Hey guys Ive been watching the shows and finally registered to the website so hopefully I can learn a thing or two from everyone. Im here to ask advice on the type of food plot I should start. Its too late to do anything this year so I was wanting to try for spring. What would be best for me to plant that would last year around. Keep in mind that I probably wont have a tractor... so a tiller would be my biggest piece of machinery. I was thinking clover or alfalfa. Im wanting it to last during the summer up through winter... If there is even a crop that wold do that. Ive never planted a food plot so any suggestions will help. Its only gonna be on about a half acre.. and the soil isnt that desireable so Im assuming Im going to have to spread lime as well. Once again all help is greatly appreciated.
You are on the right track. Start of by doing your soil test and apply the right amount of lime and fertilizer. A half acres a lot for a little tiller but you can get er done. lol. Clover is a great food plot and not super hard to maintain. You will have to mow it once or twice over the summer months. It will not have any drawing power during the winter though. You could try a brassica blend which will sweeten up when you get your first frost. The deer love em!
Another option would be to broadcast soybeans. Deer will devour them all summer and if there's any left come winter there will be eating them too. Hope I helped some. Best of luck!
It can be tough to get clover established in the spring, I personally would look into broadcasting cowpeas either onto tilled ground or throwing it out then mowing on top of it. It won't last year round but it can be really hard to get any perennials going on a new plot in the spring due to weeds Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My cousin has some of the biggest deer ive seen around here on camera in his father n laws soybean field. For the last month though the plants have been drying up. Will deer still eat the soybeans this late after the plant is dry? And do the plants produce food all season such as a tomatoe or pepper? The reason I ask is like I said I will only have maybe a half acre. I know a half acre is good size but would it be enough to feed deer on all summer? If I have a good sized herd would they eat it up to nothing? Soybean would definitely be my choice if I knew for sure I could hunt on it up to november.
So... plant brassica WITH clover at the same time?? Or brodcast brassica later on in the summer right on top of the clover??
Depending on your deer density a half acre of beans may or may not be enough. Soybeans will not hold attraction the entire time. Depending when you plant, around early to mid September the plants will begin turning yellow and drying up. The deer wont touch them too much then. After they lose their leaves and everything the deer will again begin to eat the pods all winter long. No don't plant clover and brassicas at the same time
I planted forage soybeans this year. It was about 3/4 of an acre. The deer kept them down to about 6" tall. The plants that haven't died are still putting on green leaves. Clover is a great choice also. I planted clover last fall and had a great stand of it this summer.
soybeans are a great option. Easy to grow and plant. Then in the fall when they yellow overseed with winter rye. Grows fast and well. If you can space your soybeans in rows and spread them out you can overseed in brassicas but you will need the open ground around the beans and have to fertilize heavy with nitrogen. Winter rye is cheap and is great late fall and early spring.
First definitely get a soil test done which you could do now and take it to your nearest co-op for testing. When you get the results back you can apply the required lime as soon as you get it back. Lime takes several months to take effect on the ph of the soil,so by next spring it should of helped. I would recommend planting half your plot in a mix of red and ladino clover and then later in the fall plant the other half in a mix of wheat, oats and some brassicas. Your clover plot should last 3-5 years depending on how you maintain it and the weather. You could also frost seed clover in early march when the freeze and thaw cycle is going on. Beans are very attractive to deer but in a 1/2 acre plot they would devour it in the summer, but if you do decide to try beans get a forage type of bean that can withstand browsing pressure more than a ag-bean. Examples of forage bean would be Eagle beans, Tyrone or Laredo.
Here's a pic of my stand of red clover on my 1/2 acre plot back in the woods that lasted 3 years before I disced it up and planted a fall mix.
is the correct way to plant these plots just to disc the ground... brodcast the seed... and then drag it??
That all depends on what you are planting. Clovers and brassicas are too small to plant by just discing and dragging. Beans, corn, or any type of larger seed you can get away with it more than you can the smaller seed. You'll want to drag the ground or use a cultipacker to smooth the ground after you disc the ground before and after you plant the small seeds. You can get away with planting the larger seeds after you disc if you drag them in. The best way for the larger seeds is to use a drill and not to broadcast them. There is a lot more info, this is just a good starting point. First and most important is a soil sample. Good luck.
