Food plot advice

[Nytracker]

 I'm looking to work  up  about 1 acre of food plots . I have access to brush hog  disks and  a middle buster.  One food plot is half an acre. Is basically a hillside clearing where loggers used as a landing. Area is a west facing slope gets good sun 8 or so hours of the day. Rocky poor soil. One end has standing water until late July.  Not sure what to do with that . Have a small area I have planted in years past that's a kill plot. It gets 5 hours of sun very rocky and acidic. Critters devour it as fast as it comes up .  That's probably 50 foot by 200 foot area.  Have 2 more small ones I have been working on clearing for a couple years .  I have left that to natural grass brush hogging 2 times a year. They get 4 or 5 hrs of sun a day . I just dont know what to plant or how to plant these areas.  I  now have a small  tractor a 26 hp kubota bx to work with. I have been thinking radishes  and clover. In years passed I have hand rototilled  one patch but it is killer on me and machine. My brother in law wont even lend me the 3 pt tiller for up there after he tried it one time. What's your opinions . I know I will never plant corn on this land but something has to work.  Area is brushy and is a bedding area. Not a lot of crops in the area.  A few hay fields.. I know the neighbors are baiting with corn . Most of my deer sightings are coming in the morning and leaving in the evening. 

First pic is one of my small plots I have cut out with chainsaw and pushing streets over with tractor. Second pic is what it looks like after first year.  3rd pic is the plot I planted for a few years as a throw and grow kind of thing. Dont have a pic of bigger clearing . Thanks for any help and advice.

[TreeGuy]

Clover. Brassicas. Chicory. Should do well in that soil. Once established you can use the clover to plow under to help with added nutrients and try your hand at soy or corn. Most likely corn and soy plots that small won't make it to maturity unless you keep the deer off with a fence of some sorts.

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[wolc123]

It is sort of a waste of clover seed to plant it on acidic, wet soil with low sunlight.   I would go with a late summer planting mix of winter wheat and soybeans.   The sprouting soybeans will bring in the deer early, before the first prolonged frost, and the wheat will hold them on the plots thru the end of late ML season.   Cerial rye is another decent option, slightly more tolerant to acidic soil but the deer are more attracted to wheat.  Wheat is also cheaper and easier to find.  Leftover soybeans are also easy to find, very cheap or free after the spring planting season.   A wheat/oat mix is another good choice.   In that case, the oats are the candy that bring in the deer first, but like soybeans, they also will not survive the winter.   I am thinking that soybeans are more attractive candy to the deer than oats so that is what I would use, given the choice.     

Edited February 16, 2019 by wolc123

[TreeGuy]

It is sort of a waste of clover seed to plant it on acidic, wet soil with low sunlight.   I would go with a late summer planting mix of winter wheat and soybeans.   The sprouting soybeans will bring in the deer early, before the first prolonged frost, and the wheat will hold them on the plots thru the end of late ML season.   Cerial rye is another decent option, slightly more tolerant to acidic soil but the deer are more attracted to wheat.  Wheat is also cheaper and easier to find.  Leftover soybeans are also easy to find, very cheap or free after the spring planting season.   A wheat/oat mix is another good choice.   In that case, the oats are the candy that bring in the deer first, but like soybeans, they also will not survive the winter.   I am thinking that soybeans are more attractive candy to the deer than oats so that is what I would use, given the choice.     

Agree to disagree. With no ag around the deer are gonna hammer his plots. Soy won't grow. Clover will do fine and handle the acidic soil and critter abuse. It also can be plowed under the next year. Wheat does not like acidic soil....

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[G-Man]

1st get some line on your acid soil plots. Clover, brassica are about all you can put in small plots to withstand pressure. If you have middle buster you need to work up that log landing heavily compressed soil is your enemy and the clay packed on top is prolly what is holding water. They pushed top soil off to make that landing they either buried it or put it into pile someplace. Deep turning of ground may help that area or replacing an inch or so of top soil by scooping up the topsoil soils is also possible. 

I would try radish clover as a way to. Build and loosen soil as well.. en experiment of sorghum rye mix would also be something I would try. 

[Nytracker]

I was contemplating radishes with cereal  rye  first 2 years to loosen the soil  then come back with clover and such. What kind of lime  pellatized or hydrated ?

Edited February 17, 2019 by Nytracker