What to rotate with Egyptian Wheat?

1

1GB

New member
So I really like how the egyptian wheat I planted turned out. I know that planting it every year isn't a good idea and am planning to rotate 1-2 acres between egyptian wheat and something else. The question is, what would be best to rotate it with?
 
Are you wanting the alternative crop to be a pheasant food plot too? Are you splitting the two and having both crops in the same year and then swapping each year? When I rotate here, I usually use cowpeas in half then the millet or Egyptian Wheat in the other and trade crops each year. However, the cowpeas are better deer food than pheasant and I don't know if they would be proper for Michigan. The broader answer would be to choose a locally used annual legume as the alternative crop. It would provide nitrogen for you Egyptian Wheat the next year. Other options are oil-seed sunflowers, winter wheat, millet, corn, clover, etc. I would stay away from soybeans. The primary reason to rotate is to prevent weed and insect pests and improve soil conditions. Often, you want to change growth seasons as well.
 
Thanks for the input. :)

I would prefer the second crop to be useful to pheasants as well. As minimum brooding cover would be great since I think that's the lowest hole in the bucket in my particular area. If it's a food source that would stay into winter, that's even better. As you mentioned, my interest in rotation lies in eventual pest or soil condition problems (mainly depletion - the soil is decent right now).

Soybeans are definitely out - deer would destroy any I'd be able to plant. I'd like to do sunflowers, but I fear the deer would hammer them as well if I don't string an electric fence up to keep them out earlier in the year.

I was thinking of buckwheat or perhaps a mix with clover, but wanted to post in case there was anything I forgot to consider, such as peas! :thumbsup:

On the topic of millet, would that really be different enough from the egyptian wheat? I do have a lot of brown top millet seed left from this past spring, but I wasn't too happy with how it grew, fell over, and how fast the song birds hammered it. I'd definitely consider trying one of the stalkier millets, but thought it wouldn't help much reducing pests/soil problems in rotation.
 
If deer are a real problem, any legume is going to get hammered. Winter wheat is a good option. Choose a variety with exceptional straw strength. The benefit of the legumes is many. It does provide the brood habitat you may need. It supplies additional nitrogen that your Egyptian Wheat can use in the subsequent year. It has a different growth pattern and root structure and improves the soil organic matter. Millet is in the same class as the EW. Try German Millet some time. I like it. You could mix it with other row crops too. You can even mix it with the cowpeas.
 
Hey Prairie Drifter-

Went by your place twice Sunday. Couldn't slow down, but did honk.:)

Where are you getting your Egyptian wheat? I need a lower price seed source for the spring planting.
 
Try Kauffman Seed in Haven or DeLange Seed in Sedgwick. Talk to Tom at Kauffman. Check the floor of your truck. The left pedal is the BRAKE:) Was home all day too. Went to get tires for my dog trailer on Saturday. I think that the pilgrims used the old set before I got them!
 
I'll try to remember what that pedal is for. I was loaded for bear, well not actually, but my truck was loaded. My brother and me in the front and my wife, sister-in-law and ninety-five year old mother in the back seat. We were invited to join our ranch friends in the beautiful Flint Hills of Elk County for Sunday dinner. Four and a half hours to get to dinner is quite a ways, but it was delicious and the fellowship great, plus worked in some fishing for my brother. He has not had a crappie feed for about forty-five years and was hungry for some crappie. He has had to supplement his fish cravings over the years with that nasty old halibut and salmon. Anyway, the crappie fry is tomorrow night.

I will remember to try Kaufman Seed in the Spring. Thanks.
 
I'm spending a little time on each trip cutting seed heads off gamma grass and shatter cane, this fall. going to mix it and mow, disc up some thick stands of brome/fescue and add red clover and the shatter cane/gamma grass mix. I think gamma is a slow grower, needs some time, shatter cane and clover ought to get me somewhere faster. You should see the look on my farmer friends faces when they see me harvesting shatter cane!
 
oldandnew said:
I'm spending a little time on each trip cutting seed heads off gamma grass and shatter cane, this fall. going to mix it and mow, disc up some thick stands of brome/fescue and add red clover and the shatter cane/gamma grass mix. I think gamma is a slow grower, needs some time, shatter cane and clover ought to get me somewhere faster. You should see the look on my farmer friends faces when they see me harvesting shatter cane!
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Good luck, but isn't shatter cane an invasive in your area?

I'm starting to feel good about my overall improvements - best year ever for pheasant sightings on my limited land. I shot one really nice mature bird, still hear 2-3 on surrounding lands, and in addition I saw 2 more roosters and 2 hens fly up off my land to the roosting cover on the neighbors last night. That's the most hens I've seen in at least 8 years to give you an idea of how few there are. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more, but the roosters are easier to locate since they make their presence known often. Now if I could only get my neighbors to actively manage their land to cut down some trees and do something with the poor CSG cover.
 
I suppose you could consider shatter cane a weed, but not if you have ever hunted it. I guess I just favor weeds, anyway, ragweed, etc. yes I plant that too! None of my neighbors for 5 miles have row cropped anything in 25 years, so I don't see the harm. Beats hell out of fescue and brome. I bet the birds use it here just like every decent patch I find afield. They flat love ragweed. I also notice they like wild" hemp" contrubuted by the local high school kids along the roadside, but I am not planting that!
 
AR Dave said:
So here's the Alaskan connection? :)
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My brother spent 25 years in the Pacific on POW and he survived on whatever he could like this nasty stuff from the 2009 bear hunt. Not a McDonald's anywhere.

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SE Alaska is so beautiful, and those Black Bears are huge.
Several of my coworkers live along the A,B,C, Islands.
I really appreciate pictures and have plenty to post as I catch on to this forum. Thanks!
 
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