Putting in new food plots

[Doewhacker]

21 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Yeah it didn’t do too bad. Only went through 5 shear pins. Not bad for never broke ground. The ground is actually quite a bit wetter than I thought It would be, so I’m letting it sit tonight and then I’ll disc tomorrow morning. Not a ton of rocks but I’ll do some picking before I start With the disc. What rocks there are, are pretty big. Don’t want to bust up my buddy’s equipment. 

Pfft I could do better with a walk behind tiller and a jet sled weighed down with chicken feed for a cultipacker. 

 

Not bad for an amature huh? Lol

I already have sprouts so I’m happy, I made it bigger than I thought though but that was nothing that another bag of seed didn’t fix. 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Looks great! I still Have to disc, spread fert, disc again, plant and then drag. 

Next year I’ll use the tiller. Not many rocks here. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Just finished discing, took 8 full passes using a few settings to smooth everything out. Taking a break for a bit then spreading fertilizer and a quick last pass with the disc. Haley wants to help plant, so I’ll wait till she comes home later to do that. 

[Zag]

23 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Just finished discing, took 8 full passes using a few settings to smooth everything out. Taking a break for a bit then spreading fertilizer and a quick last pass with the disc. Haley wants to help plant, so I’ll wait till she comes home later to do that. 

Now you just need a pond to cool off in!

[WNYBuckHunter]

24 minutes ago, zag said:

Now you just need a pond to cool off in!

Already have one lol. I’ll be taking a dip later on. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Fertilizer is done. Ready for seed. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

Planting is all done. Now I just Need some rain. 

[LET EM GROW]

Nice, I love seeing fresh dirt lol.

What did you plant in each?

[WNYBuckHunter]

The bigger plot has Rape, Purple Top Turnips, Daikon Radish and a mix of red and white clovers. The smaller plot has Ladino clover in it for now, Ill over seed with Winter Rye in a couple of weeks.

We got about 1/10th of an inch of rain last night, and it was looking like some more was coming in when I left for work this morning. Heres our 10 day forecast, looks like I timed my plots perfectly this year.

[WNYBuckHunter]

1/4” of rain today so far and we’re getting another soaker. Perfect!

[LET EM GROW]

Perfect, bet they'll look good come time the leaves start changing!

Thats what the forecast looked like when i planted last week of July. I learned a lesson this year. Doing no till i typically seed 1.25-1.5x the normal rate, expecting around 80% germ.. Well when there is that much rain in the forecast, and we get it all.. stick to normal seed rates lol. Brassica plantings look a tad heavy this year. Think i may have to incorporate some fert/urea soon to make sure they make it well. Its not super thick, but a little thicker than id like.. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

I always Plant mine heavy, usually half again as much as they recommend. I dont Count on 100% germination, plus I like To stunt the bulbs a bit and keep them down to baseball size. I’ll hit them with urea at the end of this month. 

[LET EM GROW]

I figured id wait until they were 5 or 6 inches tall and hit them with urea. They are a few inches tall now. Yea i definitely dont want big bulbs. One of the plots i wouldnt mind if they were big, because I mainly planted the bulbs to bust up the ground and build up organic matter. helps my no till a little bit. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

3 days and I have Germination in both plots

[WNYBuckHunter]

Brassicas are at 3-4” now, clover is coming in nicely as well. Just finished up broadcasting winter rye in the clover plot, and spreading clover seed on the trails. I’ll hit everything with urea in a month if I think it’s needed. Otherwise, plots are done for the year. 

[land 1]

why dont u guys like big bulbs im new at this but it seemed to really help the deer in jan and feb when weather got bad... come spring everything was gone

[LET EM GROW]

Bigger the bulb the more "woodier" the taste of the bulb (less palatable) In the middle of winter it probably wont hurt anything since they are basically eating woody browse anyways. Id just rather have a thicker plot of baseball-softball size bulbs(more palatable/preferred) rather than fewer bigger (less preferred/palatable) bulbs.  Maybe its just me. I prefer offering Turnip, Radish and rutabaga because they all put on bulbs and are preferred at a little different times. between the green tops and the tubers themselves. 

Another case bigger bulbs would be better in is trying to break up the sod/soil for a following future crop. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

1 hour ago, LET EM GROW said:

Bigger the bulb the more "woodier" the taste of the bulb (less palatable) In the middle of winter it probably wont hurt anything since they are basically eating woody browse anyways. Id just rather have a thicker plot of baseball-softball size bulbs(more palatable/preferred) rather than fewer bigger (less preferred/palatable) bulbs.  Maybe its just me. I prefer offering Turnip, Radish and rutabaga because they all put on bulbs and are preferred at a little different times. between the green tops and the tubers themselves. 

Another case bigger bulbs would be better in is trying to break up the sod/soil for a following future crop. 

Same here.

Honestly, my plots are not that big, both less than an acre. They are mostly there to attract the deer before/during the season. The little bit of food they provide in the dead of winter, wont help the herd enough to speak about. If I had more property, and large areas for destination type plots, it might be a different story in those plots.

Now, I have planted more lightly in the past, and had larger bulbs (volleyball size), and in the spring, they were all just rotted, the deer hadnt touched them. All bulbs softball size and below were gone. Trail cams running all winter confirmed it. Maybe its just the way the deer are on that property, who knows. Just my experience.

Its all about the goals you have for the plots.

[LET EM GROW]

Food plotting should be driven with goals each time no doubt, well said!

I cant believe you've grown Volley ball sized turnips. lol That is crazy. I have a hard enough time getting them much bigger than softballs really. Must be the difference in soils.  

[WNYBuckHunter]

22 hours ago, LET EM GROW said:

Food plotting should be driven with goals each time no doubt, well said!

I cant believe you've grown Volley ball sized turnips. lol That is crazy. I have a hard enough time getting them much bigger than softballs really. Must be the difference in soils.  

Ill see if I can dig up a pic

[WNYBuckHunter]

Here ya go, from a couple of years ago. This was one of the bigger ones in the plot that year. We had more that were even bigger.

[LET EM GROW]

Dang thats nuts lol. Not sure I've ever noticed any of mine that big. Possibly under the tops where I couldn't see.   

[land 1]

wow, i thought softball size where big

[WNYBuckHunter]

We generally have really good soil here. I have never had to lime at all, and a 150 to 200lb per acre (depending on what I get) fert, and the correct seeding and that’s what we get. That’s why I seed Heavy to stunt the bulbs. I want To keep them below softball size. The greens get 18 plus inches deep in the containment cages. Scroll up a bit and you’ll see my daughter holding one up  you can see how tall the greens are  

That reminds me, I need To get my cages up in the new plots. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

I got Home from NC last night and the first thing I wanted To do was see how my plots are looking. I am Not disappointed in the least, they are looking really good! Winter rye is up about 3 inches, clover is filling in nicely and the brassicas are up to about 4-5 inches. I dont Think they will need any urea, but I’ll see in a couple more weeks.