Planting rye in my deer plot

You folks were great last week when I asked about using glyphosphate on my deer plots. The lady who lives there sent me this photo yesterday. Looks like it's working
So maybe the brain trust will help with the next step - planting rye with a hand broadcast seeder.
I plowed and disced this in May but didnt plant anything.
1) Should I plow this again or will just discing it real good do?
2) How much seed for 1 1/2 acres?
3) Should I use a cultipacker or drag an old bedspring to cover it better?
4) Is waiting 3 weeks after spraying better than 2 weeks?
5) How late in the season can I do this?
6) What about next spring? Let it come back and drown out the weeds for another year or till and plant my regular plot mix?
7) If I let it grow next summer can I mow it off in August? and disc it back in and get another year out of it?
Lot of questions but thanks to any and all.



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What is all the fascination/hype, with "Deer Plots" ????? We have plenty of deer, turkeys, foxes and cyotes around here. They all seam to be surviving well on the farm crops without supplementing them with food plots.
Loren

If you sprayed roundup a week before you work it up is plenty but necessary to get good kill on weeds, then drag after seeding and hopefully a good rain. Good luck

Joe

I just finished planting rye in my first food plot for this fall, 23 acres of it. Only 62 more acres to go.

They are very popular Loren. It has become a huge industry. Mostly because it draws the deer into where you are hunting.
Some states allow baiting. MN does not but in their hunting reg handbook they encourage it as it does feed a lot of critters besides deer. Not many farms left in the area of central MN where we hunt. And not an abundance of deer either. This is the first time in 4 years that we have hunters choice. Means you can take ONE deer of either gender. Most years we can take does by lottery only. Many states you can take multuple deer. Not here.
Also, it's something to use my tractors for. I'm a city dweller so enjoy getting a little seat time doing some "farming" with them.
Sure it costs more for venison than it's worth. But compared to the price of a walleye when you consider the price of a boat it's not so bad. Lots of things a guy can whizz away his money on. Wouldn't you rather see a guy whizz it away this way then at the casino, a bar or on a bunch of tatoos?

Just sprayed mine last week, will wait another two then plow, disc then level with cultivator. I will broadcast 1.5 bushels per acre along with some turnips for good measure. Because of turnips I will cultipack mine. I've been told for a cover you can plant rye till the first frost??? Can't help you with next year, I will spray mine off then plant round-ready beans or corn (I hate weeds) in the spring. The boomless sprayer in the pic is worth it's weight in gold...sprays a 14 foot pattern and can do an acre in about ten minutes'
Dan

You could plant a plot of squash Instead??/////(lol)

1. I'd disc it up to loosen the dead thatch, allowing more seed to soil contact.
2. Recommended seeding rate for broadcasting in Missouri is 100-120#/acre. I use a JD/VB drill and seed about 100#.
3. I'd cultipack it, or lightly disc to cover especially if you disc the thatch up.
4. When will you have the best planting conditions? The glyphosate has already done the job you wanted it to do.
5. Here in Missouri, I plant my fall plots in late September/early October. The rye will germinate at cool temps, my rye plots will stay green all winter.
6. Rye will come on strong in the spring. It does a great job of stifling weed growth. It's gotten as high as 5' before June, so be aware.
7. If you let it mature, it will head just like wheat. I've disced down the mature plants, and it did reseed. Not like a planted stand, but new rye did grow from the old stand.

Rye is pretty forgiving of planting errors. I try to plant within a few days of predicted rain. It's not a gamechanger though. I like to use buckwheat, as a cover crop, in rotation with rye. It germinates fast, smothers out weed growth, matures quickly, and when plowed/disced down after setting seed, will regrow from the new seed. It also attracts tons of bees when in flower. Here's a link to some info on cover crops from the University of Missouri. http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G4161 . Hope this helps. Mark

I put in deer plots for myself and others and have found several things that attract deer much better than rye.My best mix is Crimson Clover,turnips and regular Oats.This is in the mid Atlantic so those might not be good in your area.I've found deer will be attracted to Wheat better than Rye.Lots of deer here with 6 a year limit and at least 3 have to be does.

Rye is an easy plant to get grow. I would just disk the ground several times. Then seed the rye. You can lightly disk it if you do not have a drill. Heck even just dragging a section of chain link fence over it will cover it well enough to grow.

As for when to plant your early. Rye does not need seeded until mid to late Sept.

You can let it grow and go to seed. It will reseed itself but usually will not be as good the second season.

IF your going to plow it down in the spring and plant some thing else then you need to keep an eye on the Rye as it can grow real fast in the spring. Then you can have it dry the ground out and it has a natural weed inhibitor that will effect things seeded after it if you let it get very big.

Truthfully Rye is not that good of food source for a dear plot by itself. Usually turnips and or radishes mixed in work better. Then I would seed some thing else next spring.

They are using rye here as winter cover, plant after crops out, round up two weeks before planting, then no till right into it.

Yes, better than tattoos.
They've pretty much covered it.
I plant around 100#/acre. I'd disk a couple times, then seed. Cultipack or drag after, either one. Maybe have Ruth do half with one, you do half with the other, and see which part grows better.
If you want to use it, I just dropped off a 3-point broadcast seeder at my in-laws today. Matt has a few plots he's going to use it on. I won't be needing it again until next spring.

# 2 on what Loren said. Late in the day I usually see 2-4 deer at the bottom of the hill behind my house. It's an old fescue pasture and the deer don't stay on it long enough to do much damage.

The area has lots of kudzu and rarely I see deer grazing on it, in fact the deer are falling behind on their job with the kudzu grazing. There is one large Interstate highway road bank that sometimes gets enough business to look sort of grazed down, but that happens all too rarely.

KEH

Problem is where you see deer now they probably won't be there come late Fall.I see deer all over the fields now at my place but come about Oct they Fall back in the Mountain and usually come out to eat in late evenings.Planting food plots not too far from their bedding areas will give me a chance to get a nice wary buck.

Thanks to all - JD Seller and Briar Hill especially.

If you just want some seat time with your tractor you can come help me plant my deer food plots. I only have about another 40 acres to plant winter rye into.

It might be too late to plant squash,maybe an early yellow will make it ,there are some 40 day varietys.