Second year hunting this property - we acquired it late last year and didn't have time to do any extra work on it. The land owner flys an ultralight plane and he cleared this path of trees to help his landing angle I guess. Makes for a perfect 2 acre food plot!!! Going to wait on some rain to plant but got everything tilled up this morning. Going to plant a couple different varieties of forage rape/brassicas. The fold plot transitions into beans at both ends - this is the north bean field. And the finished product. We went ahead and put down some 12-12-12 today. I plan to go back tomorrow and spray the weeds around those stumps stickint out of the ground. Don't need those competing with my food plot plants for moisture and such. Definitely shoulda sprayed these weeds in this plot first but just didn't get around to it.
Looks awesome, you could sink down a cattle trough along the wood line for some added attraction too! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Funny you should say that. It's been discussed!! My two hunting buddies are wanting to do it and I'm fine with it either way. Personally I'm kinda impartial to the idea because a couple natural water holes already line the wood line from clearing of trees at the base of tree roots that have been pushed over. That said I have my doubts about how attractive that stagnant water is to the heard?!
Have you done a soil sample on the area yet? The only reason I'm asking, triple 12 isn't very much fertilizer at all. If the pH is off, it'll just be weed feed.
I'm not doing to soil sample. I've run plots for several years now and am yet to do a soil sample and fingers crossed everything has worked out thus far. I'm probably due for some trouble and this being my biggest plot to date I'd hate for it to be this one. That said - we got a lot of rain today and seed is not in the ground yet. I plan to go back and put 3 more bags of triple 12 out. Till it in one more time and plant after tilling. Thoughts??
Maybe your soil is that good. It's just hard to figure what you need to apply as far as fertilizer goes since you don't have any idea what is in the soil as far as nutrients. I'm not sure the price or size of the triple 12 bags you are buying so I can't say if it is a waste or not. Just saying, if they are 50# bags you are only applying 24#'s of each, N, P, & K. Out of 200#'s of fertilizer, that isn't very much. I know I don't plant any field or plot, any more, without a soil sample. JMO. Not at all trying to tell you something you may already know.
I'll second the soil sample. I have to do everything by hand and well it sucks. Taking a couple scoops of dirt and dropping it in an envelope is the easiest part of the whole process. It eliminates the guess work. This way i can give the ground what it needs to optimize my results. No sense putting out fertilizer if your pH is way off, the plants won't be able to take it up.
I love this and I hear you guys on this - I've done plenty of research and it's always recommended to do a soil sample. Not really debating anyone that chooses to make this step part of their game plan. I just think it's a little overrated with foodplots. My main investment is time and so many other things can go wrong besides not knowing whats in my soil. So I go to the trouble of doing a soil sample. It tells me I need to spend some money (increasing my financial risk) and then I plant. 2 days later we get hit with huge storms (as we have here over the last 24 hours) and it washes out all my food plot seed. Boom just like that I'm out my seed. Lucky for me and my hunting buddies I advised we hold off on planting until late July - we got lucky!! No food plot crop insurance lol Next scenario all of the above the same except this time rather than rain washing out my plot a month after planting we go into a month long drought and my plants get baked. Boom just like that my plot is finished. Next scenario all of the above is same, the wearher cooperates and plot doesn't take off!! It ended up getting too much pressure from my local heard and they grazed it to the ground. Boom just like that I'm out a foodplot for this season. We could come up with a bunch of different scenarios that can lead to failure with or without a soil sample. You could make the argument of why not control what you can control?! I can't argue with that. I can only say it's not something that I care to waste time with. In doing so I know good and well that I'm bound to have a failed plot sooner or later.
Well said! I feel the same way as you. I have to do my 1/10 acre plot by hand. I have a 1/4 acre plot I cut in this winter that I may or may not get to planting this year. I have no means to haul TONS of lime into the woods or fertilizer for the matter. I have read enough online to know I "need" a soil test. I get it. I just hate how any hunting website/form a guy cant ask a dang food plot question without everyone shouting at them to get a soil test. Some of us just don't care because we don't have the time or ability to deal with the results of the test. We just want to try and get something in the ground that grows enough for the deer to eat. Might not produce results like the perfect 7.0 soil that was tested and limed by the guy that has all the time and money in the world but its good enough for us.
^ This x billions! Preach. You shoulda tried to have this argument with guys on the old QDMA forum (God rest its soul) - talk about a waste of time! Don't have the ability, resources or care to deal with the results. Doesn't mean we don't understand the importance of a test. Just means we're making our best attempt/guess at success without it. For me the success or failure depends on too many things for a soil to hold THAT much importance. It's completely overstated and I've got years of flourishing food plot pictures from beans to cowpeas to blue lupine to turnips. Planted it all and said bleep the soil test 9 times out of 10.
I This is my situation as well, carrying in 50lb bags of lime is a drag. I for one am just offering well meaning advice(that was asked for). As long as you (sycamoretwitch) understand that the fertilizer you put out may be useless if the soil pH keeps it in an ionic form that the plants aren't able to take up. Thereby rendering it a waste of time and money. I would suggest either not putting it out at all or consider rotating it if time and money are major concerns. One year put out lime another put out fertilizer etc etc. I understand they are a gamble. I had terrible luck with mine last year and wasted both time and money. I don't think anybody is being preachy the advice is good and well meaning. I certainly understand the limitations on time, money and desire. However don't open the floor for discussion and then get upset when you don't like the feedback you are receiving. The person giving advice has good intentions and is giving up their time to formulate and type a well meaning response to help you. Good luck.
Hence my conviction in my first post that wasn't sarcastic at all - "I love this"! Nothing I enjoy more than the food plot do's and dont's. I've enjoyed the feedback and discussion.
I enjoy the conversation as well twitch. I was only offering advice based on you asking the question. I started out in the same back breaking way of doing food plots. It was a pain. I then moved to a 4 wheeler to do the hard part and have finally graduated to using tractors. I'm definitely not trying to preach. I've learned through trial, error and wasting money that if the pH isn't close to right, it can be a real fight to keep the weeds under control and get something for the deer to eat. Best of luck with your plots. They look like they are doing really good!! Good luck this coming season.
Food plot update! Things are coming along, weather has been amazing! Think these things should be good looking great by mid October. Natrual watering hole: A lot of traffic in this area:
