What are some good seeds to plant in open wooded areas that are shaded some of the day but also get a decent amount of light
decent amount of light....what exactly does that mean? all of our small food plots are in the woods and do well as long as we take some canopy away (especially on the southern sides).
well i have a strip on pines that would be on the north side of the plot, to the south it would pretty much all be open to be light being it drops down into a valley, the east and west there are trees that would block sun light on the rising and setting of the sun, it would be a smaller plot probably about 80 yards long by 40 yards wide. The reason i say decent amount of light is because its not in a field and able to get sunlight all day long
80yards by 40yards is not small in my eyes That's bigger than any plot we got haha! I think from your description (especially with south side open) you'd be good with just about anything the soil is good enough to produce. Soil test, fertilize/lime as needed, kill, kill again, till, plant, fertilize...KILL (not the weeds this time though!!! )
Well thats about as much as i need to know then lol Thank you!! Now the Work begins with clearing out fallen trees and some brush then start tilling in the spring. Sounds like PH test will determin on what to plant then.
The PH test will tell ya the current ability of the soil, anywhere you take the test just tell them what you are thinking about planting and they'll tell ya what you need to do. That big of a plot you could break it into strips and do clover in one strip, fall brassicas in another or whatever you want. I'm a huge fan of not allowing a deer to see for long distances in plots, one it slows them down and causes them to have to search them and it also makes them feel safer. We have great success with leaving some cut stumps in our food plots (cut about a 1/2foot to foot and a half high) if cut in the dormant period of the year. These stumps will absolutely explode at times with fresh shoots that the deer love and if they don't will act as bushes in the food plot blocking sight lines and breaking up an otherwise open area.
Never really thought about it like that but thats actually really good advise, im gonna have to look into that. Thanks again i have gotten a lot of advise from you since i have been on here.
Hopefully most of it has been useful. Land and habitat manipulation is something I'm addicted to, just wish I had more area to do it to. I'll try to take some pictures of the stump shoots we got all over our place for visuals and perhaps someday compile a list and post on my blog with the tree types we've had success doing this approach with. We're trying something new this year with some mid-aged young oaks that just aren't doing anything for us save block light on our one food plot...if works I'll be sharing that as well. Good luck with your plot and be ready because it's addicting!
yes all of it has been very usefull, any and all advise is great im really going to look into the stump shoot also. I have done a few food plots in the past, this year i am planing to have 5-6 plots just this one im talking about doing will be really succesful and benefit two of my stands really well.
