# Will oats regrow to make a second cut



## FarmerCline

I just went by the field which I cut the oats for hay 2 weeks ago and they had about 4 inches of regrowth. It looked like they were sending new stems out of the crown of the plant. Is this normal and if so will they regrow enough to make a second cut? If it makes any difference the oats were cut when they were flowering and shedding pollen. I Definately did not expect this. Thanks, Hayden


----------



## Waterway64

Thats the stage I like to cut at and yes they will regrow some. By themselves they probably won't make a cutting. I plant them with new seeding alfalfa and usually get a nice mix the second cutting. The third will be straight alfalfa then.

Mel


----------



## mlappin

Waterway64 said:


> Thats the stage I like to cut at and yes they will regrow some. By themselves they probably won't make a cutting. I plant them with new seeding alfalfa and usually get a nice mix the second cutting. The third will be straight alfalfa then.
> 
> Mel


Agree a hundred percent. Makes a nice mix with any regrowth of other forages but won't be enough alone to be worth cutting.


----------



## FarmerCline

Thanks for the advice fellas. I figured I should not get my hopes up to get another cut. I wonder if I need to spray the regrowth before I no till soybeans in that field. I am planning on planting some alfalfa next year, I had not thought of planting oats with it would you recommend I do so? It pounds like it would make some nice hay.


----------



## mlappin

Not sure I'd worry about it if they are RR beans. If you have plenty of moisture you could just plant them now and figure on taking the oat out the first time you spray for other weeds. All depends on the weather and how much time you have.

We always use oats as a companion crop with a spring planting of hay. If erosion is of any concern we've used oats in a fall planting as well.


----------



## FarmerCline

They are conventional beans, from what I have been told anywhere from the first to second week of July is the cut off time for planting beans depending on the weather. Right now we have plenty of moisture.

Since nobody around here raises alfalfa I haven't been able to get an answer whether fall or spring planting is preferred. I don't now how spring planted oats would do here as everybody plants them in the fall down here. When oats are planted with alfalfa are they normally ready to cut the same time or are the oats way ahead of the alfalfa?


----------



## mlappin

With conventional you'll want to start with a clean seed bed. Sooner the better for maximum yield. I've started planting beans here the third week of April if it looks like the weather will be fit. Might want to think about applying Canopy for residual when you spray the oats, generic is Resist. Follow label carefully, too much and you could have problems with carryover. Around here if it's in beans no way can you still plant alfalfa the same year and spring will be your next chance. Or follow with wheat after the beans and plant the alfalfa in August, here.

I prefer fall planted alfalfa when I can. Hard to define normally anymore, more often than not you cut the oats when they are ready. Here oats won't overwinter and are planted as soon as possible in the spring. We've even planted oats when there was still frost in the ground.


----------



## Grateful11

The spring oats my son drilled in here didn't fair well at all. It's the first time they've tried it and they're not sure if it's was the really cool weather, excessive amount of rain or just not a good idea where we're at. The Fall oats did better than ever even though they sowed during a drought period into nothing but powder for soil. My wife is going to mow what little is there of the spring oats that are mixed in with volunteer annual ryegrass and bale it probably Friday mainly just to get it off the field so they put in conventional Soybeans and Millet for hay.


----------



## FarmerCline

mlappin said:


> With conventional you'll want to start with a clean seed bed. Sooner the better for maximum yield. I've started planting beans here the third week of April if it looks like the weather will be fit. Might want to think about applying Canopy for residual when you spray the oats, generic is Resist. Follow label carefully, too much and you could have problems with carryover. Around here if it's in beans no way can you still plant alfalfa the same year and spring will be your next chance. Or follow with wheat after the beans and plant the alfalfa in August, here.
> I prefer fall planted alfalfa when I can. Hard to define normally anymore, more often than not you cut the oats when they are ready. Here oats won't overwinter and are planted as soon as possible in the spring. We've even planted oats when there was still frost in the ground.


 The Resist chemical you recommend can it be used on no till beans or does it have to be worked into the ground after spraying? I won't be planting the alfalfa on the field I'm putting in beans, I will plant wheat after I harvest the beans. Here we still have time to put a double crop of beans in after wheat is harvested towards the end of June.

The alfalfa will be going into a field which I will be planting next week in sorghum sudan. I guess it will depend on when I take the last cutting of the sorghum sudan if there will be enough time to plant the alfalfa this fall or if I have to wait till next spring. Then again I don't know if we can plant alfalfa in the spring this far south.


----------



## Grateful11

Here's what you might as well do to Oat stubble ;-) Wife bogged it under yesterday. With that new Drill you have you don't need to break the ground ;-)


----------

