Deer Hemp Plot

This year our lease has allowed us to plant food plots in the club. I decided to take it on myself to do some research and come up with some type of plot that we might be able to plant and take best advantage of. After my digging around I found Sunn Hemp. It is a plant that grows rapidly has 30% protein and deer and goat are pretty much the only thing that eats it. Well I started online trying to find where I could order some at a fair price. OMG Everywhere was out of stock! Finally I called Hancock Seed Co. in Dade city Fl. Because I’ve have ordered seed from them before. The lady behind the counter told me that it would be the middle of August before anyone would be getting any seed because all of the seed came from India. The boat wasn’t supposed to come into port until the 12th of the month. She told me that if I wanted to I could go ahead and pre order some. So with all the info that she had already gave me I figured she had the upper hand on the shipment. I placed my order of 2 bags of seeds and 2 bags of Inoculant $60 per bag of seed. Then came the 45 day wait for that boat to come to port. The boat made it to port and I gave it a week, I’m thinking OK we’ve a storm brewing out there I don’t want my seed delivered to my gate and get rained on. I called Hancock seed to check on the seed and the lady told me yes, the seed has made it in but it is held it in customs, you know it has to go thru that before it gets released to us. I explained to her I understand but you know there is a storm coming and I didn’t want my seed getting wet. Long story short I got the seed the Friday before Dorian hit. After everything got calmed down from the storm last weekend I went to the club to cut 9 boar hogs. And after that we started mowing food plot areas that we want to try and plant. Sunday we went back and disc and planted 4 plots. I went back down yesterday to check the plots and change batteries in a camera and the seed was up about 2” high after 4 days.
Below are some facts provided in my research.
Sunn Hemp Seed Description

Sunn Hemp is a fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing legume. Sunn Hemp is used for green manure forage, organic soil building and cover crop applications. Sunn Hemp is non seed-bearing in the North American climates. Sunn Hemp provides as much as 2.5 tons per acre of green tonnage, with a maximum of 100 units of Nitrogen fixation per acre in as little as 60 days. It is also known to suppress nematodes. Legume family (Fabaceae). Branched, erect, herbaceous shrubby annual growing 3 to 9 feet high with bright green simple, elliptical leaves. It has deep yellow terminal flowers (open raceme to 10 inches long) and the light brown pods are small (1 inch long and 1/2 inch wide) and inflated. It has a well-developed root system, with a strong taproot. The number of seeds per pound is 15,000.Sunn Hemp is much easier to get incorporated into the soil when needed than sorghum, cowpeas, and many other cover crop varieties. Sunn Hemp is the next generation cover crop for vegetable farmers. Cover Crop & Green Manure: Used as a cover crop, Sunn Hemp can improve soil properties, reduce soil erosion, conserve soil water, and recycle plant nutrients.
When grown as a summer annual, Sunn Hemp can produce over 5,000 lbs. of biomass and 100 lbs. of nitrogen per acre. It can produce this amount within 60 to 90 days, so it has the potential to build organic matter levels and sequester carbon in the soil. It is known to suppress nematodes.
Sunn Hemp originated in India, where it has been grown since the dawn of agriculture. It has been utilized as a green manure, livestock feed, and as a non-wood fiber crop. Adaptation: Sunn hemp is a tropical or sub-tropical plant that, when grown in the continental United States, performs like a summer annual. It can be planted year-round in Hawaii, below an elevation of 1,000 feet. However, it does not perpetuate itself well and is not found in the wild. Sunn Hemp is adapted to a wide range of soils, and performs better on poor sandy soils than most crops. It is for such situations that it has attracted attention. It grows best on well-drained soils with a pH from 5.0 to 7.5.

Instructions on planting Sunn hemp

Plant at a rate of 25 to 35 lbs. per acre if drilled, or 30 to 50 lbs. per acre if broadcast. The higher seeding rates should be used if the crop will be terminated in less than 60 days, or if severe weed competition is expected. Plant after the last chance of frost in the spring when your nighttime temperatures are consistently above 65 degrees F. Use an EL Type or Garden Combo Inoculant. (Highly recommended)

This plant may become weedy or invasive in some regions or habitats and may displace desirable vegetation if not properly managed. Please consult with your local NRCS Field Office, Cooperative Extension Service office, state natural resource, or state agriculture department regarding its status and use. Weed information is also available from the PLANTS Web site at plants.usda.gov.

As of 2005, Arkansas considered the genus Crotalaria as a noxious weed. Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant's current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

To establish a successful stand, seed should be broadcast or drilled and covered 1/2 to 1 in. deep into a well-prepared, weed-free seedbed. If broadcasted, seed at a rate of 40 to 60 lbs. of live seed per acre. If drilled, the rate should be 30 to 50 lbs. per acre in 6 in. rows. The higher rates should be used if the crop will be terminated in less than 60 days, or if severe weed competition is expected. Where weed competition is mild, drilled rates as low as 20 lbs. of live seed per acre have been satisfactory. Inoculate with the Cowpea-type rhizobia bacteria.

Using a winter cover crop/green manure is a conservation practice that provides soil-improving characteristics. A common problem, however, is that the relatively short period between cash crop harvest in the fall and planting the following spring can result in less than optimum biomass production of the cover crop. Sunn Hemp, because of its rapid growth and relatively short growing season requirement, can be an excellent alternative. Where conditions are favorable, it can provide the benefits of a winter legume prior to a killing frost in the fall and also in the summer after the winter crop has been harvested.

Warm weather (frost-free) is needed for 8 to 12 weeks to provide biomass and nitrogen. Small grains following Sunn Hemp can utilize the symbiotically produced nitrogen, thus reducing or eliminating the loss of nitrogen. It must be plowed under before reaching the full bloom stage or it becomes too fibrous when using it as a green manure.

 

I worked food plots all weekend in the hunting club. Saturday we had to spread malorganite over all of the plots because the deer had already gone in and mowed them down. Unreal, with everything still green and acorns falling the deer wiped it out. Hopefully if we can get a foot or a foot and a half on this stuff they will have something to graze on. Plus we scouted out a couple of other spots for plots as well. Trying to find a plot area that will produce and not take so much intense work to prepare. Today we planted another plot and I took Sam's advice and added a plot blend also. I'm going to give it a week and as soon as it starts coming up I'll add the malorganite to keep the deer of. This is the biggest plot so far and took 100 Lbs. of seed total for this plot.