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Looking for advice on a spring food plot in Northern Virginia. I anticipate two small plots roughly 40 yd X 40 yd each.

Had decent luck with oats in the fall, this is my first spring at this location. It's mountainous terrain with plots cut out of the woods. One is along a small power line and the other over my septic system. Still need to do a soil sample on each.

Spring plots might be tough if you don't have a way to control weeds. I do so by planting roundup ready soybeans. They will get eaten to the point of being killed and not produce much grain. But, it'll be a weed free slate to plant into this fall.

If the oats plots have a bit of bare soil now, I'd over/frost seed some clover into it ASAP. That would allow you to use a grass specific herbicide as well as mowing for maintenance.

Might want to look into using buckwheat. It's pretty good as smothering other things out and will only last 90days giving you something to plant into come fall.

A lot of suggestions might hinge on what type of equipment you have access to...

Great insight, thanks. I have worked on a plot with a friend and the spring weeds are in fact an issue. I'll go with the clover.

I talked with a grazing specialist about getting a clover monoculture (roughly) established in an old pasture. His suggestion would probably work for you as well. Spray with glyphosate once the grass is green and about 6-8" tall. A couple weeks later broadcast the equivalent of 50#/acre of buckwheat and cultipack or mow the dead grass. Buckwheat is a 90 day plant, so in 3 mos it's dead anyway. Then in early fall/late summer broadcast oats/turnips to the dying/dead buckwheat and mow or cultipack. Oats/turnips shouldn't last through the winter. Then that winter frost seed the plots with your choice of clover. He stated he's seen this work very well for getting a lot of clover established in an area without doing tillage.

I'm planning on trying this on a couple of small, hard to reach plots this year.

I plant sunflowers for early summer to late summer food plots. My deer love the bulb before it starts flowering. I would like to hunt doves there too, but I can't compete with the big corn fields a few miles away. miles

I deal with weeds too. Tried the round up ready beans, was not overly impressed with them.

Back to clay peas. AMazingly enough if I get em up and fertilized they kind of shade the grass some, and then as the weeds get up the weeds protect the peas some middle of the summer so that if we get a few rains they come back again.

I have wild sunflowers in that one plot too, so we know the deer work on them also.

Problem for me, spraying now, we are already green etc... will only kill early weeds. Have to wait to May to kill all, by then its usually to late to plant anything and hope for it to grow. And if it does come up its eaten off quickly.

I had good luck in central NC with Imperial NoPlow. This performed much better than soybeans or my attempt at clover.

Sure, there were weeds. But the Imperial product still did well.

Iron and clay peas work well for me in East Texas for my spring/summer plots.

Too late for your original question, but here's a powerline in Henry County VA that I planted in late April with Hancock Spring and Summer mix. The sample came back with ph-5.0, fertilize at 50/75/75 lbs/acre NPK.

I decided to plant it because the power company came through with a forestry mulcher in February and leveled it. I don't have a lot of equipment so all we did was pick up the chunks wood and rocks and spray it in early April. Then in late April I mowed it and ran a tooth drag over it a bunch, liming, fertilizing and seeding along the way. By Memorial Day it was up about a foot. By July 4th it was up about 4-5 feet and the millet and sorghum was topping out. This past weekend the millet is browning up and the sunflowers are about 4-5 feet tall. The deer and turkeys are all over it. Labor day weekend I'm going to broadcast Hancock Fall and Winter mix into it and mow/fertilize. Then next spring I'm going to try a perennial grazing mix.


Early April:


July 4th:

Try mixing some japanese or brown top millet in with the sunflowers. The dove are all over the millet in my plot.

Spring, wheat with a clover of some type.

Not sure how it will work over your septic system/drain field since I believe the Ph there will constantly changing.

Tell me about buckwheat, as I have never seen any. I have heard a couple of people say to plant it for bees (honey), but do not know if it will grow good here or not, nor when to plant. It is mostly Northern people that I hear talking about it. Neighbor had a field planted in partridge peas a couple of years while in some government program, and there was lots of blooms but I was not raising bees at the time so I did not check it out, but it was heavy cover and I could see deer bedding in it even if they did not eat the peas. miles

I planted buckwheat in a spot that I was having a lot of trouble with washouts. The plan was to wait till the buckwheat came in good, then broadcast and cultipack a clover mix into it.

It almost worked. The buckwheat came in fast and grew like crazy. Then the deer found it and wiped it out almost overnight.

It's just about time to plant winter food plots.

What time of year? Spring, Fall, Summer? I know we plant fall wheat and oats, where up North they plant them in the spring. I can't seem to find anything about planting it here. Nor where to find seeds local. Shipping might be a deal breaker. miles

One of mine went in 2 weeks ago since I Had time. Won't have time until back from AK again, about October so the other acres will go in then I suppose.

Really wanted to round up the rest of them before I leave, but that may or may not happen.

PRM-You should think about getting that ground ripped up asap and putting some winter rye cereal grain . It will last all winter and into the late spring. Once late spring comes plow it under as a green mulch and soil builder. Then plant buck wheat let it come up a little them mow it once and let it go to town for the rest of the summer. Buck wheat is a scavenger and will add phosphorus to your soil which can be hard to pick up. It is also a weed suppressant and adds organic matter to the soil and decomposes very well. After you turn the buckwheat into the ground around Labor day come back and put in a mix of winter rye, crimson clover, and forage radishes. Clover will come in first and help suppress any still present weed while giving a chance for the rye to come in. Lat fall the clover will slow down and the rye will catch up as well as the radishes. The radishes will provide late season forage during the gun season after the temps drop and you get a good frost the sugars will rise in the radishes and the deer will start to dig them up. The radish tops will die off in the winter and here the rye will stay green all winter and into late spring.

If you want a sudo set it and forget it plot do the buckwheat thing and then put a clover in and keep it mowed. The deer like it in its immature stages when its tender as opposed to the 2 foot tall stuff.

You can experiment with other crops on trial basis in small sections to see if the deer in your area like it before you do the whole plot with it. I would always leave something like the rye in the ground so you have something to compare with.

Most of all of the above can be done with minimal equipment.

Good luck

Early April in the Martinsville VA area. I get it from Hancock Seed - Just over a buck a pound and free Shipping (25lb bag).

I'm mixing it 10% into my fall brassica plots this weekend and Labor Day weekend as a nurse crop.

Wildone's advice is solid. You can also do what he says without tillage using a cultipacker if you want to fork out the $800+ bucks for one.

Nice plot!

I,m enjoying all the info here.
I got about 3 1/2 acres in northern IL. that I've always wanted to do "something" with to maybe feed some deer and just make it look better.It adjoins the 6 acres my house is on and is a border to a creek and farmland next to me.
Where do you guys buy your seeds?
I'd like to try that Buckwheat in spring followed by rye,clover radish "combo" next year.
Right now its full of 6 ft tall weeds....should I burn it this fall? next spring? I was told to NEVER till it as I'd be just planting the stuff I want to get rid of.
Like I said I'm enjoying this post.

As Pointer said, a lot of recommendations depend on what kind of equipment you have access to. IMO, 3.5 acres is a very big field to work all at once with ATV class equipment, especially the first time doing it.

In any case, first thing you need to do is get a soil sample. Depending on the results, the price tag might surprise you. For example, a 3.5 acre field in my area will on average need 10.5 tons of lime, 1,300lbs of 10-20-20 and 100lbs of urea just to get started.

In my case with ATV class equipment, the first thing I'd do is mow it (or burn it) and see what needs to be done to clean it up (remove rocks, debris, etc.), then chunk it up into smaller sections I could work easier. Heck - 3.5 acres you could have a dozen different really nice small plots going in a few years.

rlott, Point taken.
The total area is 3.5 acres. which includes some timber and a small creek. The main open area that I am thinking of trying to do something with is maybe a little more than 1/2 acre. so that would be my goal to get that spot going not the entire lot.
this smaller spot would allow me to give it a try anyway.
In a post above you mentioned Hancock...is that a good place to get seed? Any other sources?
I live in farm country so lime and fertilizer can be acquired locally can possibly get my hands on some equipt. if needed, but hoping I can get by with my "smaller" tractor and stuff.

As far as doing a soil sample...what am I looking for? and is there a chart or guide to determine what/how much I need to get to what? levels?

I appreciate the help...thanks for your time

Go to the website of the local Ag Extension Office. It's easy. Don't overthink the sampling.

It's not rocket science. A one-pound coffee can about one-half to two-thirds full is plenty unless there are noticeable soil differences in the area you will be planting. Fill your can with about a cup full from several different places. Take it to your local agricultural extension office. They will be listed both under both state agencies and county agencies in most telephone directories.

I agree that you don't have to "overthink" it, but there is a fair amount of thought required to get it right and make sure your aren't wasting your money. Fertilizer and seed isn't cheap these days.

In VA we get soil sample boxes and the associated forms at any public library or cooperative ext office. Wildlife food plots are considered commercial crops so the soil test is free. You just have to pay shipping. A few days after Virginia Tech receives the samples they email you a PDF with the results and recommended lime and fertilizer amounts. Being an agricultural state, I'm sure IL has an identical system.

Soil Test

The field in the above soil test is about 1/2 acre, so we needed 2.4 tons of agricultural lime and four 50lb bags of 10-20-20 to get to their recommended levels. That put us a tad short on nitrogen so we hit it with 1/4 bag of 34-0-0. We put the lime down back in March, and fertilized and seeded last weekend. IMO, the lime is the most important step because if the soil PH is too low, the plants can't use the nutrients efficiently and you are just wasting your money on seed and fertilizer.

For the fertilizer amounts, you can either do the math, or use the very good and easy to use online fertilizer calculator on the Texas A&M website.

Fertilizer Calculator

A 50lb bag of 10-20-20 contains 10% nitrogen, 20% phosphorous and 20% potassium, OR 5lbs nitrogen, 10lbs phosphorous and 10lbs potassium. In other words, half the bag is actual fertilizer and the other half is inert filler, yet somehow they can still justify charging you $18.00 per bag for it......

I had really good luck this summer with Hancock's Spring and Summer mix on that powerline even though the soil PH was low. I didn't want to wait for the lime to work so I limed, fertilized and seeded all at the same time and it worked out OK. This weekend I'm going to re-seed it with Hancock's Fall and Winter Mix. I also get my buckwheat from Hancock Seed, mostly because they have free shipping for the 25lb bags.

This past weekend our club planted 6 fields we've been prepping since the spring, so I can't make any seed recommendations yet, but we used the following seeds: Deer Creek Seed Wildlife Clover Food Plot Mix, Wildlife Perfect Wildlife Brassica Mix and Wildlife Perfect Wildlife Grazing Mix. We picked those specific mixes because they had a lower PH tolerance than most of the others. We also mixed 10% brown top millet from Hancock Seed into them - 1) as a nurse crop and 2) to maybe bring in some turkey and dove later in the year.

I'm also prepping a small plot in the woods by one of my stands and I'm going to try the Deer Creek Seed Logger's Trail Mix. I'll be using 2 bags of Pennington Fast Acting lime to hopefully bring the PH up quickly. The fast acting lime is 4X the cost of regular lime and doesn't last as long, but it works a lot faster

NE Minnesota here. For giggles, I planted all the annuals that I had on hand, together in the same plot. "My" deer have never seen most of these crops. I usually just plant clover fields. I mixed everything for this new plot, but with swales of MOSTLY single species in the 2 acres, encumbered by boulders and gravels as "soils." Field corn, sweet corn, sunflowers, buckwheat, oats, cabbages, kale, collards, squash, pole, runner, and bush beans, beets, forage turnips, daikon radishes, fava beans, Swiss chard, Brussel sprouts, spinach, peas, and a few other things that I'm sure I've forgotten. All went in. It was all planted far too thickly.

Long story short: Deer took the buckwheat first; topped every one. Sunflowers went next. The daikon radishes (new to me) outgrew everything (chest high), even the corn, and they shielded shorter species from browsing very well. The radishes have fairly robust seed pods at their terminus on their tops. The deer love the pods. The BEARS love them too! Bears are tough on a food plot. Deer and bears wade through the thick radish plants and mow a path through, eating the pods and stems. Most of the undergrowth of cole crops and setch are still intact, but its only the end of August. Hoping a few leaves will be left during late fall. I have not checked for radish roots yet (the Daikon radish is called "groundhog" because its self-tilling: dies during winter and leaves a hole in the earth. I can't plow the rocky ground and only use a drag, so...maybe?). I figure the deer will dig for roots into the winter, if the deer like 'em. They go for other roots like dandelions and beets, so maybe.

Anyway, the radishes apparently make a good "bear plot" and deer love young buckwheat.

I think I'm in love with my tractor.


Bill

to take a good soil sample you should dig into 3 locations in the field to be planted and mix the soil into a 5 gall bucket and then fill the coffee can as described above. There is also a product called Post which is a weed killer but wont harm broad leaf . Spray it wait a week and then turn it under. Them come over it in the summer with buckwheat. Buckwheat will reach full maturity in 45 days if not clipped . Clip it once , and then let it go all the way. Don't cut it so short that it burns up from the hot summer sun. Till the buckwheat in as I stated in my earlier post around labor day and put your fall crop in.

If you truly want to build your deer up you have to feed them when they are growing their horns and putting on weight not just during hunting season. They need the proteins for weight and fat and the minerals for horn growth during the summer months.

I appreciate all the info. Thanks guys

I plant oats every fall. When it come up I fertilize it. Seems to work OK

I see lots of mention of buckwheat here. I know nothing about it, and need to. It is highly recommended for beekeepers to raise and if game animals like it too, I need some. Spring plant or fall plant in the South? How much seed to the acre? Plant deep or shallow? All help appreciated. miles

I'd like to know about Buckwheat myself.

I am beginning to think that raising buckwheat is akin to snipe hunting. miles

I think you're right Miles.


I seeded a small 50x50 or so plot in a corner of my place today.

This is a spot that is surrounded by fairly thick brush that I cleared over the spring and then sprayed with Glyphosate several times through the summer to get rid of the weeds and vines.

I've limed it and spread barn stall clean outs over it and planted a mix of Dutch clover,peas,beans,Radishes,beets and a bag of Whitetail Imperial mix that was given to me. This stuff- No plow mix

Now if we'd just get some rain to get this stuff going...

Buckwheat
Buckwheat PDF file

Note: A longer Buckwheat Cover Crop Handbook for the Northeast is also available.

Buckwheat is a short season annual with a delicate, fibrous root system. Since it establishes quickly, it is useful for weed suppression. It also mellows the soil while improving aggregate stability. Classic uses include: ground cover after early vegetables, cover before planting strawberry beds, and bringing idle land into production. Buckwheat does well in low-fertility soils. It is a scavenger of phosphorus and calcium and mineralizes rock phosphate, making these nutrients available for later crops. Residue from the succulent buckwheat plants decomposes quickly. Buckwheat uses the shortest window of opportunity of any cover crop.

Land preparation
A well-prepared seedbed is necessary to ensure a quick start for the crop. Avoid wet spots; buckwheat will not recover from flooding. Use minimal fertilizer. On established vegetable ground, residual nutrients are sufficient.

Seeding rate
50 lb/ac drilled, 1/2 to 1 in. depth.
70 lb/ac broadcast, $15-25/ac.

Seeding date
June-July. It can be planted as early as May 20 or as late as August 15 but will give less growth.

Seed sources
Birkett Mills, Lakeshore Organic Grain, Agriculver, Ernst Conservation Seed.

Maintenance
No pesticides are needed; a good crop for organic rotations. Heavy rain reduces emergence; reseed if necessary. A well-established buckwheat canopy completely covers the ground. Plants often wilt during hot days but quickly recover.

Control
Mow 35-40 days after seeding or incorporate 35-45 days after seeding to avoid volunteers. The right time is when the field has just turned white with flowers.

Tips
Do not plant into hard soil. Buckwheat will not break up hard pan.
Flooding stops growth permanently.
Weeds will grow in any gaps over 10 inches.
Parasitic wasps, ladybugs, and hoverflies are beneficial insects that are attracted to buckwheat. Harmful insects, such as tarnished plant bugs and aphids, are also attracted. However, aphids can serve as a food source for the beneficials.

Buckwheat is discussed in the article on Mid and late summer cover crops.

Thanks, I need to find seed for next year. miles

Hancock Seed is showing free shipping on all sizes up to 25lbs on their site now.

Here's one I finished last weekend - Deer Creek Seed Loggers Trail, Buckwheat, and Antler King Honey Hole:

Ok, how do you get a food plot to grow under trees?

wheat and winter peas in the first and rape, turnips, and radishes in the second

Just planted my greens last week. Started out too wet and hot, and now cooler and dry. I do have them up barely and put the sprinkler on the ones in my garden. The food plots will have to wait for a rain. miles

been bone-ass dry on my farm, although i've got the plots scalped & ready to break ground, the soil is about as hard as a parking lot, so still waiting for some moisture to soften things a bit...supposed to get some over the next few days.

i have 10 plots on my farm ranging from 1/2 acre to 4 acres, and we usually plant a mix of wheat/rye with a bit of winter peas & some assorted greens mixed in. better soil gets a 60/40 wheat-rye mix, in dry/rocky soil i'll reverse that & seed the rye heavy.

about February, i'll overseed all plots with an annual clover which then pops up pretty well with spring warmup; we usually mow the tall wintergrains down in mid-march and the clover keeps on going through early summer.

By doing so, i only have to break ground once, but the plots feed the deer for 6-8 months out of the year. (i dont maintain them in summer).

we always plant some of our access trails to funnel deer movement & use them as shooting lanes...no issues with growth under the canopy, if the soil is good.

trails in the woods:



some of the plots....first one from the eye in the sky, just after i broke ground:


the same one, from the deer's point of view...

Location: South facing area in the most open area you can find. If I can get in there and have room to maneuver the Mule and drag around, it's good.
Seed: Cool season, fast growing shade tolerant varieties.
Timing: Plant right before the leaves start to drop.
Plenty of fast acting lime and fertilizer.

They usually fade out once the trees start to green back up in the spring but these are basically small kill plots. I usually put the youth/first time hunters in them.

nice job Fyrepowr!

yep, planting now--rye, same deal kill plots--but do put a bit of clover with the rye and have a designated clover field to keep them close in the summer

some volunteer trefoil comes up from a planting 10 yrs ago...it was too much work to maintain

...planting 5 plots 1/2 acre to 2 acre.

fwiw...

Have used buckwheat. Very popular with the venison. I planted late spring and then turned down what was left to plant a fall cold plot.

Grows quickly...I believe it pukes with the frost...but it doesn't matter, the deer wiped the majority out anyway.

When motivated, do disc in the rye/wheat in spring and buckwheat in fall, as green manure. Like field rye/winter wheat, it is relatively cheap--and I always add token amounts of the least expensive short clover to each.

havent tried buckwheat yet, but i think i will next year....

this winter we're mowing fire breaks around a couple of overgrown fields & then torching them next february before the spring green up, and after we get some regrowth i'll nuke 'em with roundup, disc, & seed cover crops.

a couple more pix....
sunrise from a ladder stand, overlooking a small plot...


some of the locals, in the same plot...


dead buck laying along the edge of a plot last year in muzzleloader season, my brother in law let him walk twice before he finally decided it was just meant to be.


looking out from a ladder stand after a plot just got seeded.

Several years back I decided that I wanted to try Rye, but never found any seeds. Everybody had ryegrass, but no rye. I have volunteer ryegrass. Usually plant a mixture of wheat and oats, with some mixed greens scattered in. Have used winter peas in the mixture but seed are hard to find now. Use to be every where you shopped, now nowhere. Late with it this year due to broken down seeder. I have been working on it, I am slow at things anymore. miles

Fyre:
Looks like a great set-up. That last field looks big enough for a profit!
Kinda of woodsy for OK? Haven't seen much of it-just the NE corner. Son did some commercial wiring down there, I think at a military base a year ago, and liked it.

I have had the best luck with buckwheat as an summer annual (turn down in fall). But that is here. They hit it harder than clover, rye/wheat, trefoil or oats. Oats seemed to puke with the hard frost. They scrape snow to get the rye/wheat during rifle.

Miles:
I get field (annual) rye at the local co-op. It was 10.50 for a 50# bag of seed...the same as winter wheat. They are interchangeable for me as a fall planting. Down on river bottom here, so if the corporate habitat erasers up above are planting winter wheat, then I do rye. Deer like a change...:) Winter peas are a buck a pound, so I go something like 10-1 mix, just enough to give them one more reason to stop in. I mix in a little of the cheapest clover I can get for a nitrogen fix and to have some protein going in the spring. That all sounds more industrious than it is, and it doesn't always happen every year...

fwiw

FyrepowrX and Rockchucker - those are some nice fields. And believe me, I know that a lot of work went into those for sure.

Here's one of the 6 we've been working this year:

Memorial Day weekend after cutting/pulling/digging/chopping Black Locust and spraying a 2% glyphosate mix - "We killed everything!":



Wrong!!! July 4th weekend the Black Locust is back with a vengeance because 1) We disturbed them and made them mad, and 2) Even better, we killed off their competition.



Fast forward to 9/17, and after mowing, another round of glyphosate, mowing, ANOTHER round of glyphosate and Crossbow, mowing, chisel plowing, and disking twice, somehow we've managed to start raising a pretty nice stand of brassica. There's a pile of Black Locust roots the chisel plow pulled up behind me in the pic that's the size of a Peterbuilt.




In gymnastics, they call the balance beam the Devil's apparatus. In nature, the Devil's apparatus has got to be Black Locust. Black Locust has a relatively small native range, and unfortunately my club is pretty much right in the middle of it.

We have 5 other fields like this one going on the mountain. For some weird reason I really enjoy messing around with food plotting. Otherwise, I probably would have thrown my hands up in disgust and given up in June - just like every other one of the club guys who've tried it in the past 20 years.

This pic is absolutely hilarious. The stereotypical woman - "Yes, I know that green stuff behind me is perfect, but I'm going to look over here in this dead stuff for even more perfecter stuff.......

as of today. deer are in it so much, looks like a bunch of pigs rooting around in it

summer wont seem to ease up, was 101 yesterday not counting the heat index and by afternoon it was pretty miserable outside. But, we got most of the fall plots knocked out.

we got started yesterday morning about 7:00, and the heat ran us off by about 4:00, but heading out we had 7 of our plots done, and a thousand pounds of wheat/rye went into the dirt yesterday.

we also got 3 more plots disced & ready to seed, but lost my motivation after baking in the heat; i'll go back down next weekend to finish those off.

our usual method is to scalp them down low with the mower, disc to loosen, broadcast seed, and then use the plotmaster to run over it a second time to cover the seed...we set the disc depth on it to run shallow so it covers the seed lightly as it cultipacks.



if i can figure out how, i'll post a short clip of it...

FyrepowrX - nice looking field. Been there, done that in the high-90/low-100 heat and it takes dedication.

How do you like that Plotmaster?

We looked at one but for now we don't have enough acreage to justify the cost. Plus, we have pretty good access so I can get one of the local tobacco farmers to hit it with his 5-bottom chisel for a case of Jim Beam. After that our small 3-point disk can handle it no problem. Then we just use a spike drag and Ye Olde water filled poly lawn roller to incorporate the seed.

that one was an accidental purchase, but i like it quite a bit. It has a 100 pound capacity remote controlled electric seeder that lets you control seed rate at the touch of a button, so for soil that is not overly hardpacked you can disc, seed, and cultipack in one pass.

several years ago i was nosing around online & typed in the word "food plot" in the search field, this one popped up for sale...i sent the guy a message and it turns out it was sitting in a warehouse a few blocks away from my office, (helluva lucky coincidence!) so i went & looked at it told him i'd take it, and he even loaded it up on a trailer & brought it to me...think i paid about $600 for it.

kinda heavy for smaller ATV's to pull, works better with the side-by-side dragging it...i also hitched it to my truck to seed long shooting lanes.



the weather smiled on us and a gentle soaking rain has been falling since noon today & will continue tonight, so although i didnt get to go seed the other 3 plots this weekend, the ones i did finish are gonna start popping....cool front coming right behind the rain so i'm going out Tuesday to move 7 or 8 ladders.

Both of these fields were planted on the same day (8/27), using the same mix (Wildlife Perfect Grazing Mix with 10% brown top millet added in), with the same fertilizer (10-20-20 to achieve a 50/75/75 lbs/acre NPK). The pics were taken on 10/2.

The difference?

The field on the left had a starting pH of 5.0 and the field on the right had a pH of 6.3. We limed the one on the left in April with 2.25 tons/acre and left the other one alone. I need to take another sample but I'm guessing the pH is still somewhere below 6.0.



We're seeing the same thing in the brassica fields. The field on the left had a starting pH of 4.9 and the other one had a pH of 6.0. We hit the lower one with 4 tons per acre and the higher one with 1.25 tons back in April.

Some of you guys should be farmers.

I planted a couple of patches back around the middle of Sept. and had enough moisture to get a good stand of mixed wheat and oats. No rain since, and things are getting needy. 40% chance one day later in the week, but that is not much. miles

swamp here...am sick of mowing grass...but field rye is lush and deer have moved in...:)

Well, I was way off on my assumptions. Turns out the fields that aren't growing very well actually have a high pH - 7.8. Guess we got a little carried away with the lime in the spring....Plus they are slightly nitrogen and potassium deficient.

Plan is to hit them with some ammonium sulfate (34-0-0) "SuperKicker Plus" and 0-0-60. The sulfur in the SuperKicker will help lower the pH.

Has anyone tried tillage radishes yet?

The "Tillage Max" brand?

No, but I'm looking at them for a small plot we're working for next year. The ground is hard as hell and rocky so we're thinking we might try them in the spring to see if it will loosen it up.

like these.

Nice! Those ought to keep them occupied for a bit

turnips are huge also

Have the radishes worked better than turnips after it freezes?

You can throw a lot of money at plots. We always take the simple approach: wheat and 13-13-13. Cheap and deer/turkey love it. The soil in most of our plots is pretty terrible, it's mostly sand, iron ore, and red clay. Wheat and oats grow just fine with 13-13-13 and enough rain.

Almost got screwed this year due to lack of rain. I planted 2 days before a 90% rain prediction, but never got a drop. The seed sat for 3 weeks before we finally got a shower. The birds had a field day during that time, but it seems enough was covered.

I hunted this plot last week one eve and saw 11 doe and 2 bucks munching down on the wheat:

My wife took a panoramic pic with her highfalutin phone. This stuff is ridiculous. We haven't had a night below 45 since we planted it at the end of August and it doesn't look like we're going to anytime soon. At the rate it's going the stuff is going to be 4 feet tall with turnips the size of basketballs by rifle season.

This makes a lot of sense, especially in new fields. I think I'm going to go this route on our problem areas. It should also help a lot with soil conditioning.

turnips are better after a freeze.

radishes just rot away

Turnips get eaten too early here and we haven't tried radishes yet. I had read that radishes aerate the soil better for a crop the following year.

Your plot is looking much better than mine. We went from the last week of Aug. til mid Oct. without any rain, so I waited and planted the morning before the Oct. rain. We got .7" and that was enough to get the wheat and oat up and going. It was suppose to rain 2 weeks ago, so I lightly top dressed with 8-8-8, but no rain came. Plot looks ok, but we need a rain.

My plots look really marginal this year. Only got one decent October rain on them. Going to have to overseed with rye and fertilizer when (if) the rainy season ever gets here. Hot and dry in the fall certainly stinks. We never even got to plant last year due to drought. Wet early summers both years, but dry falls. Go figure.......

OM,

I got lucky on that area pictured as we got several inches in a big storm a few weeks back.

JP,

My Union plots look just ok. They are really green in bottoms, but only a few inches tall on the hills. We've only had one light rain up there, not even enough to wet mud puddles.

It's definitely been a strange Oct for weather, but looks like Nov is going to be a little better.

RL,

We missed that rain yall got a couple weeks ago, it all went south of us.

I saw yesterday where Union Parish is under a burn ban. I've been over there 1 or 2 days, every week for a month now, and it's really dry.

Its cloudy today and a 20% chance. Sure hope we get a shower.

I like oats in the winter. Deer like it better than wheat or rye.

We have not even planted yet; 52 days without rain and no precipitation outlook for the next 3 weeks.

How did your plots turn out?

We put clover mixes in 2 of our fields with the requisite lime and fertilizer per soil test. Started clearing them in late 2015, limed in early 2016, and fertilized and planted in September 2016. It came up right away but the deer were keeping them mowed down all winter to the point I started thinking they weren’t going to survive. Then went I went up in late April I got a pleasant surprise.






The mix we used had a bunch of stuff in it, but from what we’re seeing the red clover, chicory and trefoil either didn’t grow or got eaten to death. The crimson clover and white clovers grew good, but the Dutch clover is underperforming the Ladino and Alsike. We planted Balansa clover on a field in February that had brassicas last year and Durana on another one with annual rye mixed in and so far they look very promising. They’re both white clover.

Based on that, we’re going to start making our own mixes and spend our money on white clovers (Ladino, Durana, Alsike, Balansa), crimson clover, and use cheap annual rye as a cover crop.

Make sure that "annual rye" is grain variety, also known as winter rye, and not annual ryegrass. The latter can be harder to get rid of later.

Here's a few of my plots that were seeded with a clover mixture with rye and a bit of oats as a nurse crop this spring.

Just a general question for you guys running spring plots. Do you still have game using the plots much after the spring green-up and into the summer months?

I run cams year round and deer almost completely stop grazing plots when the spring green-up comes in in April. They move to natural plants/vegetation here, but they will still come to mineral throughout the summer months. It's not even worth the hassle to plant anything other than fall/winter plots. It's very thick here with a ton of natural vegetation and ample rainfall, so I'm sure that plays a major role.

Depends.

Here, the clover doesn't get as much action first thing in the spring--thinking like you because it is just a big buffet out there and a number of wild plants are preferred. The fawning does are more reclusive, too.

Clover gets more more play we get into summer but they will walk across clover to get to buckwheat, if I plant it. After the first frost or so, they turn their attention to carbs and winter rye or winter wheat become the draw.

Use goes way down in the spring for us. I think because of the natural buffet at that time. If the winter rye is allowed to mature, I have found them using it to drop fawns. Exception to the spring "lull" is if I plant soybeans. Young soybeans get hammered at my place. I just wish I had the machinery/acreage to plant more of them...

Same here in the spring. The fields were full of tracks and they were eating the clover down to the nub all winter into the last week of March to the point I was getting ready to put up tape, then I went back up at the end of April turkey hunting and it was halfway up to my knees.

I can't even get buckwheat to grow more than an inch or 2 before the deer and turkeys mow it down. The deer snip it off and the turkeys pluck the whole plant out.

I'm starting to think that crimson clover will grow on blacktop.

Any of you guys ever try triticale?

So dry here they are clipping the tops off the claypeas and they are only a few inches tall.... if we don't get inches of rain soon I won't have any plants left... Cracks in the ground a inch across already.

A month ago we could almost wash away with another .5 inch every few days... so wet I couldn't round up spray a couple of spots...

Do they quit eating? Yeah, if there is enough other around they always do... but they come back...

Jeff, you ever try Australian winter peas in the fall?

I planted them for the first time last year and could not believe the draw it had on deer, they came to it better than even corn and that's saying something around these parts. Only problem is I only planted a small patch in a bigger plot and they smoked it to nubs within a couple weeks after it got about 12" tall. Probably not worth planting again since they will not continue to grow, but it sure is a good source to get pics on for a bit.