Food Plots Help with late summer grasses

[BSK]

There may not be answer to this, but any ideas would be welcome.

My problem is late-summer grasses that take over my summer plots. My summer plots are planted in non-Roundup Ready forage soybeans and sorghum (although I will be substituting dwarf sorghum [milo] for the sorghum this year). I use non-Roundup Ready soybeans because they are cheaper, and I cannot spray the plots without killing the sorghum, hence no need for Roundup Ready beans. The soybeans are for deer to eat, but the sorghum is for green manure that will be mowed down on top of my fall seed in September.

This mixture does fine through mid-July. The first video below was filmed July 8 of this last year. Other than the sorghum having been planted at too high of a density and grown too tall (why I'm switching to dwarf sorghum this year), everything is doing fine. Deer are still able to browse on the soybeans even though they are slowly getting chocked out by the too dense, too tall sorghum. However, the second video was recorded in the same location just a month later (Aug 10). Foxtail and fescue have taken over the plot. The foxtail is literally 9-10-feet tall.

Because I can't spray Roundup or a grass specific herbicide without killing the sorghum, any ideas on what I can do to keep these grasses from taking over my plots in late summer? I'm hoping to have deer using them right up until I seed my fall crop and mow the existing growth down on top the seed in mid-September.

 

[Popcorn]

Wow that's some world record foxtail you got there!
Do you plant forage beans?
If not definitely do that.
Eagle has a variety that actually vines to a degree saying that cause there may be a non-gly vining forage beans out there somewhere.
Beyond that increase your bean rate and add a couple more species that are more compatible with the beans like buckwheat, annual clover like balansa.
Otherwise get yourself a wick applicator for the front of your atv / UTV.
You will have to kill that foxtail then kill it a few more times.

 

[BSK]

Popcorn,

I haven't used the Eagle vining beans simply because of the cost. I'm using Hutchinson forage beans.

I may try a plot or two of buckwheat/balansa instead of the milo, so that I can use a wick applicator. Although strangely, I've used buckwheat in summer before and the deer hardly touch it. Then I plant it in fall and they go crazy over it. Still don't understand that.

The sorghums certainly do produce a great deal of green manure, but that foxtail is killing me.

 

[deerhunter10]

Popcorn,

I haven't used the Eagle vining beans simply because of the cost. I'm using Hutchinson forage beans.

I may try a plot or two of buckwheat/balansa instead of the milo, so that I can use a wick applicator. Although strangely, I've used buckwheat in summer before and the deer hardly touch it. Then I plant it in fall and they go crazy over it. Still don't understand that.

The sorghums certainly do produce a great deal of green manure, but that foxtail is killing me.

We used to fight foxtail in our hay fields which is a no no for horse quality hay. We had no choice but to use a preemergent to get it under control. We were told we could plant on top of it. May be an option. After a few years we didn't have to spray it. Foxtail and Johnson grass are the 2 that we have always fought the hardest. And hard to do anything with either without herbicides.

We have used the Eagle beans and were very impressed with them as well. We made a blend with peas and a small amount of sunflowers for the beans to climb. We have johnson grass problems in a few of our plots and that blend really suppressed it. We are planting it again this year. It's not perfect but it's worked decent enough for us to be satisfied.
Do you do your mow and no till method for your summer plots to or do you work them up?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Millet and Johnson….UGH! Been battling those for 5-6 years. I think we've finally gotten it under control. Key is to spray it before it creates seed. Will be going through our plots with a spray nozzle to spot spray all the bad stuff a time or two before planting our summer crops. Which in spring, the main thing you see is thistle forming. Got to zap that early. I still have @Popcorn 's thread saved on this from last year - it's a must for this year in feb-mar for us:

Food Plots Thread 'Thistle crowns!'

Feb 20, 2024

Hey, yall want to get ahead of thistle now is the time! Established thistle can be hard to eradicate because of the large root in the ground that stores the plants energy. It's easy to kill the top but the it comes back.
Right now thru March thistle crowns are spreading and growing and are very vulnerable and they are relatively easy to find. Hit them hard with a strong mix of gly with a good surfactant and hurt them bad, mix in a little crossbow and be done with that one.
While you are at it look for mullen or lambs ear. It grows in the same soils that thistle likes and where I find one...

• Popcorn
• Replies: 15
• Forum: Food Plots

• 

I'm with Popcorn on preventing these grasses - I say buckwheat and/or annual clover should choke out most of the weeds, while getting shade from the sorghum once the beans start getting hammered

 

[Popcorn]

Popcorn,

I haven't used the Eagle vining beans simply because of the cost. I'm using Hutchinson forage beans.

I may try a plot or two of buckwheat/balansa instead of the milo, so that I can use a wick applicator. Although strangely, I've used buckwheat in summer before and the deer hardly touch it. Then I plant it in fall and they go crazy over it. Still don't understand that.

The sorghums certainly do produce a great deal of green manure, but that foxtail is killing me.

I chose the buckwheat and balansa due to their compatibility with your beans and sorghum. I suggest planting it all together as soon as the ground is warm enough for the sorghum. I am a huge fan of blending compatible species to achieve a better result. You will have to out compete that foxtail or kill it. Total shading of the ground is a good start.

I wonder about a reduced rate of gly at a reduced application rate to try to kill the foxtail before you kill the sorghum.?

 

[BSK]

Do you do your mow and no till method for your summer plots to or do you work them up?

Yes, summer crops are planted throw-and-mow. Once the fall-planted crimson and cereal grains have seeded out and died (usually May 15-20), we broadcast seed and mow the dead clover/wheat down on top the seed. We're getting better germination than I expected on the soybeans with this method, but this year I'm going to up the seeding rate a bit on the soybeans. Deer can wipe out a lot of newly germinated soybeans in short order!