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Post by terrifictom on Feb 4, 2022 14:41:19 GMT -6
Follow up: My one acre test plot grew great until it got invaded with sedge grass. They still grew but the sedge took a lot of the nutrients/fertilizer away. The deer browsed them lightly during the summer months as I had soybeans planted next to them. I planted a brassica mix in two plots in late July and I put some collards that I had left over in that mix. As my beans turned yellow the deer really started hitting my brassicas and collards. By late October my brassica plots were almost browsed off. The collards were heavily browsed but kept pushing out new growth even when night time temps dropped below freezing once in a while. I will definitely be planting collards again. A couple things I will do different will be if I plant in Spring I will spray and kill all weeds and grasses before planting. Besides fertilizing when planting I will give 2nd dose of fertilizer in mid July. On my brassica mix which I plant in late July I will increase the amount of Collards and decrease the amount of rape in the mix because of the collard's ability to keep growing after being heavily browsed. I also am tossing the idea to plant straight collards in mid to late July as the growth you get in 30 to 45 days is unbelievable. This would give more time to kill all weeds and grasses before planting and I would only have to fertilize at time of planting. 30-45 days of growth results in a nice, thick stand (assuming the deer don't browse them to the ground)? Yes assuming that the deer don't browse to ground. Even the plants that were browsed heavily kept pushing out new growth. In my case I plant adjacent to my soybean plots which get most of the attention until they start turning yellow in September.
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Post by smsmith on Feb 4, 2022 14:45:53 GMT -6
30-45 days of growth results in a nice, thick stand (assuming the deer don't browse them to the ground)? Yes assuming that the deer don't browse to ground. Even the plants that were browsed heavily kept pushing out new growth. In my case I plant adjacent to my soybean plots which get most of the attention until they start turning yellow in September. I noticed that here last year too. The collards are also very drought tolerant once established. I'm trying to figure out what to plant on the neighbor's acreish plot next year. I'm toying with a mix of forage collards with just a bit of green globe turnip mixed in. If I could get that seed down in mid-June, maybe I could avoid the whole trying to time a thunder storm in July deal.
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Post by benmnwi on Feb 4, 2022 15:46:08 GMT -6
How tall do the collards get compared to dwarf essex rape? The deer are pounding my DER, purple top turnip and groundhog radish mix right now. I'm just wondering how the collards would fit into that mix or if they would be better to plant straight.
I like the idea of potentially planting collards in June rather than July when I typically plant my brassica mix.
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Post by kooch on Feb 4, 2022 16:39:23 GMT -6
I wonder how large they’ll get too. I had Winfred plants to my waist with stems thumb thick. Deer ate the stems and all.
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Post by terrifictom on Feb 4, 2022 17:02:13 GMT -6
How tall do the collards get compared to dwarf essex rape? The deer are pounding my DER, purple top turnip and groundhog radish mix right now. I'm just wondering how the collards would fit into that mix or if they would be better to plant straight. I like the idea of potentially planting collards in June rather than July when I typically plant my brassica mix. I used 1 pound of Collard seed along with purple top and hybrid rape in my brassica mix this year. Left out the Ground hog radish as the deer were eating them as soon as they came out of ground. There was very little difference in height collards vs other brassicas. This year I will go 50 to 75 percent collards in the mix.
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Post by Catscratch on Feb 21, 2022 19:16:06 GMT -6
Collards seed came in, and they were nice enough to throw in a second book!
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Post by smsmith on Apr 4, 2022 13:41:03 GMT -6
So I'm thinking about throwing a few lbs. of forage collards in along with the frosty berseem that I intend to frost seed on the neighbor's acreish plot. I think the general consensus last year was that frost seeding them can work if conditions are right?
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Post by Catscratch on Apr 4, 2022 14:01:11 GMT -6
So I'm thinking about throwing a few lbs. of forage collards in along with the frosty berseem that I intend to frost seed on the neighbor's acreish plot. I think the general consensus last year was that frost seeding them can work if conditions are right? I went with that through advice from the internets. Will soon see...
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Post by smsmith on Apr 4, 2022 14:04:29 GMT -6
So I'm thinking about throwing a few lbs. of forage collards in along with the frosty berseem that I intend to frost seed on the neighbor's acreish plot. I think the general consensus last year was that frost seeding them can work if conditions are right? I went with that through advice from the internets. Will soon see... It will be interesting to see how they do for you. This is probably a pipe dream on my part, but I'm thinking if I could get a mixed stand of frosty and collards, it could be a "one and done" kind of plot. That'd be pretty cool if it would work.
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Post by Catscratch on Apr 4, 2022 14:40:41 GMT -6
I went with that through advice from the internets. Will soon see... It will be interesting to see how they do for you. This is probably a pipe dream on my part, but I'm thinking if I could get a mixed stand of frosty and collards, it could be a "one and done" kind of plot. That'd be pretty cool if it would work. I've got no clue what to expect. I certainly haven't thought of it as a 1 and done thing yet, but I certainly won't turn that away if it's the case.
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Post by benmnwi on Apr 5, 2022 11:01:44 GMT -6
My order of forage collards arrived yesterday. I have a clover plot at my cabin that is filled with weeds, so I'm considering spraying that plot with round-up in late May and then broadcast a mixture of forage collards, clover, alfalfa and chicory. Has anybody tried anything similar?
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 5, 2022 11:21:05 GMT -6
My order of forage collards arrived yesterday. I have a clover plot at my cabin that is filled with weeds, so I'm considering spraying that plot with round-up in late May and then broadcast a mixture of forage collards, clover, alfalfa and chicory. Has anybody tried anything similar? I don’t think alfalfa often does well with broadcasting. Can you roll it after seeding ? Or dive on it with a 4 wheeler.
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Post by benmnwi on Apr 5, 2022 11:28:03 GMT -6
My order of forage collards arrived yesterday. I have a clover plot at my cabin that is filled with weeds, so I'm considering spraying that plot with round-up in late May and then broadcast a mixture of forage collards, clover, alfalfa and chicory. Has anybody tried anything similar? I don’t think alfalfa often does well with broadcasting. Can you roll it after seeding ? Or dive on it with a 4 wheeler. I'll actually spread the seed first right before I drive my ATV over it while spraying. The ATV tires should push down at least some of the seed. I should have clarified that would be the order I complete things. I bought a 50 pound bag of a perennial mix that is mostly clover, but also contains some vernal alfalfa. If the alfalfa portion of the blend doesn't grow I'm not too concerned since I think it's only about 10% of the blend.
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Post by smsmith on Apr 9, 2022 6:38:23 GMT -6
Going to spread a few lbs. of forage collards along with a clover mix on the neighbor's acreish plot this morning. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of the collards.
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Post by nhmountains on Apr 10, 2022 4:13:25 GMT -6
I’ve seen no sign of life yet of the collards I spread 2 weeks ago. The clover here is just waking up though so maybe it’s early. I see no sign of life from the collards that were spread last fall either.
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