Have to re-do my food plot...

i had about a 1/2 to 1/4 acre food plot of clover and chicory that was in a funnel of a soybean field. yesterday while i was gone the spray company that we hired to spray the beans come and also sprayed my food plot. they didnt know and my grandpa (land owner) forgot to tell them so now i have to start again. any ideas on what to plant? im thinking about doing a clover and chicory mix again. i had a good stand but the morning glory and grass come up out of the stuff i planted. thanks ahead for the advice! i do have acsses to a tractor and a field cultivator.

 

Ouch, that stinks. Could go with a clover again but use a top cover of Forage Oats to get you through this year. Won't need to put it in until August or so but it would give you something attractive this fall and then the clover would take over in the spring.

 

Not good. Quick story-= Had a buddy spray round up instead of 24-d for his lawn,his sons,and his moms. Big time opps!

If you want clover in that spot I would broadcast some winter rye, cultipack and broadcast your clover,cultipack again. Mix in a little bit of brassicas if you want. Oats would work too, but me personally I like winter rye as it lasts longer into the winter and doesnt freeze out. Also it is the first thing green in the spring and is better for soil building.

Keep us updated.

 

Thats unfortunate but hilarious at the same time haha

 

sorry i dont have a cultipacker maybe a mix of clover and turnips? or a winter oat or rye?

 

Ouchhhh! Sorry to hear that dude. What a bummer! I have never done a food plot or anything of the sort so I have no suggestions.

 

Here is what I would do. I would do a soil test if you havent and see what your soil needs for lime. Broadcast the lime. I even broadcasted 50LB bags powered lime by slicing one side open and walking back and forth. Messy but wasnt too bad. Or pelletized lime spreads easy with a broadcast push/atv broadcaster if you have one.
Cultivate the plot to work the lime in, wait two weeks or so and spot spray with round up any new weeds that pop up.
Broadcast some fertilizer. If you are just going to go "general" a 10-10-10 or 17-17-17 would do if that is only what is available in your area.
Then Broadcast the winter rye/oats and depending on what cultivator you have raise it up/lightly cultivate the plot to cover the seeds. Once that is done broadcast your clover/brassicas and walk away. Rain will push the clover/brassica seeds down.

Or cultivate the plot, broadcast the bigger rye/oat seeds. hook up a branch to your 4 wheeler and drag it around to cover the seeds. Then broadcast your smaller clover seeds/brassicas and drag the branch around some more.

Got to get creative and do what you have to do.

keep us updated

 

havent done a soil test but the whole farm was limed and fertilized last year so it should be good or good enough anyway. i will be limited on what rural king has in stock but im gonna try the oats first and i have a chain link fence drag that we used on our yard when we sewed grass, then sew the clover

but if i drag both the oats and clover even at differant times its not like the oats are deeper than the clover it just mixes it in? or am i missing something?

 

I also would do a clover/chicory blend but definitely throw in some oats or peas or both this first year then frost seed more clover in the early spring next year.

 

what is frost seed?

 

Frost seeding is broadcasting the seed just before the ground starts to thaw. Most guys shoot for a time in the year where at night the ground freezes up and frosts over but during the day thaws from the sunlight. This freezing then thawing action breaks up the dirt and allows the seed to enter into the soil (so to speak). The seed then sits dormant until the soil reaches the right germination temperature. Boom, you got a food plot.
I really like frost seeding clover, all of the plots that we have done this way have really turned nice and thick and full after some mowing throughout the summer.
I agree with Jake on this one though. I would follow his recommendation, that way you will have food to hunt over this year.

 

sweet! thank guys for all the advice im headed to rural king tonight. hopefully get some rain to wash the chemical away from everything but i think i will do the oats and clover (possibly chicory) mix and drag it good. then do the frost seeding thing with some more clover

 

Sounds like a plan.
As far as dragging at different times. When you broadcast the oats and drag it, your 4 wheeler tires are also pushing the seed into the ground with the ATV tires. You really wouldnt have to drag it a second time after broadcasting the smaller clover seeds/brassica seeds.
I even just used my 4 wheeler to cultipack the seeds on a small plot. Rototilled with a walk behind tiller, drove back and forth with the 4 wheeler, broadcasted brassicas and drove over it again.

 

The clover should be resistant to the spray if it was round up, I might give it a week or two to see if it comes through it. It just might. I have sprayed a light mix of round up right over my clover plot before to kill the grasses. not recommended but alot of clovers are resistant to round up in light doses.

 

ok well this is what i got. a bag of clover chicory mix and 2 bags of "buckin oats" with a chicory mix. what ill do is spead the oats with a hand seeder and drag it then ill go back over and spread the clover chicory mix and not drag it and just let the rain soak it into the ground.

as far as the spray they used round up with cobra mixed in it which is a chemical to take the "slick" coating of the leaves of water himp and it stuns the beans and turns them brown but they come out of it well. but regular round up doesnt kill water himp because of the slick coating on the leaf protects it. so it would have died and was already starting to wilt a day after they sprayed it.

 

Roundup kills waterhemp. Unless you have roundup resistant waterhemp that is, which is becoming a very big problem this year.

 

we have round up resistant water hemp and mears tail. been a problem on our farm the past 2 years exept for the water hemp last year cause it was so dry

 

Not good. Didn't see much of it in MN last year but this year it seems to be everywhere we scout.

 

ok so i got it planted today used to bags of evolve buck'n oats and a bag of evolve clover with chicory i drug them both with my chain link fence so now we wait and pray for a nice slow rain lol thanks everyone for your help i think it will turn out even better this time!

 

Hopefully its works the second time better and doesn't get sprayed. We eint have food plots but last year with most of our wheat fields we mix clover in so can cut it for hay after harvesting wheat. With the dry year we had the clover didn't come so we ended up running a airway over the field, jus breaks up top soil a little, and them put rye out to have something to bale up this last spring. The deer hammered it once fall rolled around and most of the winter. Looks like its too late but maybe something to think about if it turns off dry and doesn't grow come back good for ya. Good luck