food plot implement needed

[TNhobbyfarmer]

You've gotten lots of answers/opinions. I'll give you mine for what its worth. I've played around with food plots for a few years with some success, more success lately than earlier. I learned alot by trial and error. The better you work your seedbed, the more successful you'll be. In my opionion nothing beats a good old tuning plow and disc for that. Now, for the smaller plots with not much turnaround room, a pickup disc is preferable. I have both a 3 point disc and a wheel disc. In tight spots where many food plots are, there just isn't enough room to turn the wheel disc around. Another piece of equipment that I recdommend is a cultipacker. If your run over your well worked seedbed with a cultipacker, then sow the seed, then run over it again with a cultipacker, you'll get great germination. A big mistake is geting the seed covered up too deeply with a disc. The germination goes way down when you get the seed too deep, especially small seeds like clovers. Get them over 1/4" under the ground and they just won't hardly germinate. Lastly, for best results, get a soil test and follow the lime/fertilizer recommendations. Good luck and happy plot planting. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a nice buck or turkey come to a well prepared food plot.

 

[sweettractors]

<font color="blue"> Another piece of equipment that I recdommend is a cultipacker. If your run over your well worked seedbed with a cultipacker, then sow the seed, then run over it again with a cultipacker, you'll get great germination. </font>

You are 100% correct. Most of the clover/legume seed providers will not guarantee germination, If you do not use a cultipacker to incorporate the seed. We sold over 250 Used cultipackers last year and several New Tufline Cultipackers--Ken Sweet

*Sweet Farm Equipment LLC Used Cultipacker Page with pictures and prices*

 

[Briana03]

Hello,

This thread has been moved to the new Food Plot Forum. :thumbsup:

 

[Spindifferent]

Hi Steve,

Elton and the folks over at Hay King have been great to work with. I have an older DM 1618 disc harrow and a new C-4 renovator from them and they are rock-solid. I also purchased a couple chisel shanks and clamps to modify the renovator into a two-shank chisel plow.

This is about all that my JD 3520 tractor can pull through my medium-heavy clay soil.

My food plot soil preparation strategy is to subsoil, renovate/chisel, disc and to repeat any of these as necessary. With clay soil, it is best to avoid compaction and soil inversion, and this has guided my implement choices.

I'm just now breaking sod and trying to kill weeds with our Texas heat and drought. Next steps are to fertilize, plant a green manure cover crop, and add compost to improve the soil. Once the soil is where I'd like it to be, then it's time to plant the veggies and see how they do. This may take a couple years.

My food plot size is going to be limited by the amount of rainwater that I can collect and store - if we ever get rain again. I think I've calculated every square foot that I can irrigate given historic rainfall patterns, plant use, and storage capacity. This will only work if we ever get rain again.

Best of luck to you in Boerne. I have family in Kerrville, and love that part of the Hill Country.

- Spindifferent