First Plots

[G-Man]

Problem is cold and wet ground = rotted seed. Some will grow but I bet you lose alot. 50Degree ground temp is best. I know well your going to say frost seeding... clover grows in colder weather and its seed coat is hard..it still doesnt germ till conditions are right, (warm enough) the frost is used to get it down for seed soil contact. rye n fescue do not and will try n sprout quick and then freeze and drown . Maybe where u are the frost is out of the ground but i can only get a shovel in 4-6 inches and ground temp is 36 right now.. even my tree orders have been pushed back by the nursery as planting conditions are not close to being ready for them.

[Meat Manager]

My property has been defrosting for 3 full weeks and I sink much more than 4-6" most places that are still wet. It's been in the mid 60 to mid 70's this past week many days of full sun.

I am sure it's gonna be a tough grow, it's a shaded logging trail...that's why I overseeded with a broadcaster rather than drilled this seed.

Rye is tough stuff and fescue likes the wet (or dry) so maybe I'll get a trail with cover, or maybe not, I left the top 20' of the trail alone to compare and contrast.

As I said this is a utility plot which is recommended to be planted early, so I did because I have 3 forage plots to start in mid may.

This is from deer creek seeds:

"How to Plant: Can be planted with drill or spinner spreader. Product is usually grown on compacted hard ground and will need to be packed to get good seed to soil contact. In areas of snow or frost, seed may be spread in late fall or during spring snow melt. Frost will work seed into the soil.

When to Plant: Best planted early to utilize moisture and available sunlight."

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Edited April 15, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

Again the best of luck to you MM, don't get discouraged if they don't turn out like you hope. I have had many food plot attempts yield close to zip. I have also had many lush "TV" plots as I like to call them and the mediocre variety as well. The full spectrum of success and failure on my record. A lot of trial and error so many things need to be right.

Thanks I won't get discouraged...got plenty of natural forage and nearby ag to keep em fed...I'm doing it for the experience and for fun.

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Edited April 15, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

Started on forage plot 1 this afternoon:

Raked it clean and spread 1 round of fertilizer...gonna spray next week.

On the utility plot that brief inch of snow cover appears to have worked the Logging Trail seed in well:

Also I received my final spring seeds...some peas and WGF sorghum:

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Edited April 17, 2014 by Meat Manager

[thphm]

One problem this time of the year also is the Birds they are hungry as can be, seed lieing on top of the ground will be eaten by them.So don't count on the frost.It is amazing how much seed I put down last year and they ate most of it.

[Meat Manager]

Logging trail is doing nicely...early spray knocked down any fresh competition and the strategy of seeding it prior to the last snow also seemed to work.

The only green on the trail is my sprouting seed:

I also did the first round of spray on forage plot 1:

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[Berniez]

Rule of thumb is that every ton of lime spread per acre raises the pH up about 0.2 (pH is a logrithmic scale).  Spreading more than 2 tons per acre at one time is a waste of time (chemistry can work only so fast and sometimes takes time) .  BTW Egyption wheat grows about to 10 feet tall and needs to be planted in WARM soil (65-70+)[rabbits and pheasants LOVE the stuff]  . Good luck trying to get anything such as turnips, radish or beets growing under it.

[Meat Manager]

Rule of thumb is that every ton of lime spread per acre raises the pH up about 0.2 (pH is a logrithmic scale). Spreading more than 2 tons per acre at one time is a waste of time (chemistry can work only so fast and sometimes takes time) . BTW Egyption wheat grows about to 10 feet tall and needs to be planted in WARM soil (65-70+)[rabbits and pheasants LOVE the stuff] . Good luck trying to get anything such as turnips, radish or beets growing under it.

Yeah I'm high on ph anyway so no lime.

Using the Egyptian wheat as a screen in a long strip, not planting any annuals under it. It's going to be the last planting this spring.

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Edited April 24, 2014 by Meat Manager

[landtracdeerhunter]

The pics look like oats in the mixture. We get oats in, as early as the ground can be worked. They grow in this weather.

[Meat Manager]

The pics look like oats in the mixture. We get oats in, as early as the ground can be worked. They grow in this weather.

It's just annual and perennial clover, fescue and rye...more for shady ground cover than forage. It was basically an early spring grass seeding on a logging trail.

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[landtracdeerhunter]

And oats, LOL.

 

Good luck with your plantings. One can gain a huge amount of knowledge by doing. Good for you!

[Meat Manager]

Pups and I got out to the lease late this afternoon for some food plot work:

The early spring Logging trail plot is greenin up nice just in time for the trees to leaf out...and the early spray knocked out the competition really well:

I got a round of spray on Forage plot 2:

Finally I tilled and rake graded half of forage plot 1, nice and loamy with good organic matter and no rocks:

Gonna hunt for bird 2 tomorrow AM and then finish turning over plot 1.

I'll be breaking out the Hoss Seeder sooner than later:

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Edited May 7, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

After a slow morning in the blind I finished turning over and grading forage plot 1:

Not bad for a troy-bilt mini cultivator and a rake:

Shortly I'll be drilling a short-term warm season combination of buckwheat and peas.

The peas are to get the deer curios about the plot, I don't care if they get munched as sprouts because the whole plot is getting tilled over by mid-summer to utilize the green manure feature of the buckwheat.

Most likely sometime in late June I'll till 1/2 of each plot under in preparation of the cool season and plant sorghum and peas on 1/2 and later in the summer plant clovers and brass on the other halves.

In the meantime I still have another plot to fertilize and turn over sometime in the next 7-10 days. Keeping my fingers crossed for favorable conditions throughout.

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Edited May 7, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

Got greeted at the lease this evening by a lonely bald whitetail.

Forage plot 1 has been planted in anticipation of some rain this weekend:

Drilled the peas first:

I broadcasted the buckwheat and some 12-12-12 on plot 1.

Then while I broadcasted the first round of fertilizer on Forage plot 2 my brother raked (make shift) forage plot 1 over:

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Edited May 9, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

I set up my plotwatcher pro to time-lapse capture the growth of forage plot 1.

I set my MMS cam right above the plotwatcher and just got a text of a curios whitetail already passin thru (low res text):

We got a hell of a downpour early this morning...glad brother covered that seed well.

The pic looks like there was no wash out so that watering was just what I was hoping for.

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Edited May 9, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

The buckwheat on forage plot 1 is already up all over and a group of 4 deer came in to enjoy it last evening (only 3 of them are in this pic):

The logging trail plot mix of fescue, rye and clover are also really coming up nice and I already observed it getting some deer & turkey use:

This is what the logging trail would look like if I hadn't planted it:

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Edited May 14, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

I can't believe how fast that buckwheat grows, this pic I just received is only 24 hrs of growth after the deer pic above:

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Edited May 14, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

The boys and I turned over and planted forage plot 2 today...We are beat:

Renamed forage plot 2...it is now called The Boomerang, as that is its shape:

Broadcasted a mix of buckwheat and peas as I was in hurry to get it in before tomorrow's day of rain.

Then we took a walk down The Logging Trail plot:

Finally I can't wait to see the explosion of green after the rainy day on forage plot 1, aka The Diamond, it is already getting tons of action:

All of my spring plantings are done except my Egyptian Wheat screens which I'll do late May - early June.

No tractors required!

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Edited May 15, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

And here comes the water!

It's raining good here now.

The Diamond plot is loving this.

Keeping my fingers crossed there is good soil to seed contact on the Boomerang plot and that there won't be any wash out.

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Edited May 16, 2014 by Meat Manager

[phade]

Once that buckwheat gets taller (and it will quickly) browsing will fall off quite a bit. It'll also be paired with more availability for deer to choose from in most places. If browse is limited, they may still nibble here and there. Good soil builder though.

[Merlot]

I scraped off a couple pitchers mound sized areas for quick food plots. Ph good. decent  sun light. located in hardwoods area. Will throw and grow take root in this environment? Not much time for driving back and forth to tend.

[phade]

Sunlight is the biggest issue with most interior plots outside of soil concerns. If the PH is good (you obviously did a soil sample test to know that), the term "decent" sun is what scares me.

 

Decent sun never turns out to be "enough" sun.

 

Many of these throw and grow varieties are not worth your time and you are better off saving the money or buying something that you know will grow in the area given the conditions. Throw and grow buck on a bag seeds are usually alof of filler seed that doesn't attract deer as much. They can, but in most cases, the person has done alot of work and you might as well have bought better-planned out seeds (ie specific strains).

 

[Meat Manager]

Once that buckwheat gets taller (and it will quickly) browsing will fall off quite a bit. It'll also be paired with more availability for deer to choose from in most places. If browse is limited, they may still nibble here and there. Good soil builder though.

There are peas in there as well to keep up interest as long as they last.

This rain is very heavy so tomorrow after hunting I'm gonna overseed all 3 plots with some mixed clovers...the 2 forage plots this will just be tilled as green manure/biomass in a couple months.

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Edited May 16, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

I scraped off a couple pitchers mound sized areas for quick food plots. Ph good. decent sun light. located in hardwoods area. Will throw and grow take root in this environment? Not much time for driving back and forth to tend.

I would suggest finding a couple hardy species and do some amount of seed bed prep...it shouldn't be hard at that size, heck you could water that with a backpack sprayer.

What is your goal with these...are you planting now to build soil for a late summer planting, or do you want a perennial stand from the start?

I would say do what I'm doing in my logging trail...annual and perennial clovers.

That is if there is at least a half day of full sun.

I planted my logging trail very early so that the planting could get established using the extra available sunlight while the trees were still bare.

It may be too late for that minimum-canopy strategy.

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Edited May 16, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Merlot]

I would suggest finding a couple hardy species and do some amount of seed bed prep...it shouldn't be hard at that size, heck you could water that with a backpack sprayer.

What is your goal with these...are you planting now to build soil for a late summer planting, or do you want a perennial stand from the start?

I would say do what I'm doing in my logging trail...annual and perennial clovers.

That is if there is at least a half day of full sun.

I planted my logging trail very early so that the planting could get extra sun while the trees were still bare.

It may be too late for that minimum-canopy strategy.

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I plan to start perennial growth from the start