Hey i am wanting to make a food plot this year. I am 15 and dont have access to any plows or tractors. I was wondering if anybody had any ideas on how to make a food plot with only like hand tools.
Do you have a lawn mower? Its kinda hard without any power tools... you could try planting things like pumpkins?
Do you have any pictures of what the area looks like now. You can do it with only a backpack sprayer and hand seeder. But it depends what you have to work with to start for an area. Give us some details. What is the area like now (i.e. grass, wooded, brush).
Spray the area with round up after spring green up.Once the vegetation is dead broad cast your seed. Clover,Winter Rye and Brassicas don't need to be tilled into the soil. after broadcasting your seed cut the dead vegetation so it works as a mulch and hold moisture for the seed..If in a woods setting. Clean the forest floor with a garden rake and broadcast the seed before a rain using the seeds listed above. Make sure you have sunlight getting to the plot. Good Luck!! I have a video on my web page on food plots with hand tools.
A ton of our small micro plots were originally done with hand rake, sprayer and seeder. Then we upgraded to a garden tiller...haha!
I planted a pair of plots last year 100% by hand and they turned out pretty decent. First I killed off all of the foliage with Round-Up in the spring time and kept it sprayed down during the summer. Come August I raked all of the dead grass and debris off the plot to expose the bare dirt. From there I did as best as I could to prep the seed bed with a metal rake. After that I broadcast seed and fertilizer onto the plot and again used the metal rake to work it in and get some seed/soil contact. I did this right before a rain and within a few days I had germination. I fertilized one more time about 3 weeks later with some all purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer. All in all the plots turned out pretty good. I used Heartland Wildlife Buck Buster Extreme which is primarily consisting of buck forage oats and winter rye along with some brassicas (turnips). I plan on doing the same thing this fall but trying to make the plots a little larger and also doing some soil tests this spring to hopefully get a better idea of what I'm working with. The rye and oats came up great in both plots but the brassicas only did well in one of them. By and large the deer used both plots on a regular basis so I would consider them a success. Plot 1 Plot 2
Love that left beam on the bottom buck JZ....I have a huge soft spot for a massive 6 point at some point. Must have brows though, a 6 with no brows doesn't hold the same gnarly effect for me.
He's 5 years old in that photo but he disappeared mid-November and hasn't been seen since. I fear he may have caught an arrow from a neighbor or a bumper from a car on one of many nearby roads. We passed him several times as a 2 yr old and a 3 yr old hoping he would turn into something but he never did. If he is dead I'll be somewhat relieved actually. He was a bully and pushed a lot of younger subordinate bucks out of the area, taking their good genetics with them. Now that he's gone hopefully something worthwhile will stick around.
Every picture below was done by hand. From clearing 7 trees to the planting. Same plot, different blends. Different years.
You guys are posting some great stuff, information and pictures! This thread is a prime example of why I love this site and bow hunting at any given point Justin or Todd will come in and drop knowledge and communicate with us. Everybody wants to help each other. If only society worked like that haha
With the exception of one plot all of my food plots are done by hand. Find an area that is open and gets at least 4 hours of sunlight, you can help by trimming a few over hanging limbs or pruning a few trees. Before doing this please get permission from the land owner. Also like WLM said spray the area with a herbicide, I put down fertilizer and lime and then come back about 14 days later. I generally take an old push lawn mower and mow the area as low as I can. Then once that is done I get to work with a metal rake and a hand cultivator to work the soil loose. After everything is broken up pretty good I spread the seed with a hand broadcaster. Once the seeds are spread out I turn the rake over on the flat side and make sure the seed is covered. Once covered I walk around the food plot to help with seed to soil contact. Next pray for rain and come back in a few weeks to check it out. If you have one put a trail cam up to monitor usage. Good luck.
