Switch Bedding Area near Food plot

[westonwhitetail]

I’m looking for input on this idea. The open areas in the picture below are a current hay field that I will be converting to a food plot and possibly some cover. My woods is fairly mature so the deer don’t have a ton of bedding options until it can be logged. I’m think about adding a mix of switch grass and maybe pines/spruce for bedding in some of the open areas.

The hayfield shown below in total is about 3.5 acres. I was thinking about switch in the southern half (below the existing row of trees). Above that tree row is kinda steep (4:1) and I don’t think they would bed there so that will be foodplot. The area south of the trees is 1.5 acres. Is this good enough sized for some does to bed in or should I stick to food here too?

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[Catscratch]

Looks like a nice place.
Two questions; will your bedding and food layout still allow for hunting spots, and will a steep food plot erode once you do away with the roots and cover of hay?

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[Bill]

and will a steep food plot erode once you do away with the roots and cover of hay?

that one jumped out at me.

another thing to consider is edge feathering everything. If you just cut 10 foot in on all that edge and let early successional stuff come on it would be a lot of doe bedding.

Like cat says though, what does that do to your access and hunting?

 

[ruskbucks]

A acre and a half will be big enough for a bedding area. I would go for bedding over a plot if your lacking in thick cover. When I had my land logged we did a few 1-2 acre clear cuts. They turned out Awsome and are now great bedding areas. Also the best hunting spots now during the rut. The key in the bedding spots are a combination of tall grass and weeds along with a mix of shrubs and trees. The areas without the tall grass and weeds they seem to just pass thru. I like the your idea of spruce/ switch but I would also suggest some thick shrubs mixed in too.
.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Good thought about the steep areas. About half of the area north of the tree line is steep, so maybe I should consider clover and/Apple orchard there to avoid replanting each year? Then the other flatter half I could do annuals. I plan to plant 8-10 apple trees, so maybe that would be a good area for them? It’s south south west facing so should get good sun.


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[westonwhitetail]

As far as hunting access, my access is from a pasture to the west. It’s not ideal for this location cause I can’t hunt a west wind but I can get in for an afternoon hunt with an east or south wind and I think there are 2-3 stand options for that. There are other places I can hunt for other wind directions though.

 

[westonwhitetail]

Ruskbuck, I have a couple spots that small clear cuts would be great to add bedding to areas they now just last through. I will have to do that when I can log it!

Adding shrubs is a great idea too to add some browse and cover to this bedding area.


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[westonwhitetail]

Has anyone converted a hay field to NWSG? Would it be best to plant it in something else this year to control the existed grass/hay first, then plant NWSG next spring. Or do you think it’s possible to frost seed the NWSG into the hay this spring and spray gly and atrazine before the switch germinates? Would I not get good enough soil contact that way?


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[scott44]

Has anyone converted a hay field to NWSG? Would it be best to plant it in something else this year to control the existed grass/hay first, then plant NWSG next spring. Or do you think it’s possible to frost seed the NWSG into the hay this spring and spray gly and atrazine before the switch germinates? Would I not get good enough soil contact that way?


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I have a couple fields that were old hay field converted into switch one CIR and the other South low, both these were frost seeded and the feilds were sprayed the summer/fall before and came up good. I've tried the frost seed now and spray later and apparently I've never timed it just right because they are ok, pretty spotty so I have thrown some Big Blue. and Indian grass in there in hopes of a more diversified field, It's still in the works.

 

[H20fwler]

Has anyone converted a hay field to NWSG? Would it be best to plant it in something else this year to control the existed grass/hay first, then plant NWSG next spring. Or do you think it’s possible to frost seed the NWSG into the hay this spring and spray gly and atrazine before the switch germinates? Would I not get good enough soil contact that way?


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I’ll second the adding big bluestem, in my area it gets a lot taller than the switch and stays up better in winter.
Our pasture was a hay field that we planted to native grasses after spraying it off. We planted ours in July after discing, it’s just how the timing worked out for us doing it that time of year.
A blend of switch big and little bluestem and Indian with a clover mix is what we put in, the big blue is the most prevalent after four years but it still has a really good mix. We mowed ours the first fall and the following summer to get it to crown good and thicken it up. Now deer are in it all the time with beds all over.

 

[westonwhitetail]

I’ll second the adding big bluestem, in my area it gets a lot taller than the switch and stays up better in winter.
Our pasture was a hay field that we planted to native grasses after spraying it off. We planted ours in July after discing, it’s just how the timing worked out for us doing it that time of year.
A blend of switch big and little bluestem and Indian with a clover mix is what we put in, the big blue is the most prevalent after four years but it still has a really good mix. We mowed ours the first fall and the following summer to get it to crown good and thicken it up. Now deer are in it all the time with beds all over.

Did you broadcast over the disced ground in July then? Or did you have a drill.


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[westonwhitetail]

It sounds like I could either plant something this summer to kill off grasses and weeds then plant next year, or maybe a mid summer planting after they have been sprayed well this spring. I’d like to get it going this year if it is possible. Thanks everyone


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[westonwhitetail]

For a clover plot in an old hay field, could I frost seed this spring and spray with 2-4D to kill the grasses? Anyone done something like? ? I didn’t get this land until late November so I didn’t get a good look at the field but it seems like there should be some established clover there that I could save and just add to it to thicken it up?


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[H20fwler]

Did you broadcast over the disced ground in July then? Or did you have a drill.


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We drilled but broadcasting works fine to.

I will say that it takes two or three years for it to really take off good. First year is really slow it’s almost hard to see that it is there.

 

[scott44]

We drilled but broadcasting works fine to.

I will say that it takes two or three years for it to really take off good. First year is really slow it’s almost hard to see that it is there.

Like H20fwler said give it a couple years before you call it a failure, most of my NWSG plantings I thought were failures and after 2-3 yrs they have come on.

 

[Telemark]

For a clover plot in an old hay field, could I frost seed this spring and spray with 2-4D to kill the grasses? Anyone done something like? ? I didn’t get this land until late November so I didn’t get a good look at the field but it seems like there should be some established clover there that I could save and just add to it to thicken it up?


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No. 2,4D doesn't kill grasses. I think you need Clethodim.

 

[westonwhitetail]

No. 2,4D doesn't kill grasses. I think you need Clethodim.

Yes thanks, I’ve only used gly and mix up the names for those two


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[westonwhitetail]

Thanks for the help everyone I think I have a plan for that area now!


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[Mortenson]

Congrats on buying that farm. For the record you can kill grass with 24d! Not usually a plan tho. To kinda piggy back on the Switch thread, has anyone ever seen any luck or even tried scattering seed in unkilled sod just to gain a few random plants here and there? I know it's a failure to try and establish a stand of grasses that way, but just wondered about a few coming in the hard way. Or even big or little blue. I have an area that's more sensitive but would like to see a little grass diversity. Probably a bad idea?

 

[Tree Spud]

Congrats on buying that farm. For the record you can kill grass with 24d! Not usually a plan tho. To kinda piggy back on the Switch thread, has anyone ever seen any luck or even tried scattering seed in unkilled sod just to gain a few random plants here and there? I know it's a failure to try and establish a stand of grasses that way, but just wondered about a few coming in the hard way. Or even big or little blue. I have an area that's more sensitive but would like to see a little grass diversity. Probably a bad idea?

No, not at all. I have some areas I have done that. You won't get a perfect complete field of SG, but you will get stands of it. You can then mow to help knock down the weeds. Regarding bluestem, everything I have read says it will out compete the SG over time and should be added in after the SG is established.