Last trip to lease we plowed where we want to plant food plots for the hunting season. Plan on planting the basic mix of oats, winter peas, and maybe cowpeas to get it started. My question is when do start planting mid Sep or Early Oct?

Years ago we planted oats in mid-Sept. But now days with the heat into Oct and army worms I would plant later like you are looking at. I planted oats in late Sept last year and did not get rains to mid Oct. It came up great then but it was still so warm that the army worms started around the first of Nov. I will plant this year in early to mid October to try again.

That's what I'm thinking, Oct. I bush hogged and plowed it up about 4 passes so when I go back to plant I should only need one or two passes then drag it to level and finally plant / cultipack and pray for rain.

A lot will depend on our rainfall in Sept and Oct and the cool fronts. If we get back to the rainfall like we had the first 6 months of year like they are calling for this fall, then you might be able to plant early. If you are still seeing 95+ deg days the later part of Sept then I would wait till we see cooler temps. I planted to early last year with the high temps we were getting. I was prepared like you were and got some early showers in Sept and took a chance on planting a bit early. Was supposed to rain for 8 days when I planted and got nothing in those 8 days. Then it quit raining for a month. I could have planted a month later and done just a well.

I know it was pretty dry when I plowed but the ground had moisture in it, no dust when plowing. I don't think its rained since I plowed.