We have to add a lot of fertilizer to it to get good results though. It’s very low in phosphorus and potassium. Our crusty clay soil in our backyard is very high in nutrients and haven’t needed to add any fertilizer.
@@Chris-bx4vk oh yea you’re correct about that.. been here all my life and don’t plan on going anywhere but I swear I feel like all we do is work on the soil
Follow the 5 soil health principles and you can have more rich soil than what is in the video in as little as 3 years. In that time he is going to reduce his organic matter with every tillage pass.
You really know your stuff, young man. I am impressed with the experiments you're doing and the understanding you already have of the process. If you plant buckwheat early in the summer and avoid discing, you could broadcast into the buckwheat (which chokes out other stuff) followed by cultipacking and spraying. The discing brings up millions of seeds, so if you can avoid doing that, you're better off. Also, no-tilling protects that great OM you've got in your soil. Keep experimenting and putting out great videos to help all of us learn right along with you. :)
Thanks, I will definitely be trying Jeff Sturgis’s buckwheat method in a few areas. I think next year I will pretty much be no-tilling all my brassica plots. I may till 1 plot or half of it to compare.
That soil is GORGEOUS!!!!! I’m a bit jealous lol. I have sandy/Lome and it’s a pain. But, can still be made to look good. Great video, good comparison!!!!
Looks can be deceiving. That dark swampy soil is actually very low in potassium and phosphate when we did a soil sample. Our clay ground in our backyard was way higher in nutrients and actually grows better crops.
There is a lot of swampy land with great dirt like this in our neighborhood. It’s nice but not as good as everyone thinks. It’s low in potassium and phosphorus like I have said but it will never dry out LOL.
In my frist soils class the professor explained the difference between dirt and soil. Dirt is what you ger under your finger hails, soil is what we grow our food on.
In areas that I don’t have as many weed issues I still till when I plant brassicas. When you till brassicas definitely get a faster start but the no till plantings usually catch up sometime in September
that is the most beautiful soil I have ever seen... Wow... I havent finished the vid yet, but I will take no till every time. there are many reasons, but... with till.. You can see the plants start early and it looks great within days... BUT.. No till... it will make you wonder if you will get anything and then all the sudden it flushes and looks amazing. With my luck with rain, I need that ground cover and mulch to help me out not to mention the other reasons associated with no till. thanks for the vid!
There is a lot of swamps in my area and a lot of dark ground low fields like this. The color is deceiving. It is really low in potassium and phosphate. The heavy clay ground in my backyard where I plant a few food plots is really good in nutrients and don’t have to fertilize at all to get a decent crop.
I have found that if you want to plant without all the poison, till early then wait two weeks then do a scratch tilling and wait two weeks then till another scratch tilling and then plant. I get it pushes back the planting but there is no better way without poison.
Nice job! Keep the tilling to a minimum and you’ll conserve your beautiful soil. Brassicas and small legume seeds should always be no tilled (just broadcast and cultipack). You should try broadcasting clover into your corn plots. Broadcast and cultipack right after drilling the corn seed. It keeps the soil covered and provides nitrogen to the corn.
This area in particular I am definitely doing 100% no-till when planting brassicas in the future. I am slowly switching over to all no-till brassica plantings. I will dry trying Jeff Sturgis’s buckwheat method in a few areas next year. Planting clover with the corn sounds like a cool idea, I have never heard of anyone ever doing that. How does the young clover handle the spraying. I know well established clover is pretty hardy and hard to kill with glyphosate. I have been broadcasting brassicas right after spraying in the weak spots in my corn plots.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 have you looked into a roller-crimper? It would fit what you are doing here really well and would terminate your crops/lots of weeds without having to use as much spraying.
That waterhemp is bad news! You will have to get it under control or its gonna ruin your plots for years to come. You will have to switch and plant some Enlist corn and soybeans for a couple years to get it under control. Keep No tilling the brassicas, that will help keep the weeds down. The Enlist is roundup and 2-4d so you will have a residual in the soil for a couple weeks so just keep that in mind. I love your videos and your passion for planting food plots! Keep up the good work!
I have heard of those new Enlist soybeans. But I am not sure if you have to have a license to buy Enlist. I will probably just stick with the round up ready corn and beans. Glyphosate does a decent job against water hemp but you have to spray very very early when the water hemp is only about an inch or less tall to get a good kill otherwise you have a lot that survives you probably know that. And also definitely in this wet ground I am sticking with the no till brassicas.
Ist time caught your video n content !! Was EXCELLENT!! The comparison of Till To No Till on same days n showing process n results .. I've been Having many plot fails over years For Not Following proper steps with soul enhancement or weed Destruction 🤔 n was wasting money n lots of effort .. Been watching lots of Experienced plot growers n seed sellers !! Loved your content n video !! Continued Succes 😎 Stay safe !! Bob Pennsylvania ... 260 acre property!!
I think u make really good videos. Very informative and fun to watch. I actually enjoy your videos more than Jeff Strugis. I do watch him alot to... I like ur style better though. Would like to see u branch out more with ur videos as well... But nice job. I appreciate it
Thanks, the soil in that particular food plot has 11% organic matter! But it is low in phosphorus and potassium. Our crusty clay ground in our backyard has a lot higher levels of potassium and phosphorus.
I think where you went wrong on the tilling is that it wasn't killed off enough and then you disturbed the seed bed. Not surprised you had a lot of weeds there. I'm sure you will get growth as you said. Nice vid.
Yeah I kinda thought there would be a lot of weeds too, I was hoping the brassicas would be able to grow faster than the weeds but I was wrong. Nothing outgrows weeds haha. I have sprayed that area in the past years and then tilled and still have ended up with lots of weeds. There is just a ton of weed seed in that soil ready to sprout.
I know it’s pretty amazing dirt but it’s very low in nutrients Phosphate and Potassium. We had to add a lot to our plots this year after we did a soil sample. Our clay ground in our backyard not the same property tested way better.
I read a gardening and launch keeping book from out babe about 15 years ago. It had different chapters on annuals, perennials, and turf. The one thing I took out of it is that she said this and I'll try and quote the best I remember: "You must get rid of all the perennial weeds before you put in a lawn and preferably also a garden." She went on further to say that, even though this would be hard in urban area with the residential codes, to grow wheat until all the bulbs of the weeds that are hard to kill are exhaust or trying to compete with the weed. She even said it may take two seasons. And then I'll give you my first and with receiving a lawn here in urban Chicago the parkway: I think for four years I pulled weeds for four years: some of the weeds are kind of a Woody stem! I was also a much younger and patient man than and I'm not going to do that again at my current age. No till methods or knowledgeable to me at the time as UA-cam was not available at the time either. I did roto-till the parkway before planting the grass seeds. This was more for to get rid of compaction that it was to kill the weeds. As it were, we had a lot of weeds. So what I'm getting around to here is that I want you to grow a winter wheat crap over that weed patch. Wheat posseses a trait called allelopathy: it puts out some sort of chemical substance not understood by scientists that keeps other plants from terminating around it or among it. You can till it in in the spring as green manure. If the water have comes up after this then I suggest another season of wheat and rinse and repeat. Wheat seed isn't very cheap compared to oats but it doesn't require a ton of fertilizer either. May even cost you less if you say that spraying isn't very effective.
Wow, thank you for the Essay of a reply. This video was from a few years back. I have done the no till rye method your describing with soybeans and buckwheat planted into the rye. The rye has really helped control weeds.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Superb! It does learn me though because "no till* was not really around when I was working as a Hired hand 40 years ago in West Central Wisconsin. With milk prices driving the past 15 years, as that was a heavy dairy area where I was at, and for the profit margins of row crop farming and ambient weather seasons getting more volatile leaving some years where Farmers either boom or bust, But I guess all this said it is only a deer plot; it's not like you need top quality alfalfa to make sure a cow gives the most milk
Just found this video...great vid...good comparison..i have the same situation only last yr I had to disk/till and this year i have that chest high growths of brassica and weeds...but i see you walked right through it all in shorts and t-shirt 😳😳...you don't worry about ticks??...i waited until this past week when the brassica died and 2 weeks back i spot sprayed w/glyphosate...last week i spread seed and this past weekend i brush-hogged it all down to shine high...but aren't you concerned about ticks?
Yeah I have tried planting in lawn or thick grass and it does not work that well. In that situation you’re probably best off spraying and tilling the first year and then in the following years you can no till because the thick thatch layer will be gone.
You have to prevent weeds from seeding out. Each plant drops a 1000 plus seeds and can be buryed for 20 years and still grow when brought up to top. Try do rready for two seasons to kill back. Theirs a book ultimate deer food plots. Ed spinazzola wrote the book he started QDM in Michigan also a farmer and engineer. Good luck. Also im outside Larsen WI.
I have heard they can drop around a million seeds per plant. I am not sure if I can believe that. Whatever it is, it’s a lot LOL. The area with all the weeds with either be corn or soybeans next year.
Soo, you might be suprised to hear that I just finished up my last food plot planting in the last weekend of Sept. I have had the same issue with the weeds and have found that disking then waiting 2 weeks to do a real light disking to kill the weeds and cover the broadcast seeds will generally give my plots a real good head start before the weeds get up again.
Who would’ve thought that kitty litter made good fertilizer?!?! 😂 Good stuff! The Microbes not being destroyed and disturbed is a huge benefit when growing anything. I’m a huge Mycelium and Mycorrhiza/any beneficial Fungi nerd. Here in KY we have some great soil but not as good looking as that black gold of yours, BUT years of No-Till with as many cover crops and regular crops the soil is starting to reform. More worms and less erosion, less pest problems, no weeds (cover crops choke them out) no pesticides/insecticide. Which saves us 1000’s of dollars with more of a profit percentage because of better crops in general. Gabe @ Living Web Farm (something like that) here on UA-cam is who got me started on the change. I was tired of shitty looking hay fields and so much $ into fertilizer/sprays, I hate spraying chemicals. I’m not a tree hugger or anything but knew there was a better way. Great video buddy and sorry for typing a book.... 🤙🏻
Sounds like you know what you’re talking about, LOL. I am slowly switching over to 100% no-till Brassica food plots. Although we will probably be continuing to till when planting corn and beans. We don’t have a no till drill, we just have the old plow and old farm equipment my grandpa used for many years. We rotate our plots quite a bit, so a lot of the ground will only be getting tilled once every other year.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I love using older equipment, we mainly use 1970s era John Deere tractors (iron horses). The feeling we get when using our grandparents plow or old tractor, or whatever it maybe. Is a great feeling that can’t be bought, better than having a 2021 combine, etc. I’m 25 and remember as a kid riding and walking with my dad behind a team of mules, when he had perfectly new and good equipment setting in the barn. You and I are able to know what that feels like when the majority of people wouldn’t understand. By the looks of your soil, you won’t have a problem at all growing anything you plant, how you plant won’t matter either. Your setting on gold brother! Some of our fields here in KY have great NPK #’s. With good minerals, the PH is an issue most of the time. We have pig barns, so I pump all the manure on all our cattle pastures, and any crop field that I can run pile to. For a month or so we have that beautiful black dirt like you have... 😂 have a good one partner, I’ll be watching those mid western bruiser Whitetails ya have! 🤙🏻
Page Farms all of our fields soil arnt as black as the one in the video. This is an area that is to wet for the farmer to plant so we just started putting food plots here. It’s actually quite low in potassium and phosphorus, we have only been working the ground for 1-2 yrs so I doubt the nutrients were depleted that quick. Almost all the soil on our farm is low in P and K.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I’m sure you know this but like a previous comment on here about planting clover with one of your plots you can find many different companion plants that will turn into PK. You know what your doing buddy, I’m not telling you what to do by any means, just making conversation. My motto is to “feed the soil, not the plant” 🤙🏻 I’m going to try Jeff’s blend next year as well. He is one hell of a teacher, and the fact that he provides us that valuable info for free, blows me away. My whole mindset when it comes to deer has changed completely after listening to him for two years.
I will definitely be trying the buckwheat no-till method of Jeff’s next year in a few plots I plan on planting brassicas in. I seeded winter rye in pretty much all my brassicas in early September. That way I can broadcast the buckwheat into the standing rye, crush down and spray, then seed the brassicas into the standing buckwheat and crush and spray. It’s never-ending no till. You can do soybeans that way too.
you can compost the weeds to create more organic matter rather than adding more chemicals. tilling weeds acts as making compost because the organic material is being digested back under the ground of course concentrating a compost in a dedicated bin better.
I have heard good and bad things about tilling. I am going to stick with what works the best. In this wet area I need to no till because otherwise the weeds will be just as bad next year.
Tilling opened up the seed bank. That, along with the fertilizing, is why you had so many weeds in the tilled plot. Also, the beans in the no-till plot may have picked up some residual glyphosate. While glyphosate breaks down in 10 days to two weeks, unless those were Roundup ready soybeans, they may have sprouted too early to fully avoid herbicide damage. Recomend spraying out the no-till plot a couple weeks prior to planting to give the glyphosate plenty of time to break down.
They are round up ready. And yes in the future I will never be tilling when planting brassicas in this spot. I am slowly switching over to 100% no till brassicas. Next year I am going to try Jeff Sturgis’s buckwheat method in a few areas. But I am going to continue to till when planting beans and corn. Because the fertilizer bins on our planter are junk and it’s not a no till drill.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I am no kind of expert in food plots for deer. While I have planted braccias food plots, I am much more to do with re-introducing native plant species for habitat improvement. While it doesn't have the immediate return attracting deer, the native approach provides year round food, and the added advantage of using perennials, so you don't have to replant every year. I have heard of Jeff Sturge's buckwheat plots but have no firsthand experience.
I do agree with converting fields to cover will help over time but that takes a lot of space to do so. We don’t own the property so I am just glad we have a few of the small fields that we can plant. I would really like to convert a 13 acre field to switchgrass and a native blend. Then plant a few cedar clusters and aspens throughout the field adding more cover. Hopefully dogwood and buckthorn would grow in as well. After 15 years it would be really good, deer would be bedding in there adding 13 acres of cover to the property. Right now it’s just ag.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 deer like buckthorn, but it is terrible for any other plant species and seriously decreases other wildlife. In Wisconsin, buckthorn is listed as a restricted species under NR 40 - Invasive Species Rule. It cannot legally be sold. Not many animals, aside from deer, make use of buckthorn. Just look at the soil under a dense buckthorn stand; it is absolutely bare. Buckthorn exudes a chemical from its leaves when they fall in autumn, that inhibits other species from sprouting; a sort of natural pre-ermergent herbide. It leafs out early and holds its leaves late in the fall, both stealing light from others plants and storing more food to help it out compete native species. In addition to the other species you mentioned, I would suggest include: high bush cranberry, hazelnut, wild plum, oak (bur, black, white or red), maple leaf viburnum. All but the last one are available to purchase at a reasonable price from the DNR nursery. Yes, deer love oak sprouts and acorns are easy to plant. If you protect a few to restore oak woodland, so much the better. If you haven't done it yet, check out the DNR NR 40 Terresrial Invasive Species page. With so many other alternatives, please do not plant buckthorn.
I definitely have noticed the bare ground effect under a stand of buckthorn. Nothing for deer to eat. I definitely wouldn’t plant it, it would probably just fill in. When converting a field to cover I only want 10-30% canopy, the rest open grass and native plants. But like I said it’s all theoretical, my plan probably won’t happen because we don’t own the land. I would love to do it though. I would plant a 3 row tree screen of spruce and cedar along the rd. And then plant cedar and aspen clusters along with a few scattered red and white oaks. Boxelders, buckthorn, and dogwood would slowly grow in by themselves. It would be extremely productive habitat for the first 30-50 yrs or so until everything the trees got bigger and canopied over shading our switchgrass and native plants.
My suggestion if tilled do it 2 to 3 weeks early then when the weeds pop up , burn them it isnt to hard to make a burn rig to go on the tractor or if you have and wood chips that need burning I spread those out after they are pile up and going good , the burn is a plant booster with all the pot ash and char
That soil has so many weeds seeds in it, it’s unbelievable. Your suggestion may work. But as soon as you burn new seeds will germinate just as fast as the seeds I am planting. Each water hemp plant makes millions of seeds. I am not just saying that, they actually do.
hey. always enjoy your videos. what would you do different next year about your weedy plot. when you planted it looked great. would a pre emergent work ? thank you for sharing your video. alway learning something new.
I think next year I am going to do a lot more no-till planting with brassicas. I still may till one of the dryer ground plots, but this wet area always has lots of weeds and it’s going to end up the same way next year if I till LOL. Spraying a pre-emergent would probably work. You would have to spray as soon as you see the brassicas popping up and before the weeds grow, but its going to be easier to just no-till that area next year, instead of screwing around with a pre emergent herbicide.
You want to kill it off completely, then hook up a burner to the tractor that points down. Turn the burner on and drive over the entire area. It will kill everything including the weeds. A couple of weeks later the weeds will be back so you repeat the process. Then a couple of weeks after that you will have a few weeds, give them an extra week or two to get growing then burn them down again. By doing that you kill the weeds and more weed seeds will start to grow. Then you kill those off again and the few remaining viable weed seeds will try to grow only to be killed yet again. Yes, it is going to cost you some yield to get it done, but it will absolutely kill the weeds off. Alternatively, spread black plastic on the field and plant your crop plants in very specific locations. That way the only place for plants to grow is through the small holes allowed by you. This also causes weed seeds that have yet to grow to try and spout under the plastic. Since they can't reach the sunlight, those sprouts eventually die off and new weed seeds try to grow with the same results. Eventually, the only thing that will grow in the soil is what you've planted. Use the plastic treatment a couple of years in a row and your entire farm will be 100% weed-free. Then all you have to do the following year is plant and then watch for places where birds have dropped seeds and they ave sprouted. Pluck those few weeds by hand and you will maintain weed-free fields.
Thanks for writing such long detailed responses, but neither of these would apply to me. I am planting brassicas to attract deer to have better hunting. The burning method sounds interesting but I don’t have equipment like that. And the black plastic would probably works great for gardening but not for food plots for wildlife.
you have such amazing soil, not dirt. will only become dirt if you keep tilling it, no till will keep that soil like that, if not better for generations to come!
when u till it up ur basically replanting that seed bank. most people who do that til it 3-4x a summer to fight that weed growth and ur basically destroying your toplayer of soil also.
This is an abnormally wet field. Wet ground tends to have more weeds to start with. This video was from a few years ago. I’ve had good results with no till brassicas into buckwheat the last 2 years here.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Thats the same way I plant my plots also. I spray 3x April mid June when I plant my buckwheat and then end of July when I put my fall plots in. Works great every year!
Which and how much fertilizer did you apply to the no till plot area? I have a plan for a new plot for spring, summer, fall, and winter. I will do a soil test this winter but just wanted an idea. Great video! Keep it up!
I added about the same as the tilled plot when the plants were ankle high. Not sure the actual poundage or lbs per acre. I will need to do a soil sample here next year, I think the ph may be a little low in the area as well. But over all the plot turned out great and looks really good right now.
I have heard great things about foliage fertilizers but I probably won’t be trying them out anytime soon. I am just happy the brassicas are looking good.
Had way too much rain to begin with then it went into the drought I just killed a bunch of stuff under and it's rude down winter wheat because I couldn't find any winter Rye hope things work out
Winter wheat and rye are pretty much the same thing, as long as it grows it deer with eat it. We had a pretty dry stretch in early August which messed up some of my brassicas in the next video coming out soon.
Yes. The buckwheat crushes really easy. Definitely won’t kill it, you will have to spray still. The rye you will probably need to go over a couple times to get it to stay down.
I read that if you disk and then wait for the new weed growth to come up, spray the weeds and then plant your seeds without disking again you won’t get as many weeds because your not turning the soil over again. I haven’t tried this just been researching a lot to try and start my first plot. Have you tried that method yet?
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 yeah like I said I’m no expert, I plan on trying that way just because it makes sense, every time you till you’re bringing up dormant weed seeds that are buried and they germinate at the same time as what you plant
I've never had the enormity of weeds that you experienced with a late summer tilling. Do you believe it was because you were in a more susceptible spot that was previous had flooding with the influx of that particular type weed? I have a clover plot and want to rotate into brassicas. If I mow and spray I will have way too much dead clover thatch to get the desired seed to soil contact plus I don't believe that I will convert that clover into nitrogen unless I rotate it under. I could til, wait a week and then spray, but I'm running out of time now. Thoughts?
This spot never floods out. It’s just a really weedy wet field. Tons of water hemp and giant ragweed. My dryer ground plots have weeds to but not this many. I would just spray and till up the clover and plant. I’ve noticed when you have a plot into clover and your not tilling the ground every year you will have less weeds for a year or 2 when you do switch it back to brassica. Same thing like a brand new plot that has a sod layer. It usually takes the weeds 2-3 yrs to start coming in thick.
so the cultipacker you pulled with the 4 wheeler just mashed it down but didnt kill it right? Acrimper would have pushed it over then killed it as it cuts the plants ciculatory system - then you wouldn't have to spray correct?
Yes. A crimper would do a much better job at killing the plants. But a crimper most likely wouldn’t kill these weeds. A crimper will kill a cover crop like rye and buckwheat pretty good even without herbicide if terminated at the right time right before the seed develops.
The weeds also got so bad/tall/thick in my greens plots that I got my brush hog out and mowed my plots about 6 or 7 inches high last week. Wondering if you might try that on your plot to see if mowing will help?
I probably won’t be mowing the plot, the weeds will likely come back in just as fast as the brassicas, right now the brassicas have a lot of nice big lush leaves and it’s almost October. Last year I planted clover in April in a spot and the blend had a few brassicas in it and I mowed the plot twice that summer and there were a few brassicas that came back and survived the mowing twice which surprised me.
Awesome video for comparisons, have you considered using a backpack sprayer to come in and spray a liquid fertilizer (might be what your no-till plot needs?
I haven’t used any liquid fertilizer in the past. But in the past I have used antler grow, it only contains micronutrients but is similar. I don’t think I will be trying to much liquid fertilizer in the future, but never say never.
Correct, I sprayed right after I seeded and crushed the weeds down. The only reason this works so well it’s because there was no thatch layer under the weeds. It was bare dirt and the brassicas got good germination. This is pretty much the same method as planting Buckwheat as a cover crop and then broadcasting and crushing the buckwheat down.
The tilled up plot was sprayed probably 2 weeks or so prior to planting. I have had good results in the past in other plots when spraying about a week prior to working ground. But the wet ground is full of water hemp seeds and it’s just a never ending battle. LOL I think 24D acts as a pre emergent as well. So I am not sure if your seed would germinate only a week after spraying
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 24d does have residual effects but if you wait 7 days it goes away. i used it on all my plots i planted about a week after spraying and everything came up good. i hear you with the rain. i am in central Wisconsin and have a swampy plot couldn't do much with it until about end of july. i just kept cultivating it until the rain stopped to keep the weeds down. i do not have water hemp in my fields so not entirely sure on what kills it i do know it is hard to get rid of. i just have your standard ragweed, pig weed, and maretail.
I may have to use it in the future, but for planting brassicas in this particular area I think I am switching to 100% no till. In other Dryer plots with less weeds I may still do some tillage but I am slowly switching to all no till brassica plantings I think. With the corn and beans we are going to continue to till though. I think pigweed is related and similar to water hemp. I have noticed the hardest to kill weeds with round up or 24D is definitely water hemp, giant ragweed, lambs quarters, and pigweed. I have noticed it seems like the farmers are getting more and more weeds in their bean fields by us too. These weeds are continually getting harder to kill because only the most resistant ones survive the spray and drop seeds when the crops are harvested. The only way I can effectively kill them is if I spray really early when there only a half inch tall or so. I am going to plant my beans extra thick next year so I can get faster canopy closer and spray early when the beans are only a few in tall and the weeds are around a 1/2 in. This year I wanted to long in a lot of my corn and soybeans and there is scattered water hemp plants in my corn that are 4-6 ft tall. I pulled out a lot of water hemp this year when my beans were only about knee high. LOL
no till is the most convenient way to do all the food plots. it always seems to me the more variety in my seed mixes the better they seem to grow. i would think if you did some sort of cover crop. WHS buckwheat or Growing deer's buffalo system you would probably have less weed pressure with the spring cover crops out competing the weeds. but that means spending more money on seed. i did give the Growing deer's buffalo system a try this year and so far its working really well. We had a lot of rain this year which made it very tough to control weeds without spraying multiple times. i think most of the farmers this year just decided on having some weeds instead of spending money spraying. Looks like you have lot more testing to do for next year. but that is what makes it fun.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 why not do RR soybeans there for a couple years. Knock the seed bank down then hopefully you can switch back over to brassicas if you want.
Would suggest that you follow GROWING DEER TV, Dr. Grant Wood, he will pout your learning curve on no till at warp speed.btw you proved his teaching with these two areas. Good hunting.
Mowing would not work well. You need to spray to kill the weeds. You could spray the weeds when they are standing 1 week before planting. Then a week later seed and mow down the dead weeds. That would work. But mowing when the weeds are still alive will cause a mess and they will all grow back.
@@andy6043 yea they will come back, best thing to do is keep your ground always covered with whatever plant that serves your purpose for putting it there. Plant as many different plants that compliment each other that you can. Even for winter time. After a year you’ll have a thriving plot...... If a weed has no room to grow then it won’t grow....
So the weed killer doesn’t kill the seeds off? I don’t have a tiller and have some no till seeds and was going to bush hog a spot and spray weeds then plant. Should I broadcast then bush hog then spray?
No. Glyphosate is a post emergent herbicide meaning it only kills actively growing plants. The seed and germination is unaffected by the chemical. If you have good soil exposure then it may work out good. But if it’s a new spot with a thick thatch layer your better off tilling. The area I did the no till was worked ground the fall prior. So that’s why I was able to get good germination. There was lot of bare soil underneath the weed growth.
I always take a cattle panel cut half into and drag with it and it level plus covers the seed and I always have good results. I like to run the packer first and seed then the panel.
There is a lot of different ways to plant small seeds like brassicas or clover with success. I have done no till like in the video, I have also seeded onto the light fluffy unpacked seed bed and I have also packed before seeding all work just fine.
Is that a M-F 50 tractor working your field? if it is what year is she? love thy M-F & I still like to see them working ,gas or diesel? thanks for the video.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Hey thanks for the reply . I have 2 M-F's 1959 model 50 gas, & a 2018 model 1526 4wd & front loader diesel, I use both of them allot the 50 was my 1st , I have had her for 22 yrs. Your 65 what year is she ? & is she gas or diesel?again thanks for your reply.
It hard to get an estimate. You generally what about 1 seed per sq ft when it comes to brassicas. Any thicker and they won’t do as well. When no tilling you won’t get quite as good of germination so bump up your seeding rate some.
I didn’t mow the weeds at all, I seeded when the weeds were still standing and then smashed them down with a cultipacker to cover the seeds and soil. A crimper would work even better but we don’t have one.
how did you have so much exposed soil in those tall weeds? was it due to something you did last year? i have an old abandoned plot that is mostly canary grass but there is no exposed soil
Can you recommend a brand and concentration of glyphosate? Some of the products at Home Depot and local hardware store advise not to plant seeds for 7-14 days after spraying. Thanks
I just use the cheapest stuff I can find. I mix it at 2 oz per gallon. Glyphosate is a post emergent. Meaning it does not kill/harm the seeds. It only kills actively green and growing plants. You could soak the seed in it and it won’t affect the germination. Now other herbicides like 2-4-D leaves some residuals in the soil and can definitely affect germination rates.
Man I’m so damn jealous of your soil. I have 200 acres in hills of West Virginia and once you dig down 1-2” nothing but shale . I made huge mistake 10 years ago by planting 200 fruit trees and 200 berry bushes without thinking much about ground I was putting it in. Big waste of time and money. My dumb ass fault. 😒 duh🤬😱
The soil has 11% organic matter which is unbelievable, but it’s low in potassium and phosphorus so we have to fertilize pretty heavy. Some of our drier sandier fields actually has higher lvls of potash and phosphorus.
No, glyphosate is a post emergent herbicide meaning it kills actively growing plants. You could soak the seed in it and it won’t affect germination. Now 2-4-D is different, it leaves some residuals that get into the soil and it acts like a pre emergent for about 1-2 weeks. Glyphosate doesn’t do that.
I am pretty sure all farm stores like tractor supply, farm and fleet, and Theisens have it. I get it from Theisens because it’s the closest. You can get it from your local farm Co-Op as well. It’s going to be the 41% glyphosate, you can’t buy 100%
Spraying with a tank sprayer shooting out the back is relatively safe. As long as you’re not doing quick turns and missing yourself I am not getting any droplets on me while spraying. Mixing the chemicals into the tank is a more crucial dangerous part than the actual spraying because all the mist and water is going out the back. And there is no hard proof evidence that it causes cancer not saying that it doesn’t and I’m still cautious of it. But what about all the pesticides insecticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables in the stores, all the preservatives and chemicals in almost anything you buy. The chemicals in bug spray and the chemicals in sunscreen, you literally spray bug spray and rub sunscreen into your skin when I’m spraying I don’t get any on me like I said it’s all spraying out the back, spraying with a backpack sprayer though is more dangerous. There is chemicals everywhere and to say that glyphosate is the only chemical that is dangerous is ridiculous and funny to me.
I dont know,much about no till, for me is works better tilling as you mix the weeds and break up the soil a bit and my father allways sayed " need to airate the dirt" sorry to say but,you will never have healty soil if you keep spraying as you kill more then the weeds when the chemical gets in to the ground
Tilling has its time and place but no till works just as good. Glyphosate will not destroy the soil. Constant tilling is worse for the soil and pouring chemicals in. Ag fields have had chemicals sprayed for decades now and yields are getting getting higher and higher.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 dont use any chemicals, just organic matter, but only got 74 acres i can afforded, as i dont realy need high production, just healthy, im going back to the time ,before chemicals were introduce,,i belive most farmers introduced chemicals to gain profit but the same time introduced cancer, ,,some loose ,others win life gose on,
I am trying to actually grow something, if I don’t spray to kill the weeds they will come right back. Spraying does not destroy the soil. Farmers have been spraying for years now and the yields are the same if not better now than they were 20+ yrs ago.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 not sure if your using Glyphosate or not but check out the fourth paragraph of the Intro - www.soilassociation.org/media/7202/glyphosate-and-soil-health-full-report.pdf
Probably not the best music for food plots. But UA-cam does not allow very many songs/music. If I use any classical rock or many other main stream songs the videos will be demonetized. The little bit of money I do make from UA-cam just goes to afford some of my hunting supplies trail cameras etc.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 you act like a dirt expert... I strive to be a soil expert. ( I am not saying I am) but I challenge you to break away from commercial ag practices and focus on improving your land and soil health for more then just one growing season.
If you can’t spray because it supposedly destroys the soil overtime and you can’t till because it kills the microorganisms and depletes nutrients how the hell are you supposed to grow anything? 🤔
I will definitely be doing more no till planting in the future, but no till requires the use of even more glyphosate to have successful food plots or when planting anything weed control is #1
I prefer intensive grazing. Some sheep or goats cycled through over time. I rented some pasture from a neighbor years ago. There was a patch of Russian Knapp weed. I used a series of pastures & would bring sheep in & graze them off, then move to another pasture. Long story short, the Knapp weed patch gott smaller till it dissappeard. No chemicals. Sometimes weeds will work as a cover crop in new seedings.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 The know it all’s in these comments are just ridiculous. Keep it up man. I too am a younger food plotter, trying new things and experiments / experience as I go. I appreciate the thorough and honest videos. I hope you continue to make them, even with all of these backseat soil and agronomist’s. All they know is what they see on the news about Roundup being evil. There’s 7 billion people on the planet, I’m not a huge proponent of Gly, but we’d all starve if we had to grow crops like they think is best.
@@ankhtruth , probably not true. Most people do not get cancer before 40 if at all. Heart disease is the number one killer. Reputable people and many tests have not been able to prove the cancer - Roundup link. There maybe proof one day but no proof at all yet. Driving a car is more dangerous. I’m 68 and try to to be very careful when I use Roundup. I’ve been using it since it’s been available. I’ve bought it in a 30 gallon drum when there were no generic brands. Everybody should try to be careful with all chemicals all the time.
My goodness I wish we had dirt like that down here! Red clay and grey powder is all we have to work with
We have to add a lot of fertilizer to it to get good results though. It’s very low in phosphorus and potassium. Our crusty clay soil in our backyard is very high in nutrients and haven’t needed to add any fertilizer.
Same here
That red clay can turn into some respectable soil with a few years of turning. It's worth the time if you're there for good
@@Chris-bx4vk oh yea you’re correct about that.. been here all my life and don’t plan on going anywhere but I swear I feel like all we do is work on the soil
Follow the 5 soil health principles and you can have more rich soil than what is in the video in as little as 3 years. In that time he is going to reduce his organic matter with every tillage pass.
You really know your stuff, young man. I am impressed with the experiments you're doing and the understanding you already have of the process. If you plant buckwheat early in the summer and avoid discing, you could broadcast into the buckwheat (which chokes out other stuff) followed by cultipacking and spraying. The discing brings up millions of seeds, so if you can avoid doing that, you're better off. Also, no-tilling protects that great OM you've got in your soil.
Keep experimenting and putting out great videos to help all of us learn right along with you. :)
Thanks, I will definitely be trying Jeff Sturgis’s buckwheat method in a few areas. I think next year I will pretty much be no-tilling all my brassica plots. I may till 1 plot or half of it to compare.
What are you using for spraying the weeds after seeding and cultipacking?
That soil is GORGEOUS!!!!! I’m a bit jealous lol. I have sandy/Lome and it’s a pain. But, can still be made to look good. Great video, good comparison!!!!
Looks can be deceiving. That dark swampy soil is actually very low in potassium and phosphate when we did a soil sample. Our clay ground in our backyard was way higher in nutrients and actually grows better crops.
You are dealing with some beautiful dirt!
There is a lot of swampy land with great dirt like this in our neighborhood. It’s nice but not as good as everyone thinks. It’s low in potassium and phosphorus like I have said but it will never dry out LOL.
Yeah.... looks like it came from a "potting soil" bag from a big box store. WTF.......
In my frist soils class the professor explained the difference between dirt and soil. Dirt is what you ger under your finger hails, soil is what we grow our food on.
Dude check out korean farming for real though
hell yeah!
I bet that the big Bucks like that black dirt! They know were to go! Good video buddy 👍
I'm amazed by the color of that soil! So much Organic matter, so soft and loose. Beautiful
I was just about to write the same thing... its phenomenal
Thanks for the no-till recommendations.
Your welcome 👍
Thank you for the video. It was very educational. I have been contemplating on the no-till and this pretty much seals the deal.
In areas that I don’t have as many weed issues I still till when I plant brassicas. When you till brassicas definitely get a faster start but the no till plantings usually catch up sometime in September
Good simple honest video. Very informative. Keep it up. 👍
Thanks, a lot more food plot videos coming this year.
that is the most beautiful soil I have ever seen... Wow...
I havent finished the vid yet, but I will take no till every time. there are many reasons, but... with till.. You can see the plants start early and it looks great within days... BUT.. No till... it will make you wonder if you will get anything and then all the sudden it flushes and looks amazing. With my luck with rain, I need that ground cover and mulch to help me out not to mention the other reasons associated with no till. thanks for the vid!
There is a lot of swamps in my area and a lot of dark ground low fields like this. The color is deceiving. It is really low in potassium and phosphate. The heavy clay ground in my backyard where I plant a few food plots is really good in nutrients and don’t have to fertilize at all to get a decent crop.
I took a drink everytime you said brassicas. Man I'm hurting. Good content.
LOL 😆
Awesome to see the difference, I’m going no till for my food plot for sure
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hey dude this is actually a really great video
thanks for the upload
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I have found that if you want to plant without all the poison, till early then wait two weeks then do a scratch tilling and wait two weeks then till another scratch tilling and then plant. I get it pushes back the planting but there is no better way without poison.
Nice job! Keep the tilling to a minimum and you’ll conserve your beautiful soil. Brassicas and small legume seeds should always be no tilled (just broadcast and cultipack). You should try broadcasting clover into your corn plots. Broadcast and cultipack right after drilling the corn seed. It keeps the soil covered and provides nitrogen to the corn.
This area in particular I am definitely doing 100% no-till when planting brassicas in the future. I am slowly switching over to all no-till brassica plantings. I will dry trying Jeff Sturgis’s buckwheat method in a few areas next year.
Planting clover with the corn sounds like a cool idea, I have never heard of anyone ever doing that. How does the young clover handle the spraying. I know well established clover is pretty hardy and hard to kill with glyphosate. I have been broadcasting brassicas right after spraying in the weak spots in my corn plots.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 have you looked into a roller-crimper? It would fit what you are doing here really well and would terminate your crops/lots of weeds without having to use as much spraying.
We have lots of sand, however im glad not a lot of rocks. Nice comparison experiment
Thanks 👍
Great looking soil!
Thanks, in our whole neighborhood there is a lot of fields that have dark soil, lots of swamp land.
Awesome channel!
Thanks 👍
That waterhemp is bad news! You will have to get it under control or its gonna ruin your plots for years to come. You will have to switch and plant some Enlist corn and soybeans for a couple years to get it under control. Keep No tilling the brassicas, that will help keep the weeds down. The Enlist is roundup and 2-4d so you will have a residual in the soil for a couple weeks so just keep that in mind. I love your videos and your passion for planting food plots! Keep up the good work!
I have heard of those new Enlist soybeans. But I am not sure if you have to have a license to buy Enlist. I will probably just stick with the round up ready corn and beans. Glyphosate does a decent job against water hemp but you have to spray very very early when the water hemp is only about an inch or less tall to get a good kill otherwise you have a lot that survives you probably know that. And also definitely in this wet ground I am sticking with the no till brassicas.
Ist time caught your video n content !! Was EXCELLENT!! The comparison of Till To No Till on same days n showing process n results .. I've been Having many plot fails over years For Not Following proper steps with soul enhancement or weed Destruction 🤔 n was wasting money n lots of effort .. Been watching lots of Experienced plot growers n seed sellers !! Loved your content n video !! Continued Succes 😎 Stay safe !! Bob Pennsylvania ... 260 acre property!!
I think u make really good videos. Very informative and fun to watch. I actually enjoy your videos more than Jeff Strugis. I do watch him alot to... I like ur style better though. Would like to see u branch out more with ur videos as well... But nice job. I appreciate it
Thanks, 👍 what do you exactly mean by branch out? Though right now I have all I can do to get out the videos I am putting out.
Very nice and thanks for sharing....
Thank you
That soil is so rich 💪🏻
Looks like you have some great soil ! Good video !
Thanks, the soil in that particular food plot has 11% organic matter! But it is low in phosphorus and potassium. Our crusty clay ground in our backyard has a lot higher levels of potassium and phosphorus.
Beautiful Soil !!!!!!!
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Nice job. Look at that beautiful dirt….I have lots of rocks😡
Yeah, it’s a pretty wet field that why it’s so dark. Lots of swamps in our area.
Great looking soil
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I think where you went wrong on the tilling is that it wasn't killed off enough and then you disturbed the seed bed. Not surprised you had a lot of weeds there. I'm sure you will get growth as you said. Nice vid.
Yeah I kinda thought there would be a lot of weeds too, I was hoping the brassicas would be able to grow faster than the weeds but I was wrong. Nothing outgrows weeds haha. I have sprayed that area in the past years and then tilled and still have ended up with lots of weeds. There is just a ton of weed seed in that soil ready to sprout.
My Lord that ground looks amazing ,my new York ground is clay rocks with about 3 " of top soil
I know it’s pretty amazing dirt but it’s very low in nutrients Phosphate and Potassium. We had to add a lot to our plots this year after we did a soil sample. Our clay ground in our backyard not the same property tested way better.
I read a gardening and launch keeping book from out babe about 15 years ago. It had different chapters on annuals, perennials, and turf.
The one thing I took out of it is that she said this and I'll try and quote the best I remember:
"You must get rid of all the perennial weeds before you put in a lawn and preferably also a garden."
She went on further to say that, even though this would be hard in urban area with the residential codes, to grow wheat until all the bulbs of the weeds that are hard to kill are exhaust or trying to compete with the weed. She even said it may take two seasons.
And then I'll give you my first and with receiving a lawn here in urban Chicago the parkway: I think for four years I pulled weeds for four years: some of the weeds are kind of a Woody stem! I was also a much younger and patient man than and I'm not going to do that again at my current age.
No till methods or knowledgeable to me at the time as UA-cam was not available at the time either. I did roto-till the parkway before planting the grass seeds. This was more for to get rid of compaction that it was to kill the weeds. As it were, we had a lot of weeds.
So what I'm getting around to here is that I want you to grow a winter wheat crap over that weed patch. Wheat posseses a trait called allelopathy: it puts out some sort of chemical substance not understood by scientists that keeps other plants from terminating around it or among it. You can till it in in the spring as green manure.
If the water have comes up after this then I suggest another season of wheat and rinse and repeat. Wheat seed isn't very cheap compared to oats but it doesn't require a ton of fertilizer either. May even cost you less if you say that spraying isn't very effective.
Wow, thank you for the Essay of a reply.
This video was from a few years back. I have done the no till rye method your describing with soybeans and buckwheat planted into the rye. The rye has really helped control weeds.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744
Superb!
It does learn me though because "no till* was not really around when I was working as a Hired hand 40 years ago in West Central Wisconsin.
With milk prices driving the past 15 years, as that was a heavy dairy area where I was at, and for the profit margins of row crop farming and ambient weather seasons getting more volatile leaving some years where Farmers either boom or bust,
But I guess all this said it is only a deer plot; it's not like you need top quality alfalfa to make sure a cow gives the most milk
Just found this video...great vid...good comparison..i have the same situation only last yr I had to disk/till and this year i have that chest high growths of brassica and weeds...but i see you walked right through it all in shorts and t-shirt 😳😳...you don't worry about ticks??...i waited until this past week when the brassica died and 2 weeks back i spot sprayed w/glyphosate...last week i spread seed and this past weekend i brush-hogged it all down to shine high...but aren't you concerned about ticks?
Ticks are only bad by us in the early spring up to about June. After that you rarely find 1 on you the rest of the year.
Very informative video. I have the same problem with weeds over taking and low on potassium. Still learning.
No till is definitely the was to go if you have weed problems. I am definitely switching over to more and more no till brassica plantings.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 mine is more like thick grass so i don't know if I'll get any soil contact.
Yeah I have tried planting in lawn or thick grass and it does not work that well. In that situation you’re probably best off spraying and tilling the first year and then in the following years you can no till because the thick thatch layer will be gone.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 it's about my 8th year. Thanks for the tips and great video. I'll have to stick with tilling i guess.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 how did you get your potassium raised?
Enjoyed the video!
Thanks 👍
Beautiful soil
You have to prevent weeds from seeding out. Each plant drops a 1000 plus seeds and can be buryed for 20 years and still grow when brought up to top. Try do rready for two seasons to kill back. Theirs a book ultimate deer food plots. Ed spinazzola wrote the book he started QDM in Michigan also a farmer and engineer. Good luck. Also im outside Larsen WI.
I have heard they can drop around a million seeds per plant. I am not sure if I can believe that. Whatever it is, it’s a lot LOL. The area with all the weeds with either be corn or soybeans next year.
Water Hemp plants produce 1million seeds per plant, but their seeds are viable for only around 10 years.
Awesome idea keep it up!
Thanks 👍
Soo, you might be suprised to hear that I just finished up my last food plot planting in the last weekend of Sept. I have had the same issue with the weeds and have found that disking then waiting 2 weeks to do a real light disking to kill the weeds and cover the broadcast seeds will generally give my plots a real good head start before the weeds get up again.
You must be way down south somewhere planting food plots this late. I am going to continue to do a lot more no till plantings in the future.
Great job mankind from central KY
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Who would’ve thought that kitty litter made good fertilizer?!?! 😂 Good stuff! The Microbes not being destroyed and disturbed is a huge benefit when growing anything. I’m a huge Mycelium and Mycorrhiza/any beneficial Fungi nerd.
Here in KY we have some great soil but not as good looking as that black gold of yours, BUT years of No-Till with as many cover crops and regular crops the soil is starting to reform. More worms and less erosion, less pest problems, no weeds (cover crops choke them out) no pesticides/insecticide.
Which saves us 1000’s of dollars with more of a profit percentage because of better crops in general. Gabe @ Living Web Farm (something like that) here on UA-cam is who got me started on the change. I was tired of shitty looking hay fields and so much $ into fertilizer/sprays, I hate spraying chemicals. I’m not a tree hugger or anything but knew there was a better way. Great video buddy and sorry for typing a book.... 🤙🏻
Sounds like you know what you’re talking about, LOL.
I am slowly switching over to 100% no-till Brassica food plots. Although we will probably be continuing to till when planting corn and beans. We don’t have a no till drill, we just have the old plow and old farm equipment my grandpa used for many years. We rotate our plots quite a bit, so a lot of the ground will only be getting tilled once every other year.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I love using older equipment, we mainly use 1970s era John Deere tractors (iron horses). The feeling we get when using our grandparents plow or old tractor, or whatever it maybe. Is a great feeling that can’t be bought, better than having a 2021 combine, etc. I’m 25 and remember as a kid riding and walking with my dad behind a team of mules, when he had perfectly new and good equipment setting in the barn. You and I are able to know what that feels like when the majority of people wouldn’t understand.
By the looks of your soil, you won’t have a problem at all growing anything you plant, how you plant won’t matter either. Your setting on gold brother! Some of our fields here in KY have great NPK #’s. With good minerals, the PH is an issue most of the time. We have pig barns, so I pump all the manure on all our cattle pastures, and any crop field that I can run pile to. For a month or so we have that beautiful black dirt like you have... 😂 have a good one partner, I’ll be watching those mid western bruiser Whitetails ya have! 🤙🏻
Page Farms all of our fields soil arnt as black as the one in the video. This is an area that is to wet for the farmer to plant so we just started putting food plots here. It’s actually quite low in potassium and phosphorus, we have only been working the ground for 1-2 yrs so I doubt the nutrients were depleted that quick. Almost all the soil on our farm is low in P and K.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I’m sure you know this but like a previous comment on here about planting clover with one of your plots you can find many different companion plants that will turn into PK. You know what your doing buddy, I’m not telling you what to do by any means, just making conversation. My motto is to “feed the soil, not the plant” 🤙🏻 I’m going to try Jeff’s blend next year as well. He is one hell of a teacher, and the fact that he provides us that valuable info for free, blows me away. My whole mindset when it comes to deer has changed completely after listening to him for two years.
I will definitely be trying the buckwheat no-till method of Jeff’s next year in a few plots I plan on planting brassicas in. I seeded winter rye in pretty much all my brassicas in early September. That way I can broadcast the buckwheat into the standing rye, crush down and spray, then seed the brassicas into the standing buckwheat and crush and spray. It’s never-ending no till. You can do soybeans that way too.
Great video! So you can spray the glypho right over the recently broadcasted seeds?
Yes, glyphosate will not harm the germination of any type of seed.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 thanks for the response and info!
you can compost the weeds to create more organic matter rather than adding more chemicals. tilling weeds acts as making compost because the organic material is being digested back under the ground of course concentrating a compost in a dedicated bin better.
I have heard good and bad things about tilling. I am going to stick with what works the best. In this wet area I need to no till because otherwise the weeds will be just as bad next year.
You need to flame weed, solarize,then flame again
Tilling opened up the seed bank. That, along with the fertilizing, is why you had so many weeds in the tilled plot. Also, the beans in the no-till plot may have picked up some residual glyphosate. While glyphosate breaks down in 10 days to two weeks, unless those were Roundup ready soybeans, they may have sprouted too early to fully avoid herbicide damage. Recomend spraying out the no-till plot a couple weeks prior to planting to give the glyphosate plenty of time to break down.
They are round up ready. And yes in the future I will never be tilling when planting brassicas in this spot. I am slowly switching over to 100% no till brassicas. Next year I am going to try Jeff Sturgis’s buckwheat method in a few areas. But I am going to continue to till when planting beans and corn. Because the fertilizer bins on our planter are junk and it’s not a no till drill.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I am no kind of expert in food plots for deer. While I have planted braccias food plots, I am much more to do with re-introducing native plant species for habitat improvement. While it doesn't have the immediate return attracting deer, the native approach provides year round food, and the added advantage of using perennials, so you don't have to replant every year. I have heard of Jeff Sturge's buckwheat plots but have no firsthand experience.
I do agree with converting fields to cover will help over time but that takes a lot of space to do so. We don’t own the property so I am just glad we have a few of the small fields that we can plant. I would really like to convert a 13 acre field to switchgrass and a native blend. Then plant a few cedar clusters and aspens throughout the field adding more cover. Hopefully dogwood and buckthorn would grow in as well. After 15 years it would be really good, deer would be bedding in there adding 13 acres of cover to the property. Right now it’s just ag.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 deer like buckthorn, but it is terrible for any other plant species and seriously decreases other wildlife. In Wisconsin, buckthorn is listed as a restricted species under NR 40 - Invasive Species Rule. It cannot legally be sold. Not many animals, aside from deer, make use of buckthorn. Just look at the soil under a dense buckthorn stand; it is absolutely bare. Buckthorn exudes a chemical from its leaves when they fall in autumn, that inhibits other species from sprouting; a sort of natural pre-ermergent herbide. It leafs out early and holds its leaves late in the fall, both stealing light from others plants and storing more food to help it out compete native species. In addition to the other species you mentioned, I would suggest include: high bush cranberry, hazelnut, wild plum, oak (bur, black, white or red), maple leaf viburnum. All but the last one are available to purchase at a reasonable price from the DNR nursery. Yes, deer love oak sprouts and acorns are easy to plant. If you protect a few to restore oak woodland, so much the better. If you haven't done it yet, check out the DNR NR 40 Terresrial Invasive Species page. With so many other alternatives, please do not plant buckthorn.
I definitely have noticed the bare ground effect under a stand of buckthorn. Nothing for deer to eat. I definitely wouldn’t plant it, it would probably just fill in. When converting a field to cover I only want 10-30% canopy, the rest open grass and native plants. But like I said it’s all theoretical, my plan probably won’t happen because we don’t own the land. I would love to do it though. I would plant a 3 row tree screen of spruce and cedar along the rd. And then plant cedar and aspen clusters along with a few scattered red and white oaks. Boxelders, buckthorn, and dogwood would slowly grow in by themselves. It would be extremely productive habitat for the first 30-50 yrs or so until everything the trees got bigger and canopied over shading our switchgrass and native plants.
Awesome video, what is it that you sprayed on the weeds?
Glyphosate. 3 oz per gallon
My suggestion if tilled do it 2 to 3 weeks early then when the weeds pop up , burn them it isnt to hard to make a burn rig to go on the tractor or if you have and wood chips that need burning I spread those out after they are pile up and going good , the burn is a plant booster with all the pot ash and char
That soil has so many weeds seeds in it, it’s unbelievable. Your suggestion may work. But as soon as you burn new seeds will germinate just as fast as the seeds I am planting. Each water hemp plant makes millions of seeds. I am not just saying that, they actually do.
hey. always enjoy your videos. what would you do different next year about your weedy plot. when you planted it looked great. would a pre emergent work ?
thank you for sharing your video. alway learning something new.
I think next year I am going to do a lot more no-till planting with brassicas. I still may till one of the dryer ground plots, but this wet area always has lots of weeds and it’s going to end up the same way next year if I till LOL. Spraying a pre-emergent would probably work. You would have to spray as soon as you see the brassicas popping up and before the weeds grow, but its going to be easier to just no-till that area next year, instead of screwing around with a pre emergent herbicide.
You want to kill it off completely, then hook up a burner to the tractor that points down. Turn the burner on and drive over the entire area. It will kill everything including the weeds. A couple of weeks later the weeds will be back so you repeat the process. Then a couple of weeks after that you will have a few weeds, give them an extra week or two to get growing then burn them down again. By doing that you kill the weeds and more weed seeds will start to grow. Then you kill those off again and the few remaining viable weed seeds will try to grow only to be killed yet again. Yes, it is going to cost you some yield to get it done, but it will absolutely kill the weeds off.
Alternatively, spread black plastic on the field and plant your crop plants in very specific locations. That way the only place for plants to grow is through the small holes allowed by you. This also causes weed seeds that have yet to grow to try and spout under the plastic. Since they can't reach the sunlight, those sprouts eventually die off and new weed seeds try to grow with the same results. Eventually, the only thing that will grow in the soil is what you've planted. Use the plastic treatment a couple of years in a row and your entire farm will be 100% weed-free. Then all you have to do the following year is plant and then watch for places where birds have dropped seeds and they ave sprouted. Pluck those few weeds by hand and you will maintain weed-free fields.
Thanks for writing such long detailed responses, but neither of these would apply to me. I am planting brassicas to attract deer to have better hunting. The burning method sounds interesting but I don’t have equipment like that. And the black plastic would probably works great for gardening but not for food plots for wildlife.
really beautiful colour. i mean is practically black gold! does it smell like mushrooms?
Thanks, I am not really sure what it smells like, I have never really smelt it.
Damn what pretty dirt.
Thanks 👍
A lot of people have commented about the soil so far
thats some great lookin ground!
were still way short on rain down here, looks like you have no shortage haha
Things are starting to dry out a little now. This year hasn’t been particularly wet. I would say we’ve had an average year for rainfall.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 been a straight dust bowl here for the most part
you have such amazing soil, not dirt. will only become dirt if you keep tilling it, no till will keep that soil like that, if not better for generations to come!
I definitely plan of doing a lot more no till brassica plantings in the coming years.
when u till it up ur basically replanting that seed bank. most people who do that til it 3-4x a summer to fight that weed growth and ur basically destroying your toplayer of soil also.
This is an abnormally wet field. Wet ground tends to have more weeds to start with. This video was from a few years ago. I’ve had good results with no till brassicas into buckwheat the last 2 years here.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Thats the same way I plant my plots also. I spray 3x April mid June when I plant my buckwheat and then end of July when I put my fall plots in. Works great every year!
Which and how much fertilizer did you apply to the no till plot area? I have a plan for a new plot for spring, summer, fall, and winter. I will do a soil test this winter but just wanted an idea. Great video! Keep it up!
I added about the same as the tilled plot when the plants were ankle high. Not sure the actual poundage or lbs per acre. I will need to do a soil sample here next year, I think the ph may be a little low in the area as well. But over all the plot turned out great and looks really good right now.
Try some foliar fertilizer (spray on). I use the Antler King stuff and it works great.
I have heard great things about foliage fertilizers but I probably won’t be trying them out anytime soon. I am just happy the brassicas are looking good.
Had way too much rain to begin with then it went into the drought I just killed a bunch of stuff under and it's rude down winter wheat because I couldn't find any winter Rye hope things work out
Winter wheat and rye are pretty much the same thing, as long as it grows it deer with eat it. We had a pretty dry stretch in early August which messed up some of my brassicas in the next video coming out soon.
If you don't have a crimper, can you use a roller? Well it work to kill the buckwheat/rye?
Yes. The buckwheat crushes really easy. Definitely won’t kill it, you will have to spray still. The rye you will probably need to go over a couple times to get it to stay down.
I read that if you disk and then wait for the new weed growth to come up, spray the weeds and then plant your seeds without disking again you won’t get as many weeds because your not turning the soil over again. I haven’t tried this just been researching a lot to try and start my first plot. Have you tried that method yet?
I will have to try that if I plan on tilling in that field. That low ground field always has a ton of weeds.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 yeah like I said I’m no expert, I plan on trying that way just because it makes sense, every time you till you’re bringing up dormant weed seeds that are buried and they germinate at the same time as what you plant
I've never had the enormity of weeds that you experienced with a late summer tilling. Do you believe it was because you were in a more susceptible spot that was previous had flooding with the influx of that particular type weed? I have a clover plot and want to rotate into brassicas. If I mow and spray I will have way too much dead clover thatch to get the desired seed to soil contact plus I don't believe that I will convert that clover into nitrogen unless I rotate it under. I could til, wait a week and then spray, but I'm running out of time now. Thoughts?
This spot never floods out. It’s just a really weedy wet field. Tons of water hemp and giant ragweed. My dryer ground plots have weeds to but not this many.
I would just spray and till up the clover and plant. I’ve noticed when you have a plot into clover and your not tilling the ground every year you will have less weeds for a year or 2 when you do switch it back to brassica. Same thing like a brand new plot that has a sod layer. It usually takes the weeds 2-3 yrs to start coming in thick.
so the cultipacker you pulled with the 4 wheeler just mashed it down but didnt kill it right? Acrimper would have pushed it over then killed it as it cuts the plants ciculatory system - then you wouldn't have to spray correct?
Yes. A crimper would do a much better job at killing the plants. But a crimper most likely wouldn’t kill these weeds. A crimper will kill a cover crop like rye and buckwheat pretty good even without herbicide if terminated at the right time right before the seed develops.
The weeds also got so bad/tall/thick in my greens plots that I got my brush hog out and mowed my plots about 6 or 7 inches high last week. Wondering if you might try that on your plot to see if mowing will help?
I probably won’t be mowing the plot, the weeds will likely come back in just as fast as the brassicas, right now the brassicas have a lot of nice big lush leaves and it’s almost October. Last year I planted clover in April in a spot and the blend had a few brassicas in it and I mowed the plot twice that summer and there were a few brassicas that came back and survived the mowing twice which surprised me.
Awesome video for comparisons, have you considered using a backpack sprayer to come in and spray a liquid fertilizer (might be what your no-till plot needs?
I haven’t used any liquid fertilizer in the past. But in the past I have used antler grow, it only contains micronutrients but is similar. I don’t think I will be trying to much liquid fertilizer in the future, but never say never.
So you used the herbicide the same time you seeded.? I’m missing the part about spraying for weeds and planting.
Correct, I sprayed right after I seeded and crushed the weeds down. The only reason this works so well it’s because there was no thatch layer under the weeds. It was bare dirt and the brassicas got good germination. This is pretty much the same method as planting Buckwheat as a cover crop and then broadcasting and crushing the buckwheat down.
i do a burn down spray before i do any discing. it will look much better if you use 2-4-d and round up mix.
The tilled up plot was sprayed probably 2 weeks or so prior to planting. I have had good results in the past in other plots when spraying about a week prior to working ground. But the wet ground is full of water hemp seeds and it’s just a never ending battle. LOL
I think 24D acts as a pre emergent as well. So I am not sure if your seed would germinate only a week after spraying
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 24d does have residual effects but if you wait 7 days it goes away. i used it on all my plots i planted about a week after spraying and everything came up good.
i hear you with the rain. i am in central Wisconsin and have a swampy plot couldn't do much with it until about end of july. i just kept cultivating it until the rain stopped to keep the weeds down.
i do not have water hemp in my fields so not entirely sure on what kills it i do know it is hard to get rid of. i just have your standard ragweed, pig weed, and maretail.
I may have to use it in the future, but for planting brassicas in this particular area I think I am switching to 100% no till. In other Dryer plots with less weeds I may still do some tillage but I am slowly switching to all no till brassica plantings I think. With the corn and beans we are going to continue to till though.
I think pigweed is related and similar to water hemp. I have noticed the hardest to kill weeds with round up or 24D is definitely water hemp, giant ragweed, lambs quarters, and pigweed. I have noticed it seems like the farmers are getting more and more weeds in their bean fields by us too. These weeds are continually getting harder to kill because only the most resistant ones survive the spray and drop seeds when the crops are harvested. The only way I can effectively kill them is if I spray really early when there only a half inch tall or so. I am going to plant my beans extra thick next year so I can get faster canopy closer and spray early when the beans are only a few in tall and the weeds are around a 1/2 in. This year I wanted to long in a lot of my corn and soybeans and there is scattered water hemp plants in my corn that are 4-6 ft tall. I pulled out a lot of water hemp this year when my beans were only about knee high. LOL
no till is the most convenient way to do all the food plots. it always seems to me the more variety in my seed mixes the better they seem to grow.
i would think if you did some sort of cover crop. WHS buckwheat or Growing deer's buffalo system you would probably have less weed pressure with the spring cover crops out competing the weeds. but that means spending more money on seed. i did give the Growing deer's buffalo system a try this year and so far its working really well.
We had a lot of rain this year which made it very tough to control weeds without spraying multiple times. i think most of the farmers this year just decided on having some weeds instead of spending money spraying. Looks like you have lot more testing to do for next year. but that is what makes it fun.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 why not do RR soybeans there for a couple years. Knock the seed bank down then hopefully you can switch back over to brassicas if you want.
Would suggest that you follow GROWING DEER TV, Dr. Grant Wood, he will pout your learning curve on no till at warp speed.btw you proved his teaching with these two areas. Good hunting.
Could you mow it instead of crushing and spraying the weeds in the no till plot?
Mowing would not work well. You need to spray to kill the weeds. You could spray the weeds when they are standing 1 week before planting. Then a week later seed and mow down the dead weeds. That would work. But mowing when the weeds are still alive will cause a mess and they will all grow back.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 how many times have the weeds come back despite spraying ? I'm betting every year !
@@andy6043 yea they will come back, best thing to do is keep your ground always covered with whatever plant that serves your purpose for putting it there. Plant as many different plants that compliment each other that you can. Even for winter time. After a year you’ll have a thriving plot...... If a weed has no room to grow then it won’t grow....
So the weed killer doesn’t kill the seeds off? I don’t have a tiller and have some no till seeds and was going to bush hog a spot and spray weeds then plant. Should I broadcast then bush hog then spray?
No. Glyphosate is a post emergent herbicide meaning it only kills actively growing plants. The seed and germination is unaffected by the chemical.
If you have good soil exposure then it may work out good. But if it’s a new spot with a thick thatch layer your better off tilling. The area I did the no till was worked ground the fall prior. So that’s why I was able to get good germination. There was lot of bare soil underneath the weed growth.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 thanks for the response! I’ll be sure to do that
One suggestion for you use animals dum for more growth
We don’t have any animals, we use deer dung LOL. During the winter the plots get covered with deer poop 💩
Wish you had a camera out there, so we could see whats going on
I’m not sure exactly what type of camera you’re talking about, a trail cam?
Thank You.
👍
What did you spray the weeds with and what ratio
Glyphosate mixed at 3oz per gallon
Cool video. What county are you in?
Jefferson Co.
Damn black gold
That’s the best comment yet about the soil LOL
I always take a cattle panel cut half into and drag with it and it level plus covers the seed and I always have good results. I like to run the packer first and seed then the panel.
There is a lot of different ways to plant small seeds like brassicas or clover with success. I have done no till like in the video, I have also seeded onto the light fluffy unpacked seed bed and I have also packed before seeding all work just fine.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 I was just stating the way I do them. There are many ways.
1st great video
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Is that a M-F 50 tractor working your field? if it is what year is she? love thy M-F & I still like to see them working ,gas or diesel? thanks for the video.
Yes it’s a Massy Ferguson 65. It’s an awesome tractor for us. Of our 3 tractors it’s the one we definitely use the most.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Hey thanks for the reply . I have 2 M-F's 1959 model 50 gas, & a 2018 model 1526 4wd & front loader diesel, I use both of them allot the 50 was my 1st , I have had her for 22 yrs. Your 65 what year is she ? & is she gas or diesel?again thanks for your reply.
It’s from the early 60s, 63-65 not sure. My grandpa bought it brand new and it’s still on the farm.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Wow that is awesome, they are very reliable equipment! Thanks again.
Could you let the weeds come up then kill and then plant without tilling again?
Yes that probably would have worked well. Next year I will be no-tilling all my brassicas plots probably.
You spray after broadcasting seed? What kind of spray?
I was thinking the same thing. How did it not kill the seed.
Glyphosate. No residual won’t hurt the germination rate.
any idea how much brassicas seed in the no till plot?
It hard to get an estimate. You generally what about 1 seed per sq ft when it comes to brassicas. Any thicker and they won’t do as well. When no tilling you won’t get quite as good of germination so bump up your seeding rate some.
After you mow is it a crimper what you ride around the no till plot?
I didn’t mow the weeds at all, I seeded when the weeds were still standing and then smashed them down with a cultipacker to cover the seeds and soil. A crimper would work even better but we don’t have one.
how did you have so much exposed soil in those tall weeds? was it due to something you did last year? i have an old abandoned plot that is mostly canary grass but there is no exposed soil
That area was no-till brassicas the year before too. The weeds are what grew back in the spring not much grass just mainly broadleafs
Can you recommend a brand and concentration of glyphosate? Some of the products at Home Depot and local hardware store
advise not to plant seeds for 7-14 days after spraying. Thanks
I just use the cheapest stuff I can find. I mix it at 2 oz per gallon. Glyphosate is a post emergent. Meaning it does not kill/harm the seeds. It only kills actively green and growing plants. You could soak the seed in it and it won’t affect the germination. Now other herbicides like 2-4-D leaves some residuals in the soil and can definitely affect germination rates.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Thanks for the information and quick reply. You do a great job of explaining and showing the "how to" of food plots.
Thanks 👍
Man I’m so damn jealous of your soil. I have 200 acres in hills of West Virginia and once you dig down 1-2” nothing but shale .
I made huge mistake 10 years ago by planting 200 fruit trees and 200 berry bushes without thinking much about ground I was putting it in. Big waste of time and money. My dumb ass fault. 😒 duh🤬😱
The soil has 11% organic matter which is unbelievable, but it’s low in potassium and phosphorus so we have to fertilize pretty heavy. Some of our drier sandier fields actually has higher lvls of potash and phosphorus.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 you need a big ass burn pile and get any and all wood you want to burn and make campfires with, then sprinkle the ash
💪
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What chemical did you use to spray?
Glyphosate mixed at 2 oz per gallon
How bout those GB packers.
Ha ha ha very funny, are you a Bucs fan?
Worse im a Cowboys fan . : )
What kind of stuff did you use to spray the weeds?
Glyphosate mixed 2 oz per gallon
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 and the glyphosate won’t harm the new seed that you had lay down?
do you spray round up?
Yes, not round up, just a cheaper brand of glyphosate
What are u spraying .
Glyphosate mixed at 2 oz per gallon
what did you spray the no till yard with?
Glyphosate mixed at 2oz per gallon
weed killer?
wouldn't be better to tarp it instead of putting some herbicide? tho it would take more time
I am planting the day I crush so using a tarp will delay the planting and be to much screwing around.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 thanks for the insight :)
What did you spray with
Glyphosate mixed at 2 oz per gallon
So spraying on top of the seeds won’t prevent them from growing?
No, glyphosate is a post emergent herbicide meaning it kills actively growing plants. You could soak the seed in it and it won’t affect germination. Now 2-4-D is different, it leaves some residuals that get into the soil and it acts like a pre emergent for about 1-2 weeks. Glyphosate doesn’t do that.
O ok 👍 just curious where do you get glyphosate at? Everything I look up there’s another product mixed with it, not 100% glyphosate..
I am pretty sure all farm stores like tractor supply, farm and fleet, and Theisens have it. I get it from Theisens because it’s the closest. You can get it from your local farm Co-Op as well. It’s going to be the 41% glyphosate, you can’t buy 100%
He deleted my comment about the health risks of glycospha te. It killed my son but I guess his views are more important.
Spraying with a tank sprayer shooting out the back is relatively safe. As long as you’re not doing quick turns and missing yourself I am not getting any droplets on me while spraying. Mixing the chemicals into the tank is a more crucial dangerous part than the actual spraying because all the mist and water is going out the back. And there is no hard proof evidence that it causes cancer not saying that it doesn’t and I’m still cautious of it. But what about all the pesticides insecticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables in the stores, all the preservatives and chemicals in almost anything you buy. The chemicals in bug spray and the chemicals in sunscreen, you literally spray bug spray and rub sunscreen into your skin when I’m spraying I don’t get any on me like I said it’s all spraying out the back, spraying with a backpack sprayer though is more dangerous. There is chemicals everywhere and to say that glyphosate is the only chemical that is dangerous is ridiculous and funny to me.
I dont know,much about no till, for me is works better tilling as you mix the weeds and break up the soil a bit and my father allways sayed " need to airate the dirt" sorry to say but,you will never have healty soil if you keep spraying as you kill more then the weeds when the chemical gets in to the ground
Tilling has its time and place but no till works just as good. Glyphosate will not destroy the soil. Constant tilling is worse for the soil and pouring chemicals in. Ag fields have had chemicals sprayed for decades now and yields are getting getting higher and higher.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 dont use any chemicals, just organic matter, but only got 74 acres i can afforded, as i dont realy need high production, just healthy, im going back to the time ,before chemicals were introduce,,i belive most farmers introduced chemicals to gain profit but the same time introduced cancer, ,,some loose ,others win life gose on,
you go to all that trouble to create good soil health and then spray down - I don't get it.
I am trying to actually grow something, if I don’t spray to kill the weeds they will come right back. Spraying does not destroy the soil. Farmers have been spraying for years now and the yields are the same if not better now than they were 20+ yrs ago.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 not sure if your using Glyphosate or not but check out the fourth paragraph of the Intro - www.soilassociation.org/media/7202/glyphosate-and-soil-health-full-report.pdf
I was watching and interested right up until music, then I shut off ... bye bye
Probably not the best music for food plots. But UA-cam does not allow very many songs/music. If I use any classical rock or many other main stream songs the videos will be demonetized. The little bit of money I do make from UA-cam just goes to afford some of my hunting supplies trail cameras etc.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 hey I get it do your thing, just my 2 cents, I’m sure it’s great content
You need to research permaculture... you are wasting your time...
I didn’t know everyone in the comments is all the sudden soil experts. Your wasting your time commenting on my video.
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 you act like a dirt expert... I strive to be a soil expert. ( I am not saying I am) but I challenge you to break away from commercial ag practices and focus on improving your land and soil health for more then just one growing season.
If you can’t spray because it supposedly destroys the soil overtime and you can’t till because it kills the microorganisms and depletes nutrients how the hell are you supposed to grow anything? 🤔
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Hahahaha exactly why I told you to research! It will change your life!
Tilling wakes up the seed bed. Mother Nature is modest, she likes to be covered. I hate you are putting glyphosate on that gorgeous ground.
I will definitely be doing more no till planting in the future, but no till requires the use of even more glyphosate to have successful food plots or when planting anything weed control is #1
I prefer intensive grazing. Some sheep or goats cycled through over time. I rented some pasture from a neighbor years ago. There was a patch of Russian Knapp weed. I used a series of pastures & would bring sheep in & graze them off, then move to another pasture. Long story short, the Knapp weed patch gott smaller till it dissappeard. No chemicals. Sometimes weeds will work as a cover crop in new seedings.
Large of land but you don't know how to farm properly
Ok that’s your opinion I don’t see how you could do any better.
You dont know very much about planting food plots
Ok...and you do!
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744
The know it all’s in these comments are just ridiculous. Keep it up man. I too am a younger food plotter, trying new things and experiments / experience as I go. I appreciate the thorough and honest videos. I hope you continue to make them, even with all of these backseat soil and agronomist’s. All they know is what they see on the news about Roundup being evil. There’s 7 billion people on the planet, I’m not a huge proponent of Gly, but we’d all starve if we had to grow crops like they think is best.
What tool do you use to crush the weeds??
Cultipacker
What are you spraying after you knock down the tall weeds?
Glyphosate mixed at 2 oz per gallon
@@wisconsinwhitetail9744 Glyphosate gives you more than yoùve bargained for. You will get cancer before 40. 👎
@@ankhtruth , probably not true. Most people do not get cancer before 40 if at all. Heart disease is the number one killer. Reputable people and many tests have not been able to prove the cancer - Roundup link. There maybe proof one day but no proof at all yet. Driving a car is more dangerous. I’m 68 and try to to be very careful when I use Roundup. I’ve been using it since it’s been available. I’ve bought it in a 30 gallon drum when there were no generic brands. Everybody should try to be careful with all chemicals all the time.