Well, here will be my food plot experience

[schoolsout]

this is the first year we've ever messed with doing a food plot. The one from earlier in warmer weather never did much and we didn't do a whole lot of preparation for it. Hopefully, the cold weather plot will allow us more of a learning curve.

Here is a pic of 1 of the 2 areas we have that have enough sunlight hitting them to do a foodplot. I will update these as time progresses.

We planted turnips/rape in this area and chicory and some rape in another area. Planted on 9-24-11, the day this pic was taken.

edit to add: I haven't done a real soil sample test, but did buy 2 kits by Ferry Morse for testing pH and NPK. The pH seemed to work OK, but the NPK part didn't...maybe my soil was just lacking any nutrients (much of it was constantly disced to form a firebreak). I did end up using my digital Milwaukee pH meter and if I did it right, got a reading of 6.7 on the plot area pictured and 6.9 in the other area so I feel pretty comfortable with pH.

I put 100lbs of 13-13-13 in each plot and will go back in 2-3 weeks and put some more on, I think.

 

[lakngulf]

Looking good. Your disc really did a good job with the soil. Why are you only planting half? Road? Or did you just take a picture when half was disced?

 

[trook]

Did you use a disk or tiller?

 

[schoolsout]

Looking good. Your disc really did a good job with the soil. Why are you only planting half? Road? Or did you just take a picture when half was disced?

Last swipe through was with a disc, but it has been tilled before. It's sandy soil and it was moist from all the rain so it actually looked decent at that point. We do use the part that isn't prepped as a road, but may end up doing something else. I'd like to plant a row of pear/apple trees somewhere along there and they might go in that part.

I'm really dying for winter to come and kill off all the brush so we can get more access (easily) to the property. It's pretty much 100 acres of planted pines. 20 or so about 15-17 years old and the rest is about 7 or so. There are some hardwoods left from the last timber job, though. Looking to up that some.

 

[bilrus61]

If your going to plant some apples I can really say that the Enterprize apple had been a very healthy and heavy bearer of fruit. Its a newer disease resistant apple and all those healthy leaves crank out big nice apples the deer love. Too many apple variaties if left unsprayed will only have a few small warty apples due to the leaf diseases that cause the leaves to drop. While a person might think "hey its only for deer, I'll just plant what is left over at wal mart", when you consider the time and effort of planting its best to pay a bit more for some better trees. Keiffer pears are good. Many pears get fireblight and just turn black and die. Keiffer and Magness are good pears to plant. Golden Delicious is a good common apple that does ok but does get cedar apple rust that leaves it de-nuded of leaves to feed and grow the apples very large. It strains the tree and they end up having a shorter life if stressed by drought. Jonagold is another apple I've had success with. My Jonathen apples were about big as ping pong balls and not many of them at that. Granny Smith has late apples that extend the season. Plant a mix but make sure you have some disease resistant types.

 

[Redbug]

Good point Bilrus. And a lot of those apples need a cross pollinator of a different type. So more than one variety is needed. Apples are good and the deer can share them with you, too.

 

[schoolsout]

I've got growth! Not sure if I put too much seed down, but here is the turnip/rape mix plot...

 

[forgeblast]

+1 on the enterprise, combine it with goldrush and you have two almost no-spray trees.
We did that in our crep land.

 

[hrcarver]

You look like you are on the right track.

 

[LBrown59]

Food plots are not the answer they are a part of the problem.
There are all ready way way to many deer .