First time Food Plot project

[CT230 Fan]

This is the first year that I am attempting to put in a food plot for deer hunting. I have selected an area that is a little over 1/4th of an acre, and am planning on putting in Evolved harvest Mega Plot seed, and maybe a couple strips of Whitetail Institutes Tall Tine Tubers. I have cleared and brush hogged the area down. Things that I have read say I should spray now with Roundup or equivelant, before I till it up. Do you think that is necessary? Or could I till, wait a week or so for the growth to start, then come in and spray to kill everything. I know I need to wait a week or so after I till to spray no matter what, I just am not sure about the first spraying if I am tilling the ground.
It is recommended to use a cultipacker after I till. I don't have access to one of these, nor do I have a lawn roller. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can prepare the seed bed? Would pulling a piece of telephone pole behind the tractor work, or piece of chain link fence?
My soil is at about a 6-6.5 Ph, so I'm not going to lime or fertilize it this year due to time restraints, and the fact that I am getting a late start. I plan on starting from scratch next year and going through all the proper steps, but this year is a bit of a trial run.
Here are a couple pics of the area I have selected.

 

[Western]

If you disc it and the re-disc it, I don't see why you nee to use roundup. Since deer are forbe grazers, most weeds are palatable anyway. I would put the $$ towards at least some fertilizer, like a 17-17-17 at planting time. That seed mixture has few legumes in it will will give you a slight bit of Nitrogen as they grow.

What I have used for a drag is usually quite simple, I have used a cyclone gate, right now I have been using 6 old tires wired together and it works great, but my soil is somewhat sandy. A wire drag works better in cloddish soil.

I don't like seeds that differ much in size, that complicates the planting depth, most food plots fail because the planting depth is to much or to little. I think the stuff your going to use needs 1/4" or less.

 

[CT230 Fan]

If you disc it and the re-disc it, I don't see why you nee to use roundup. Since deer are forbe grazers, most weeds are palatable anyway. I would put the $$ towards at least some fertilizer, like a 17-17-17 at planting time. That seed mixture has few legumes in it will will give you a slight bit of Nitrogen as they grow.

What I have used for a drag is usually quite simple, I have used a cyclone gate, right now I have been using 6 old tires wired together and it works great, but my soil is somewhat sandy. A wire drag works better in cloddish soil.

I don't like seeds that differ much in size, that complicates the planting depth, most food plots fail because the planting depth is to much or to little. I think the stuff your going to use needs 1/4" or less.

I think you are right about the seed depth, I think 1/4". I wonder if I can't just let nature do the work for me, and spread the seed before a rain storm.

 

[Western]

You will be disappointed with the results I think. Disc it one way, then cross disc it. wait a week or a week after a rain, then do it again. You probably don't want to plant that until late Mid- late Sept, at least here in Texas. may be the 1st of Sept. for you.

If it where me, I'd go out and disc it like above now. The as Sept 1st approaches watch the weather, if you have rain coming, I would go out disc again the same way to get the seed bed ready, broadcast your seed. Drag it with something that wont dig, but will lightly cover the seed and smooth it out. A heavy gauge fence panel works great chained to your draw bar, might need a few weights on it, but don't over do it.

You may want to add a bag Oats to that seed too, it is cheap and will give you a good cover crop for the small stuff and will give you more bulk.

 

[Oldstuff]

CT230- I see you are also from MO, I have a place in north east MO and have been doing food plots since 2004. I do not claim to be an expert but have learned a lot from experience and from a very helpful neighbor who is an ag major and soils expert by trade. DO put down some lime to get your Ph up to 7.0. Normally spraying with Roundup is fine but from the pictures you have already mowed- Roundup works by absorbtion so it is too late for the spray to be very effective. Since your ground has not been turned you need to either/both disk and till. I would fert and lime and then till if I had my way. Then plant seed and drag with a section of chail link fence or equivelent. A cultipacker would be the final way to cover the seed but the chain link fencing works great. On my last plot I did just as noted above but also pulled a 4 foot wide lawn roller over the seed with an ATV. For every food plot I have seen weeds are always a problem. I still spray for undesireable grasses and a broadleaf killer speciffically for clover but always have smart weed and ragweed anyway. So, you first line of defence for weeds is to mow about 4 times a summer to keep them from seeding out. Set brush cutter at about 8 inches and cutt down anything taller, you will also be just clipping the tips of the clover if that is what you plant.

 

[CT230 Fan]

Ok, got some work done this weekend. I decided to take my box blade and scrape off all the cut grass from when I brush hogged. by lowering the scariffs down, it also helped bring up a lot of the root mass. I also took a Ph reading w. my ph meter. Looks like I am within tolerance for the seed I am planting.

 

[CT230 Fan]

I let the ground dry out the rest of the day, then came back on Sunday and tilled the entire plot.

 

[CT230 Fan]

We took lunch, then came back, did some tree work, then got back to the tilling. Tilled it for the second time, and here is the food plot after the second tilling.

 

[bullbreaker]

Looking great so far !
By the type of stand you have in the tree,am I correct to say you plan on trying w/bow first ?
Also about a year ago I sold my"hobby farm"(35 acres) I had near Alton,Mo bout 19 miles east of Hwy63 close to the Arkansas/Mammoth Springs line.

Boone

 

[CT230 Fan]

Looking great so far !
By the type of stand you have in the tree,am I correct to say you plan on trying w/bow first ?
Also about a year ago I sold my"hobby farm"(35 acres) I had near Alton,Mo bout 19 miles east of Hwy63 close to the Arkansas/Mammoth Springs line.

Boone

That stand is called "Skywalker." It's about 23 feet to the platform. It's one of my primary bow hunting stands, but I will rifle and muzzleload out of it too.

I'm located about an hour north of Kansas City. My farm is 40 acres, w. about 20 in open fields, and the other 20 in timber. Unfortunataly, the property had been over grazed in the past, so my timber is less than desirable. Full of Hedge and Locust, and not a lot else. I do have a pretty large creek that runs diagonally across the property.

 

[mooseracing]

A recent one I just did was on a hillside in sand. I plowed everything under, then ran the cultivator over it a few times to smooth things out as I don't have a disc yet. I then hand broadcast before a rain.

I'll get some pictures but it looks like my brassica came up good in all the valleys, as I am assuimg the rain puddled there or washed dirt to cover them up.

I have some more I am going to plant in sand on a hillside and I am going to just try an drive over the area a few times to see how they grow.

 

[CT230 Fan]

I decided to go ahead and put my seed down since we are supposed to get rain today. I retilled the ground and took a few pics before I broadcasted the seeds. I took a couple picture out of a new deer stand we put up.

 

[CT230 Fan]

I don't have any type of cultipacker, so I just used my tractor tires to firm up the seed bed. I drove over and the entire food plot. Then, i used the tiller to just loosen up the top inch or so of soil. I then used a bag seeder to broadcast my seed.

 

[CT230 Fan]

Since I don't have a cultipacker to get good seed to soil contact, I made a simple weighted drag to pull behind the tractor. It is a 5' ladder stand section with heavy log chains wrapped around and weaved through the steps, then I have 2 50lb bags of cattle salt on top of it to weigh it all down. Along with the tire tracks, I think this did a pretty good job of getting the seed down into the soil and firming up the seed bed around it. I have no way to know for sure, but time will tell how this worked out.

 

[CT230 Fan]

I totally forgot to take pictures of the finished product last night. We have rain in the forecast today, so hopefully mother nature will cooperate. I will check back in about a week and see if we have growth.

 

[yomax4]

Good work, Should have a nice plot. A couple issues people have, Myself included is that there are so many weed seeds in that dirt, One application of Round up will only kill a few. Like previously posted, Keep you plot mowed just above the clover or chickory or what ever you plant. Soon your plants will get taller and start to take over the weeds. I plant Ladino Clover mixed with Chickory and a little alphalfa. It likes to be mowed and the deer cant resist. That is my fall Bow Hunting plot. Then I have a late fall early winter plot of Rape and Turnups that the deer go after once we get a frost. Keep with your plot and it will get better each year. Be careful not to mix seed that likes to be mowed with seed that doesn't. Many companies package it that way. One last tip. I took an old foam cushion and cut it into 4"x4" x 2' long strips to make 4' total. I wraped it with thin carpet and ran a piece of re-bar through it. I hang it on the front of my atv and soak it in roundup. I drive through my plots and the weeds that are taller than my clover get a dose and they die. it makes mowing a little easier. Like others in this post, I have toiled away for many years to get where I am today. Good Luck! :thumbsup:

 

[mooseracing]

I forgot to mention I also bought no till mix, hoping it would give me a better chance. One of the directions even said to just spray the weeds, then spread the seeds after some time.

I just did another area last night and picked up some more seed today. I'm practicing on my deer food plots so I have some better knowledge before I do some planting for some feed cattle to graze on.

 

[Oldstuff]

Looks great CT,

Oldstuff

 

[nvpliers]

I didn't use any chemicals to convert my sodded area to a food plot - although it wasn't for deer. I mowed it, then tilled it - 4 passes. I let it rest for a few weeks, then planted.

 

[mscheer772]

Where are the rocks? Rocks are what we grow best

-Mike-