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| This year's plots; Beans, oats, clover & Alfalfa | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 2 2013, 11:14 PM (775 Views) | |
Tim H
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Aug 2 2013, 11:14 PM Post #1 |
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I haven't posted about my own food plots in a couple years, and I thought I'd share. This year I've worked up 2 new plots, the first is "Buck Meadow," a transition area that nearly borders a swamp. The Second Plot is "North Ridge," also a transition area, an overgrown pasture between a cedar bedding area and Ag fields. Buck meadow is a long oval approximately an acre in size. It's in an area that's too swampy to get heavy equipment in to, but is accessable to ATVs & small tractors. In late May I sprayed the weeds down, then bush-hogged, and a week later sprayed again. We borrowed a friend's landscaping tractor with a PTO drive roto-tiller and worked up the sod. I gave the plot 2 weeks, then sprayed the new weeds, and spread 400lbs of Lime and 150lbs of 15-15-15. After 3 days I hand-broadcast 60 lbs of soybeans, a mix of bin run & new seed, and dragged the plot with a spike harrow. After 2 weeks the plot had a bumper crop of milkweed, and The beans were coming up pretty well. Grazing was apparent, as were tracks in the plot, and I set up the exclusion cage that I forgot to bring out when I planted. The wildlife had actually grazed some areas of the plot down so much that I first thought the beans just hadn't germinated. So we'll see how well an acre of Soybeans can last in a heavy deer traffic area. Here are some pictures of the plot, immediately after planting, and when I returned after 2 weeks to set up the exclusion cage. ![]() ![]() The second plot this year, North Ridge, is a new venture for me. It's an area that changed hands last year. It's now accessable to me, but it's also in the proccess of being cleared for agricultural crops. So we will have use of the plot this year, and possibly next year, but that depends on the speed at which the bush is cleared. With that in mind I had to decide what to plant that would get the best bang for the buck in a short time. North ridge is about 2 acres in size, in a rough triangle shape. Since I knew I won't have this plot for long, an annual would make sense to plant. Soybeans are my go-to favorite, but there are about 120 acres of soybeans only several hundred metres away, and I decided to plant something "different" I've never planted Oats before but have heard great things about them. My cousin plants oats in their wheat fields after they take the grain off, solely to disc it in for green fertilizer, and he says that deer hammer the young oats every year. I picked up 6 bushels of bin-run oats from my him, and 10kgs each of Ladino clover, Alsike clover, and Alfalfa from another cousin who's the Pickseed dealer for the area. It was July 10 when I planted this plot, obviously late for a spring planting, and early for a fall planting, but with the weather we've gotten this year I feel confident that the crops will do alright. I want to provide something for the deer right away, and possibly fall plant Oats again in the same plot. The deer move through this area anyways on their way to the bean fields, so this plot is largely intended for nutrition, but also to provide them a pit-stop. The plot site was quite overgrown, so I cleared the with a tractor, sprayed the grass and disced it deep. Unfortunately the old stone fence row running through the plot was a bit too deep to clear out quickly, so for the most part I left it. After discing the plot we went over it with the landscaping tractor & roto-tiller to break up the sod. I spread no lime, and 100lbs of of 30-15-15, on the half of the plot closest to the primary stand location. I'm doing this mostly to compare the difference in the fertilized & unfertilized portion of the plot, but also to make the section closest to the hunter the most attractive. I then broadcast 100 lbs of Oats, and 10 lbs each of Ladino clover, Alsike clover, & Alfalfa. I dragged the seed bed lightly with the ATV & spike harrow, flipped with the teeth upwards. This time I remembered the exclusion cage at planting, and set it up 30 metres from the stand. These pictures show the plot; before any work, during clearing, and after planting, and finally the view from the stand. ![]() ![]() ![]()
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| "Only accurate rifles are interesting." - Col. Townsend Whelan | |
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bigr
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Aug 7 2013, 08:48 PM Post #2 |
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Looks like some great dirt for some seeds to grow in ! |
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| brokenarrow | Aug 8 2013, 06:27 AM Post #3 |
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Regular
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I'm sure you'll benefit from all the hard work. Thanks for sharing and keep us updated with your experiments. |
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Bocephus_86
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Aug 8 2013, 07:48 AM Post #4 |
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Looks great Tim, keep us posted on the plots progress
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Looks great Tim, keep us posted on the plots progress

2:31 PM Jul 11