No till seed

Quick question for you food plot experts. Have any of you guys had any luck with any of the throw and grow or no till sees blends? The reason I am asking is because I am currently in the process of clearing out a small areas for kind of a small food plot. And there is no way of getting any machinery in there so we are clearing it out by hand and raking it clean. So I was tempted to try a no roll seed blend to get things started then possibly over seed it either this fall or next spring with more clover to thicken it up. What are you’re thoughts?

I have no tilled both rye and oats and frost seeded clover, all with success. I have not tried any of the throw and grow seed blends though. Grouse will be more help with that than me.

I haven’t been impressed by the “throw and grow” seed blends out there. They contain a lot of filler and nobody who’s tried them has much good to say about them for the price.

As sticker says, clover, rye, and oats are some of the best “throw and grow” varieties, but with rye and oats, you have to have something to hide them or the birds will get them before they sprout. Clover is such fine seed the birds don’t see it.

If you haven’t already killed the plot area with gly, I’d wait until green up and do that. IF you frost seed clover into weeds, you end up with weeds and a few pieces of clover.

I’ve talked to several guys at sports shows lately that use the little motorized cultivators to work up remote plots. While not really a tiller, they are very good at scratching up remote plots quickly and they weigh only about 40 pounds so they can be carried or rolled into remote sites. They are all over on Craigslist for around $100. Worth thinking about.

Grouse

So you guys think the best thing to do will be let it the weeds and grass grow up and spray it with gly and burn it then seed it with a quality clover and oats?

I wouldn’t worry about burning it. I’ve had good luck with spreading seed, rolling it in and spraying the same day. Otherwise spray once. let it sit for a week and then spread the seed and spray again.
DT

Jeff Schomaker wrote:

So you guys think the best thing to do will be let it the weeds and grass grow up and spray it with gly and burn it then seed it with a quality clover and oats?

Yes, I think clover and oats is the best available option. You can either kill off the plot first or do as DT says and spray/seed at the same time.

Glyphosate has no residual effect in the soil or on seeds, it must hit green leaves or stems to be effective.

Grouse

I’m with DT on this too. Spread your seed(clover/oats) and any fertilizer you are going to add, then roll it to pack the seed and lay down the weeds, then spray with glyphosate(round up). I tried this last year with a couple brassica plots in late summer and it worked great, although I didn’t have weeds in the plot to start with. I had tilled and planted oats in the spring.