Germination Question
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
We planted our food plots in south Alabama in the last weekend of September. Planted recommended seed rates of wheat oats and winter rye blend. Burned down plots 2 weeks before with glyphosate and bushhogged all dead weeds out. This year we had a cultipacker available to us and cultipacked seed into ground. We had rain within a week of planting and 5 inches within 2 weeks from the hurricane. After pretty favorable rains we were pretty ecstatic that the plots were going to come up, however getting up there this weekend we have very little germination in all of the plots we have planted. We are very green in our food plotting knowledge but figured we could surely get seed to come up. Anyone have any ideas of what could be holding us back
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
We planted our food plots in south Alabama in the last weekend of September. Planted recommended seed rates of wheat oats and winter rye blend. Burned down plots 2 weeks before with glyphosate and bushhogged all dead weeds out. This year we had a cultipacker available to us and cultipacked seed into ground. We had rain within a week of planting and 5 inches within 2 weeks from the hurricane. After pretty favorable rains we were pretty ecstatic that the plots were going to come up, however getting up there this weekend we have very little germination in all of the plots we have planted. We are very green in our food plotting knowledge but figured we could surely get seed to come up. Anyone have any ideas of what could be holding us back
From: drycreek
14-Oct-17
Did you disc at all ? Or just cultipack ? We need a little more detail of the whole process.
From: CAS_HNTR
14-Oct-17
How many turkeys do you have on the property? They can do a number in germination success
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
We burned down, disked twice to get a fine soil, cultipacked once, seeded, and cultipacked again. Like I said this was the last weekend in September so it was/is still hot. We received a light .10 inch rain the day after planting and then no substantial rain for the next week until the hurricane came into the area and dumped 5 inches. We have taken soil samples and they are in a range of 6 to as high as 6.6ph. Nutrients are in a decent range but could use a shot of GRO humic booster. We are unsure if the heat is zapping the energy out of the soil or if we are doing something wrong in the process. CAS we do have a rebound of turkeys on the property since our clearcuts are now 3-4 years old. I have attached a picture of what I believe is purslane coming up in the plots from looking at recent week forums. If anyone could give some insight or any further help would be greatly appreciated.
From: t-roy
14-Oct-17
Is the plot flat or sloping? Is the ground crusted over? If we get a hard rain here in Iowa, some of our soils will crust, making it difficult for plants to emerge. Have you tried digging into the dirt to try to find your seeding and see if they are sprouting or not?
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
No T-Roy I did plan on doing that when I get up to the lease in 2 weeks. Would pulling a drag over the plots help in this particular situation to loosen that top crust.
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
Most plots are flat as they were landing decks in the piney woods that dominate our area. Buddy of mine said plots have plenty of moisture left in them and they are not crusted over. There are a ton of tracks in most of the plots what lead me to believe that the deer may have gotten into the plots and ate the little bit growth that grew up before we could see any real growth.
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
Okay here is a real time pic from my buddy in the tree. Now that I am putting eyes on the plot as a whole I think the plot isn't as bad as he is making it seem. Unable to tell from the photo if it is seed germinating or weeds or a mix of both. But getting this photo has boosted my confidence quite a bit.
From: CAS_HNTR
14-Oct-17
That plot just looks young.......not sure its a germination issue at all
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
Same thing I was explaining to my buddy CAS. He expects it to look like a full lush plot after only 3 weeks
From: t-roy
14-Oct-17
I would think you would have more growth than in the pic, unless it was planted in dry dirt. A tenth of an inch might not have been enough to get your seed to germinate. If that’s the case, your seed didn’t germinate for at least a week till you got the 5” of rain, so you have realistically you’ve only had 2 weeks of growing, which I would guess is the case.
As far as breaking the crust, if needed in future situations, your cultipacker would probably do a lot better job than drag harrow would, IMO. I would think it would disturb the plant less if it had germinated but not yet emerged.
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
It was planted in a dry seedbed. Rain has been really spotty lately in that area. Forecast showed rain right up until we had planned to go. We will see what happens with a little more rain and cooler temperatures coming the next couple days.
From: drycreek
14-Oct-17
Wheat planted dry
Wheat planted dry
Planting in dry dirt is not the problem in my experience, IF you get the rain you need in a timely manner. I've had seeds lay in dust for three weeks before and make a good crop. If you got a little rain, then a week or so later 5", then the scenario of germination and then burning up for lack of moisture wasn't the problem. ( That's what I'm dealing with now). It sounds like you didn't cover it too deeply either, so I'm with Troy. Give it another couple weeks before you give up on it. We (me) seem to want our plots to grow faster than they do sometimes.
This plot looks much better now than in this pic. The left side filled in nicely after a little more moisture.
From: drycreek
14-Oct-17
GRO Mass Builder
GRO Mass Builder
I haven't seen this plot in a couple weeks or more. This is a classic case of enough moisture to germinate, but none thereafter. I'm afraid to see what it looks like now, but I'll know Monday, for better or worse.
BTW, I planted this with rain in the forecast, but they lied.
From: Bauda180
14-Oct-17
Dry creek I agree. Looking at the weather that 5 inch rani was just last week. So we are really only seeing 1 weeks worth of growth. Hard to measure success on just one week. Will keep updated on how they come up in a few weeks. Thanks for the replies.
From: t-roy
14-Oct-17
Drycreek....they lied to me all summer here! Very little rain all summer, now it’s a monsoon here:-/
From: Michael Schwister
15-Oct-17
show a picture in another 10 days or so. One of the seedlings in the pic was a brassica
From: drycreek
15-Oct-17
Troy, yesterday my rain chances were 90% according to my Weather Channel app. We got zilch, zero, nada ! Only damn job in the world where you can be wrong over half the time and still get paid..........with the exception of government work of course :-)
