My first food plot

[Taylormike]

Food plotters, I have a question.  This year my brother and I are putting in our first food plot.  We won't have a huge budget.  We will get a tractor, probably 8N as you can find them at reasonable prices.  I have as middle buster already, will I need a bottom plow?  I have a York rake, will I need a cultipacker?  I think a tiller is out of the question, too many rocks.  Will a 6ft disc be adequate?  How about a spreader? Is this a must for spreading pellitized lime? We are committed and I'll be shopping hard in the next 2 months.  Please let me know your thoughts.

[The Engineer]

This was my first year of doing a plot actually 3 of them. I rented a bulldozer and just ground up the areas and planted clover in 1.  kale, radishes and turnips in another and some cheap wildlife in another. I planted it in mid August and it came up great and got hammered. So if you have a tractor then all you need is a disk, york rake (which you have) and a hand spreader. Start there. Save and look for results. My expectations were low and it blow my doors off. I am already thinking of next year's plots

[Zuke]

What would you like to plant and how large of an area?

[Taylormike]

21 minutes ago, Zuke said:

What would you like to plant and how large of an area?

I plan on planting tall tine tubers from whitetail institute, about 3/4 acre.

[Adkhunter1590]

Tiller is out of the question based on tractor choice alone. 6ft disc should be alright if your planning on plowing it first. Otherwise that size disc might not have enough weight to it to really turn it up like it needs to be. I highly suggest spraying roundup to kill all living vegetation before starting plowing or discing. Will make it much easier. You don’t “need” a cultipacker but they are really nice to have. You can get by with a cheaper plastic drum lawn roller which is what I use behind my atv. I see you said your plot is going to be about 3/4 of an acre. That’s not that big so you can handle spreading seeds by hand which you’ll need to do anyways with small seeds like turnips and such. Scott’s makes a small electric hand spreader that works awesome for these small seeds, $20 at Lowe’s. For spreading lime you could get a cheap tow behind spreader, or do it with smaller push spreaders. Have you done soil tests yet?

[Taylormike]

11 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

Tiller is out of the question based on tractor choice alone. 6ft disc should be alright if your planning on plowing it first. Otherwise that size disc might not have enough weight to it to really turn it up like it needs to be. I highly suggest spraying roundup to kill all living vegetation before starting plowing or discing. Will make it much easier. You don’t “need” a cultipacker but they are really nice to have. You can get by with a cheaper plastic drum lawn roller which is what I use behind my atv. I see you said your plot is going to be about 3/4 of an acre. That’s not that big so you can handle spreading seeds by hand which you’ll need to do anyways with small seeds like turnips and such. Scott’s makes a small electric hand spreader that works awesome for these small seeds, $20 at Lowe’s. For spreading lime you could get a cheap tow behind spreader, or do it with smaller push spreaders. Have you done soil tests yet?

Good information.  Yes, I have done soil samples, very acidic, 5.0.  I'm literally going to have to spread 2 to 3 tons of lime.

[Adkhunter1590]

Good information.  Yes, I have done soil samples, very acidic, 5.0.  I'm literally going to have to spread 2 to 3 tons of lime.

If you can find a decent 3pt spreader for the tractor that would be the easiest way. If not, I’ve dumped it the bed of my truck and drove around and pushed it out the back as a makeshift drop spreader.

[LET EM GROW]

If you dont want to break the bank the first year. I stopped using my tractor with disk & Tiller.. as long as there is growing green vegetation, i kill it off with glyphosate(Roundup) from a sprayer, wait a week or 2, then sread seed and roll with lawn roller a time or two. Directly right before a good heavy rain. Results are very good for very little equipment used.  

Otherwise id say anything you can "drag" like a disk, or harrow spring drag, your better off, might just have to put some weight on it.. You dont need bottom plows or anything big like that. unless you enjoy your tractor time. Anything to scratch the top few inches is all you need for food plots. 

I like my no till plantings best so far, but I make sure i have something actively growing all year long, for termination purposes. The dead matter lays on top of seed after rolling, which holds moisture in a lot longer, and promotes germination and growth. Takes some experience to nail this operation though.  

[land 1]

well i did four plots the biggest being 1/2 acre with just the wheeler , weed killer and old spring harrow... sounds like you got more then enough equipment.... i found that if you kill the weeds and  turn over the first few inches of soil up good and plant just before a rain your good to go.... my results were good clover struggled but that was a spring planting and had issues with weeds as summer went on....

[WNYBuckHunter]

Just to do 3/4 of an acre, youll be better off with an ATV, 6ft disc (with weights to put on top), a sprayer, tow behind spreader and a lawn roller. All of which can be had for a fairly low cost.

A tractor is nice, but an ATV can be used for all kinds of things other than doing the plots, and its way easier to transport. Ive been doing 3-5 acres of plots each year for a while and could be doing all of it with my wheeler. We use a tractor and tiller, which is nice and all, but its not necessary. My ATV does all of the work besides mowing and tilling.

I would suggest 700cc and up, and not a Polaris Sportsman due to their belt drive which isnt that great for pulling discs, etc.

[Taylormike]

Well, I actually own a small diesel tractor.  18hp diesel.  Only about 2000 lbs.  I figured this would be way too small but thinking an atv can do it then my tractor could.  There's always so much to consider.

[WNYBuckHunter]

22 minutes ago, Taylormike said:

Well, I actually own a small diesel tractor.  18hp diesel.  Only about 2000 lbs.  I figured this would be way too small but thinking an atv can do it then my tractor could.  There's always so much to consider.

Depends on what type of tractor it is. I’m guessing it’s a compact or subcompact tractor based on the weight. That should do just fine. An 8n isn’t much bigger or capable than what you have now. 

[Taylormike]

16 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Depends on what type of tractor it is. I’m guessing it’s a compact or subcompact tractor based on the weight. That should do just fine. An 8n isn’t much bigger or capable than what you have now. 

Yes compact.  4wd, hydrostatic with loader.  Mahindra, strong lil tractor.

[corydd7]

44 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Just to do 3/4 of an acre, youll be better off with an ATV, 6ft disc (with weights to put on top), a sprayer, tow behind spreader and a lawn roller. All of which can be had for a fairly low cost.

A tractor is nice, but an ATV can be used for all kinds of things other than doing the plots, and its way easier to transport. Ive been doing 3-5 acres of plots each year for a while and could be doing all of it with my wheeler. We use a tractor and tiller, which is nice and all, but its not necessary. My ATV does all of the work besides mowing and tilling.

I would suggest 700cc and up, and not a Polaris Sportsman due to their belt drive which isnt that great for pulling discs, etc.

I don't have as much experience as most on here as far as food plots go but this is spot on. Spray first, wait a week and follow the instructions above and it will go just fine. I had the same like problem whitetail extreme is clover chicory combo that grows eay and puts nitrogen into the soil.

[stubborn1VT]

I have a tractor and tiller, but I'm hoping to do most of my plots with a 4 wheeler, chain harrows, and a poly lawn roller.  I hope to put less wear and tear on the poor tiller.  We'll see how much I can get done with a $200 set of chain harrows.  A whole lot less moving parts.

[Will_C]

I think your equipment will get you off to a good start. I would spend a few hours loosening everything up with your middle buster, and then disc and/or drag-I don't your set up would handle a 6' disc-more like a 4'. 

Lime is going to be some money or some work! A spreader when work fine with pellet lime, but 3 ton will cost 5-600 dollars. Bulk lime would be much cheaper, but I don't think a broadcast spreader would handle bulk lime. It wouldn't be so hard to do it by hand if you got a couple of buddies.

Will

[LET EM GROW]

12 hours ago, stubborn1VT said:

I have a tractor and tiller, but I'm hoping to do most of my plots with a 4 wheeler, chain harrows, and a poly lawn roller.  I hope to put less wear and tear on the poor tiller.  We'll see how much I can get done with a $200 set of chain harrows.  A whole lot less moving parts.

That exactly what i did. The last time i ran my tiller, my slip clutch must have locked up and it actually shut my 28hp CAT right down. When i got it fired back up it twisted the flange on the main shaft that drives the hydrostatic system. On my 4" tiller the slip clutch nuts can only be about 1/3 of a turn on a wrench after finger snug. or it wont slip. Very touchy setup. Hard to find the happy medium. Loved using the tiller, but id rather drag something like the harrow drags or 8" disks and not beat on the whole setup so bad. 

Since doing this no till, i miss my tractor time and the smell of fresh soil soo bad! 

[land 1]

just one word of advise i first went and bought a tow behind disc harrow for atv it didnt do anything the old spring harrow was key once it was broke up then i used disc harrow

[stubborn1VT]

4 hours ago, LET EM GROW said:

That exactly what i did. The last time i ran my tiller, my slip clutch must have locked up and it actually shut my 28hp CAT right down. When i got it fired back up it twisted the flange on the main shaft that drives the hydrostatic system. On my 4" tiller the slip clutch nuts can only be about 1/3 of a turn on a wrench after finger snug. or it wont slip. Very touchy setup. Hard to find the happy medium. Loved using the tiller, but id rather drag something like the harrow drags or 8" disks and not beat on the whole setup so bad. 

Since doing this no till, i miss my tractor time and the smell of fresh soil soo bad! 

I have places I can still use the tiller.  I have a soybean plot at my house that I found one rock in.  Just the one.  But for the woods I think a chain or spring tooth would be a whole lot more durable.  I get sick of replacing tiller teeth! I like your idea of keeping something growing.  I'm looking forward to getting into a good crop rotation.  It's nice to build the soil up and see the results. Planting turnips and radishes in the clay soil has been great for breaking it up and adding organic material.  I have another soybean plot that I want to put field corn on.  I'm turning my older brassica plots into WI Fusion and Extreme.  Also putting work into rehabbing older apple trees and planting new ones as well.

Sorry to ramble.  Our deer season is nearly over here in VT, so habitat improvement has been on my mind.  

[LET EM GROW]

1 hour ago, stubborn1VT said:

I have places I can still use the tiller.  I have a soybean plot at my house that I found one rock in.  Just the one.  But for the woods I think a chain or spring tooth would be a whole lot more durable.  I get sick of replacing tiller teeth! I like your idea of keeping something growing.  I'm looking forward to getting into a good crop rotation.  It's nice to build the soil up and see the results. Planting turnips and radishes in the clay soil has been great for breaking it up and adding organic material.  I have another soybean plot that I want to put field corn on.  I'm turning my older brassica plots into WI Fusion and Extreme.  Also putting work into rehabbing older apple trees and planting new ones as well.

Sorry to ramble.  Our deer season is nearly over here in VT, so habitat improvement has been on my mind.  

Its always on my mind! lol, between myself and the kids being sick on and off throughout deer season, i didn't get much time to spend in the woods. Therefore my mind wanders as well coming up with 2018 Game plan. Plan changes so quick with each new thought lol. 

Cover crops are great, but can get expensive when there are many plots to be done. i use the small grains to terminate and work as mulch for my no till plantings. 

I will be trying to incorporate more Apples and nursing the mature ones for longer life. Added pears and such. I want to put a small 1/2 acre orchard in on a ridge top with a good perennial mix. 

[chas0218]

Instead of an ATV look into a side x side. Worth their weight in gold when hauling stuff around.

[TreeGuy]

The middle buster will not work well with any sod on top. Tillers are the best option but if you could score a cheap disc and plow setup you will be good to go. As far as the lime you can bucket it and spread it or get a spreader for best results. If you are thinking atv, side by sides are amazing and have huge carrying and towing capacities.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[stubborn1VT]

It's funny.  I spend a lot of time while I'm on stand thinking about improvements.  I really should look into pears.  Deer love them.  I don't really have that much acreage in plots, so 50lbs of forage oats goes quite a ways.  I'm realizing that my woods plots are all too small, which is tough, since it took so darn much work to make them.  I don't have a problem with access, though many people do.  I still worry about it though, so I am trying to make each little spot as good as I can.  

[JRod 8G8H]

Good luck.  We really enjoy doing our plots.  We're lucky to till an old horse pasture about 3/4 acre which booms every year.  Tall Tile Tubers doesn't get touched where I live, don't know why...  Neither does alfalfa.  Clover gets hammered, and beans and peas are usually gone real early lol

[Gobbler]

Having tried most all ways of doing this I have a couple of suggestions.  Obviously breaking up the dirt produces the best plots especially if you are planting something like tubers or brassicas.  Best advice is to spray first and kill whatever is there.  Saves a lot of headaches.  If you try a drag harrow next recognize the drag will gather all that dead matter into piles which require constant removal and clearing of the drag before you ever get to touch dirt.  The drag will literally ride on top of the piles if they aren't cleared.  Takes a lot of passes.  And a lot more if you don't kill the vegetation first.  A disc and tractor work great except again takes a lot of passes to slice up even dead matter and reach dirt.  Disc's require A LOT of weight to be effective.  They work great in soft soil.  But we don't have that in NY, we have a lot of clay.  Hard unworked dirt requires a lot of passes.  Lastly, I finally stumbled on a Land Pride SF series Scarifier.  Best investment ever.  Solved all my problems mentioned above.  I have a bigger tractor so I attach my disc behind the scarifier and I can turn dirt in the first pass even over sod.  The scarifier biting in provides down pressure to the disc.  With an 8n you would probably have to run these separately but it will work.  Same with your Mahindra.  Good luck.  Let us know how it goes.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Gobbler