Party time in about 2 months...

Packfan

Eight Pointer
This was put together on a whim. Zero fertilizer applied. Looks like the yard plot may still turn out ok though.

1 acre of 50/50 mix sunflowers and milo in the middle.
1 acre of brown top millet and additional 15 lbs of sunflowers around the outside border planted roughly 3 weeks after the center planting.

The plan is to mow and burn the millet and then mow the sunflowers in strips about a week or so before Labor Day weekend.

Power lines on 2 sides, beans on one side, and oaks on the last side. Corn across the road.

It should be fun.
 

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nekkedducker

Ten Pointer
Here's ours, dove plot mix with sunflowers, brown top and Japanese millet, milo, and buck wheat. Added another bag of black oil sunflowers for good measure. Sunflowers popped last week.
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Packfan

Eight Pointer
Plant it and they will come. Start mowing strips in it and they will come faster.

What will happen if you burn it? We may just see....
 

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timber

Twelve Pointer
I sprayed my sunflowers with roundup last week. Probably should have done it couple weeks ago
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I sprayed my sunflowers with roundup last week. Probably should have done it couple weeks ago
I like to do it somewhere around the 5th-10th or so, but only after the seed is fully formed. That gives it a week or so to start dying good before I mow. I like to mow weekly, starting 3 weeks out, roughly 1/3 at a time.

This year, I had 3 different stages of planting, so I have one small patch left to spray as soon as I can get to it.
 

nekkedducker

Ten Pointer
Mowed half of ours 2 weeks ago, I think the gold finches got most of it before the doves could even find it.

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sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Mowed half of ours 2 weeks ago, I think the gold finches got most of it before the doves could even find it.

That's one of the more frustrating parts of the game. Plant too early, the gold finches eat it all. Plant too late and it's not ready. You gotta plant enough for any deer damage early on and then the goldfinch wave, which starts as soon as there is seed in the head. The finches want it on the stalk mainly, and the doves want it on the ground, preferably bare ground.

That's why small plots of sunflowers don't work as well - the finches will wear them out before it's even time to cut. Around here you need at least 2 acres. Another tip is to shoot for larger heads. Fewer, larger sunflowers produce more seed, and are more resistant to finches than many small heads. One reason is the seed in small heads often doesn't develop well - only the outer third will actually produce. The other has to do with the way finches feed. They sit on the top of the head and reach over to pull out the seed. A larger head means they can't reach but the top 1-2", and many of the larger heads are heavier and will turn facing down where they can't eat it at all. All of my smaller sunflowers were completely void of seed by the time I started mowing, but many of the larger ones were untouched. It took me a couple years of planting to figure that out. So the solution is plant less seed, and make sure it is well fertilized. It's hard to broadcast too thin. More is not better. Planters work well at proper spacing and thus larger heads.
 

nekkedducker

Ten Pointer
That's one of the more frustrating parts of the game. Plant too early, the gold finches eat it all. Plant too late and it's not ready. You gotta plant enough for any deer damage early on and then the goldfinch wave, which starts as soon as there is seed in the head. The finches want it on the stalk mainly, and the doves want it on the ground, preferably bare ground.

That's why small plots of sunflowers don't work as well - the finches will wear them out before it's even time to cut. Around here you need at least 2 acres. Another tip is to shoot for larger heads. Fewer, larger sunflowers produce more seed, and are more resistant to finches than many small heads. One reason is the seed in small heads often doesn't develop well - only the outer third will actually produce. The other has to do with the way finches feed. They sit on the top of the head and reach over to pull out the seed. A larger head means they can't reach but the top 1-2", and many of the larger heads are heavier and will turn facing down where they can't eat it at all. All of my smaller sunflowers were completely void of seed by the time I started mowing, but many of the larger ones were untouched. It took me a couple years of planting to figure that out. So the solution is plant less seed, and make sure it is well fertilized. It's hard to broadcast too thin. More is not better. Planters work well at proper spacing and thus larger heads.
Good info thanks. Ours was just over 2 acres. It was a dove field mix that had sunflowers, a few types of millet,buckwheat and milo. I did an extra bag of sunflowers too. The millet did really well, the sunflowers were as you described. The small ones almost didn't produce and the bigger ones did well. Haven't seen many big groups of flyers but if you walk the field at mid day you can scare up a good amount of birds.

It's a good set up though. Power line on one end, dead pine in one corner, gravel road on two sides, and a pond on the other side. Not much else you could ask for with a dove field.

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