Food Plots Roundup Ready Soybean seed from the Co-op

[BSK]

I can adjust mine and set it on very close rows also but I still had better beans broadcasting. For deer plots I like mine thick. Just my 2 cents

I tend to overseed. The seeding rates most publish are based on maximizing crop production. Too much seed and the plants crowd each other and stunt growth. However, when you're growing a crop simply to feed deer, and you have enough deer to impact plant growth, plants crowding each other may not be a problem. In fact, overseeding may be necessary to produce a stand of plants towards maturity, as deer wipe out so many young plants in their early growth stages.

 

[Grnwing]

BSK, one thing I have found with the production/agricultural beans vs the Eagle beans is the forage beans will have a better tolerance for browse pressure, as the are modified to be more like a vine. I have planted both Eagle and agricultural rr beans but found that once the deer bit the tops of the ag beans they would not regrow as vigorous as the Eagle beans. Once the beans are tall and dense enough they shade out the ground keeping weeds out but more importantly conserving soil moisture that helps them make it through the summer dry spells. I would also plant my beans closer to early may(I m in West Tn) to give them a chance to grow tall enough to handle the browse pressure but it also times well with other native browse being more palatable in early May compared to early June. I have found that earlier plantings help avoid fencing my beans, which saves me time on setting up and maintaining electric fence. The Eagle beans would require you to rethink your fall strategy as my Eagle beans will be green all the way into October. It works well for archery season but then in October I over seed with wheat and winter peas and let the deer pick between the soybean pods and wheat/peas. Come spring green up, I have great looking wheat/pea stand that I always hate to terminate in order to get the next crop of beans in.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

^^^ Indeterminant vs determinant beans. One keeps growing after being "nipped" and the other doesn't.

 

[BSK]

Grwning,

Thanks for the info. I will try some of the Eagle Seed beans next summer. Probably the Wildlife Manager's Mix.

But I'm in a unique situation in that I have few deer using my property in the summer, but the property gets flooded with deer in fall/winter. For that reason, my fall plantings take priority over everything. I need to maximize ever square inch of plantable ground for fall/winter food sources. Most land managers aren't in that situation, and I would recommend to them what you recommend, planting fall mix into the standing beans.

 

[Popcorn]

They only move onto the property in mid-Fall.

LOL You sound like a neighbor to one of the farms I take care of! He owns 10 acres that includes a great funnel between acres and acres of food (us) and thousands of acres of timber company pine thickets. we feed em, he calls me to see how his deer are doing then comes in to hunt the rut.

 

[BSK]

LOL You sound like a neighbor to one of the farms I take care of! He owns 10 acres that includes a great funnel between acres and acres of food (us) and thousands of acres of timber company pine thickets. we feed em, he calls me to see how his deer are doing then comes in to hunt the rut.

I'm sort of lucky. I don't feed the deer I hunt. My neighboring farmers do! My place is a "knoll" of high, steep ridges inside a big U-bend of a major river system. Wrapping around on 3 sides of the 2-3 square mile block of ridge-and-hollow hardwoods is a HUGE expanse of river-bottom agriculture. In the summer, most of the deer in the area are down in those massive bean and cornfields. But once the acorns start to fall, and especially once the crops start being harvested, all those deer "head for the hills."

Right now, my entire buck population on 500 acres is four yearlings. Come November, I'll have 40-50 different bucks using the property, including several fully mature bucks. Just a whopping difference between seasons of the year. But the interesting thing is, the same deer will come back in Fall year after year, so I control a lot of their harvest mortality during deer season.

 

[jmb4wd]

I always cut my eagle beans with some cheaper coop ag beans that are round up ready. I've had great success with Allen variety soybeans as well. Some times I'll plant them if eagles are now available. Definitely not the same as a forage bean but do well for the money

 

[BSK]

OK, I've seen enough of my experimental summer plots to make a report. I wanted to see what would happen in the worst case scenario, so I did NOT spray my winter plots before turning them under. They were 24" tall wheat seeding out and blooming crimson clover when I turned them under. Then I broadcast 30 pounds of RR production soybeans, 30 pounds of iron and clay peas, and 20 pounds of buckwheat per acre and covered them by dragging a heavy chain harrow. I did not spray with roundup because I didn't want to kill my non-RR plants. Plots did pretty good for 6-7 weeks, but primarily the soybeans and buckwheat. Not impressed with the iron and clay peas (low germination, slow growth, moderate deer utilization). Was surprised I did not see the deer utilization of buckwheat in summer like I do in fall. Deer went crazy over the soybeans. By about 7 weeks, foxtail and other grasses overtook the soybeans, which are now buried in grasses. Deer as still going down into the grass to get them, but much harder to find.

For next year, changes will be:

Doubt I will spray winter plots before tilling because I will be going all RR summer crop.

Will broadcast Eagle Summer Managers Mix at 150% the seeding rate for drilling.

Instead of dragging with the "flat" side of the chain harrow, will bury seed with "tine" side of harrow (flat side produced too much compaction, and drug the seed around too much).

Will hit plots with Roundup 4 weeks after germination (once as much weed/grass seed as possible has germinate but not before it gets up above 6").

Might try a slow rotational planting of fall plots so not all plots are turned under at the same time. I'm usually pushing hard to get all fall plots in when the weather is right, but if the summer Eagle soybeans are doing well, I might transition a few plots at a time over a month or 6 weeks.