Planting Wheat

[RobJ]

Another way to spread seed is to use a deer feeder. Put the barrel or whatever on the back of a truck and run the motor. It'll get the seed out 25-30' or so depending on the seed itself. If the seed is small and light I've heard of using fertilizer mixed in to help get it out there. Around here they like to come back and fertilize after the plants have come up.

Good Luck. I got mine in the weekend before labor day. I don't think it's rained yet.

 

[stevenf]

npaden, I have tried the mixing the seed and fertilizer together on multiple plots and multiple weeks of planting, Don't do it! It sounds like the absolute perfect thing to do and in theory or even logically it should work fine, It doesn't. Heres why when you mix them together even if your very careful mixing you then dump the mix into your broadcast spreader, it'll look great coming out all is well, then it rains you'll find many places with no plants and I'd bet plenty of fertilizer, seed and fertilizer don't flow the same. You can certainly either fertilize first or seed first wouldn't seem to matter except I like to fertilize first and then go back and disc it in good and then seed and then lightly disc the seed over. If theres just seed flowing out of your spreader you can tell exactly how much seed is being dispersed and where as the weights are different as well hence the fertilizer will broadcast in wider strips then the seed will. I'm sorry to be so absolute but I was very disappointed with my Legume crops from this standpoint and talked to my farmer friends who told me why and how. There are plenty on TBN that reccomend fertilizing and seeding in one pass and maybe it works for them it sure didn't work for me.
Steve

 

[npaden]

Okay, I have 180lbs of wheet seed and 150lbs of oat seed in the back of my SUV!

I'll pick up the spreader tonight!

 

[redlevel]

Okay, I have 180lbs of wheet seed and 150lbs of oat seed in the back of my SUV!

I'll pick up the spreader tonight!

That would be the absolute minimum I would put on 5 acres. I usually try to spread at least 100 lb of seed when broadcasting with a spreader, preferebly 125-150 lb. You can get by with a little less if you are drilling it.

Planting food plots ain't rocket science. You aren't looking for a 75 bushel/acre yield, just something to attract a few deer and other wildlife. However, I wouldn't let a little something like not putting enough seed out or not using any fertilizer set me back from the beginning. Remember, the better stand of grain you get, the less problems you will have with weeds in the spring. About 200-300 lbs of 5-10-15 Fertilizer per acre now, and about 150 lb of ammonium nitrate per acre in late winter will make your food plots much more attractive to wildlife. If I couldn't afford to, or just didn't want to spend that much, I would put the seed you have on half the five acres and get the fertilizer to cover half of it.

You said you haven't done a soil sample. You need to do that, but small grains (wheat, oats, rye, barley, etc.) are fairly tolerant of acid soil, so that won't necessarily doom your plot. Not using any fertilizer and not putting out enough seed to assure a good stand will make it very unlikely your plot will meet your expectations.

Excuse me if I sound like I am lecturing. I get carried away sometimes.

 

[npaden]

I'm going based on the recommendation of the people selling the seed. I asked how much I needed for 5 acres and they asked where the land was at and I told them and they said 50lbs per acre. I did tell them I was using a broadcast spreader to plant it. They told me for best results to plant the wheat first and then go back over it with the oats and then go over it lightly with a disk. I figured they would be willing to sell me as much seed as they thought I would need.

On the fertilizer and soil sample, there isn't much of a chance of acidic soil where I'm at. If anything it is alkaline. I'll check into how much fertilizer would cost, but it seems that if the land has sat fallow for several years it wouldn't need any now.

I do appreciate the advice. I'll check around and see if I can find out what other locals are doing.

 

[npaden]

Doing some searching on the web it makes it sound like wheat seed is pretty variable in size. I noticed on the invoice that this seed is "VNS" not sure what that would mean though.

I'll call them back up and double check if I have enough seed.

 

[bigtater]

Wheat will grow pretty good without fertlizer and once it gets to a certian size deer wont eat it. Here's a pretty good site with a lot of knowledgeable people Tennessee Deer Talk ~ TnDeer.Com: Quality Deer Management

 

[npaden]

Here's some information I found on wheat seed:

Proper stand establishment requires that seeding rate be determined in terms of number of seeds per unit area (per square foot or linear row foot) rather than pounds or bushels per acre. Seed size will vary among varieties and even among seed lots of the same variety. Seed size or the number of seeds per pound can vary from 10,000 seeds per pound to 20,000 seeds per pound.


The following chart can be used to calculate pounds per acre needed if the seed size is known.

Seeds per pound ------ Seeds/square foot*.
--------------------------- 35 30

----------------------------Lbs/acre
10,000--------------------150 ------131
12,000--------------------127 ------109
14,000--------------------109 ------ 93
16,000---------------------95 ------ 82
18,000---------------------85 ------ 73
20,000---------------------76 ------ 65

The seed place told me I needed 50lbs per acre so even at the smallest size that sounds low though.

 

[npaden]

Called the seed place back and they said that 40 to 60 lbs is what they recommend for non-irrigated land around here. They sounded pretty confident. I guess I'll try that and see what it turns out like.

 

[rfawkes]

I am getting ready to plant 3 acres in winter wheat for the deer. It brings them in and keeps them tight all fall and winter. This means bow season, gun season, and black powder season. I rototill, broadcast wheat seed mixed with 12-12-12 fertilizer and roll with a lawn roller. I spray glyphospate a week before I rototill. That worked real well last year.

 

[rfawkes]

I used 200 lb for 3 acres or between 60 and 70 lb per acre.

 

[LeadPoison]

Here is my mix for 5-6 acres of deer food plots:

350# oats
350# wheat
200# austrian winter peas
25# arrowleaf clover

I first disk well...

Fertilize at 300# 13-13-13 per acre

Spread oats and wheat and peas separately

Drag to cover seed

Then once some rain comes I hand crank out the clover and let it lay on top.

I am not planting for another 2-3 weeks though.

 

[GaryCrowell]

npaden,

You really need to fertilize. Trying to get out cheap without the fertilizer will bite you in the butt in the long run. Why do all that work and half-arse it? Without fertilizer the wheat will come up and grow, but it's nutritional value will be low and the deer will be able to tell, they'll avoid it. Just like cattle will always pick a fertilized pasture over a non-fertilized one, deer will do the same with a food plot.

We plant about 100 acres of food plots all total every year. We use about 60% oats, 30% wheat, and 10% ryegrass, mixed into one of those rental spreader buggies from the co-op with the appropriate amount of fertilizer. We just pull the buggy to our place and start spreading, everything's pre-mixed by the co-op so it's one pass and go. We have the plots well disked before planting then make another pass with the disk after spreading the seed. I used to not disk in the seed and to be honest, I can't tell any difference between covering it with the disk and just leaving it uncovered, it comes up well both ways. If you choose not to disk it in, try and plant just before a rain, the rain will push it into better soil contact.

I have one of the seed spreaders like you're getting, they work good and will throw about a 30' wide pattern depending upon how fast you have your PTO set. If you do run fertilizer through it, make sure you wash it out real good and spray it down with some diesel fuel before you put it away for the year. If you don't, it'll be rusted up next year when you get it out. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[npaden]

I think there is as much difference in farming as building I guess.

The local people tell me I don't need to fertilize. The big limiting factor here is moisture. If it doesn't rain, it won't matter if I put 400lbs per acre of fertilizer out there and 200lbs per acre of seed. It is fertile ground, IF it rains. We got 3" over labor day weekend which brought our total for the year to 10". Annual average is 17".

I would be curious how much rain some of you guys that are seeding and fertilizing at the higher rates are getting?

Also, I don't actually have many deer around. In 6 years I've seen 4 of them (and this is VERY open country so I could see them if they were around). This is more of a test to see if I can even get something to grow and to keep the weeds from taking over.

Thanks, Nathan

 

[redlevel]

It's true that we get a whole lot more rain in S. Georgia than you do in Lubbock, Texas. It sounds to me like you need to get some information specific to your area, not from a seed store (some of them are very knowledgeble, some are not), and not from an internet forum, but from your state extension service.

Sounds to me like you might be better off just getting a couple of feeders and keeping them filled with corn. That's legal in Texas, isn't it?

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Nathan,

I've never been to Lubbock, but I've driven Hwy 183 from Amarillow to Wichita Falls a few times and I've always been amazed at how many deer I see along the higway. There is nothing out there, just thousands and thousands of acres of flat land, but the deer are just standing out in the open. It's the only good thing about that drive, is seeing all the deer!!!

One thing to consider is that areas with thin deer populations usually have higher trophy quality. The very best deer hunting in the country and even the continent is in areas where it's normal to not see a deer everyday, but when you do, it could be a record book buck!!!

We don't see many deer here either, but that's because of how thick the vegitation is. We have lots and lots of deer, but it's very rare for a buck to get a decent rack, but less trophy quality.

Sounds like your doing everything right and in time, I bet you'll see some pretty impressive results.

Eddie

 

[npaden]

Well I got it done. A little more work than I thought and a few hiccups but hopefully it will work. The spreader settings were way off and I spread the first 100lbs of seed over less than an acre. Fixed that, but ended up having to go pretty light on the seed at the end and still missed a few spots.

I'm using a harbor freight quick hitch and the hook for the top hitch messed up a few times and I ended up burying the seed too deep on a couple passes. If the adapter doesn't show up soon I will have to make something.

It will be interesting to see what happens. If we don't get any more rain it might turn out like my sorghum and sunflowers.

 

[npaden]

Sitting here at work I decided to go ahead and by a couple more bags of seed and put it out tonight. Getting everything ready to plant took more effort than planting so for $29 more I might as well make sure I have seed scattered everywhere. We have a 30% chance of rain in a couple days so that would be perfect timing.

 

[npaden]

Here's a picture after everything is planted and disc'ed. I left some of the better rows of sorghum in the middle.

Hopefully we will get some rain and it will actually grow!

 

[stevenf]

npaden, Thought I'd post a few pictures of my wheat and oat plot its coming up great although I will admit to cheating the pipes you see in the middle of the field is poor mans irrigation 10' risers, impulse head sprinklers. The pictures taken up high in the center of the plot are taken from a tower I put up for my hunters to use to help clear out the trophys from the house area before they die of old age.
Steve