Plow food plot oats under now or let them stand until next year?

I have 4 acre of oats that I use as a food plot. In the pass I plowed them under around 1st of May and had a nice dirt field until I planted them again in the middle of September. i got a few weeds in the plowed field but not a whole lot. My question is if I let them stand until the middle of August and then cut and plow them under, will I have more weeds or less that I have to deal with.

Same, but more work. Unless it's normally that tall when you till first time

No, this has been by far best year ever for the oats with all the rain. Normally dead and about one foot tall when I cut the oats in the spring.

As tall as it is, it will shade out a bunch of weeds, and will hold more moisture.

Biggest thing is you might have to shred (maybe bail) then plow before you plant. It really depends on your implements.

If it wasn't headed out I'd say go buy some cows quick but once it heads out nutrition value is gone and seeds will stack up in corner of thier mouths.

I'd let it die out. Then shred

Shred, plow perimeter, burn, plow it under.

Deer eat those seeds, same with winter wheat. Prob is the hogs will walk it down and eat them too and just lay up in it.

I almost said burn, but by August that's iffy


It's not going to hurt to let it die then shred

Everybody farms different, for a food plot I'd let the seed heads brown out good set the shredder high and put a harrow behind the shredder.

I see a bunch of free viable seed if timed with rain.

Oh, I left out a very important part. I leave June 1 and cannot get back to look at the plot until August 15. So, I cut it now or I have to wait until August.

Leave it to brown, by August it will look like straw. May be a great dove huntng hole of you can get to it then

Wait. It Hurts nothing

How early in Spring is your normal stand dying off?

I normally plow under may 15 and it is dead.

that was my thinking ... leave it until late August (right before dove season) and shred it, then plow under after opening weekend ... but in the different direction, cut & plow in May, could be organic fertilizer supplement for the fall.

I would shred it down in a couple of weeks after the seed is mature. Let that debris then decay. You might be able to disc or plow the plot up in late August and have a good enough stand if it rains in early fall and not need to replant. I much prefer to turn the plot under so that the tilled ground can collect rainfall and store the moisture in the ground. Weeds could take over though with you gone that long.

This - I used to let it head out and shred in August - dove will flock to it

If you are not gonna harvest it then definitely let it dry out and the seeds will fall which is excellent for dove and turkeys plus a lot of the seed will replant itself if you shred and plow it in fall

Yep. Legal baiting and free seed.

I'd plow the perimeter and leave the center 2 acres. Then shred and dove hunt the center come Sept. Then burn out what's left of the middle in the fall (when the perimeter oat crop is green) to promote cool season forbs. Deer will love it.

Let them seed out then shred and plow this fall.
I do this with my wheat when I make a good crop and I get a better stand the next year without buying seed.