Oats in food plot.
 

I am trying to figure out what went wrong. I have a 1 acre plot I wanted to plant in oats, Day 1- I sprayed it with round up to kill all weed.
Day 8-Burnt off all the dead grass.
Day 14- Disced it all under.
Day 16- Put down fertilizer and tilled it all in.
Day 17- Broadcast seed and drug the whole plot.
Day 23- oats are 4-5" tall, green lush..
Day 30-oats are 8-10" tall, green lush, deer seem to be in it pretty good and alot of turkey's.
Day 35- half of plot is turning brown and look bad, other half look great.
Day 42- Whole plot is dead, some places there is no growth only bare dirt.
We had good rain fall

So my question is did I do something wrong or did the deer and turkey's destroy it??????

First, what the heck is that in your avatar, a giant carp? What ever it is, its a biggun.

I do not know, I have seen wheat germinate and dry up in two weeks, but have only seen that once in 20 years. That was very dry year, finally got .3" of rain to germinate, then it quit again.

I've seen deer eat it to the ground, but never turn brown and die like that without very cold temps.

Did you spray only roundup? How is the drainage? Is it worse in high spots or low spots? Possibly a fungus or insect problem. Have seen lightning kill spots out of a field, but that's a long shot.

Pics?

When did you plant the oats? Was anything else sprayed in the plot? Did the oats look like they were being grazed/plucked, or where they turning brown and shriveling up? What, if any, weeds do you still have growing?

It could very well be that deer and turkeys ate the whole plot, especially if you do not have other food sources in the immediate area. Sounds like you did things just fine, and oats are rather easy to grow.

Thats kinda of a strange problem, I grow oats every year and most of the time they do great. The only time I have had problems is with very low rainfall. I havent planted any of mine this year because of low rainfall, planning on planting mine the 2nd weekend in sept. I could understand the deer eating it down, but that shouldnt have turned it brown. Do you have someone close by who doesnt like you? Sounds like someone might have sprayed it with roundup for you.

Round up is all I sprayed.
Drainage is good.
There were no other weeds in plot.
It looked awesome for a little while, I also thought of someone may have sprayed it, dont think so though.
On some of the plants it did look like something like a bug was eating on it.
we did have a 2 week spell with no rain after it was 8" tall or so, would that kill it???
Seemed like the parts in the sun died first, then the other half that sees more shade died, we did have several 100 degree days in that time frame..
The pic in the avatar is a bighead carp-92#

No, by the time it is that size, two dry weeks is a cake walk. It isn't by chance on a powerline is it? Power company could have sprayed it depending on the individual crew.

Take some pics if you can, I'm stumped.

I don't know, anybody know of any soil diseases that would do that? Maybe plant another type of oats this year, are there any hybrid varieties that would be more disease resistant?

Oats are very prone to residual herbicide damage. Heavy applications of some herbicides, particularly in heavy soils, will kill oats for several years after application. Damage is about as you describe. Don't ask how I know!

+1

i refuse to use herbicide on food plots. This year we will plant oats and wheat on about 15 acres of food plots on three widely dispersed places. We plant our oats after the grass has turned brown and after a decent rain. i like the ground to have a lot of moisture when we plant. The old Okies call it "mudding in oats".

Which herbicides have caused issues?

Obviously something like Pursuit or Treflan could do it, maybe atrazine?

I'd like to know so I don't screw any up. :popcorn:

I agree 100%, but could there have been something from the spring in something like a cowpea plot, or possibly something from the previous season?

If there is, I want to know all the culprits!

I sprayed all 10 plots and the one with Oats is the only one that did this, I dont have any pics, was so mad saturday I disced it all under and am going to try and plant something else, I am greatful for all the advise. Thanks Everyone!!!!

My money is on lack of moisture. It would be unlikely in many soils, but with some light or overworked soils I've seen it happen, especially with that heat. There really isn't any other explanation.

One thing's for sure, even if the oats hadn't died, they would have been to mature to be attractive in hunting season. Oats is a cool season annual and 100 degree temperatures is something just about any cool season plant can not handle, even with moisture available. The Oats would yield much higher quality forage planted around the first of September or slightly later. High temperatures are still possible, but with decreasing day length, growth will be slower and the heat is bound to subside with each passing day.

I dont know haystack. I hear about folks up there planting brassicas in July. I'm just starting to think about those now.

You have a point though, my oats are most attractive when planted around October 1.

Makes sense hoss, My oats work best when planted around the last week of Aug and the beginning of Sept. (30 days before a frost, just like yours) It gets them out of the summer dry times and the deer really seem to like them when they are 6 to 8 inches and green which is where mine are in Oct from planting right around now.

HOpel,
I'd honestly disc it up and replant the oats. I'd be willing to bet they just didn't get enough moisture and couldn't take the summer heat. Don't give up on them, just plant some more here in the next week or two.

I disced it up already and will plant them again, just alittle later this time. Thanks Everyone...

HunterOpel, I planted all of my plots around the 9th of August and received a two week dry spell after the plants were about 2 inches tall. Just as you said, the sunny spots died first and then followed the shaded spots. These plots were winter wheat and turnips. The temps got into the low 90's for about 3 days and that's all it took. It burnt them all the way to the ground. I was just as mad as you were... I ended up sticking my finger down into the ground to see how hot the soil was and it damn near burnt my finger. No wonder the roots didn't survive. I just replanted turnips across all the plots on the 1st of September. Will see how they turned out next weekend.

Good luck to you and your plots.

i like to plant oats in moist ground sometime around Labor Day. Middle of last week we had 4.5" of rain at one of our places. The soil at that place is a nice sandy loam. Yesterday we drilled 8 acres of Chilocco oats.

I have had quite the opposite response from my oats. This year I planted them middle of august and we did not get a drop of rain for 2 weeks with hot temps and they all came up great and were about 6 inches tall after 3 weeks. Same thing last year, I planted them and we got no rain for a week and they all came up awesome. I usually don't even look at the weather when I plant because they've always come up so good.

Opel, any update on your new planting?

X2 I have had the same results.

Could possibly be nitrogen burn. Did you over-fertilize?

Ive seen it happen to rye. 12 inches in a week and dead the next week.