Disking Old Fields in Hill Country

[Chameleon]

I have a bunch of old fields that I want to try to make better use of for doves, and try to establish some good quail habitat in Blanco county. I've done food plots before on some of them, but we have an irrigated plot, and I'm going to focus on planting there and just strip disking the other fields - maybe 150 acres total.

My question is what is generally the best time to do the disking in the Hill Country?

I was thinking of disking up 20 acres in Oct, 20 acres in Dec and 20 acres in March and trying to go on a schedule like that.

But I've heard others disk in June for dove weed to be there in Sept?

Has anyone done experimentation to find the best times to disk for dove and quail?

[jmangrem]

If you're not adding any seed, disk when you see your desired plants dropping their seed. For sunflowers I think its Septemberish.

But breaking it up like you say is a good way to do it too. Gets your tractor time in.

[courtatlawjudge]

A lot of good native plants require soil disturbance. The buffalo used to provide this. You will never hurt natice ground by lightly disking. Just go an inch or so deep and you will be shocked by the results. Native plants have thick seed coats and can lay dormant for years. Soil disturbance that puts them in contact with bare soil is the trick. The right time is any time you can do it.

[Brian H]

If you disk, the weeds will come