Official 2022 Fall Plots Thread

[Robhuntandfish]

never planted peas but other then ceral grains, they can be just be spread on ground ,  the norm is the bigger the seed the more soil contact they need, 

They are def a larger seed. Won't be back out there til season now, but if they take they are pretty easy to identify. The radish sure took well.

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[grampy]

6 hours ago, UpStateRedNeck said:

We got deluged yesterday here, Dave, you didn't get any of that?  My August 15th plantings are about an inch high now, just enough rain to get it going.  Hay fields aren't brown anymore either 

We did get a little bit of rain yesterday Paul. But not what we needed. Saw today,that the seeds did germinate! All the hay fields are brown. Even the big swamp is dry as a bone! Not sure how all this will effect the deer movement? But we are still seeing deer. Even some decent bucks. But not where we usually do this time of year. Guess time will tell?

[wolc123]

I finished up the last of my food plots yesterday morning, getting in about (3) acres of wheat/clover mix.  I usually wait until September, to plant that, but I had the time and the soil moisture content was nearly perfect yesterday morning, so I “jumped the gun” by a week this year. 
 

It will be interesting to see if the deer prefer “Imperial Whitetail” clover, or “Spot-on” clover/alphalfa blend.  I don’t have any experience with the “buck on the bag” stuff, but the price was right (free) this time, so I went with it.   
 

The free Whitetail Institute “Tall Tine tubers” that I planted a few weeks ago (behind the corn in 1st photo) germinated pretty good, so hopefully the clover does too.  The “free “ seed was all 3-4 years old.  The wheat “nurse crop” was leftover from last season.  I also seed that on the light side (25 lbs/acre) when planting in combination with clover (3 pounds/acre).

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by wolc123

[LET EM GROW]

On 8/27/2022 at 3:35 PM, Robhuntandfish said:

I threw out a bag of winter peas in one spot but not able to really til them in. I see a lot of them have shoots coming out of the seed. Do they root into the ground like that or do those really need to be sewn into the soil to grow?

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If you cant disk them in you can always press them in with a lawn roller. big seeds like pea and beans press easy and soil moisture will germinate them! they are great easy plot seeds. PLots look good! 

[Five Seasons]

stopped by saturday. Did some tree stand work. It would have made about 6 days post rain. I have some green, so something is growing but I don't know if it's what I planted. I've decided to hold off on opening up the expensive extra seed I bought for now and will give it a few more weeks before I decide if I should put it down or not. 

At this point I'm at peace with my experiment for the first year. Clover has come back real well in just a week post rain and if the fall plot works, that's great and if not I learned a ton and will be better prepared for next year. 

[LET EM GROW]

1 minute ago, Belo said:

stopped by saturday. Did some tree stand work. It would have made about 6 days post rain. I have some green, so something is growing but I don't know if it's what I planted. I've decided to hold off on opening up the expensive extra seed I bought for now and will give it a few more weeks before I decide if I should put it down or not. 

At this point I'm at peace with my experiment for the first year. Clover has come back real well in just a week post rain and if the fall plot works, that's great and if not I learned a ton and will be better prepared for next year. 

This year is a terrible year for experiments. so dont completely throw ideas out. In regards to future plantings. If you have the time, hold off until the 2nd week september and see what they look like. If un satisfied, cereal grains and peas and such will work.  

[Five Seasons]

5 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

This year is a terrible year for experiments. so dont completely throw ideas out. In regards to future plantings. If you have the time, hold off until the 2nd week september and see what they look like. If un satisfied, cereal grains and peas and such will work.  

yeah I know, that's why I'm at peace. At the very least I was able to till some land and learned I need to keep the weeds down prior to planting so that I have more soil exposure and less thatch/hay clippings. 

As far as timing, I was just going by what the bags recommended for our area, which was somewhere between 7/20-8/20. 

[land 1]

well planted rye today to rescue top plot its a touch early but 60% chance rain tmrw, some of my barrassica plots are bouncing back with some rain need more, my low land barrassicas are doing well today the dirt was still damp in them up top was bone dry, only good thing if its too wet or to dry some of the plots will produce

[Robhuntandfish]

While we were out working on hunting land this weekend, couldnt help but laugh at our wall of clover.  On one of the trails that we frost seeded in the spring, there was a literal wall of clover that ended where we stopped seeding.  The clover all up that trail by the stand is just amazing and it ends right in straight line down the trail and its 4" higher.  Frost seeding definitely works there.  Going to do some more in different locations this next spring.  Planning to rotate  frost seeding that every 3 years or so pending how it looks.  And frost seeding is an easy way to get some food going and a good day out in the wild come spring.  

[Robhuntandfish]

3 hours ago, Belo said:

stopped by saturday. Did some tree stand work. It would have made about 6 days post rain. I have some green, so something is growing but I don't know if it's what I planted. I've decided to hold off on opening up the expensive extra seed I bought for now and will give it a few more weeks before I decide if I should put it down or not. 

At this point I'm at peace with my experiment for the first year. Clover has come back real well in just a week post rain and if the fall plot works, that's great and if not I learned a ton and will be better prepared for next year. 

looks like you did a good job of getting some open ground, which is the toughest part.   I would just wait til you know its gonna rain the next day and seed it again.  The worst that happens is you used an extra bag, and i would bet you will still have a pretty decent plot there by end of Sept. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Robhuntandfish

[phade]

3 hours ago, Belo said:

yeah I know, that's why I'm at peace. At the very least I was able to till some land and learned I need to keep the weeds down prior to planting so that I have more soil exposure and less thatch/hay clippings. 

As far as timing, I was just going by what the bags recommended for our area, which was somewhere between 7/20-8/20. 

Fertilize. Fertilize. Fertilize. Go spread some out next weekend.

[phade]

One of our plots looked great. 100 yards away, same prep, same day....miserable. We're going to have to salvage it this weekend. Dang.

[land 1]

yup amazing i got 7 plots some only 1/8th acre but total acres is almost 5 and each one grows diffrent on same 90 acres 

[wolc123]

5 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

While we were out working on hunting land this weekend, couldnt help but laugh at our wall of clover.  On one of the trails that we frost seeded in the spring, there was a literal wall of clover that ended where we stopped seeding.  The clover all up that trail by the stand is just amazing and it ends right in straight line down the trail and its 4" higher.  Frost seeding definitely works there.  Going to do some more in different locations this next spring.  Planning to rotate  frost seeding that every 3 years or so pending how it looks.  And frost seeding is an easy way to get some food going and a good day out in the wild come spring.  

I tried frost seeding White clover, for the first time ever over at my parent’s place on the opposite corner of wmu 9F, this year.  I had about 5 pounds of seed leftover from last year.  I haven’t really checked out how it has done yet.  
 

It must be ok, because they have been watching steady turkey and deer action on that plot all year.  I’ll have to check it out when I go over there to hunt antlerless deer on the afternoon of September 11 (assuming I don’t get one at home that morning or the day before).  
 

It’s funny that I have spent  about 90% of my food plotting time and money at home over the last (5) years, but have killed about 90% of my deer over that same period, at their place.  
 

All I have over there is about 3 acres of clover.  There is lots of corn grown by neighbors near their place, which is mostly mature hardwoods and thick, brushy swamp.  The hunting used to suck over there, until a new neighbor bought the overgrown field behind my their woods, and stopped all the tresspassing that had been coming in from that side.  
 

The herd makeup and buck to doe ratio is very similar over there to what I have at home.  We each have neighboring farms with nussance permits, who hit the antlerless deer quite hard, prior to October 1.
 

 The net result of that, is a ratio  of around 4 antlered bucks observed per every antlerless deer, by October 1.  That is why I am loving this early antlerless season.   It makes filling those dmp tags many times easier, than it would be if I had to wait until after October 1.  

[land 1]

ur saying u have a 4 buck to 1 doe ratio?.....

[wolc123]

7 minutes ago, land 1 said:

ur saying u have a 4 buck to 1 doe ratio?.....

Yes, but not until October 1.  That has been pretty consistent at my place and my parents, for the last 20 or so years.  That made filling dmp’s difficult, until they started that special early antlerless season, last year.  It also forced me to be more selective with my buck tags, in order get enough venison to last a full year. 
 

Another thing it has done, is greatly increased the fighting among the bucks.  There is lots of competition for the few does that manage to survive those  nuisance permits.  It’s tough to find a buck without busted off points, by the time of the rut.  The 9 pointer that I killed at my parents the day after Thanksgiving last year would have been a fine 11 pointer (and a definite shoulder mount for me), had I killed him (2) weeks earlier.  

[LET EM GROW]

Going to check a couple plots I hadn't checked in 2 weeks when there was only tiny sprouts visible. Haven't had a chance to get liquid fertilizer on this one yet as its hidey hole plot and haven't got the quad over there yet. I will compare this one with the plots that did get liquid juice and see the difference, I'm really hoping this plot takes off. Otherwise its getting some annual clovers and some winter wheat/rye in a week or two. Brand new plot. 

[Five Seasons]

19 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

While we were out working on hunting land this weekend, couldnt help but laugh at our wall of clover.  On one of the trails that we frost seeded in the spring, there was a literal wall of clover that ended where we stopped seeding.  The clover all up that trail by the stand is just amazing and it ends right in straight line down the trail and its 4" higher.  Frost seeding definitely works there.  Going to do some more in different locations this next spring.  Planning to rotate  frost seeding that every 3 years or so pending how it looks.  And frost seeding is an easy way to get some food going and a good day out in the wild come spring.  

yeah same here. I had too much prep work for my clover plot. Had literal saplings starting to grow in the neglected field, but next year I'm going to frost "overseed" and as I understand it, clover gets better with time. 

[Five Seasons]

19 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

looks like you did a good job of getting some open ground, which is the toughest part.   I would just wait til you know its gonna rain the next day and seed it again.  The worst that happens is you used an extra bag, and i would bet you will still have a pretty decent plot there by end of Sept. 

The price of the 1/2 acre bags jumped $10 in just a few weeks. Money hasn't been a big barrier for me and I'm blessed there, but if I'm not including the equipment, I'll have $70 in seed, $200 in fertilizer, $80 in round-up, hours of my time (priceless haha), lots of gas too. The extra $90 is just rubbing me wrong. If Include similar cost for my clover plot I'm closing in on $800 in just variable costs. 

So then I factor in lease cost, new treestands and hell the fixed cost of buying all new equipment that came in at just under $8k (including the mower) and damn this venison becomes expensive.

18 hours ago, phade said:

Fertilize. Fertilize. Fertilize. Go spread some out next weekend.

I did a soil sample and spread the recommended amount as I planted. I didn't see anything about doing more fertilizing in the planting instructions. I was lucky that my pH was good and really just needed to add nitrogen. Do you recommend more fertilizer and why?

[phade]

34 minutes ago, Belo said:

The price of the 1/2 acre bags jumped $10 in just a few weeks. Money hasn't been a big barrier for me and I'm blessed there, but if I'm not including the equipment, I'll have $70 in seed, $200 in fertilizer, $80 in round-up, hours of my time (priceless haha), lots of gas too. The extra $90 is just rubbing me wrong. If Include similar cost for my clover plot I'm closing in on $800 in just variable costs. 

So then I factor in lease cost, new treestands and hell the fixed cost of buying all new equipment that came in at just under $8k (including the mower) and damn this venison becomes expensive.

I did a soil sample and spread the recommended amount as I planted. I didn't see anything about doing more fertilizing in the planting instructions. I was lucky that my pH was good and really just needed to add nitrogen. Do you recommend more fertilizer and why?

Soil samples are big help but typically recommendations are made for one specific plant type. If you got one for each and followed directions, then you are good. But say for example, amendment suggestions for clover will vary materially from a brassica. Clover fixes N, brassicas are heavy consumers of it. 

The other thing you noted is that you fertilized at time of seeding which had alot of dry weather. N can literally evaporate out of that fertilizer in dry warm conditions. We like fertilizing 50-100 lbs per acre at time of seeding, but generally come over the top 3-4 weeks later with the recommended amendments. Usually at this time of year, the moisture becomes more reliable, either through rain or ground wetness over night. Ideally, we try to add N before a soft rain, too. 

 

[Five Seasons]

3 minutes ago, phade said:

Soil samples are big help but typically recommendations are made for one specific plant type. If you got one for each and followed directions, then you are good. But say for example, amendment suggestions for clover will vary materially from a brassica. Clover fixes N, brassicas are heavy consumers of it. 

The other thing you noted is that you fertilized at time of seeding which had alot of dry weather. N can literally evaporate out of that fertilizer in dry warm conditions. We like fertilizing 50-100 lbs per acre at time of seeding, but generally come over the top 3-4 weeks later with the recommended amendments. Usually at this time of year, the moisture becomes more reliable, either through rain or ground wetness over night. Ideally, we try to add N before a soft rain, too. 

 

good advice thanks. The WTI specified which fert for the seed that I picked and planted. I did use granular, not liquid. Basically it was lawn fert. It called for 34-0-0, but I found some 24-0-2 and just used more than recommended. 

[phade]

18 minutes ago, Belo said:

good advice thanks. The WTI specified which fert for the seed that I picked and planted. I did use granular, not liquid. Basically it was lawn fert. It called for 34-0-0, but I found some 24-0-2 and just used more than recommended. 

Likely urea based which will have N evaporate. Might want to consider a follow-up fertilizing. Even $22 bag of triple 10 will go a long way. And make sure the lawn fertilizer doesn't have any weed treatment in there. Seen that before. Woof.

Edited August 30, 2022 by phade

[phade]

And WTI is $$$$. Local Co-Op Extension can do soil sample and much better seed purchases than WTI. They are very expensive. 

[Lomax]

Plots are attracting now…

[Robhuntandfish]

Plots look like the pics on the bags of seed you buy!  @Lomax

Thats good to see one month before season!