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Sweat Equity
Topic Started: Jul 30 2014, 02:20 PM (823 Views)
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I started working up the food plots on about July 4 looking to have them planted by mid-July. First I mowed all the plots with my push mower to get the grass and weeds out of the way. Here is a picture of the Creek Plot after mowing.
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and then I dug out the Binford Plotmaster 6100 below....trust me 3 - roughly 1/4 acre plots takes a while on the back of this ol girl!
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I got the Creek plot planted on July 15 in a oats/rye/clover/forage radish mix...you can see one of our "shooting shacks" near the top of the picture. Picture taken form the opposite end of the plot as the last photo.
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The "Big Plot" which is the largest I do, I got fertilized, limed and planted all by the 15th as well in the same oat/rye/clover/radish mix. Really trying this mix out to try and improve the soil quality and then plan on flipping this plot into brassicas next summer.
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Have one other plot that I do, known as the Hill Plot, that I just got finished planting last night (July 29, had a delay in my planting schedule), but have no pictures.
Here is the Creek Plot 10 days after being planted, sorry didn’t have a camera or my phone on me last night when I checked the camera
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And the Big Plot 14 days after being planted….just the one end of it, no good trees to set the trail camera up overlooking the entire plot. Seems to be a lot of grass coming up in this plot that I am going to chalk up to not tilling the plot enough as I was kind of in a hurry to try and get it all done.
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As mentioned I have no pictures of the Hill Plot but will take some and keep posting updates on plant growth.

Here are some visitors to the Creek Plot form last nights card pull
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And the Big Plot before and after tilling/planting
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Couple of nice young bucks hangin around....I think the buck in the Creek Plot on July 17 may be the same buck in the Big Plot on July 29

:cheers:
Edited by Bocephus_86, Jul 30 2014, 02:27 PM.
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Posted Image woodman
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Looks good. It is a lot of hard work to make food plots and looks like you have been busy. Did you plant both red and white clover or just one type in your mix? The first year in 1 plot I planted I used buckwheat and the other one oats mixed with both clovers and alfalfa and the one with buckwheat out drew the other one 2 to 1. Now that the farm is all beans and a small bit of hay the deer are in the beans over my plots. I still mow the plots once a month so the deer can get at the clover.
Your plots seem to be doing well at keeping game around your grounds and should keep a big one around. Nice!
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You sure put a lot of hard work time and $$$$$$ , looks like it is starting to pay off, keep the pics coming and thanks for sharing them with us.
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woodman
Jul 30 2014, 04:04 PM
Did you plant both red and white clover or just one type in your mix?
Nope just double cut red at 10lbs/acre. I did plant a white and red clover mix in the Creek and Hill plots two summers ago, which did very well and then frost seeded them last spring to fill in the bare patches. Last summer i worked up the Big plot for the first time and planted both clovers with chicory and turnips. I was on a bit of a budget this year so I just went with the DC Red as it is $2.00/lb vs $5.20/lb for ladino.

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Strange pricing nowadays. The nearest place to me with the best prices was the co- op in Finch Ontario. Red was 2.99 a lb. and a 50-50 mix of standard white and ladino was 4.00 a lb. A hunters depot wanted 7 a lb. for ladino and 4 for red. Later on in the fall a local farmer was asking 80.00 for 15 kg. of mixed red and white clover which I bought. I,ll have enough for touch ups now. My main use for it is in and around a plot of 50 different type of oak trees I planted 15 years ago.
The plot of oaks was 50 in number and of 4 different types. Mnr had them for a buck each and they were from 10 to 20 inches tall
Edited by woodman, Jul 31 2014, 11:36 AM.
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woodman
Jul 31 2014, 11:31 AM
Strange pricing nowadays. The nearest place to me with the best prices was the co- op in Finch Ontario. Red was 2.99 a lb. and a 50-50 mix of standard white and ladino was 4.00 a lb. A hunters depot wanted 7 a lb. for ladino and 4 for red. Later on in the fall a local farmer was asking 80.00 for 15 kg. of mixed red and white clover which I bought. I,ll have enough for touch ups now. My main use for it is in and around a plot of 50 different type of oak trees I planted 15 years ago.
The plot of oaks was 50 in number and of 4 different types. Mnr had them for a buck each and they were from 10 to 20 inches tall
Nice! Yes seed pricing can be strange.....

I planted 19 oaks (mixture of burr and swamp I believe....white in general terms :D ) this year that I grew from acorns collected last fall just to find out that I can get 2 yr old bare root burr oak stock through a nursery we deal with at work for 88 cents/piece!
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Got some photos of the Hill Plot last night...definitely got it planted at the right time, holy rain Batman! I don't know how much we got in the past 2 days but I am getting concerned it drowned the plot! Planted this plot in oats, rye and red clover....would have mixed in radishes but miscued on the calculations and only had enough for the other two plots ;)
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Long as the rain didn,t wash away the seeds on a slope they should still show up . We had repairs on our septic system a week ago and planted grass seed and white clover and it is doing well and we have had lots of rain mostly every day. Yours should do well.
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PLOT GROWTH - UPDATED PICS, August 23, 2014
Thins are coming along quite nicely in both the Creek and Big plots.....
Creek Plot
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Radishes, Oats and Clover
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And the Big Plot.....
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I pulled the card from the Trail camera and the deer are in it almost every morning and afternoon :D Have a young 8 point on camera that will get the pass, from me anyhow, and haven't had any sign of the previous bucks coming back. The Hill Plot is doing really good also, but I didn't get any pics of it.....October is just around the corner woohoo
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KMG Canada
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Bocephus, looks like it is coming in very nice and I like your visitors!
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Ikantski
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Yep, looks like you're going to have a nice little buffet. Interested to see how big those radishes get too!
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Looking good. Did the hill plot that you planted before the heavy rains turn out ok?
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woodman
Aug 27 2014, 06:24 AM
Looking good. Did the hill plot that you planted before the heavy rains turn out ok?
Yep turned out alright woodman...I will try and get some pictures of it and upload them. :cheers:
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Looks like it's working :allright:
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UPDATE! Trail Cam Pics of some visitors to the Big Plot. I have experienced trail cam issues and this is my only operational camera now. And that was intended to be a plug for Bushnell Cam's....knock on wood but best camera on the market.
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Friggs
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Nice plots Bocephus,
I'm impressed that you did all those plots with a roto-tiller that is sweat equity.
That buck is coming into your big plot just before dusk and hope he keeps that up during bow season in less than two weeks.

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Ikantski
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Yes, that's certainly looking promising, looks like they're loving the oats?
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Very nice , things are shaping up and will only get better , good luck.
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Ikantski
Sep 19 2014, 08:10 PM
Yes, that's certainly looking promising, looks like they're loving the oats?
Yep and the radishes.....devouring them...there are areas in this plot that looks like someone trimmed it with a mower...and the clover underneath the oats and radishes is thick, so should be good for the spring also. Really happy with how the plots turned out.....9 more days :archer1:
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KMG Canada
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Looking good, good luck in nine days .... but whose counting?
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Way to put in the work. You have already been rewarded. Good Luck this fall.
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Here is a video that I got on my trail camera at the Creek Plot....I thought the deer may not be using this one as much because the oats had grown really rapidly and have headed out....I didn't expect this plot to do this well, but seems the deer like it. I count 5 nannies in there :D

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