Soil builder mixes?

[StucknAz]

Have any of you planted soil builder mixes like Vitalize/Droptine/Green Cover? Anyone have any opinion on these? I like the idea, with limited acreage to plant 3 acres I worry beans won’t stand a chance especially with my recent census after cutting last falls corn. Anyone run these rotations with success? My only concern is the price.

I’d like to have summer food available on my new farm, if they are in the mix then good, that would be part of the plan where beans would not be a positive if they eat them to the ground week one. I’d be taking away from summer draw and antler building from beans if fenced.

 

[Bassattackr]

If not doing beans or corn, you'd be hard pressed to beat an Alice / Red clover field in the summer for deer food. I frost seed this exact clover mix into my cereal grain / brassica green fields each winter. Mow all summer, then disc under for a fall plot. Or spray and no til into it depending on your preference.

- Pros: Free N from clover, little mass to work against for fall plot. Excellent food source. Still maintain antler building goal, I'd even argue potentially better - Due to earlier start from clover vs beans. This is often times overlooked. Plus milk for nursing does/fawns..
- Con: Not best soil builder compared to below option. But could fix by using Rye, etc in fall mix.

If building soil is a (bigger) priority, you could make your own mix fairly easily by mixing sunflowers, sorghum sudan (or any sorghum really), cowpeas and beans. Three of four are good summer deer food. You'd have to turn it under to get a good fall plot, given all that mass.. Then your fall plot requires more N as an input given the microbes working on all that carbon instead of feeding the new fall plot seedlings.

- Pro: Good soil building mix
- Cons: Huge initial N consumer in the fall due to all the decaying carbon. Will have to use more Nitrogen on your fall plot to overcome the N deficit.
Will have to handle all that mass somehow. Disc or till under. Potential problem for no til method.

Good luck!

 

[MN Slick]

I've planted warm season soil builders a few times and they turned out great as long as it rained. My fall hunting mixes drilled into the summer mixes have not done well at all.......due to a lack of rain. I love the concept but the consistent lack of rain has me going to more clover based plots.