No Till experiences?

[sailinghudson25]

I have done a few food plots with a 3ft tow behind disc and a lawn tractor on mud tires.

 

I also hunt on a remote spot way in about 3 hours from my home as well.  No chance of getting a tractor there right now.  Maybe an ATV next year.

 

However, I want something there this fall.  I was planning on going there in 2 weeks to spray with round-up, lime, fertilize, and probably put a mix of stuff there.  The cereals will be 1/2 plotspike forage feast and 1/2 cereal rye.  Then I will spice it up with plotspike annual clover mix and whitetail institute clover as well.  Since I am going no till, I will add a bit more than usual.  This is log skid trails in a more open spot on the woods.  I already weedwacked there good the last weekend in june.  A decent amount of grass.  I weedacked in a few smaller spots here n there to maybe a total of 3/4 of an acre.  I also spread some of the above seed in a small test spot or two, but scratched around a bit better with a rake than a true no till.

 

Thinking the extra shot of rye over the typical cereal grain mix blend might help with germination. 

[gjs4]

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Edited July 26, 2015 by gjs4

[Berniez]

Your seed needs soil contact in order to germinate.    No till means the seed is planted into the ground (not on the trash/ without disturbing too much of the ground (Easier, cheaper and faster than regular tillage/moldboard plowing). .Dropping  seed on dying grass/weeds without good soil contact will do little except feed the mice.. 

And lime usually needs months to get the ph up.  I'd mix the seed with some pulverized lime.  That way the lime gives the seed a pretty good micro environment to start growing especially if the soil is <6..

good luck and enjoy 

[growalot]

Personally I'd leave the WHT tail out of the mix ..it is very PH sensitive.Ladino or reds would be better.

[phade]

Throw and Mow is the approach you are looking for. You should have been killing off with the round-up now so you have a nice dead vegetation to work with. Then, go in and seed, and then mow (or weedeat) to cover the seed and create a thatch for moisture retention. 

 

This works well with smaller seeds like brassica and clover, but I am sure you can have a good degree of success with ryes and oats, etc.

[G-Man]

Tru no till is bad news just a waste of your time and seed, rake or burn off the trash,then plant. This works well especially if the area held grasses before.

[sailinghudson25]

We got to an agreement with the other guys. We are discing up about 5 1/4 to 1/2 acre spots. We're still going with the plotspike forage feast, but were putting down bot annual and perennial clover. I got some landino and red crimson, and the whitetail institute clover. Most of the plotspike seed should grow. Whatever clover takes over.

What we do have is about 30 acres of logging trails we can seed. We do not have the time to prep all this well. The soil is mostly bare with little to no dead leave or thatch on it. However, nothing is growing there, which is probably a bad thing.

We're not looking to claim all of this, but getting something to grow and expand in the area. In all reality, if we could get 5 acres ontop of the 2 or so acres we're tillingup, that would be great.

Two thoughts here, apply some lime and fertilizer to the 5 acres and some hayfield pasture blend. Not ideal, but it's still nutrition and maintains shooting lanes.

Plan B, lime, fertilize, and possibly try some rye for now. Then go back in March and frost seed some clover. This spot may be inpassible that time of year with ATV's. So, that why I would like to fertilize now.

This spot has been clear cut with the smaller trees and tops just knocked down. It's just too much work to get that much done this far away from home.

[sailinghudson25]

With frost seeding, do you need bare ground, or if there's a few inches of snow, can I drop it ontop of that?   Can the pasture blends be frost seeded too?   I'm thinking the blend might be better than regular clover.

Edited August 6, 2015 by sailinghudson25

[WNYBuckHunter]

Scratch it up and plant Winter Rye in there. It will grow, and you dont need fertilizer. We have done this on some of our trails that run through the woods.

[landtracdeerhunter]

With frost seeding, do you need bare ground, or if there's a few inches of snow, can I drop it ontop of that? Can the pasture blends be frost seeded too? I'm thinking the blend might be better than regular clover.

I have frost seeded on bare frozen ground, four inches of snow, and even during an ice storm. Success rate has been about the same. Nice stands. Now keep in mind, frost seeding in a cover crop tilled type cereal grains will do better protecting the young seedlings. I did frost seed with legumes on old run out hay seedings with fair success. The stands were thinner however. One does have to consider soil type to improve success rates. Lighter soil types, most likely will do better than heavier soil types such as clay loams in non till methods of frost seeding.

Edited August 6, 2015 by landtracdeerhunter

[sailinghudson25]

I'm return the pasture mix and will get a few bags of rye. I am going to look for Landino clover.

I know rye seed germination goes down a few months. I had some 7 year old dutch clover that germinated well. I had 2 year old plotspike mostly crimson clover germinate well is barely scratched weeds going in a cut down sapling tree filled abandoned hayfield.

How does the landino clover fair?

You think anything else other than clover will do OK in poorly amended soil. Trefoil, Timothy, or maybe vetch would be good.

I am basically looking to make an "engineered" fallow hayfield specific to deer, maybe ruffed grouse, and turkey too. As self sustaining as possible. Maybe I could mow once or twice a year and possibly a fresh-up of some light fertilizing and lime.

[chiefbkt]

I've used Whitetail Institutes Secret spot before up at hunting camp. I have a stand on our furthest corner and there's no way to get any type of ag equipment there. I hand raked a spot about 100'x100' in a condensed hardwood area and then sprayed round up. Came back just over a week later, raked again, and spread out the seed. After a week or so it had sprouted and within a month I had pretty good greenery. Wish I had pictures. I planted it in early July.

[WingNut]

I used Evolved Harvest throw and grow product this season.

Supposed to have Radish, Clover, Rye Grass and Brassica. I though I planted a little to early this spring, so I over seeded a few weeks ago.  I have a tow of rye grass but that's abut it.  Very little clover, no radish or brassica that I tell.

Not happy with it so far.

[SplitG2]

Guys most of the throw and grow blends mostly have rye grass in them.  They will say we have brassica, radish, clover etc....but it's a very very low percentage.  I wouldn't waste your hard earned money on them.  look at the seed label and the proof will be there.

[WingNut]

Guys most of the throw and grow blends mostly have rye grass in them.  They will say we have brassica, radish, clover etc....but it's a very very low percentage.  I wouldn't waste your hard earned money on them.  look at the seed label and the proof will be there.

 

Lesson Learned

[sailinghudson25]

From what little I do know about food plots, I do know it's generally better to do your research and make your own mix.

 

Plotspike forage feast from tractor supply has been one mix I have had good success with, and will continue to use.  I still mix it up with clover though.   What I did read and will try next week is aslike clover in a really wet spot.  IF your real late in the season, I think annual clover like crimson will do better, because the annual grows faster.   I'm going to try landino clover as per a recommendation on here up in the Adirondacks because the pH is lower there.  I am fertilizing and liming, but since I can't get a good till up there, the lower portions of the soil bed will not get the pH raised.  Lime doesn't travel into the soil much, you need to spread it and then till it down there.

[Berniez]

before you broadcast your seed mix it with some pulverized lime. That raises the pH  around each individual seed allowing for a higher germination rate while waiting for the limed area to work. Just make sure you have good seed to soil contact or you are wasting you money

[landtracdeerhunter]

One word of caution on alike clover, it becomes bitter and non pallet able upon maturity. Regrowth is slower and the plants much shorter on regrowth than red. All clovers need drainage, but can stand to get it's feet wet from time to time.

PH on clovers, 5.8 or higher will do just fine. Clover was called the poor farmers crop because, it could be gro-wned on lower ground, with no lime and little fertiziler needed. The seed was also inexpensive, back in the day.

Edited August 11, 2015 by landtracdeerhunter

[SplitG2]

From what little I do know about food plots, I do know it's generally better to do your research and make your own mix.

 

Plotspike forage feast from tractor supply has been one mix I have had good success with, and will continue to use.  I still mix it up with clover though.   What I did read and will try next week is aslike clover in a really wet spot.  IF your real late in the season, I think annual clover like crimson will do better, because the annual grows faster.   I'm going to try landino clover as per a recommendation on here up in the Adirondacks because the pH is lower there.  I am fertilizing and liming, but since I can't get a good till up there, the lower portions of the soil bed will not get the pH raised.  Lime doesn't travel into the soil much, you need to spread it and then till it down there.

 

i have been mixing my own blends 9+ years.  most commercial food plot companies lack what most of us want in the bag.  That's why I created DeerAG.  Check out our blends, I believe you will be happy with them.