J-birds place

[j-bird]

Even if the deer never totally take to the Turnips and only eat a little here and there, the option is there for them during some of the hardest times to find food. The bonus is, rotten turnips turn into great fertilizer for future plots.

Everything looks great J, thank you for updating here. It is always great to see how others do things differently than I do it.

Yep - it's a cheap insurance...but even then, I wish they would use them a little more. I was hoping the AWP would survive the winter, but I don't think that happened. I have had it survive before, but I know most of our coldest temps are without snow cover and that really is hard on it. Worst part about spring turnips and radishes is the smell! I'm trying to figure out if I want to till it under and plant beans or just broadcast some sort of annual clover and say screw it until late summer and start over again. We will see. I can get year old RR beans for like $35/bag and they do well in my small plots.

 

[j-bird]

Somebody got themselves a new fishing rig for their birthday.... their first bait casting set-up. We went to 2 stores and looked at several and she ended up with the EXACT same model as I use!!! She has been trying to steal/borrow mine for a while now. So she is thrilled, we put some line on it and I put a 2oz weight on it and she was giving it a test-drive out in the yard. I turned the magnet ALL the way up so as long as she doesn't "spike it" we should be fine. She tells me she is gonna catch some "hawgs" this year! And as you can see...she takes things real seriously. See that tree in the back ground? Yep...she found it....I got 100 acres of flat open ag field and she finds a tree!

 

[Troubles Trees]

Awwwwwwwesome!!!

It is always so nice to see the kids enthusiasm with the outdoors my friend!!

 

[Bill]

My son just had to have a bait caster. I swear he spends more time fixing birds nests then actually fishing with it.

 

[j-bird]

My son just had to have a bait caster. I swear he spends more time fixing birds nests then actually fishing with it.

I recall my first one and yes I had lots of trouble with it....even had to fish it off the bottom of the pond in about 10 feet of water once.... I like them for larger lures or heavy live bait, but prefer to using a spinning real for smaller lures. She had to have one like "dads"....so she does now....

 

[j-bird]

Awwwwwwwesome!!!

It is always so nice to see the kids enthusiasm with the outdoors my friend!!

She is my Tom-boy. She likes to hunt deer, fish and shoot guns.... She also talks a lot of trash! Patience isn't really her thing, but just getting her out can be a lot of fun. She has helped me plant trees and the like before as well. Seems like its easier to connect with the earth...if you get some of it under your finger nails!

 

[Troubles Trees]

She is my Tom-boy. She likes to hunt deer, fish and shoot guns.... She also talks a lot of trash! Patience isn't really her thing, but just getting her out can be a lot of fun. She has helped me plant trees and the like before as well. Seems like its easier to connect with the earth...if you get some of it under your finger nails!

Same goes for me. I only have a daughter and I raised her by myself so she grew up a Tomboy. Fishing, shooting, hunting, riding 4wheelers and planting stuff. She loves all of it :)

 

[j-bird]

So this BS happened the other day (4/20)! It's mid april and we got SNOW! Wet, cold, snow!!! What a crock! It was melted away by the next day, now we wait and see what the damage was to my fruit trees and the like.... I suspect my apples are toast as far as producing fruit this year....

 

[Bill]

I actually drug a disk in a snow squall on the 21st. That was a first for me....

 

[j-bird]

Just to show how screwy IN weather can be....they planted corn in my ag fields yesterday! That is how screwy the snow was!!!

 

[j-bird]

So I have been a little busy lately with spring actually being here and all.

I did get out over the weekend to check on my plots... or jungles!

So these plots are what survived the winter and came back this spring... Now it's mid May here and farm crops are going in the ground, but this mess is waist to chest tall!

This is mostly bolted turnips (the yellow flowers), thriving crimson clover (red flowers) and thriving winter pea (the purple flower)....



What I am stumped about is...what do I do with it? It's great cover and food for the deer, but come once the heat of summer hits I suspect this will "dry up". I am planning on maybe adding in some annual clover and simply waiting to re-plant come late summer in a similar mix as this.

I also found out that our late snow didn't entirely wipe out my apples and I have signs of my first crabapples as well. This one is a chestnut crab...from Turkey Creek I planted a few years ago.

 

[Bill]

Don’t know what to do with the jungle but it’s good food right now.
I agree, next time add some red and white clover.

 

[j-bird]

Don’t know what to do with the jungle but it’s good food right now.
I agree, next time add some red and whit

I typically would have tilled it all under and planted a spring plot of corn or soybeans... But as you said the food is there and it fills a nice gap between prior to the ag crops being planted and really growing well. My only real concern is the turnips. If they produce seed, I am not sure how many will grow well later. I think I am going to just wait until late summer and then terminate anything that is left and plant my fall annuals again. It's hard to tell....I may change my mind by then again as well!

 

[Troubles Trees]

I am entirely new to food plots so this might sound silly but... I am a noob

If you planted it last year and it is naturally coming back this spring, why would you want to till that under or terminate it and plant the same stuff? Is what is growing there somehow less palatable than what you planted last year? Or maybe it is a crop rotation kind of thing?

 

[Tree Spud]

I am entirely new to food plots so this might sound silly but... I am a noob

If you planted it last year and it is naturally coming back this spring, why would you want to till that under or terminate it and plant the same stuff? Is what is growing there somehow less palatable than what you planted last year? Or maybe it is a crop rotation kind of thing?

It's what's called green manure. In the south, peas are grown quite a bit for green manure.

Also very hard to seed anything else in clover and have it germinate.

 

[Troubles Trees]

It's what's called green manure. In the south, peas are grown quite a bit for green manure.

Also very hard to seed anything else in clover and have it germinate.

Thank you for the reply TS, but why would he? He planted stuff and the stuff planted itself (either went to seed or never died off) the next year and clearly if it is already that tall the soil is healthy and can sustain another round of it so why kill it and plant it again? It just seems like alot of time, effort and money to achieve the same goal to me but I am very new to all this.
Maybe I missed something in his post like he wanted to plant something else, I will re-read the recent comments. I will also Google green manure so I understand all of this.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Being it is growing now, most of the stuff will be past palatable by fall. So to plow it under, and get fresh stuff growing to be more attractive come deer hunting.

 

[j-bird]

So my thinking is to some extent as described, but also the seeding rates that I may end up with.

each growing turnip will produce dozens of seeds so if they where to grow on their own they would be way too heavy and be stunted. As for the peas, the peas produce a larger seed that many birds will eat if they can find them and they will germinate much better if actual covered with soil. The clover is an annual and it may re-seed to some extent. So what may grow back on it's own may be very different seeding rate wise vs what I planted originally. Also the deer here prefer the clover and the peas and the turnips are more of an insurance policy as the deer here don't care for them much at all unless they have no other choices....and that is important when you are focused on hunting season attraction vs survival food for the deer. It would be like a little bitty burger on a huge bun!

To the other portion....putting that organic matter back into the soil is good for it. I will probably have to terminate some of the plants, but most will more than likely be dead by mid summer naturally...or at least not be of much interest to the deer. I will mow or spray to terminate and then use a tiller to work that matter into the soil and then plant my larger seed with a row planter and broadcast the rest and pack. If the plot surprises me and I have a lot higher clover content, I can always just leave it alone as well. Time will tell.

You are correct that to some extent the plot will "reseed" itself, but the ratios and the like that would result will lead to less than desirable results. That is simply the cycle of an annual food plot. If I do what I plan on I won't plant ANY turnip seed because I am pretty certain I will have enough seed already in the soil to do what I need. Hopefully the seeds will also help the quail and the like also....it's hard to tell. I have not let an annual plot go like this before so I will see what works and what doesn't.... I have 3 plots like this so I may try different things in sections of them or in one plot and not the others. Hard to say...

 

[Troubles Trees]

So my thinking is to some extent as described, but also the seeding rates that I may end up with.

each growing turnip will produce dozens of seeds so if they where to grow on their own they would be way too heavy and be stunted. As for the peas, the peas produce a larger seed that many birds will eat if they can find them and they will germinate much better if actual covered with soil. The clover is an annual and it may re-seed to some extent. So what may grow back on it's own may be very different seeding rate wise vs what I planted originally. Also the deer here prefer the clover and the peas and the turnips are more of an insurance policy as the deer here don't care for them much at all unless they have no other choices....and that is important when you are focused on hunting season attraction vs survival food for the deer. It would be like a little bitty burger on a huge bun!

To the other portion....putting that organic matter back into the soil is good for it. I will probably have to terminate some of the plants, but most will more than likely be dead by mid summer naturally...or at least not be of much interest to the deer. I will mow or spray to terminate and then use a tiller to work that matter into the soil and then plant my larger seed with a row planter and broadcast the rest and pack. If the plot surprises me and I have a lot higher clover content, I can always just leave it alone as well. Time will tell.

You are correct that to some extent the plot will "reseed" itself, but the ratios and the like that would result will lead to less than desirable results. That is simply the cycle of an annual food plot. If I do what I plan on I won't plant ANY turnip seed because I am pretty certain I will have enough seed already in the soil to do what I need. Hopefully the seeds will also help the quail and the like also....it's hard to tell. I have not let an annual plot go like this before so I will see what works and what doesn't.... I have 3 plots like this so I may try different things in sections of them or in one plot and not the others. Hard to say...

Ok I see what you are going for there bud, again sorry for the noob questions but in my eyes I see a "free" food plot lol
I ask questions so I learn and understand this stuff, I very much appreciate the explanation J-Bird!

 

[j-bird]

Ok I see what you are going for there bud, again sorry for the noob questions but in my eyes I see a "free" food plot lol
I ask questions so I learn and understand this stuff, I very much appreciate the explanation J-Bird!

You are fine...NEVER feel like you can't ask a question or ask for an explanation....especially from me. I have done this for a long time and still ask questions...and we all do things a little differently for different reasons. That is the value of a forum like this. We can openly share ideas and experiences and YOU can take whatever you want of that and either ignore it all or take bits and pieces of it and do your own thing or you can try to follow it to a T.