Well - 3 weeks ago - we disked the best we could the 2-3 acres that was too wet to plant with corn this spring. It was hard to disk because so many weeds had grown up out of the plowed clover/grass sod - plus it was still very wet.

Last week - I sprayed it with roundup, then Sunday I planted 15 lbs of ladino/alsike clover mixed 50/50 about. I rolled it all flat many times with a cast iron cultipacker - and cast about 20 lbs of soybeans and rolled them in on the far 1/2 acre. Topdressed with 300 lbs of 5-10-5 fertilizer.



In the picture - the field is still pretty green, but was wilting. Its hopefull the spraying and not disking again will help to eliminate weed growth. Not the whole field pictured was planted - in the distance you can see a 1/4 acre section of hay - its too rocky to mow well, much less plant. and on the right you can see a 3/4 acre section of Ladino clover/grass mix thats aging, but I did not plow up.

I' ve never tried Alsike CLover - Have any of you? I hear its between red & White for size - do the deer seem to like it? I' ll update the plot as we go.

Too wet...thats a bizare thought. So dry in Western MO we need danger signs around the cracks in the ground!

Farmhunter I seeded ladino clover yesterday, Monday 18th, around the perimeter of a corn field, on one of the farms we till,we have to leave a 15 ft border around the owners field and seed it so he can hunt it. Noticed a lot I mean a lot of deer damage on the corn. This guy only shoots 6 pt or better, no does and only a couple of hunters at that, so you can imagine the damage.

Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) native of northern Europe
Likes cool climate and abundant moisture
Less sensitive to soil acidity or alkalinity
Aslike will grow sometimes where red will not flourish
Aslike will produce only one crop per season

30 days after disking - 10 days after spraying - and 7 after planting:

http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...r_planting.jpg

You can see that the roundup has done its job - What you cannot see are the 100,000s of tiny 2 leaf clover seedlings that are coming on. I' m very pleased with the plot, I had hoped I could make it a little more level - But its pretty good.

The reason for letting the plot sit for 2-3 weeks after spraying- is to let as many sod roots - send up shoots - and as many weed seeds germinate as possible - then spray roundup - wait 3 days and roll in the clover (do not disk again - it only exposes more residual seeeds)

I will post the progress of the plot

looks like I still have a few rocks to pick

I grew up on a central Illinois farm...flat, black as coal soil depper than deep, moved to Missouri and now have a great farm of clay, trees, and fescue. I Have to admit, your soil is what we talked about in soils class as being " highly permeable" and " Rocky" ...Looks like a great place for food plots but I' d hate to tru to make a living growing corn on it!

Wooddust,
I also grew up in Northern Ill. same soil there. Now am in Northern Miss. with sandy, clay soil and plenty of rocks. The heat, humidity seems to destroy any humus you try to work in the soil. (I keep telling the wife that I' m going to load the pickup with soil when we go back north to visit.) She laughs and tells me it will burn up in weeks. (I was a city boy and she was farm raised.)
Russ

9/20/03

Update.




Well about one month after planting - The clover is starting to fill in. Both the ladino and alsike show about the same growth rate - maybe the alsike is a little faster. 4 weeks after planting, the clover is about 2-3" tall. Definitely not a huge fall draw like some people expect. With a fall planting (Mid August) - I plan on very little deer use that hunting season. Actually I' m quite happy with the growth and the effectiveness of the roundup. The " bare spots" in the picture do have clover growth, but are drier and high spots for the most part and the growth is much less than in the lower spots.

My biggest problem with the field is it has some pretty deep ruts because it was so wet when I sprayed and later planted.

All in all I' m happy with the plot. I won' t plant soybeans again late though with clover - the deer let them get about 2-4" tal and nipped off almost every single plant - a light planting of rapeseed or oats would make a better nurse crop for the clover.