Q: I am looking forward to trying out Chicory Plus this deer season. I am in Michigan and had planned to plant Chicory Plus this spring, but the spring planting dates for my area expired on June 15. I had planned to plant over the July 4th weekend. We have had a decent amount of rain where I live, so won’t that make it okay for me to plant in July?
A: The better course will be for you to prepare your seedbed now, and then plant during the fall planting dates for your area, Aug. 1 — September 1. Actually, though, that’s good news — you’ll only be waiting a few extra weeks to plant, and while you wait your lime will have more time to raise your soil pH, and if you need to, you can also incorporate a Roundup application in your preparation efforts to help control grass and weeds before you plant.
There are a number of reasons why we recommend planting dates, and why we do not recommend planting outside them. Chicory Plus is extremely drought-tolerant, but if you plant later than your spring planting dates, you run a much higher risk that the forage plants won’t have time to mature to optimum heat and drought tolerance before the hottest, driest part of the summer arrives. Also, winter-hardiness is one of the hallmark features of Chicory Plus, but planting too late in the fall can also pose elevated risks by subjecting the forage plants to an early hard frost for which they have not had time to prepare.
If you have missed your spring planting dates, the better course is to prepare your seedbed now, and then wait until your fall dates to plant. Start now by adding whatever lime is required to raise your soil pH to 6.5 or higher. Disk the lime in thoroughly, and then smooth the seedbed with a weighted drag or cultipacker. Once you do that, your hard work is done. If your plot site has a lot of grass and weeds in it, wait a few weeks after you disked in the lime and smoothed the seedbed. By then, grass and weeds should have started to grow again, and you can spray them with Roundup. That’s an optional step, but one that is often a good move where weed and grass competition is heavy — especially when one has the time to do it, and you do! If you do add the Roundup step, the trick is to not turn the ground again after spraying Roundup so that you don’t bring up more dormant weed seeds and re-infest the plot. Then, when your fall planting dates arrive (and at least 10 days since you last sprayed Roundup), go ahead and plant.
Q: My soil-test results showed that my soil pH was low, so I added the amount of lime recommended by my soil test before planting. How long will the lime I added keep my pH up?
A: Good question! The answer is, “It depends.” Different soil types tend to hold pH longer than others. The issue is also affected by such things as organic matter, fertilizer, and even natural factors such as acid rain. If you are interested in seeing how well your particular soil holds pH, you can test the soil periodically over the life of the planting and compare the pH readings. Remember that the only time you’ll be able to raise your soil pH with ag lime or pelleted lime is before you plant. That’s because lime works in particle-to-particle contact with the soil (meaning that a piece of lime must physically touch a piece of dirt to neutralize that dirt particle’s pH). That means that you have to thoroughly incorporate (disk or till) lime into the top few inches of soil to raise pH, and of course the only chance you'll have to till the soil is before you plant.
It can be a good idea if possible to top dress Imperial perennial plots every year or so with 500-800 pounds of pelleted lime if you can. As I mentioned, that won't raise soil pH, but pH tends to start dropping at the surface as a rule, and adding a little more lime to the surface each year or so can help slow that process.
