So I decided to make a small food plot in the woods on the land I hunt this year. It is a spot that has a pretty open canopy and the deer already travel trough the area. I did my soil test so I know how much lime and fertilizer to add. Last week I sprayed the area with round up and this week I plan on weed whacking it down as low as possible and clearing it. So here are my questions 1. Should I add the lime right after I clear everything off? My plan is to till it up and plant it the first week of August using WTI secret spot. Should I add my fertilizer now too? Should I till it then at the line or fertilizer or should I put the lime/fertilizer on top and then till it and and then seed? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Here is a quick panoramic view of where the plot is going to be the pink flagging is the perimeter of the plot so I knew where I wanted to stop spraying to keep some edge cover.
Calcium takes up to 6 months to work. What was your current pH on your fertilizer test? When you sent in a fertilizer sample, did you do a report stating what you planned to grow to get a recommendation? Otherwise they end up being generic. What was your soil p and K levels? Why secret spot? Fertilizing before discing can be ok if you keep the fertilizer in the root zone. Otherwise broadcast after planting. Keep the fertilizer from being disced too deep. But them again, many new plots should also be disked not too deep as you might be bringing up weed seeds.
My ph was 5.1 and I used WTI soil test and selected secret spot as one of my possible seed choices. secret spot calls for a ph of 6.5. phosphorus level was 16 ppm which the test says is "medium" and the potassium was 53 ppm and considered "low". I chose secret spot just due to the fact that it was a blend that said it was good from early to late season and my local seed store carries the whole line of whitetail institute.
IMO, I would wait to fertilize until you are ready to plant. As the nutritionist has mentioned, there is probably a seed bank waiting to come up after you sprayed the first time. Ideally I would spray like you did. Wait for that to die, and wait for the seed bank to emerge and spray again 2-3 weeks prior to planting. Wait two weeks after spraying and then turn over the soil while incorporating the lime on top. Give the lime a week or two to settle in then spread fertillizer, lightly disc in fertilizer then plant.
I agree w/ Nutritionist and Tim A. I'd wait till planting to fertilize. From past experience on new or first time plots, I highly recommend spraying, waiting a coouple weeks, discing, waiting a couple weeks for the dormant seeds to sprout, and spray it again. Then when you plant you just do a light disc, broadcast seed and fertilizer, and a finishing drag. The following years you can then get by on a single spraying and single discing.
I'd till that up, wait a couple weeks and go back in to spray again, then till it up a week later, adding lime then, till again, fertilize and plant.
The thing many in the upper midwest are experiencing this year with all the rain is the fertilizer put down preplant/at planting has soil leaching, and run off loss. There is a need for nitrogen in many fields and it shows by the light yellow color. I like to have fertilizer down at planting and then putting more out early fall as a split application and/or foliar feeding. I splash all my food plots with 9-4-9 plant foods because i want the boron, carbon and micronutrients on it. This year i predict many plant disease issues and the guys who have been splashing plant foods are sending me some outstanding pictures , considering the weather challenges.
How big of an area are the plots going to be? What type of terrain/cover do you already have? There are plenty of things you can plant, but depending on the size of the plots may or may not survive doe to over browse. For example, soybeans are by far one of the best choices, but unless you have at least an acre or more, the deer will usually just mow them down before they have a change to establish. Also, are you looking for something that is planted every year, or something that might last several?
Usually after the first year it is time to reassess, typically along the edges the grasses started to grow in. You can look and see what the deer ate and what they didn't, you can decide to add on, or decide to prune back the trees more. Good, productive food plots are usually a work in progress. It gets easier and better after the first year.
Uh...prolly but wouldn't a question like, "Any update on how your plots turned out last year?" be a more appropriate way to revive a thread that was started on a plot question last year, for a plot that was going in last year? The OP did say he was putting in the plot last Aug unless I misread the OP... The opening poster asked a question and got answers and has not posted back in the thread since last July...just sayin.
