Mid-Mount Mower Food Plot Equipment Advice

[Will_C]

Put in a half acre food plot last year. I enjoyed putting it in and the deer utilized it. I sprayed it with glyphosate with a backpack sprayer, tilled it up, spread 1,000 lbs of lime by hand, and used a push spreader to put on the fertilizer and seed, and rolled it with a land roller to firm the seed bed and press the seed in.

I am thinking some new equipment might be in order for larger plots. I would like to be able to put 4-5 acres in plots-nothing bigger than an acre in any one place. I think I should get some sort of sprayer for the gly, a seeder for the lime, fertilizer, and seed, and a chain drag to smooth out after tilling.

I have a Kubota 2620, a RTV 900, and an ATV. I have access to my brother's tiller, and a land roller. Any recommendations for a sprayer- what piece of equipment should I mount it on and any brands? Some thing for a seeder/spreader-I need something that be adjusted down to spread 5-10 lbs of radish and beet seeds per acre. It would be a real bonus if it could handle lime as well-shoveling it out of the back of the RTV is quite a workout.

Thanks for reading this long post and for any advice and recommendations you might have.

Will

 

[Will_C]

I don't know why "Mid Mount Mower" is in the title of my post?

 

[kneedeep]

I started with a mower, disk, cone spreader and 15 gal 12v sprayer in back of the UTV. Seed and fertilizer went in cone spreader after a good disking and a chain link fence section with 4 old truck tires tied on it to level and cover seed. I had a hand seeder for small seeds and little extra fertilizer to boost growth during the season.
I have added no till planter, cultipacker, 50 gal 3pt sprayer and the fields look just like the ones when I started. Deer don't seem to care that I have all this equipment to make their dinner table better??

:confused3:

 

[Oldstuff]

Will- I am no expert but have been doing food plots for 11 years and have learned a few things to do and some not to do. 1- If you are a bow hunter keeping a plot at 3/4 acre is about maximum size. 2- Do NOT make it an oval shape like I did, if you make it irregular shaped with the woods having fingers protruding into the plot it will afford you bett locations for stands. 3- I use a ATV liquid sprayer (25 gallon) and use it for glyphosate and for broadleaf and undesireablee grasses spray. 4- I use a ATV fert spreader for fert and lime, it does not work well for fine seed such as clover and turnips. For small seeds I use an Earthway hand crank spreader. Small seeds do NOT want to be more than 1/4 inch MAX under surface of soil so it is best to roll just before and again after seeding. This is my method and my plot looks darn near as good as some of the seed ads you see.

 

[Ultradog MN]

There are as many variables in plotting as there are farming.
Soil type, condition, weather, etc, etc. And what you plan to plant.
For plots it's tough to beat some good tried and true implements. Like a plow and disc or a cultivator.
I keep 3 plots going - have for about 10 years.
I use a 2-16" plow and an 8' disc. Then I just hand broadcast a premixed bag of several clovers, alfalfa, rape, timothy, and turnip. A $45 bag is enough for 2 acres. The turnip is an annual so it only comes up the first year. But the other grasses are usually good for about 3 years. It does help to mow them at least once per year as that keeps them from seeding out and keeps fresh plants growing.
After broadcasting I run an old cultipacker over it to press the seed in.

Here are a few photos of my plots.

Turning the dirt with the little 3000.

The old 4200 on the disc

Simple hand broadcast seeder that I bought used on ebay.

And last but not least, rolling the seed in with the cultipacker.

Here is a good crop of turnip but there is too much of it so it crowded out the grasses and I didn't get a good return on the grasses the next year.
The deer really hammered this stuff though.

In Minnesota only about one in three hunters bag a deer each year.
By putting in plots we are doing much better - more like two out of three.