Planting Wheat

[npaden]

I do have 18 acres of my land already in CRP. This 5 acres is off to one side of it. I have the CRP in native grass and a small pond on it. (very small by Eddie's standards)

I do have another 13 acres around the house that is also kept in native grasses that I could mess with but I'm not sure if the wife would like it plowed up and planted.

I'm just starting to see deer tracks on the land occassionally so I'm hoping eventually it will have some real wildlife on it.

 

[Henro]

In my limited experience, I have been amazed at how wheat and rye will grow, even when just spread on poor soil by hand without any attempt to push it into the soil at all.

I posted a question a few years ago, where I needed to get something growing to hold some very poor clay "soil" in place, the response was throw some wheat seed down. Which I did, and which worked well.

Afterwards I did the same at a different location, with equal results.

This year I tried rye, and with a little rain it was up 4" in a week...

This is just throwing it on the ground, with no attempt to rake soil over it or anything. So I would expect the more you try to do the job "right" the better your results will be, but even if you just broadcast it, I would expect you will not be disappointed.

 

[RonR]

I have found excellent results by working the ground up some, then spread grass seed and starter fertilizer, then drive the turf tires over the yard to pack the seed down.

It keeps the soil from washing usually and provides good ground contact for the seed.

Of course, now that I have my pulverizer roller on my box blade, I roll grass seed in with it.................

Ron

 

[turnkey4099]

Driving over the young wheat won't harm it. The tracks will show for a day or two but soon recover. I am out in some of the richest wheat land in the nation (E WA). They run those great big machines (some applicators up to 90 ft width) over it every year for fertilyzer and pesticide.

Harry K

 

[npaden]

Okay, I found a spreader/seeder. It is a King Kutter and is only $399.95. That seems like a pretty good deal when a 40 year old 7' wheat drill is $1,250.

Here's a picture:

Here's the specs:

KING KUTTER'S SEEDER/SPREADER gives new meaning to the word adaptable. With this one tool you can spread seed, granular fertilizer, crystalline herbicides, pesticides and sand. Plus you can choose from three different spreading patterns; predominately left, predominately right, or left and right. The seamless all steel seeder\spreader is strong enough to endure rough handling and heavy use. The heat treated paint resists corrosion caused by chemicals and moisture. Each unit comes standard with a rotating agitator and gearbox with shielded drive line.

Model: S-500; weight: 220 LB; Hitch Category: CAT. 1; Capacity: 800 LBS.

Sounds like I have a weekend project ahead of me!

Thanks for all the input. Any other tips or tricks would be appreciated, this is a first for me.

Thanks, Nathan

 

[npaden]

Here's my current plan. I am going to run over the 5 acres with my rotary mower (shredder in Texas) and get the weeds knocked down. Might do that tonight. I feel bad because there are some sorghum stalks still out there just about to head out but it really is pretty weak and the predominant thing growing on it is weeds.

Then I will run my disc over it once or twice on Saturday morning to get the soil worked up good and then run the seeder over it that afternoon or Sunday. Do I need to let it sit a while before I plant?

Immediately after planting I need to go back over it as lightly as I can with my disc set all the way straight. This is going to be somewhat of a pain as my disc is adjustable but not without a lot of effort! I don't have a drag harrow though to just pull behind the seeder so I would need to make one of those. I have an old power pole that I thought I could drag around behind the seeder as a kind of harrow but that might be a little too big.

On the seeder, I think it has a setting for wheat, does it tell you how fast to go? Not sure if it will be slinging the seed in a 10 or 15 foot wide path or if it will be just barely covering the area behind the tractor, I guess I will figure that out as I go. I think it will be important to keep a constant speed as much as possible to get everything evenly distributed.

Lastly, should I put some type of fertilizer down now or later? This ground really hasn't been farmed in a long time, probably 7 or 8 years. I think it doesn't really need anything now but I for sure haven't taken a soil sample or anything.

On the weed killer that I need to put down in February, is that something I can put down with the spreader, or do I need to be looking for a sprayer?

Thanks again for all the input!!

Nathan

 

[stevenf]

npaden, I started doing food plots on our ranch 5 years ago with a jeep pulling a brushy Juniper tree to cover the seed and have progressed little by little into mechanized methods. My current setup and procedures are (I plant cool season and warm season plots the warm season plot has predominantly Legumes in it to increase my Nitrogen and give the white-tails the protein they need to grow big heavy antlers and my cool season plots consist of 40% wheat, 40% oats, 2% clover, 8% austrian winter peas and 6% annual rye grass. I use a subsoiler to break up the hard pack, then a chisel plow to further break up the clods, then a disc to further break up the clods, then fertilize with a spreader like you pictured at 250lbs per acre using granular fertilizer, then disc to mix it in, then seed with the spreader, then disc it fast with my disc set on one notch above straight. I planted my current plot the first part of September and it started raining 2 days later and has continued a little bit every couple of days, I do have a poor mans irrigation system 4 sprinkler heads set on 10 foot tall risers running a 3/4" line to all of them but so far I have not had to irrigate and the wheat and oats are already over 6" tall and growing about an inch a day now. Its a pretty site compared to my plots from years ago pulling cedar branches and I have it fenced now to keep all the domestic stock out of it. I'm sorry I don't have pictures yet I moved my bulk protein feeder when we fenced the plot and have thrown the white-tail off the field for a few more weeks I'm betting, or hoping, I saw my first two come back this morning, prior to moving it, it wasn't unusual to look out my living room window and see 20 deer out there matter of fact two weeks or so ago I had 7 mature bucks in the group at one time. My hunters are barely able to contain themselves as I've opened up the food plot this year for them to harvest the bucks out of as well as the rest of the ranch. I'll hopefully get pictures on Sunday and I'll try to remember to post them back on this thread for you.
Steve

 

[npaden]

Do you mix your seed together (wheat, oats, etc.) or do you put it on separate plots?

 

[RonR]

To get more even coverage, I'd set the rate for 1/2 of normal, then spread once in one direction. Do it again at an angle, to insure better coverage.

ron

 

[stevenf]

npaden, you need to address your questions to specific posters with the new setup but I'll assume your question was to me, Yes I buy it custom premixed as a matter of fact the only kicker is the austrian winter peas is a bit bigger then the rest but as Ron indicated set your seed spreader a little on the tight side and make multiple passes and you'll get a more even distribution of seed just make sure its set big enough to pass the largest seed in your mix or when you get done seeding and check your hopper you'll have strained all the small stuff out and have a hopper full of the bigger seeds. I made the mistake this planting of not being happy with my seeding about 3/4 the way thru and opened it up a bit more and now have a very heavy single strip in the middle of my plot. I decided it wasn't such a bad thing since my irrigation is centered and the center gets the most water but I was irritated at ny stupid mistake. This is only my second season using a PTO broadcast seeder before that we used hand crank seeders for the fertilizer and seed, it took forever and included walking many miles back and forth distributing the stuff. I really like my broadcast seeder.
Steve