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Thread: Sunn Hemp..again

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
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    Default Sunn Hemp..again

    I am trying to build up the soil in a few pastures that I'm converting to food plots. I am going to try planting velvet beans in one or two of these small (2-3 acre) plots. One place I found that had the best price on velvet beans seeds was really pushing Sunn Hemp to blend with the beans to give them something to climb. I may also use it as a visual screen on a powerline plot. I've scoured the interweb and read about everything I could find on sunn hemp. On this site I found some old post that mention it. Some said they like it and a few others, including JAB and 2th, said they hate it. Who has planted it and what do you like or hate about it?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
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    Branchville
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    Toofer hates everything, so take his hatred for it with a grain of salt.
    The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is,
    as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

    Thomas Jefferson

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Greenville, SC
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    I planted it to reclaim some soil. I think I planted 25 acres of it on an old mine with some lespediza. It grew well. I then planted pine trees. It has worked well so far. I was scared the sun hemp would come back but it did not. I then worried the lespediza would choke the pines out but it has not. Overall I went from a washing out clay mine to a stable embankment of pines with awesome quail and rabbitat. Deer did eat the hemp but not in an amazing way.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Columbia, SC
    Posts
    47,877

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    Quote Originally Posted by fuzzy View Post
    Toofer hates everything, so take his hatred for it with a grain of salt.
    i hate gimmicky stuff that the salesman loves waaaay more than my deer do.

    i also dont like blends bc they are mostly full of silly grains.

    people work to find something deer eat. try corn and beans.

    I dont know anything about building soil in pastures, but I do know a lot about scooping dirt into a bag and taking it to clemson ext.
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Columbia, SC
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    rabbitat. I like it
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
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    Sullivan\'s Island
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    Just a follow up. I planted Sunn Hemp in a couple plots this year. I love it! In one field I was converting from hay pasture to food plot, I was trying to supplement the soil. The field is sandy and was just barely making hay. The SH got to about 8 feet tall in some spots. The deer hammered it but couldn't keep up. It makes a GREAT visual buffer for fields near roads or powerline right of ways. Indeed, I planted at the road end of a powerline ROW and it makes a great screen. Not sure how long it will keep leaves but the density of stems will still make it effective enough to block the view from night hunters. I planted cow peas behind it on that field but the deer aren't letting them get more than three inches so I don't know yet how well it supplements the soil. My soils tests later this winter should tell me that.

    It would be great for creating "comfort structure" for deer in big open plots. Deer will come out earlier if they have some cover. Even a couple rows of standing corn in a cut field will give them enough assurance to come out of the woods. I mowed most of the powerline field but left small island patches of Sunn Hemp to give the deer some security. I made sure the islands are lined up to give good views from the tree stand.

    Below is one end of a field that has really poor dirt. I got patchy but mostly good growth from the SH and the deer apparently approved.

    2018-08-25 11.52.56.jpg

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Green Pond SC
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    1,441

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    Where did you get the hemp seed and how much fertilizer did you put out per acre?
    “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance” - Thomas Jefferson

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