I need your input on if I’m loosing my mind or if I’m onto something I have a 5 acre parcel in northern Michigan. Property consist of scrap pines and red oaks here and there. Understory is ferns and very thin/ sparse grasses. Dry sandy soil I planted winter Rye in a couple areas and the rye worked great in the fall, but just blew up populations of wildlife in the area in the spring I’m debating on doing some control burns to clean out the thatch in a few areas and do a spring/ early summer planting of winter rye with pollinators letting a few areas stand for security cover, then the food plots, mowing/discing the inside for planting a fall crop later on, but leaving the outside rye standing for a feathered edge Is that a bad idea!?
If you plant winter rye in the spring/early summer, it won’t get very tall or seed out that first year. It needs a winter freeze cycle to release it the following spring. Then it will get tall and seed out. So you may not be real happy with the results that first summer. You could consider grain sorghum instead for an early summer planting. That gets 3’-4’ tall and provides structure/cover. It also produces a large seed head which the deer and turkey will hammer in the fall.
@@northernforestwhitetail I wondered if a spring planting would be enough time to produce a viable seed head, but that makes sense! I just don’t see a lot of information on other planting seasons for rye other than a fall planting, it made me curious. So stick to the standard fall planting in preparation for the following spring is the best bet!! Thank you! I planted Sorghum and sunflowers up against the road for screening and working on the soil and to honestly see how it grows. I’m Enjoying this learning process! Hoping to put in switchgrass there in a year or two.
Nice video. We are seeing the same weed suppression effects of cereal rye in heavier fertile soil in central MN ag area. What's your plan for terminating the rye and replanting?
Thanks. On half of it I’ll let my rye seed go to viability. Just let it yellow up and stand there until I’m ready to start it over with pure rye again. I’ll just mow then tine drag and possibly add a little more seed. On the other half, I’ll mow in the dough stage to terminate the rye plants without viable seeds. In that half I’m doing radish, oats, winter peas and clover planted in about first week of August. That’s my early season mix. Will tine drag that side too in order to get a little soil cover over those large seeds.
We light tilled to terminate the rye but wonder if we just planted weed seeds again turning the soil. Planting a variety of small plots. One block is similar to yours as I planted buckwheat which I will terminate 1st part of August and and then plant John Komps Northwoods Whitetail NWS Green Forage Blend (forage soybeans,forage peas,frost tolerant oats with some red clover and radish mixed in). Also trying a block of sugerbeets, a block of sunflower, and a block of grain sorghum. I'm also trying to plant for pheasant habitat with a couple of these plots in central MN.
@@jasonmeyer4587 I like your setup this year 👍. I thought of light tilling too if there are too many weeds. That would terminate the weeds plus add a little soil over the big seeds I plant. I’m not too worried about bringing up new weed seeds in late summer. Seems like if you kill them in late July or August very few come back due to how late in the growing season it is.
I need your input on if I’m loosing my mind or if I’m onto something
I have a 5 acre parcel in northern Michigan. Property consist of scrap pines and red oaks here and there. Understory is ferns and very thin/ sparse grasses. Dry sandy soil
I planted winter Rye in a couple areas and the rye worked great in the fall, but just blew up populations of wildlife in the area in the spring
I’m debating on doing some control burns to clean out the thatch in a few areas and do a spring/ early summer planting of winter rye with pollinators letting a few areas stand for security cover, then the food plots, mowing/discing the inside for planting a fall crop later on, but leaving the outside rye standing for a feathered edge
Is that a bad idea!?
If you plant winter rye in the spring/early summer, it won’t get very tall or seed out that first year. It needs a winter freeze cycle to release it the following spring. Then it will get tall and seed out. So you may not be real happy with the results that first summer. You could consider grain sorghum instead for an early summer planting. That gets 3’-4’ tall and provides structure/cover. It also produces a large seed head which the deer and turkey will hammer in the fall.
@@northernforestwhitetail I wondered if a spring planting would be enough time to produce a viable seed head, but that makes sense! I just don’t see a lot of information on other planting seasons for rye other than a fall planting, it made me curious. So stick to the standard fall planting in preparation for the following spring is the best bet!! Thank you!
I planted Sorghum and sunflowers up against the road for screening and working on the soil and to honestly see how it grows. I’m Enjoying this learning process! Hoping to put in switchgrass there in a year or two.
Nice video. We are seeing the same weed suppression effects of cereal rye in heavier fertile soil in central MN ag area. What's your plan for terminating the rye and replanting?
Thanks. On half of it I’ll let my rye seed go to viability. Just let it yellow up and stand there until I’m ready to start it over with pure rye again. I’ll just mow then tine drag and possibly add a little more seed. On the other half, I’ll mow in the dough stage to terminate the rye plants without viable seeds. In that half I’m doing radish, oats, winter peas and clover planted in about first week of August. That’s my early season mix. Will tine drag that side too in order to get a little soil cover over those large seeds.
What is your termination method and what will you plant into yours?
We light tilled to terminate the rye but wonder if we just planted weed seeds again turning the soil. Planting a variety of small plots. One block is similar to yours as I planted buckwheat which I will terminate 1st part of August and and then plant John Komps Northwoods Whitetail NWS Green Forage Blend (forage soybeans,forage peas,frost tolerant oats with some red clover and radish mixed in). Also trying a block of sugerbeets, a block of sunflower, and a block of grain sorghum. I'm also trying to plant for pheasant habitat with a couple of these plots in central MN.
@@jasonmeyer4587 I like your setup this year 👍. I thought of light tilling too if there are too many weeds. That would terminate the weeds plus add a little soil over the big seeds I plant. I’m not too worried about bringing up new weed seeds in late summer. Seems like if you kill them in late July or August very few come back due to how late in the growing season it is.