Food plot fertilizer

[Team Hoyt]

Its that time of year again. Getting ready to spray my first round of gly to the new food plot areas. I will be doing a soil test this year and applying whatever is needed. Who uses liquid fertilizer once the plants start growing and what are you using thanks

[wolc123]

After you get your soil ph right, it is pretty easy to get most of the fertilizer that you need for free, thru crop rotation.  I rotate 3-4 years white clover, followed by 1 year of corn.  Most of the fertilizer that I apply is about 50 pounds per acre of granular triple 15 starter fertilizer, in the late spring,with the corn planter. 

I usually put in a couple small brassica plots each late summer, where I broadcast any leftover fertilizer I have at much higher rate.  Those are tiny plots though, so they dont take much.  I dont use any fertilizer on early fall plots planted with a wheat/soybean/white clover mix.

I also minimize the gly, only applying it directly on the corn rows, when it is about 2 ft tall.  I take out the weeds between the rows, at the same time, with a cultivator.  Planting about 4 acres of corn a year, I can get about 2 years out of a 2.5 gallon jug of gly.

Most of the nitrogen needed, for a  modest corn yield of about 100 bu/acre, comes for free from 3-4 years of clover fixation.  The real kicker is, "modest yield", slightly weedy corn is far more attractive to deer than "clean" high yield stuff.

This picture shows some of that 100 bu/acre corn in back, and a little plot of brassicas in front of it.  The tractor is workimg up some buckwheat (used as a cover crop) with a drag, getting the ground ready for wheat/soybean/clover mix.

Edited April 17, 2021 by wolc123