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| first time food plot thoughts; may give it a try | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 23 2012, 07:29 PM (520 Views) | |
Whitetail10
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Mar 23 2012, 07:29 PM Post #1 |
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Hey guys, Ive been doing a bit of research and know there are a few guys on here who use foodplots for deer. im looking for something not expensive for a first try. i dont have access to plows or anything and im planning on planting a small 1/2 acre plot or so in the middle of some hardwoods bordering some pines and gullies. are there foot plot supplements out there that you can just toss out and rake/turn up the ground with a hoe and still get promising results? thanks in advance Phil
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baydog
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Mar 23 2012, 07:43 PM Post #2 |
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Hey Phil how much sunlight will you get in the area you're looking to plant? Is it mature hardwood, or young stuff that can be easily cleared out with a brush saw and a bon fire? |
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Whitetail10
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Mar 24 2012, 08:05 AM Post #3 |
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Baydog - It is a mature hardwood section with minimal ground brush. even when there was a canopy in the trees during early fall the sunlight still covered most of the ground. anytime i have been there there was a good amount of sunlight. not exactly sure hrs wise. |
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baydog
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Mar 24 2012, 02:13 PM Post #4 |
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Phil, It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of fall rye. I've had luck with it in tough spots. It will grow in semi shaded areas as well and is pretty much foolproof to plant and is a great attractant. Deer love it but shy away once it starts to get too mature so planting time is important. You can plant it mid-late august for hunting season- not too early though because it will go to seed and the deer don't like it as much. The stuff can be bought at the co-op or seed supplier. If you go this route, make sure you get cereal grain and not rye grass. I paid $18 for 50lbs bags last year and if that's all you're planting you'll want to seed fairly heavy. I use 80lbs an acre mixed with clover and radish but you may want to go heavier because you're not using a properly prepared seedbed and probably not mixing radish and clover. If anything is going to work in your situation, it's fall rye and because it's planted late, it gives you time to prepare your site this summer. Bigr has had a lot of luck with field peas so hopefully he'll chime in here and let you know if they'll grow in those conditions. I'd imagine you'll have low ph and low fertility so the peas might not work, but the rye should take. If the peas will work, you could mix some in. I've had luck on forest trails that were facing north south using a red/white clover mix. Basically, I nuked the existing grass with roundup two or three times, and then frost seeded without tilling. It worked great but we're talking like 20-25 ft poplars on a 20 foot wide trail compared to fully mature hardwood. One suggestion is that if you have some garbage trees with no real timber value, you could leave them standing but girdle them with the chainsaw. That way you'd open up the canopy allowing even more sunlight. Check out the sticky link to Dbltree's forum. He's a foodplot guru and has a whole thread on cereal grains as well as anything else you want to know about foodplotting. Some really good reading in there. Maybe others have ideas and will hopefully chime in? |
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| Ikantski | Mar 25 2012, 02:28 PM Post #5 |
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Logic would indicate that if enough sunlight was getting through the canopy, brush and weeds would start to grow. I'll second the winter rye, if you're just raking and then planting something under some hardwoods, that's your best and cheapest bet. |
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Whitetail10
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Mar 25 2012, 02:48 PM Post #6 |
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what do you guys think of the brassica type plot seeds you can pick up at TSC or canadian tire. are these something that would work or would it be for the guy with the gear to properly turn up the ground. ill take a look at winter rye |
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baydog
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Mar 26 2012, 05:48 PM Post #7 |
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Personally I don't think it would work with brassica but i could be wrong. I've wasted a lot of seed and money trying the same type of thing. I don't think you'll have enough light and even if you do, I think you're soil might not be good enough without amendment and you'll end up with runt plants. Ikantski makes a good point about the lighting. You might need to open the canopy up even for the fall rye....... Check out Itanski's post in the food plot section. Looks like he's making a really nice hidden forest plot. |
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bigr
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Mar 26 2012, 07:49 PM Post #8 |
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Great info in this thread ! For the price of rye you can't go wrong and like mentioned before field peas don't need neutal ph soils, so It should grow as well. The chainsaw is your best friend in this plot I think. Sunlight will be what makes this work IMOP Get some ground showing and try it. Maybe baydog can give us an idea about fertalizer for you as well. Personally , I'd go to the coop ( Gota get seeds anyway ) and get 200lbs of 6 24 24. Can't wait to see !
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| heaton24 | Mar 27 2012, 03:36 PM Post #9 |
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How much fertilizer should I be putting down per acre? I was going to by the grandular kind in the 50lb bags but didn't how many to get and didn't know what kind to get either like the 6 24 24. |
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baydog
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Mar 27 2012, 05:10 PM Post #10 |
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heaton, what are you planting? your best bet is to get a soil test and then you'll know what your lacking. For rye, I use 19-19-19 and fertilize light in my plots like 100lbs per acre, or if following clover, usually nothing. I find it grows good without a lot of fertilizer like you'd use for brassicas. mixing clover with rye is a good idea so you have something to turn down the next year and lately have thrown some daikon radish in. The daikon doesn't get a chance to grow too big because you plant rye fairly late but it's something different for them to nibble on. If it's a real small plot, I use more fertilizer to compensate for increased browsing. I hope this makes sense??? I'm not an expert, but can let you know what works for me. Always looking for new ideas so if anyone else has something that works, let us know! I'm not sure about the field peas and what their fertilizer requirements are. Whitetail10 about the seeds at candian tire, go to your coop if you have one near you to buy brassicas. If you don't you might have to buy from crappy tire or walmart but you'll pay a premium (BUT it might be a lot more convenient for you especially if you're only doing a small area).
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| heaton24 | Mar 28 2012, 12:08 PM Post #11 |
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Thanks baydog, I am planning on planting half acre of 4010 peas and the other half will be clover or alfalfa. I have not done a soil test yet which I need to. I started it 6 years ago with sandy soil so we put down a ton of lime and have dumped several loads of manure of the years. The soil seems to be getting a lot better, i have never put down fertilizer besides the manure and figured I would add some this year. |
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bigr
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Mar 28 2012, 02:02 PM Post #12 |
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Fert is King !
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baydog
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Mar 28 2012, 06:01 PM Post #13 |
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Hey Heaton, try mixing some common red clover with the peas. That way, in the spring of the next year, you'll have something in your plot.....encourages deer to use it year round as Dbltree would say. Also, clover is a good source of nitrogen, if you're replanting your plot the next year, and turn it under, it will release nitrogen when it dies/decays which =free fertilizer and saves $$ for hunting equipment. It's worked for me and I know that tonight as I write this, I've got deer grazing on clover in my foodplots rather than having a bare field.
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warningshot
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Mar 28 2012, 10:04 PM Post #14 |
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my advice to anyone starting out is not to try to hit a home run the first year ...get a soil sample and go from there... |
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baydog
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Mar 29 2012, 06:17 AM Post #15 |
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That's true warning shot. I've wasted a lot of money over the years trying different things. Heaton, I was talking with Bigr last week because I was going to plant some peas this year in a mix with clover, rye and radish and he mentioned that the peas get wiped out pretty fast. 1/2 acre might be gone well before the season starts...just something to think about. I wish we could buy those around here!!!! |
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| heaton24 | Mar 30 2012, 12:15 PM Post #16 |
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Thanks baydog I think I will add some clover to the mix. I was concerned about the 1/2 acre being to small myself, just seems the past three years I've had really good growth and tried a variety of stuff but the deer just don't seem to hit it very hard. I guess i can just replant with something else in the fall if the whole crop is gone. There isn't a large deer density in my area either so hopefully that will help also. I do have one another question for ya, do you mess with herbacides at all? I don't have a lot of weeds but I often can't tell what's what. I know round up kills clover, so would this defeat the purpose of planting clover if I'm just going to kill whats growing back in the spring and start over? |
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WLK
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Mar 30 2012, 02:55 PM Post #17 |
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WLK
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Do what others have stated, getting a soil test is the first and most important step. Tell the testers what you plan on planting, then they'll give you the specific instructions for soil amendments. Without this 1st step, you're wasting time and money for fertilizer. I use Biologics soil testing, send them a sample, and they e-mail you the results in 72 hrs.. It's between $10-$20 US per sample. |
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Whitetail10
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Apr 4 2012, 11:38 AM Post #18 |
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I called today and the local farm and seed supply didnt have any fall rye left and said its not likely they will get any until middle of fall.. what other foodplot choices could i put in that would be available at the co-op store? |
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bigr
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Apr 4 2012, 01:00 PM Post #19 |
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Forage peas and oats. Might be able to seed the rye in in the fall. |
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Whitetail10
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Apr 4 2012, 01:23 PM Post #20 |
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bigr would this be a type of seed that would work deep in the bush. the application wont be a field type and isnt going to be very large in size and im not able to use machinery and as for trimming back the plot it will be with a weedeater i guess |
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bigr
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Apr 4 2012, 02:04 PM Post #21 |
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Peas and oats should do ok. Peas don't require the best soil ( 5ph or better ) and you wont need to cut it or anything like that. Cheep enough test for this plot and deer LOVE peas, even more then soya IMOP. Peas are usually 60-80lbs of seed per acre so you will want to get an idea of your size. If you have bears they will eat the oats but I didn't see much bear activity where we just put the peas with no oats. No matter what you plant , you will eather have enough sunlight or not. Sounds like you might be lacking sunlight for anything. |
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(BUT it might be a lot more convenient for you especially if you're only doing a small area).
Also, clover is a good source of nitrogen, if you're replanting your plot the next year, and turn it under, it will release nitrogen when it dies/decays which =free fertilizer and saves $$ for hunting equipment. It's worked for me and I know that tonight as I write this, I've got deer grazing on clover in my foodplots rather than having a bare field.

trying different things.
2:33 PM Jul 11