Planting Wheat

[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