2010 food plots

I usually plant about 7-12 acres per year in 1/2 dozen plots ranging from 1/16th of an acre to just over 4 acres. Usually I strip plant the 4 acre block to add some variety. This year I've been a little slack as I only have 4 plots completed but the others this year will be in brassica and I don't plant them till the 1st of August.
I do up all my own mixes except that I use Biologic Maximum for the rape content and then add in some kale and or winfred (Kale /turnip cross).
The acre soybean plot is looking good and the deer haven't raped it yet hopefully I can get a little growth on it to get ahead of the browsing.

One word of caution on the triple mix. It is a hay mix and the timothy content of most triple mixes is around 70%. Deer don't eat much in the way of grasses so keep it mowed down to about 6" for best utilization. The red clover is less preferred to the white varieties and will die out in 2-3 years so frost seeding a little each spring will help keep the % up. A better option would be alfalfa along with a clover mix instead of the timothy. If your ph isn't up over 6.5 then substitute trefoil instead of the alfalfa. I usually add in some chicory as they really like it but you have to keep it mowed off 2-3 times/growing season to keep the chicory from bolting and to keep the plants young for palatability.

Keep us all updated.

Don't know if this will come out right but I have made a table up of some crops that I thought might be useful to post here for you. This is for broadcast seeding

Forage Planting depth Ph seeding rate Fertilizer(no test)
Corn 1.0-2.0" 5.5-7.0 30lb, Roll 12-24-24, 500lb
Soybeans 1.0-1.5" 6.0-7.0 95-135lb, Roll 12-24-24, 250lb
Alfalfa 0.25-0.5" 6.5-7.0 12-25lb 5-20-20-.5B, 450lb
Birdsfoot Trefoil 0.25-0.5" 5.5-7.0 6-8lb 5-20-20-.5B, 450lb
Vetch (Crown or Hairy) 2.0-3.0" 6.0-6.5 25-40lb, firm
White, Red Clover 0.25-0.5" 5.5-7.0 3-16lb, 10-20-20-.2B, 400lb
Chicory 0.125-0.25" 6.5 6-8lb 6-24-24, 400lb
Winter Wheat 0.75-1.5" 6.0-6.5 130-150lb 10-20-20, 200lbs
Oats 0.75-1.5" 5.8-6.5 100-110lb 10-10-10, 350lb
SunFlower 1-3.5" 5.8-6.0 5-10lb 20-10-10, 300lb
Kale 0.25-0.5" 6.0-7.0 4-6lb 6-12-12, 3000lb
Stubble Turnip 0.25-0.5" 6.0-7.0 3-6lb 6-12-12, 3000lb

GOB... You won't be able to choke out the timothy by frost seeding as it does better than the clover. Timothy has been recommended as one of the few grasses that deer will eat but they usually try to keep the percentage at 5% or less since they don't eat much of it and you want to keep it mowed to keep the palatability up. Trefoil does much better at lower Ph's than alfalfa, it is considered "the poor man's alfalfa" It looks similiar to alfalfa but is not as preferred.
Clover can and has been be planted on it's own, usually you will mix a couple/three different kinds together as well as varieties but it will be all clover.

NBDH...Not sure what is in Walk N Toss but most of them have products that will come with very little ground disturbance, as long as it can get soil contact. No plant grows without soil contact. The more preparation you can put into a site the better your planting will come, and that goes for any product. Ph is more critical to planting success than fertilization becuase Ph determines fertilizer uptake by the plant. Top dressing with lime and fertilizer will help but now that it's in there isn't much more to do.

Well The soybeans are doing well but the deer are hammering them. I had almost 1000 pics in a little over a week.

I went out last night with the bush hog and mowed off a couple perennial plots and fertilized them. Should be just perfect for the first of bow season.

I also mowed the new ochard. I'm gonna have to fence it as the deer ruined most of the new trees. I'll have to do some pruning this coming spring and reselect my leaders. Will set them back a bit but not too much I hope.

I checked the cam on the plot and found that I had forgot to turn it on, so its been there almost two weeks and no pics

Cdog said:

B.T. I read somewhere that to start a new plot it is suggested that 4000 pounds per acre of lime is required?????
Do the handheld ph/npk testers work well or should I get a test "kit"??
Is there anywhere I can back a dumptruck in and buy lime that way?
I just got half my plot stumped last weekend, and suggestions as to what to plant that may come up my fall, or have I missed the window?
What type of grass control do you use?
I have read that some types will kill brassica and not bother clover and vice versa,
Thanks,
Cdog.

Click to expand...

That would just be a general comment and not actual. It depends on the soil type and the ph already. Most new soils would require at least that much and some more than 2X that. It would be a good ballpark figure though without an actual test for new ground and is light enough that you could do it in a single application without splitting it. We have tried the Ph meters here at work and they will get you in the ballpark but usually aren't very accurate. Just adding the 4000lbs would be about doing the same
Graymont or Brookville will deliver any amount you want...well if your talking a dumptruck or more It won't look like much when its delivered as the stuff is pretty heavy. I don't know how they sell for pick-up but you can give them a call. You can also get wood ash delivered for the cost of trucking which works as a liming agent and has some P and K as well. Its about 1/2 as effective and 2x as light so you have to put on a lot more which then negates most of the savings. It is better used as a top dress than a first time liming application. It also would contain more heavy metals.
The only thing I plant this time of year is brassicas. I don't go in for a lot of the other stuff. Tried most everything but now I stick to the basics. Oats will come fine, brassicas (rape, kale, turnip, canola, etc.), Winter rye or wheat, annual ryegrass. If you're planting any perennials now just remember that they will be for next year not this year. It takes 7-21 days for germination and most of the growth for the first month after germination goes into the root system so it can survive. There won't be much there to eat this fall but if you have some mixed in it will come next spring. In my opinion plant your annuals now and replant to perennials next spring if you want perennials.
Grass control depends on what I'm doing, your new plot shouldn't be too bad this year and you don't have time to control it anyway. The grass doesn't really kill any crops, what it does is outcompete them for water, nutrients and sunlight. You really don't need to worry about such this fall with only about a month of growing season left as most of your annuals will keep ahead of them this year. I usually use tilling to get a clean seedbed first and maintain it that way for a few weeks tilling every week to deplete the seedbed then plant. If your using Round-up Ready crops like soybeans or corn then it can be sprayed right over it. I have seen people use round-up on clover and chicory plots in lower dosage. It will cause the clover and chicory to stunt, kill some of the grass and then the clover and chicory will come back. The trouble with this philosophy is that it is too light an application to kill tough grass and this is how plants develop resistance to herbicides so it isn't a good idea to me. Each grain type has its own chemicals for either grasses or legumes and each of them are only for certain types but as I said don't worry about grass control this year as you really don't need it. There isn't many weeds that bother annuals that don't also bother perennials or vise versa but different crops compete better against some weed types than others.

Here is the soybean plot...Kind of weedy but I don't mind as the weeds are "lambsquarter" and the deer like them almost as much as the soybeans. I could spray them with round-up as the beans are Round-up ready but I don't mind a few weeds as well.



The picture is crooked because a porcupine climbed over the camera and tilted it

Foodplot? What foodplot