Food Plot Screen

[Smallplot]

I am going to share some photos of my 2012 planting of a Egyptian Wheat food plot screen. The seeds are planted at 1 inch deep on 7.5 in row spacing at a rate of 4.5 pounds per acre.

Here is what I started with.



Next the area for the screen was mowed.



The next step was to till the area.





Next broadcast with a hand spreader lime, 12-12-12, and urea.



Amendments were tilled into the soil profile creating a great seedbed.

Now to ready the drill.




The drill was first calibrated with the Egyptian Wheat seeds. I found the transmission gear of 2 was best suited with my seed setting at 7 on my legume seed box.




And the finished result looks something like this




The only thing left is waiting for emergence and spraying with some Atrazine to control the weeds.

If you would like to see the drill in action check out my short video on youtube. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f85UknkcOm8&feature=g-upl]Planting Egyptian Wheat Screen 2012 - YouTube[/ame]

Tractor is a TYM T603

[redlevel]

That's a good job. Here are some pictures of Egyptian Wheat, BT Millett, and Iron Clay peas planted in the same row, using a set of old Covington planters and a Ford 600. Pics are from about 5 years back. I still have some E Wheat volunteer in that field. I couldn't use herbicide because of the different crops.

[Smallplot]

That old covington planter did the job!

[Smallplot]

5/23/12 Update

Checked the status of my EW screen today. An over all look showed nothing but upon closer examination I saw these. Very small green shoots reaching for the sky. The green shoots appear only in the tracks left by the press wheels and appear they are EW seedlings.



Just to make certain that what was growing is indeed EW dug up one of the seedlings and sure enough the seedlings are attached to the EW seed I planted.



The screen is certainly on it's way.

Dan

[foggy1111]

Good to see you posting over here. I broadcasted my EW about ten days ago and had some good rains since....but have not been back to my land to see if I got some germination. Will get there in the next days. Hoping to see what you have shown here. Thanks.

I didn't fertilize before I planted.....may have to top dress it. I did get a good stand of EW in the past via my method.....so I'm hoping to do it again. It does make a great screen.....and the wildlife like the seeds.

[Smallplot]

Good to see you posting over here. I broadcasted my EW about ten days ago and had some good rains since....but have not been back to my land to see if I got some germination. Will get there in the next days. Hoping to see what you have shown here. Thanks.

I didn't fertilize before I planted.....may have to top dress it. I did get a good stand of EW in the past via my method.....so I'm hoping to do it again. It does make a great screen.....and the wildlife like the seeds.

My brother checked our screen today and you can row it pretty well today. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow. Looks like plants are couple of inches tall.

We planted on another property today also adding a screen for the property owner. It is so dry right now that seeds have to be put down into moisture with minimal disturbance to conserve moisture. Sure could use about 2 days of slow drizzle around these parts.

[moored4]

Smallplot this was good wright up! Realy like the Pictures. Can't wait to see how it turns out for you.

[Smallplot]

Update 05/28/12

It is dry here so anyone with some extra moisture can sure send some this way. Well checked on the EW screen today. Looks pretty good and can really row everything. Closer inspection reveals some sections where seedlings are just starting to erupt from the soil. Well either that or the deer are nipping off the succulent young seedlings. The little section is loaded with deer tracks so only time will tell unless we don't get any rain soon, then it probably will not matter much.

Here is a picture showing how the seedlings are growing and visible in the rows.



Here is a close up. If you look closely you can see the signs of stress already caused by lack of moisture in this area.



Praying for rain,
Dan

[Smallplot]

UPDATE 06/09/12

Sprayed the screen yesterday with Atrazine. It has been so dry with no substantial ran since planting. The EW is looking good considering the lack of moisture.



Here is a close up showing the size most of the EW has gotten. If you look closely to either side of the ball cap you will see what is just beginning to grow to fill in the dead spots, more EW seedlings. Chalk this up to moisture, or more pointedly lack there of.



Dan

[Redbug]

Wow Dan, even though it's dry...it still looks really good. The lime really helps the 12-12-12 be absorbed in the soil.

We are getting rain down here in SC. Usually with the drought, it turns off by now and things go brown. This is a lucky year I guess and hopefully the corn crop will do well for once.