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Food Plots Sunn Hemp

I stand corrected. Deer ARE eating the Sunn Hemp. I have them on video doing so. The stuff is just growing so fast I can't see the browse pressure. Here's a video of how tall the stuff is after 10 weeks, and this is in TERRIBLE soil.

Amazing growth! Wow! And considering how dry everything has been... very impressive!
 
Weed suppression is amazing. Under the Sunn Hemp canopy, just bare dirt.

Yes, we find arrowheads. Unfortunately, found one that cut through the steel belts of one of my truck tires! :mad:

Was perusing through the history section of our local library and found big books detailing the histories of various counties in TN. Flipped through the history of Humphreys County and there were many stories about the Settler/Indian battles in my area. In the late 1700s, the Duck River was the dividing line between Settler land (north of the river) and Indian land (south of the river). Apparently, the steep hills and hollers of the Paint Rock area (Paint Rock Rd along the river) was the primary area of contention and there were lots of small battles and killings along that section of the river. First, I had no idea the Indians painted Paint Rock long before the todays teenagers spay-painted it! Second, my place is very close to that, on the "Indian side" of the river, so they were actively living and hunting the area right up until the early 1800s.
We're on the Indian side of the duck as well. One a spot that was a well used ford for the natives.
 
Sunn Hemp growth 11 weeks after planting in TERRIBLE soil and through one of the worst 8-week droughts I can remember:
 

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I stand corrected. Deer ARE eating the Sunn Hemp. I have them on video doing so. The stuff is just growing so fast I can't see the browse pressure. Here's a video of how tall the stuff is after 10 weeks, and this is in TERRIBLE soil.
Cattle graze it well.
 
Big questions will be, how easily does it bushhog down, and will those tough stalks be a problem when we try to till it under?
Well...how did it take to being bushhogged? I need a good soil builder for the next 2 years before alfalfa goes in once I clear this 3.5 acres of junk trees by May.
 
One question I have. Were there any sunn hemp stalks left standing, whether intentionally or unintentionally? Just interested if it stayed "stood up" throughout fall and possibly be used as a screening barrier.

I had some sunn hemp leftover and thought about mixing it in with corn as a screening barrier? Corn needs nitrogen and sunn hemp is a legume - I wonder how those two would interact together
 
Well...how did it take to being bushhogged? I need a good soil builder for the next 2 years before alfalfa goes in once I clear this 3.5 acres of junk trees by May.
Bushhogging went well. Tilling went terrible. I will never try to till Sunn Hemp ever again! I'm going to have fields full of steel fibers forever! Now I think you could drill through the cut hemp with ease, as long as you are pulling the drill in the same direction of travel as when you bushhogged it.

Pic below is after bushhogging.
 

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One question I have. Were there any sunn hemp stalks left standing, whether intentionally or unintentionally? Just interested if it stayed "stood up" throughout fall and possibly be used as a screening barrier.

I had some sunn hemp leftover and thought about mixing it in with corn as a screening barrier? Corn needs nitrogen and sunn hemp is a legume - I wonder how those two would interact together
Yes, they will stand, but a freeze will knock the leaves off.
 
Bushhogging went well. Tilling went terrible. I will never try to till Sunn Hemp ever again! I'm going to have fields full of steel fibers forever! Now I think you could drill through the cut hemp with ease, as long as you are pulling the drill in the same direction of travel as when you bushhogged it.

Pic below is after bushhogging.
That is disheartening. I guess buckwheat it is then.
 
There's a reason they used to make rope that will hold a battleship at the pier out of hemp fibers! Every hair-like fiber is like steel wire once it dries.
 
That is disheartening. I guess buckwheat it is then.
I have a couple of plots I hope to do buckwheat in as well...hadn't priced it locally but I hope the price returns to normal soon....last year we saw it at $83 to $85 per 50lb bag... discouraging when your wanting to plant multiple acres.... really like buckwheat though...in the past it's performed well in some of our newer plots that have poorer soil....the turkeys and dove loved it....deer browsed it a little but not to bad...great soil builder and we let it go to seed for a second crop in late summer....but one of the most impressive things we experienced with buckwheat was it's ability to suppress weeds.
 
I have a couple of plots I hope to do buckwheat in as well...hadn't priced it locally but I hope the price returns to normal soon....last year we saw it at $83 to $85 per 50lb bag... discouraging when your wanting to plant multiple acres.... really like buckwheat though...in the past it's performed well in some of our newer plots that have poorer soil....the turkeys and dove loved it....deer browsed it a little but not to bad...great soil builder and we let it go to seed for a second crop in late summer....but one of the most impressive things we experienced with buckwheat was it's ability to suppress weeds.
I was paying about $80-85 per bag for Buckwheat last year. Expensive, but I'll continue to use it.

Strangely, deer sort of left it alone in summer. But they go crazy for it in early to mid-fall. No idea why.
 
I was paying about $80-85 per bag for Buckwheat last year. Expensive, but I'll continue to use it.

Strangely, deer sort of left it alone in summer. But they go crazy for it in early to mid-fall. No idea why.
Could it be that it provides a specific nutrient that they need and crave at that specific time?
 
I have a quick question about sunn hemp for any of yall that have grown it. What does it look like after frost and into winter. The reason I ask is because I am wondering if it could be sewn around our duckblind to help hide it in a flooded cornfield. The corn doesnt get as tall as the blind and breaks over leaving the blind kinda sticking out. If the sunn hemp stays up it might help conceal the blind
 

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