Ok so having not been a farmer. Give me the basic run-down of getting the soil ready for planting. Not the PH, and fertilizer stuff but the bare bones get the green field ready for planting. What do you need. A cultivator, then a disc harrow..and finally maybe a culivator packer? I've beat myself up with enough small rototillers to know I don't wanna do a 1/2 acre like that! Without a tractor, all the work would be via a Suzuki Vinson ATV 500cc.
First let the area green up a bit then use Round Up. Follow the directions with that then you can turn the soil. You can use a cultivator but be prepared to add some weight to them to dig deep enough for the seed bed. You can use a pallet or some chain link fence for the packer. With an ATV it's time consuming any way you look at it. Good luck
130Woodman gave you some good advice there, however, I'd recommend plowing/disking first and then hitting it with roundup after a couple of weeks. This way dormant seeds under the top layer of soil that need sun to grow will begin to grow and you can get rid of those plants as well as those that were growing in the first place. Once you've sprayed it with round up you can just disk prior to planting or, if you really want to, you can both plow and disk again
Glyphosate (roundup) actually works best on green healthy plants, I would recommend not discing first. I would spread your lime first before doing anything. The best time to lime, is always yesterday. I spread right on the ground and let the rain soak it in. I use a $200 spreader you can buy from Northern Tool and it work great, would work well behind your 4-wheeler. I use a lawn tractor for this. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_41886_41886 I would spray with Gly (you can get generic from any feed store for much less than Round Up). Make sure you do it when it's going to be sunny for a couple days after, rain will wash it off and prevent it from working. Let it rot down for 2-3 weeks after spraying. I use a hand carry 2 gallon hand pump sprayer and do about 4 acres every year with it, pain in the butt for for $30 or so it works. You can buy from any local store. You then need a disc. I know Rob / PA has one he likes for tow behind, mine personally is a 3 point for a bigger tractor. I think Rob paid $400ish for his. Northern Tool has some really nice ones for a bit more.........Tractor Supply sells them at the store too. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200311181_200311181 I only use a home made drag to cover my seed. I made one out of a 5' section of chain link fence I had sitting around. Most seed types (all the brassica/clover/chicory I've used) does best when barely covered. I stuck a length of steel rebar through the top of the chainlink and tied small chain to each end to attach to the back of a lawn tractor. You can see below the drag I made attached to the spreader, I hook it up like this when doing fertilizer. If I'm only covering seed, I hook direct to the back of the lawn tractor. That's what I do for the most part. I do have a tine harrow that I use occasionally, but it's purely to make the food plots prettier, I didn't use if for quite a few years.......I do now just because it helps it to look nicer if I can smooth the seed bed after discing, and before seeding. To be honest, I probably won't use it this year. A few pics of what you can do with a few simple tools...........
Thanks Guys. RJ thats quite a good looking plot!! I was on Nothern Tools site prior and didn't know what I needed. Thanks for the details. I dunno if I can make it happen this year, to that extent, but I'm gonna try a few smaller "secret" plots.
Get ahold of Rob and see where he got his ATV disc. You can spread lime without the spreader.......the disc is whats important, you should be able to pick one up for a few hundred bucks. One absolutely redneck way of spreading lime that's cheap and effective...... Pile the lime in your truck bed. Buy a $20 ac/dc converter for the lighter socket in your truck. Pull the blower contraption off the top of your shop/vac. Plug yourself in, and have someone drive you around while you blow the lime off the back of the truck. Will cost you $20. Make sure you have a respirator mask. Don't ask me how I know that.........:d
Rick James, never heard of that way to spread lime, but sounds like it would work, but extremely dusty, maybe a full face mask but beats buying pelletized lime I guess so it can be done . But as for starting a food plot, I am a firm believer that if you only have an atv to do it with, that you need to start to turn the area over as soon as the snow melts, as this will be the time of year the ground will be the softest, making it the easiest on the atv, I do many plots this way, I turn it over with a old farm harrow, that I took apart , so I only pull a 4 foot wide section, and k\make a few passes over the area, then every other day or so for a few weeks, then it stays soft, and ruffed up I then do the soil test, lime as needed, and turn again, wait 2 weeks, and the spray with round up! then wait about 10 days, fertilize, and then cultipack, and then seed and re pack! and pray for rain! this seems to make a big difference on weeds, and makes it the best way to use a ATV without killing it! But honestly, I sometime feel, I would be better off using a /renting a small compact tractor disc, it, wait, lime it, disc, wait spray, and then seed and fertilize it! a lot less butt time if you know what I mean!
All good info, sounds like you have what you need to know.. All I have to add is the better prepared the seed bed is, the better the plot will turn out, provided you have the soil fertility right. Smoother seedbed = better germination rate. Have fun
