DJ54
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 4,531
- Location
- Carroll, Ohio
- Tractor
- IH Farmall 656 gas/ IH 240 Utility/ 2, Super C Farmalls/ 2, Farmall A's/ Farmall BN/McCormick-Deering OS-6/McCormick-Deering O-4/ '36 Farmall F-12/ 480 Case hoe. '65 Ford 2000 3 cyl., 4 spd. w/3 spd Aux. Trans
Too late this year for the idea I used 2 years ago, and even though I used it in the garden, should still work for what you're intending. I sowed cereal rye as a cover crop and intending it on being a living mulch the following summer. I have an adjustable pull type disk I roughed up the surface, sowed the rye, then set the disk to a lighter cut to cover the seed.
The following spring I let it mature to the milk stage, then rolled it down to crimp and kill it. I was just experimenting doing a copycat method on a smaller scale of what larger farming operations were doing. Picture below was early May of 2023. I sowed it maybe a little heavier than intended but worked well.
I made a knock down bar for one of my old Wheel Horses to push it over before rolling hoping it would snap some of the stems, then the heavy roller would finish the job. For no more than I used, it did a pretty good job.
My intentions were to plant cucumbers and squash on a trellis system. As you can see in the picture it cut weeds down to around 90% of being weed free. We'd gotten a 2-3 week dry spell and took a while for things to take off. But once the rains returned, the rye mulch did a very good job of retaining moisture and keeping weeds down.
I have no idea what you're intending to plant in your food plots but assuming you're using a no till planter. If that is the case, it'd be best to plant in the direction the rye is rolled/crimped to keep it from gathering up on the planter running in an opposite direction against the grain.
If it is corn or sorghum, or a tall crop it should shade out any weeds after your crop gets 18" to 24" tall, if using like 30" row spacing.
Depending on days of maturity of your plot crops, Oats could probably be used for a Spring living mulch. Just good old bulk oats from the feed mill will work well. Heck, in the garden I just bought a bag of horse Oats, and they grew very well. But I used them as a Fall cover crop so they would winter kill, and only using just to amend the garden soil.
Just some food for thought.
The following spring I let it mature to the milk stage, then rolled it down to crimp and kill it. I was just experimenting doing a copycat method on a smaller scale of what larger farming operations were doing. Picture below was early May of 2023. I sowed it maybe a little heavier than intended but worked well.
I made a knock down bar for one of my old Wheel Horses to push it over before rolling hoping it would snap some of the stems, then the heavy roller would finish the job. For no more than I used, it did a pretty good job.
My intentions were to plant cucumbers and squash on a trellis system. As you can see in the picture it cut weeds down to around 90% of being weed free. We'd gotten a 2-3 week dry spell and took a while for things to take off. But once the rains returned, the rye mulch did a very good job of retaining moisture and keeping weeds down.
I have no idea what you're intending to plant in your food plots but assuming you're using a no till planter. If that is the case, it'd be best to plant in the direction the rye is rolled/crimped to keep it from gathering up on the planter running in an opposite direction against the grain.
If it is corn or sorghum, or a tall crop it should shade out any weeds after your crop gets 18" to 24" tall, if using like 30" row spacing.
Depending on days of maturity of your plot crops, Oats could probably be used for a Spring living mulch. Just good old bulk oats from the feed mill will work well. Heck, in the garden I just bought a bag of horse Oats, and they grew very well. But I used them as a Fall cover crop so they would winter kill, and only using just to amend the garden soil.
Just some food for thought.
