My first food plot

[LET EM GROW]

6 hours ago, chas0218 said:

Do you mix perennials with annuals often? I was thinking about doing this in the one plot in my thread. I would likely have clover then over seed with brassicas in one then do a LabLab, soybean, cow pea, and alfafa mix. Hancock's ultimate wildlife is close to what I wanted and may just go with that.

Here is the Hancock Ult. blend

Mixture Contains:

• LabLab
• Soybeans
• WGF Sorghum
• Sunflowers
• Iron Clay Peas

Planting Rate: 25 lbs. per acre

I havent had the best of luck overseeding brassicas into clovers. I think because my clovers were always to thick. But a good blend for you would be a brassica planting with annual clovers as well as a perennial or 2 mixed in. 

Your bean plot, if deer take to it, will likely get hammered, which isnt bad.. but perfect for overseeding a nice mix into for fall. Then any remaining bean pods will be winter food as well. 

I did a lot of summer foods this year, and it worked great. I did soybeans, they grew great deer devoured them rightuntil novemebr when they finally ate everything and nothing was left. I overseeded each plot with a brassica blend, they all started growing well, but i think because the deer were already in the beans chowing down, they ate the brassicas as they grew and became leafy. Therefore leaving me with very little brassicas for fall winter. I will be fencing most any beans i plant in the future. unless i want them to devour them and i can plant or seed into them.. 

Summer foods are tough without proper acerage to plant. I spent mor emoney than i intended this year to try and have good plots for winter, and still failed. dry conditions didnt help.. but

Just my .02$

[LET EM GROW]

Its like a drug! My wife hates it and hates me for it lol 

[Zag]

37 minutes ago, LET EM GROW said:

I havent had the best of luck overseeding brassicas into clovers. I think because my clovers were always to thick. But a good blend for you would be a brassica planting with annual clovers as well as a perennial or 2 mixed in. 

Your bean plot, if deer take to it, will likely get hammered, which isnt bad.. but perfect for overseeding a nice mix into for fall. Then any remaining bean pods will be winter food as well. 

I did a lot of summer foods this year, and it worked great. I did soybeans, they grew great deer devoured them rightuntil novemebr when they finally ate everything and nothing was left. I overseeded each plot with a brassica blend, they all started growing well, but i think because the deer were already in the beans chowing down, they ate the brassicas as they grew and became leafy. Therefore leaving me with very little brassicas for fall winter. I will be fencing most any beans i plant in the future. unless i want them to devour them and i can plant or seed into them.. 

Summer foods are tough without proper acerage to plant. I spent mor emoney than i intended this year to try and have good plots for winter, and still failed. dry conditions didnt help.. but

Just my .02$

What size plot are you planting soybeans in and what kind of equipment are you using to plant?

[LetEmGrow]

On 11/30/2017 at 2:17 PM, LET EM GROW said:

I used to strictly plant only tall tine tubers in one plot(late season) and Winter greens in another. In my experience the winter greens would get hit hard after a couple frosts. Where as the tall tine wouldn't get hit til it got good and cold out and snow ... they wouldn't leave the turnips at that point. Or mix them both together, i dont think the tal tine tubers put out enough leaf forage compared to winter greens

 

I used to always plant the Imperial Winter Greens.  I stand behind them as a product but a mix from my local co-op works so much better and has many more turnips.

Spread 10 lbs per acre mix of
5 lbs Forage Radish
3 lbs PTT
2 lbs Rape or Kale

[DDT]

On 11/30/2017 at 1:55 PM, Taylormike said:

Did the deer respond to Tall Tines in October and November?  Did they eat the leafy vegetation and then move on to the turnips?

We had deer on camera eating tops from September on. After it frosted they started on the bulbs. They like the daikon radishes too, another reason to add some to the mix.

I planted several whitetail institute products this year. Last year seed from Agway was a little disappointing. Biologic clover was really good, had deer bedding in it. I won't put in any power plant again, none of the sun hemp grew. No pods on the peas or beans. 

I have been buying seed direct from whitetail institute, get on the email list for sales. Just ordered Fusion @ buy 2 get 1 free. Also free shipping. They have ran the sales right along. Have most of what I need for next year already. 

Got to use the best plot seed I can to draw the deer over from Let Em Grow's.

[Taylormike]

On 12/1/2017 at 7:26 PM, DDT said:

We had deer on camera eating tops from September on. After it frosted they started on the bulbs. They like the daikon radishes too, another reason to add some to the mix.

I planted several whitetail institute products this year. Last year seed from Agway was a little disappointing. Biologic clover was really good, had deer bedding in it. I won't put in any power plant again, none of the sun hemp grew. No pods on the peas or beans. 

I have been buying seed direct from whitetail institute, get on the email list for sales. Just ordered Fusion @ buy 2 get 1 free. Also free shipping. They have ran the sales right along. Have most of what I need for next year already. 

Got to use the best plot seed I can to draw the deer over from Let Em Grow's.

So far I'm impressed with Whitetail Institute, you can call them and actually speak to a human.  I'm not sure if they're titled agronomist but they might as well be, very knowledgeable.

[corydd7]

On 12/1/2017 at 7:26 PM, DDT said:

We had deer on camera eating tops from September on. After it frosted they started on the bulbs. They like the daikon radishes too, another reason to add some to the mix.

I planted several whitetail institute products this year. Last year seed from Agway was a little disappointing. Biologic clover was really good, had deer bedding in it. I won't put in any power plant again, none of the sun hemp grew. No pods on the peas or beans. 

I have been buying seed direct from whitetail institute, get on the email list for sales. Just ordered Fusion @ buy 2 get 1 free. Also free shipping. They have ran the sales right along. Have most of what I need for next year already. 

Got to use the best plot seed I can to draw the deer over from Let Em Grow's.

I had the exact same issue with powerplant. All the others products have been great. The soil test and lab results are well worth the $13

[LET EM GROW]

On 12/1/2017 at 5:14 PM, zag said:

What size plot are you planting soybeans in and what kind of equipment are you using to plant?

This year i planted 3 different plots. A 1.5 acre plot, a 1 acre plot and a 1/2acre plot. I did a poor mans "fence" with pie tins and rope around the 2 smaller ones just long enough to get the beans started(18") tall, then pulled the fence down. It worked but should have left it up longer. 

In all 3 plots I broadcast seed by ATV rack mounted spreader and a lawn roller to press seeds in, That is all i used.. Right before good heavy rains.  

[LET EM GROW]

On 12/1/2017 at 6:30 PM, LetEmGrow said:

I used to always plant the Imperial Winter Greens.  I stand behind them as a product but a mix from my local co-op works so much better and has many more turnips.

Spread 10 lbs per acre mix of
5 lbs Forage Radish
3 lbs PTT
2 lbs Rape or Kale

In my experiences and deer herd, I would add a pound more of PTT and drop a pound of GHR. Just for my deer preference. They dont do much wIth GHR, not nearly as much as the PTT draws them in

[LET EM GROW]

On 12/1/2017 at 7:26 PM, DDT said:

We had deer on camera eating tops from September on. After it frosted they started on the bulbs. They like the daikon radishes too, another reason to add some to the mix.

I planted several whitetail institute products this year. Last year seed from Agway was a little disappointing. Biologic clover was really good, had deer bedding in it. I won't put in any power plant again, none of the sun hemp grew. No pods on the peas or beans. 

I have been buying seed direct from whitetail institute, get on the email list for sales. Just ordered Fusion @ buy 2 get 1 free. Also free shipping. They have ran the sales right along. Have most of what I need for next year already. 

Got to use the best plot seed I can to draw the deer over from Let Em Grow's.

Lol, i wont have any plots there til this year hopefully. If I can find the time.. And i never seem to have enough of that lol  

[LetEmGrow]

12 hours ago, LET EM GROW said:

In my experiences and deer herd, I would add a pound more of PTT and drop a pound of GHR. Just for my deer preference. They dont do much wIth GHR, not nearly as much as the PTT draws them in

Interesting you should say that because I was contemplating removing the radishes altogether.  There are always more radishes leftover than turnips.  Thanks!

Edited December 5, 2017 by LetEmGrow

[LET EM GROW]

9 hours ago, LetEmGrow said:

Interesting you should say that because I was contemplating removing the radishes altogether.  There are always more radishes leftover than turnips.  Thanks!

Anytime, but deer prefer different foods depending where you are, and whats available to them. 3 Miles down the road form me, my buddy swears by GHR over PTT. lol. Silly critters. 

[stubborn1VT]

My deer like PTT better as well.  I do plant the Groundhog radishes to help break up the clay soil.  They work really well.  I have been tilling small strips of old pasture every year.  I till 2-3" down and plant a mix of brassicas that I get from Deer Creek. The next year I re-till and plant soybeans.  The tilling the second year goes much better.  It's night and day.  I read about them in an agricultural magazine.  Farmers were using them to "till" soil because they were cheap, easy to plant and add organic matter.  They work for me!

[LET EM GROW]

Exactly! The spring after I do a Fall "bulb" planting, is like a perfectly prepared seedbed for soybeans. I just spread seed, and roll it in, if i dont have a cereal grain growing. It is awesome. 

When I tilled years prior, I darn near did the same as you stubb. 

[Taylormike]

Well I ended up buying a tractor.  Ford 1510, nice sized tractor for food plots.  Now on to either buying a cultipacker or building one.  I'm already obsessed and haven't even thrown a seed!

[stubborn1VT]

I use a poly lawn roller behind a 4 wheeler.  I have a tractor, but couldn't justify the expense of a culitpacker.  For $129 I have a "cultipacker" that I can drain the water out of and hang up in my barn.  It won't rust and it does a nice job IMO.  

[LET EM GROW]

I use a poly roller too, This year id like to upgrade to a heavy duty steel roller. Only because I am not "packing" loose soil, im trying to push seed into soil under dead vegetation. Id say go with a poly roller or a craigslist ad. and use a quad or lawn tractor to pull it. Unless you have the money for a bigger setup 

[corydd7]

16 hours ago, Taylormike said:

Well I ended up buying a tractor.  Ford 1510, nice sized tractor for food plots.  Now on to either buying a cultipacker or building one.  I'm already obsessed and haven't even thrown a seed!

This was me a year ago. Good news is you have 4-5 months to come up with a million different plot combos, how you will plant them when and where. My wife is blown away by the amount of time I spend reading, listening and drawing ideas for plots. QDMA has an awesome book that teaches the steps a to z. My mistake on my first real plot was only tilling. Spraying or a controlled fire is a must in my book on a new plot.

[Taylormike]

4 minutes ago, corydd7 said:

This was me a year ago. Good news is you have 4-5 months to come up with a million different plot combos, how you will plant them when and where. My wife is blown away by the amount of time I spend reading, listening and drawing ideas for plots. QDMA has an awesome book that teaches the steps a to z. My mistake on my first real plot was only tilling. Spraying or a controlled fire is a must in my book on a new plot.

I'm nervous about a controlled burn, either way I'll definitely spray.  I'm doing this the right way, no cutting corners.

[Taylormike]

1 hour ago, LET EM GROW said:

I use a poly roller too, This year id like to upgrade to a heavy duty steel roller. Only because I am not "packing" loose soil, im trying to push seed into soil under dead vegetation. Id say go with a poly roller or a craigslist ad. and use a quad or lawn tractor to pull it. Unless you have the money for a bigger setup 

I might have to due to cost, however i really want a cultipacker, lol.

[LET EM GROW]

Take a roller and make modifications to it. We are going to try and make a Roll Crimper out of a lawn roller this winter. Im cheap and my time is limited for all the things i would like to do each year. Therefore I improvise lol.  

[chas0218]

3 hours ago, Taylormike said:

I might have to due to cost, however i really want a cultipacker, lol.

I have seen people make culti-packers out of those corrugated plastic culverts. They fill it with cement then build a frame. Here is a link to one a guy did. Don't do what he did and use the double wall pipe. You want the single wall so the concrete fills in the grooves, if the pipe wears away you'll still have the concrete grooves.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=550996

You could also fill an old water heater with concrete and build a frame.

Edited December 7, 2017 by chas0218

[Taylormike]

4 hours ago, chas0218 said:

I have seen people make culti-packers out of those corrugated plastic culverts. They fill it with cement then build a frame. Here is a link to one a guy did. Don't do what he did and use the double wall pipe. You want the single wall so the concrete fills in the grooves, if the pipe wears away you'll still have the concrete grooves.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=550996

You could also fill an old water heater with concrete and build a frame.

Smart ingenuity there.  However,  and thanks for the heads up, the last thing I want is the ribs to flatten out.  I can't believe how expensive this implement is.  Holds their value...