[rmr]

First of all it was nice to see Mrb and Henry at the Classic
I wish I could have met more of you guys but time didnt allow me to stay plus there was a line to meet Cfrazee(just kidding) Thanks to you guys for having this site its a great place to share ideas and and talk about this great sport of
Hunting. Has anyone used sunflowers in their plots and
other than attracting doves what other wildlife like them.
If I plant them will I have all the neighbors mad at me for
spreading the seed around . Any thoughts ?

 

[PFR]

Turkeys love 'em too......if you can get the deer to let them alone long enough to produce seeds. Weird deal. first two years I planted them I had zero problem with the deer eating them, thought I finally found a grain type crop that the turkeys eat but that deer won't. Then, just like flipping a switch the next year they started eating the heads just as the seeds were starting to develop (mid-summer). They probably ate about 5 acres worth in about a week. Same thing has happened everytime I've planted them since then.

I wish there would be some type of grain crop that I could plant in the spring, produce grain in the fall, and then last throughout most of the winter for the turkeys. I've tried sunflowers, chufa, milo, corn, beans, cowpeas, lab-lab and probably one or two more things and have had virtually no success with any of it lasting beyond early October. And alot of it (beans, milo, cowpeas, sunflowers) are gone by August.....and overall there isn't that many deer in my area. It is just that about every single one of them converge on the food plots at the same time and then move on when the food is gone.

As far as the neigbors being mad I wouldn't think twice about it. If that is the case somebody better start outlawing fescue because there has probably been several hundred thousand acres or more across the state "seeded" with fescue due to neigbors who had planted the d*mn stuff. But, I wish more people would think like you RMR. People that realize what they do may have an negative effect on neighbors/neighbors land in some way or another. Wish there was a few more like that in the world.

 

[90acres]

rmr, I've tried planting sunflowers several years. My deer strip the plants of life when they reach about two foot tall. I will try again this year if I can find seed. Previous years I bought it from the duck boys at the Whitetail Classic.
Good luck, I think it would be worth the try.

 

[TOBRYAN]

Ive grown flowers for about 5 years now...here are my suggestions from trial and error.
I used the best seed I could find...the same seed the conservation areas use...from the denbesten seed company south dakota
I use plot saver tape around the flowers...as was stated, the deer love the new stems and flowers.

I use prowl 3ec herbicide as preemergent, preincorporate grass herbicide...there really isnt too good of herbicide for broadleaf weeds.

There are some flower seeds made that incoporate a herbicide gene , spartan I believe (cant remember the name off hand) North or south Dakota. They are hard to come by.

Fertilize according to soil test for flowers, kind of like corn you need a lot of high priced nitrogen.

If you want to hunt doves over them... make sure you get them in the ground at the same time or not much later than corn, that way they are ready to start mowing in August to draw and concentrate your doves.

good luck...
Terry
I truly like to hunt doves and wife likes to eat them, so I go all out. I rotate fields to control the ****lebur (broadleaf) with a roundup ready grain.

 

[riverbottomhunter]

rmr,
I thought about trying some a few years back but ran into the same problem you are facing. What would the neighboring farmers say? I figured it was best to keep the locals happy and not spred the seed, which can turn into a big problem if it gets started in the crop fields.

 

[Hoytshooter]

TOBRYAN

have you tried using 2-4D B for your broadleafs?

 

[Redonthehead]

I was surprised myself when I saw how deer would strip the green leaves off of sunflowers.

I've used the black oil type sunflower bird food grade with fine success. You need to get them planted by May 15th so they will be ripe and attracting doves by August 15th.

These are not the multi-headed wild sunflowers that farmers have problems with.

 

[rmr]

This is what I like about this site, in less than a day I have several good ideas about sunflowers . thanks
for the feed back .:cheers:

 

[Crappie]

I'm gonna try some. Sounds good.

 

[starbux]

Originally posted by TOBRYAN
I rotate fields to control the ****lebur (broadleaf) with a roundup ready grain.

FYI. They have roundup ready sunflowers now.

 

[TOBRYAN]

Round up ready sunflowers.......................wow....Im hitting the internet for info now.

Did answer the question earlier, these hybridized sunflowers wont spread..those are just the wild ones.

I did try some dry eptam for broadleafs a couple of times didnt take care of my ****leburs

Hoyt never tried 2-4 db, is there a commercial name for it