BSK
Well-Known Member
I mowed and tilled mine so I can't tell you. But a few stalks I missed stayed standing after the first freeze, but the leaves fell off. So if you want it as cover, plant it thick!
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Food Plots Sunn Hemp
- Thread starter BSK
- Start date
I always drill winter crops thru mine which leaves a lot standing but first hard freeze kills it, leaves drop and it dries out. Usually first ice or snow takes most of it down to resembling a winter corn stubble. It would be unsuitable for what you want.
We cut oak boughs while they are in leaf and surround our duck blinds. I suggest planting cane but nobody will take me up on it. Or plant black willows and keep them cut back so they never make trees.
We cut oak boughs while they are in leaf and surround our duck blinds. I suggest planting cane but nobody will take me up on it. Or plant black willows and keep them cut back so they never make trees.
eyeseeker
Well-Known Member
Could the sunn hemp be bush hogged more frequently to keep the fibers from becoming a problem for tillage? I'm thinking every other week or so.... cut it down to maybe 24 inches and let it keep growing back up with rain to add organic matter, but keep the fibers from getting problematic.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Interesting concept. I have no idea.
Its browse tolerance tells me it will survive some mowing but the height of the cut is likely a factor. I would suggest you would need to cut or break above an actively growing stem / leaf for the plant to sucker and continue.
Know that the stems crushed by tires down below the actively growing areas or near the grind will kill that plant.
I think Sunn Hemp is worth growing and the answer to its challenges is to make it a 10 to 20% player in a 5 to 9 specie blend rather than a monoculture
Note on the above
Mowing low and often will negate any weed suppression advantages you might have had. Especially with warm season weeds and grasses
Mowing low and often will negate any weed suppression advantages you might have had. Especially with warm season weeds and grasses
eyeseeker
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info fellas. I was thinking of mowing it at 30-36 inches high and trying to keep it around there to prevent it from becoming to fibrous and causing as many issues with tillage later.
Just trying to be helpful here but I have access to a lot of equipment and none of it gives me the ability to mow that high. An old sickle bar mower on a taller (rowcrop type) tractor might.
I would suggest if you are set on a monoculture of sun hemp then roll it down / drag it down end of august and top sow your fall plot into the mat. Till it all in next spring when the fibers have had time to decay. Otherwise a turning plow might be a better choice than a tiller and plow in the direction of the crimp
I would suggest if you are set on a monoculture of sun hemp then roll it down / drag it down end of august and top sow your fall plot into the mat. Till it all in next spring when the fibers have had time to decay. Otherwise a turning plow might be a better choice than a tiller and plow in the direction of the crimp
BSK
Well-Known Member
This! Even a disk, first run with the gangs straight, might cut it up just fine. It is the fact the tiller is rotary that is the problem. The long stems just wound around the spindle shaft. Mine got so bound up, the tiller blades weren't even contacting the ground anymore. The entire tiller looked like a giant ball of twine.
