What are you growing?

[erussell]

Now heres the million dollar question on the trefoil, What does it do when it gets cold? Does it die or does it stay green till the snow flys?

[G-Man]

stays green, it very similar to alfalfa in it properties but seems to be more favored ...at least by the deer around my place.

[erussell]

interesting, I think I will take out a loan and get a bag. What are the sun requirements? I have 1/4 of both of my plots are full sun the rest is slightly shaded. What mix of seed do you use with it and at what ratio? I was thinking, (which is alway changing) Trefoil, Chic, Alsike clover, and maybe some ryegrass in the one plot. And Canola, Turnips, Winter rye or oats in the other. I like the longevity of the white clover but im afraid that having tall plants like trefoil and chic will block it out. Alsike clover is suppose to last three yrs from what I read and stay green through most of the winter.

[G-Man]

chicory will shade out a lot of plants, i am not a big fan of it. trefoil, clover, alfalfa is a good mix,each do better in differnt amounts of sun and when mixed in a plot that has multi shade /sun components it will grow in a great patch work effect each filling in the areas where they grow best. i personally would try to stay away from mixing grasses with broadleaf plants as it becoms a control issue for maintance and spraying. White clover will do fine with tre as long as you mow 4-6 in high. I find that a mowing in 2nd -3rd week of july lets the clover come on strong with new growth, leaving a field 8-10 in going into fall where the deer mow it down to the ground during the fall and winter. Not sure why everyone wants rye grass in their plot for deer its more for turkey imo and needs to go to seed to benifit. but birds will dine on the bugs and leaves of tre and clover readily. winter rye, or wheat, with turnips /brassicas will be a good draw in fall and winter.

Edited April 21, 2012 by G-Man

[SplitG2]

G-man, I don't understand why people want rye grass in their mixes as well?

[dave6x6]

Some great points guys. We'll be doing WI clover, Pure Attraction and TT Tubers as well as corn and soybeans. Plantings will be in 8h and 9p. I would agree with g-man that my clover plantings seem to do best if you stay on the early side of the planting window. Early May seems to work much better then early June and with the soil temps ahead of schedule this year(as the snow starts to fly outside my window???) I am certainly planning on early plantings. Also all rye grass must DIE. Maybe they mis-spoke and meant winter rye.

[erussell]

Yes winter rye, is what I said above. They love winter rye plots around here. It never gets up over2inch they just keep mowing down. Tho the deer around where I hunt will eat anything that is green come fall. There isnt any planted farm fields for atleast 20miles in any direction where I hunt. Just over grown or mowed hay fields where all the farms use to be. I hunt 200 acres of hardwoods on a hill. Soil is pretty decent tho last plot I put in at another spot came up great with minimal lime and fertilizer but is to small and the deer ate it within a week of the 1st frost. So I decided to plant two plots this yr and double the size of the 2nd one. Heres what the small plot looked like the yr before and a pic of the 2nd plot im going to put in this yr.

foodplot.doc

Edited April 23, 2012 by erussell

[HopkintonHunter]

Gonna give this stuff a try in a few different locations Whitetail Institute Imperial "Bow Stand"

[Pav2704]

I bought a bag of the bow stand as well. I am going to plant it along a trail i have that leads to a waterhole.

Russel, food plot looked great last year. How "small" was the plot that the deer ate it in one week?

[erussell]

20x20 yrds of rape, winter rye and turnips. As soon as the frost hit it they devoured it.

[Pav2704]

Im going to plant clover this weekend in a plot 30 x 30 yards roughly. Im hoping that it will still be there come deer season. I have been adding a bag of pulverized lime everytime I till it... about 3x so far. I will add triple 15 and seed this weekend. Do I need to do anything else? Never planted clover before...

[meatmuzzy]

Im experimenting with WI Extreme and WI Edge this year. Both were recommended by the guy at WI for my area. Going with a half acre of wintergreens too.

[dave6x6]

Pav. In some ways clover is almost foolproof but i have made a few mistakes in the past. Make sure your seed bed is smooth and not to fluffy from tilling. The seeds are very small and simply need to have good soil contact to grow. If the soil is to loose and it rains, it will drive the seeds to deep and won't sprout. So drag or cultipack or just drive over it with your wheeler to firm the soil bed a bit before broadcasting the seed. Also 15-15-15 will work but the extra Nitogen is not really needed for the clover and really only goes to feed the weeds. If you can do some 0-20-20 the clover will like that.. Not the end of the world though. Should be good moisture in the ground and good planting conditions right now. Unless it snows again next week. LOL

[Pav2704]

Thanks Dave... will do... hopefully i will have some pictures to post when it comes in.

[erussell]

Anyone ever hear of these people before. Prices seem to be to good to be true.

http://www.jeinc.com/trophy-magnet-forage-oats

[G-Man]

regular oats draw just as well amd when planted with clover gives a good plowdown crop. unless developed specfically for deer , biologic and wi are the only two i know that do this they are giving you farm seed at double the cost.. biggest thing with clover seed is not to over seed, if you look down and can see seed its to heavy!! it will come in to thick and crowdf itself out... if the bag says 1/2 lb to an acre 220'x220' use half that amount and cover the whole field with it then add rest and recover in opposite direction. over seeding is a big reason foot plots fail!!! oats are cheap 10$ for a 50 lbs bag will do an acre easy.

[erussell]

Anyone order there seed from anyplace special? I usually just get it from Agway. Anyone know of a cheaper place?

[Pav2704]

Anyone order there seed from anyplace special? I usually just get it from Agway. Anyone know of a cheaper place?

This year I joined the NWTF (a $35 membership fee) and got two bags of RR corn for $10 and a 12 pound bag of clover for $24. They offer huge discounts because a lot of their seed gets subsidized. They also had huge deals on sorghum as well. The only stipulation is that you cant resell the seed and it must be left standing all winter. They make you sign a waiver to that effect.

[Pav2704]

regular oats draw just as well amd when planted with clover gives a good plowdown crop. unless developed specfically for deer , biologic and wi are the only two i know that do this they are giving you farm seed at double the cost.. biggest thing with clover seed is not to over seed, if you look down and can see seed its to heavy!! it will come in to thick and crowdf itself out... if the bag says 1/2 lb to an acre 220'x220' use half that amount and cover the whole field with it then add rest and recover in opposite direction. over seeding is a big reason foot plots fail!!! oats are cheap 10$ for a 50 lbs bag will do an acre easy.

Didn't know that about overseeding.

[growalot]

Alfalfa....wht clover...turnips....buckwheat....Sunn hemp...Quail Heaven and Topgun climbing soybeans...sunflower.... Knauf...grain sorghum and I already planted Beef Bank( HSG/clover mix)...That should keep me bussy for a while...

[G-Man]

I usually get my corn seed from the nwtf as well, with cost of fuel and delivery this is the 1st year they charged for the corn seed. still 5 $ a bag is cheap for rr field corn. I believe chapters were limited to 30 bags to be distributed to is members. at least in wny.