Hello All,
I have been a reader for a while, but have never posted anything and I was hoping for some input on my food plotting endeavors. For some background, I just started "attempting" to grow some food plots for deer about a year ago. I am fortunate enough to have access to a 35 HP tractor, tiller, as well as a tine plow, disc plow and cultipacker for an ATV. I also have a nice ATV seeder. Point being, I have most of the tools necessary to do what needs to be done.
I should also probably mention I am trying to control weeds using tillage/discing/ cover crops only, and establishing a consistent stand of clover, which I can seed lightly with some winter rye and brassic/tubers each year. ,I am okay with having a few weeds, and am trying to avoid using herbicides if possible by planting at the right time/using weed suppressing cover crops etc.
I have two decent open areas (limited shade, plenty of sun) to plant my plots. Both are around a 1/4 of an acre. I started out in March this year and took some soil samples. The results are attached below. I am dealing with mostly silty/clay loam in the Southern Tier of New York, which doesn't exactly drain very well, but can be improved. The lime recommendations were pretty rough for the New Property Plot (around 2 tons per acre) and not terrible for the Box Blind plot (1,900 lbs per acre).
Having learned from my failures last year, I decided to do things right. In late June, me and a few other people tilled in both fields with the recommended lime amounts for each plot. I have yet to take any new soil tests, but I assuming I will be pretty close to getting both plots to 6.0 by this November once it has a chance to work its way through the soil . I waited about 2 weeks, then decided to broadcast and cultipack some buckwheat into both. The weeds were nearly no existent when I planted. My original plan was to grow the buckwheat until late august, seed winter rye and some white/durana clover into both, apply the recommended amounts of fertilizer, mow it, roll it with a cultipacker and see what happens.
Two weeks later (about the time when the buckwheat should have been established from the extension research I have done), I came back and almost nothing had grown. I was very disappointed, but have read that heavy rain/planting buckwheat in limestone heavy soils will cause this. I tried a last ditch red wheat planting two weeks later (yes bad idea, also used the same seeding/packing method) with similar results.
At this stage, the New Property plot has maybe 5-10% vegetation cover (weeds and seeds included), while the Box Blind plot has grown in with weeds and some of the buckwheat seeds that did germinate.
At this point, I just need something growing which will prevent soil erosion/attract deer in both of these areas. I understand clover is probably not a good idea this year, so I am looking into other options. I think my best bet is to plant a combo of oat/winter rye, ride the season out with that in the ground, then restart the cover crop process again next year possibly with daikon radish/buckwheat to increase drainage/organic matter in the soil. However, my primary concern is this season. I can't afford to miss out on having food plots again this season,.
If anybody could provide me with any advice, I would be very appreciative.
I have been a reader for a while, but have never posted anything and I was hoping for some input on my food plotting endeavors. For some background, I just started "attempting" to grow some food plots for deer about a year ago. I am fortunate enough to have access to a 35 HP tractor, tiller, as well as a tine plow, disc plow and cultipacker for an ATV. I also have a nice ATV seeder. Point being, I have most of the tools necessary to do what needs to be done.
I should also probably mention I am trying to control weeds using tillage/discing/ cover crops only, and establishing a consistent stand of clover, which I can seed lightly with some winter rye and brassic/tubers each year. ,I am okay with having a few weeds, and am trying to avoid using herbicides if possible by planting at the right time/using weed suppressing cover crops etc.
I have two decent open areas (limited shade, plenty of sun) to plant my plots. Both are around a 1/4 of an acre. I started out in March this year and took some soil samples. The results are attached below. I am dealing with mostly silty/clay loam in the Southern Tier of New York, which doesn't exactly drain very well, but can be improved. The lime recommendations were pretty rough for the New Property Plot (around 2 tons per acre) and not terrible for the Box Blind plot (1,900 lbs per acre).
Having learned from my failures last year, I decided to do things right. In late June, me and a few other people tilled in both fields with the recommended lime amounts for each plot. I have yet to take any new soil tests, but I assuming I will be pretty close to getting both plots to 6.0 by this November once it has a chance to work its way through the soil . I waited about 2 weeks, then decided to broadcast and cultipack some buckwheat into both. The weeds were nearly no existent when I planted. My original plan was to grow the buckwheat until late august, seed winter rye and some white/durana clover into both, apply the recommended amounts of fertilizer, mow it, roll it with a cultipacker and see what happens.
Two weeks later (about the time when the buckwheat should have been established from the extension research I have done), I came back and almost nothing had grown. I was very disappointed, but have read that heavy rain/planting buckwheat in limestone heavy soils will cause this. I tried a last ditch red wheat planting two weeks later (yes bad idea, also used the same seeding/packing method) with similar results.
At this stage, the New Property plot has maybe 5-10% vegetation cover (weeds and seeds included), while the Box Blind plot has grown in with weeds and some of the buckwheat seeds that did germinate.
At this point, I just need something growing which will prevent soil erosion/attract deer in both of these areas. I understand clover is probably not a good idea this year, so I am looking into other options. I think my best bet is to plant a combo of oat/winter rye, ride the season out with that in the ground, then restart the cover crop process again next year possibly with daikon radish/buckwheat to increase drainage/organic matter in the soil. However, my primary concern is this season. I can't afford to miss out on having food plots again this season,.
If anybody could provide me with any advice, I would be very appreciative.