Hello all,

I know its only March, but doing a little early preparation lol. I have been considering planting winter wheat this fall and was hoping to get some advice on the steps to take in the planting process. I have planted other plots but this is my first time with wheat. I was thinking of planting early-mid October. Figured I would till the plot very well and then broadcast the seed and fertilizer but was unsure of exactly what step to take next. Should I just drag the seed in? Or till the seed in and then drag? Any suggestions and past experiences are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Where are you at?

I have planted wheat for years.
The deer love a winter wheat patch.
I disc the area first.
I use the broadcast seeder,then I cover it with the disc about a inch or less.
Then I hope it rains. You should try to get your seed planted before a rain

^^^^this

May need to plant closer to mid Sept.

I drag mine, but have used a light disc a few times. Seed that needs to be 1-2" you can disc, but I have found some will get too deep and some shallow. I disc, then broadcast then drag with auto tires wired in a "V" and drag across the disc paths. When it comes up, it will near looked as if done with a planter with rows.

Disc, seed, drag, rain dance. I planted October this year trying to time my schedule with the rain. it came up just fine. I'd like to get it in mid-Septembet this year, but mother nature will have to cooperate with my schedule.

With wheat, you either want to plant on a lot of moisture, or really dry in front of a coming rain. Wheat seed can be bad about souring if you plant it on just a little moisture. Unless you're in a freeze zone further north, I'd plant oats instead of wheat, but either should be fine.

The amount of moisture in the ground is what I time my planting by. Of course, if I plant too early, there is a better chance of losing the whole works if the bugs get to it.

When I plant wheat just north of DFW, I like to do it by Sept 1st (want to get it in before the fall rains start). Also, make sure to lightly disc plot after plowing (don't want seed going down 6" and then covered....it will never make it up that far). You should have disc beds no more than 2-3" after lightly discing. Broadcast seed (always best to drill it in if you have a planter) and then going over with a compactor is better than dragging it. If no compactor, dragging it will be better than nothing. I then put the fertilizer in the atv spreader and let the tool do the job.

Also, I wouldn't limit myself to just wheat. Tractor supply sells 50lb bags of oats for about $20.....I would mix in some of that. The deer will usually eat the oats at a faster pace in fall and then switch to the wheat when it gets cold and the oats are either froze off or too mature (and don't taste as well anymore).

If you are in the Hill Country area of Texas I would wait till the first part of October. If you are south of San Antonio I would wait till the first of November for wheat. I planted oats the last week of Sept and did not get good rain till late October this past year. I had army worms get most of one plot in late Oct into Nov. I had to re-planet that plot in early Nov. Like posted above I would mix it with oats. If you are in north Texas then the post above have very good advice.

stxranchman,

Have you ever spread the insecticide granules when planting seed before (cheap stuff from Walmart)? It seems to help on my smaller plots. I know it would be cost prohibitive on bigger plots.

I like the granules because it doesn't get nasty stuff on the plant itself, but sometimes in the warmer climates of Texas, it is spray your plot or bugs will eat it down in a matter of days.

No I have not tried it and read where you posted about it before. I used to keep Liquid Sevin handy in 2.5 gallon jugs on one ranch since we planted 45 acres of oats. I just tried to wait till the first week of October to plant and that was usually good. This past year I dry planted the last week of Sept. Then it was to still to hot into October and early Nov. No rains in July till late October and hot night temps was our issue this past year. Rained around Oct 20th and has been above normal rain since then. In normal years planting in early Oct is fine in our area. I might try the granules on a test plot if I plant one early this year. Rainfall is much better this year and if we have normal rainfall/temps into fall then bugs are not a problem. These very hot dry summers and falls are not normal.

Thanks everyone for some awesome tips and advice!

I'm in Coleman County just a few miles east of hords creek lake. We have been blessed with unbelievable amounts of rain over the past year or so. I cant see the kinds of rains we have been getting to continue over another 6 months but hoping and praying we will get some more moisture come fall.

For what it's worth, I hunted Coleman county a couple of years and the LO planted wheat for his cattle the first part of October every year.