Dealing with Farmers for Forage

[jb63]

Did you get enough rain to germinate your clover?

[lazy shooter]

Did you get enough rain to germinate your clover?

Hey, thanks for asking, and the answer is yes.  We received 1.7-inches of rain over a 30 hour period.  I should be seeing some clover in a few days. 

Also, I planted 14 acres of rye grass and Hubam clover on my ranch.  I didn't know it until recently, but Hubam is supposed to grow in our area.  It is an excellent source of nectar.

Lazy

[LazyBkpr]

Interested in seeing how well that produces!!

[lazy shooter]

@the other Lazy:

I read where a good crop of Hubam will produce 800 pounds of honey per hectare.  I think a hectare is something short of 2 1/2-acres.  I can't find the source again or I would post it to you.  My Hubam is planted on some gray looking soil.  It is a mixture of red clay and deep black soil.  Time will tell.

[Gypsi]

If it doesn't rain Lazy Shooter, that seed will do what all my fall wildflower seed did last year, sprout one day and burn up the next.  I am considering whether to put more wildflower seed out now on the front lot where I water, but in the back with the bees I wasted pounds of seed last year and I won't bother again, just letting the hens hunt grub and shb on it.

[riverbee]

"I think a hectare is something short of 2 1/2-acres.  I can't find the source again"

lazy, just google a hectare calculator.......one hectare is equivalent to 2.471 acres.

[LazyBkpr]

@ the other Lazy;
   hehe... I read similar and its why I am going to be planting a mix with it included in the spring.  I have read a lot of good things about Hubam.. it is basically an offshoot of a sweet clover so I am thinking of the mouth watering honey...

[Gypsi]

I usually buy from Stock Seed Company in Nebraska.  Where did you get your hubam?  Because they don't seem to carry it.

[lazy shooter]

@Gypsi:

I bought my Hubam clover from the below address:

Richmon Farm Supply
5600 FM 45 S Brownwood, TX 76801‎
(325) 646-3833
 
The owner is Terry and his capable assistant is Bryan Cox.  Either of them will be of great assistance.  It was three dollars per pound, but 10 to 12 pounds will plant an acre.  In my case, they recommended four pounds per acre planted with a Rye Grass mixture.  They say that deer don't eat rye grass until it is several weeks old and about eight inches tall.  That allows the clover to grow to the point that the deer are not cutting the single stem plant off at the ground and therefore killing it. 

They are primarily a local feed and fertilizer ag company, and I don't know if they will do mail order stuff, but Bryan Cox is such a nice fellow that he might help you.  Or, you could drive down and pick it up.  My guess is it would be a hundred or so miles, but what the heck the country is nice to view.  Maybe some of your local bee keepers would join in the hunt.

[Gypsi]

Thank you LazyShooter. when you didn't answer I ran a search and since I am looking for something that can be tossed on a dryland planting where no irrigation is available, and hubam is not recommended for dryland planting, I'm gonna watch and see how yours does. 

This is the link to TAMU that discusses our ecoregions and clover. While I technically live in blackland prairie our rainfall in the last 3 years is more comparable to the edwards plateau or rolling plains, well you can see the recommended species: http://aggieclover.tamu.edu/map/

I still have half a pound of crimson and white clover seeds, and some more wildflower for the areas I can irrigate.    Good luck though. Maybe it will rain. They are forecasting a colder and wetter winter than normal.