so i find myself in a bit of a dilema, ive got a spot to hunt right behind my house and there is a perfect spot for a food plot. it was already kind of a natural field and just growing wild. i weed wacked the end closest to the best stand site for the regular winds and its growing back well. My problem is i dont know what i should do. Should I A) leave it as is and just keep cutting it down for new fresh growth B) Use round up and rake it out and plant it( I was thinking whitetail institute's bow stand if i did) or C) just mow the natural grasses down as low as possible and still seed it? I know B is probably the most ideal but i have limited funds right now and only hand tools to work with weed wacker rakes etc. Any thoughts or input on this would be greatly appreciated! -Alex
I do all of my plots by hand. Rake it, spray it, rake it again, spread fertilizer and seed by hand and rake it again. It is a lot of work but I assure you it can be done. Not only that, I have a better sense of accomplishment doing it all by hand. I have never planted into standing anything before so I cannot give any advice on that option.
if u have a yard rake round up and a bag of Cabela's Home Range it would make an excellent food plot.Just kill the native grasses then rake it up to where you have mostly dirt and just throw the seed out and there would be and excellent bow hunting plot.
I live in Vermont as well, nice to meet you. I do everything by hand as well and find natural openings in the woods like you are describing. My biggest plot is about 1/3 acre, the others are about 15 yrds square. In the spring I will go in and weed wack anything standing. I then take a metal hand rake and scrape up the soil as best I can with the rake. I do not spray, but if you want to get rid of most of the weeds you will probably have to. I then wait till just before a couple days of rain and throw down white and red clover. July some time I weed wack the clover down some, you will get fresh new growth and the clover will spread. I also plant beans, regular old fashioned green and yellow bush beens. Let it grow and hunt it in October. I have tried planting veggies with bulbs such as turnip, beets, brassica, etc. The deer will come but ussually after our last season, muzzleloader, ends around the second week in December. The deer will eat good till mid January but you can't hunt them.
One more thing as I see I may not have answered your question fully. For this year if you are planting right now, I would just weed wack down what is naturally there, rake it to loosen some soil and then throw down whatever you want just before it rains. Frost comes by late August, early September in Vermont, as you know, so time is short. Kind of late to start from scratch this year.
Winter wheat is cheap, stays green past Xmas and will grow on a rock if you fertilize it. Not much to planting it. If you can spray....do it, if not weed whack it, work the soil the best you can and plant it. WW is a natural weed control. The WW will take over.
Thanks for all the replies guys! I know i should get a soil test but as mentioned im on a super tight budget. so what ive decided to do is whack it down as much as possible rake it then work up the soil as much as i can with a metal rake plant and fertilize it. hopefully it turns out decent, ill let you know. thanks again for all the replies.
If you want to save some work, you can just spray round up and plant in a few weeks. I have done this many times. Flatten the dead weeds with a roller or 4 wheeler or even riding lawnmower tires. The dead thatch provides a great cover for the seeds as well as holds moisture.
Some examples of what these small simple food plots bring in Vermonts big woods. Remember this isn't Kansas Toto! Bear Doubler - YouTube Young Whitetail Buck - YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYGji3Fyolc
Update 8/26 with pics So I ended up whacking the field down as low as i could get it, spreading whitetail institute's bow stand and some 10-10-10 fertilizer. that was done by the last week in july, so far the plot seems do be doing well for the budget i had to work with. Here is are some of my visitors so far. -Alex
Huh? Lol...glad the plot workd out so well, it looks great and obviously the animals are grateful! Good job!
If you spray round up to kill the grass/weeds before you plant the food plot wouldn't it kill the food plot after its planted?
No, not just straight glyphosate it won't, it's a nonselective contact spray. You can spray a plot down with it, let it dry an hour and go ahead and plant new seeds in a no-till situation. Now with conventionally planted seed....you can't spray and then work the ground because any plants that don't get destroyed may not matabolize the glyphosate once they are damaged and could grow back. As far as roundup (glyphosate) hurting a food plot later...no...straight glyphosate has no residual effect. Be careful though because "Roundup" now has roundup-plus with Dicamba which does have a short term residual so don't get the wrong product.
^ round up is only a contact killer. Meaning the plant has to be actively growing for it to work. Some people spray and broadcast the same day. Keep us updated on how the plot looks after a frost hits. Least next spring you will have a area cleaned up ready to start working on. For next year- If you are budget minded, I would pick up a one gallon hand pump sprayer and some generic round up. I even seen some 41% gly. at Walmart. It is in a white bottle with a purple cap for a decent price. Elimanator I think it is called. Then when the plot greens up in the spring hit it with round up, get your lime down and then figure out a plan of attack from ther if it be a spring planted plot, or spend the first few months spraying round up to kill off the weeds and focusing on planting a fall hunting plot.
