Food plot

[HUNTER2]

My food plots come up good and then get overun by tall grass. How do you keep it out? I just mowed my brassy buck from Kyle and it was about 16" tall and the grass was about 2' tall. Hopefully I was supposed to mow it.

[dakids]

Hunter2 I am not to sure what is in brassy buck but if it has brassicas in it, it probably was a bad idea to mow it.  I could be wrong, and I hope for your sake I am, but it might be an expensive lesson learned.

[steiny]

This was my problem for the last few years.  Plant in spring and have a weed infested plot come late summer.
Now I am only planting last week of July - 1st week in August (about now).  It seems to work great.
My thougth (maybe wrong) but the deer have plenty in the woods to live off of all spring and summer.  My plots will be good well into late season by planting them later in the year.
Good luck - keep us informed if the mowing worked.

[Big E]

If you want to plant in the spring you have to plan for it and work on it now. The best thing to do is kill it off all yr and then plant in late July early August with a annual or bi-annual like Rye. I like Rye because of it's chemicals that prohibit small seeds to germinate. Then in the spring spray the Rye and plant your brassicas. This plan has worked time and time again for weed free food plots. I make sure to not disturb the soil with a drag or disk. Just broadcast your seed in the spring.
 Mowing your brassicas is ok as long as they have water and plenty of growing season left and you didn't mow them too short. They will bounce back. I would suggest fertilizing them with nitrogen to give them a recovery boost.

[LandDr]

Hunter2...that is the potential issue with spring planted brassicas, you have the whole growing season for weeds to come in.  There is also the issue of the brassicas gettig too big which they then get woody and lose palatiblity...maybe lower protein as well.

Sometimes spring planted brassicas work out and some times the don't because they get too big.

If you are going to "clip" brassicas, make sure to clip high...just take the tops off.  If you cut too low and too much, the clippings can create a "mulch" that covers up everything and prevents the plants to come back up thru the mulch.  If you didn't form too much of a mulch, then you should be OK.

Fall planted brassicas are usually smaller but you have better weed control and don't have to mow.

Pros and cons for everything I guess.

Land Dr

[HUNTER2]

Is there any spray that will kill the grass and not the brasicas?