistles are also the young trees that are growing from the acorns we planted last November. I can maybe spray roundup lightly on the thistles hoping it doesn't make it through the canopy to the smaller trees underneath. That will probably work. Or I can do what one guy suggested and that is to wipe roundup on the thistles using some kind of mop or similar arrangement. That would keep from spray hitting the smaller trees underneath.