1st plot..Have a 1/2 acre limed and ready..what to plant

[driven2tri24]

New guy here... Have read lots of good info on here...
Live in NE Ohio with just under an acre available to me for a food plotting (an hayfield) surrounded by woods with several large soybean and corn fields nearby. Hunting pressure HIGH and baiting with corn piles /feeders along everyone's back property line is the norm. The deer become nocturnal in response and only smaller deer are seen during daylight until hunting pressure lets up as the temperature drops and so does most people's motivation.
I've ran a soil test (PH was 4.9) and limed only 1/2 acre with 1600# of pell lime. Sprayed, mowed, and drag harrowed it. After reading lots on here and other sites, I planned (and purchased)on running a 1/4 ac of LC mix Brassicas and 1/4 ac of LC mix Cereal grains and layer in WR. Now that plant time for the Brassicas is here, I'm thinking of skipping them and just going with cereal mix for all of the 1/2 acre.
With my late season hunting being so good for chances on nice Bucks...I hate to make the wrong move and have nothing to attract them in January.
My 1st question :
For those of you who who run Rye up North, is How attractive is Rye in Jan if it's seeded as late as possible??
My 2nd question:
Should I stick to my original plan with 1/4 acre of each , just 1/2 acre of one?
If 1/2 acre is too small to work with, I could try my hand with a Throw and Mow /Roll on the other 1/2 acre if I got busy today??

 

[jsasker007]

Rye isn't very attractive but they eat it when it's the only thing green and growing. I don't think anything you plant will draw them away from bait piles. jmho.

 

[driven2tri24]

Most guys only pay for feed until they "tag out" and very few(if any) feeders/piles are being stocked beyond Christmas. I think with the predicted rise of corn prices this season, this will happen even sooner.
Should I consider Wheat over Rye if I want a January food source?

 

[DavidHunter2001]

Plant a mix like Green cover seeds Fall Release. This will give the deer something they like from Fall thru spring. Deer are selective browsers and like variety.

 

[PatinPA]

I'd say for your first year, try a variety and see what they like. I'm in central PA, with same situation minus the baiting. But it's high pressure and surrounded by ag. I get deer coming to my plots but just as a stop on their way to the big ag fields. I think you'd be better off trying to go for more cover to give the bucks a place to hide during all that pressure and then a have nice close food source they can hit up and hopefully hold them until after dark before they make their way to the big ag or the bait piles.

I planted rye and daikon radish last year. I really liked the results of both. Deer dug through the snow to eat both. This year I'm going with oats and rye with some purple top turnip in one, oats, rye and peas in another, and rye, clover, and chicory in the third. It's my own experiment to see which they prefer around me.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I'd do rye, peas, and radish. Those three are pretty hard to beat. Depending on your location wheat may be a better option though.

For me I don't get much browsing on any of the cereals so I plant barley for an entirely different reason.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

go with rye and some clover (I like alsike and aberlasting for the perennials and some medium red or mammoth red [pictured in my hand, planted this spring] for some biannuals for those low pH soils)...but plant a ton of rye (I did 56 lbs/half acre) and it coulda been thicker....you can add more clovers in the spring by frost seeding to get even more coverage....just make sure to spray (even the day of planting is fine if its gly)...Boot picture is a close up of the clover in a spot where the rye had been wiped out
we had deer in the rye/clover plot everyday into February, then again in March when the deer and turkeys were all over it..
Also be sure to manage the pressure, especially on a small plot...don't hunt it in the AM early in the bow season and DEFINITELY play the wind right (we have a blind a 2 tree stands on a 2 acre plot, which can be hunted in all but 1 wind direction)

 

[driven2tri24]

go with rye and some clover (I like alsike and aberlasting for the perennials and some medium red or mammoth red [pictured in my hand, planted this spring] for some biannuals for those low pH soils)...but plant a ton of rye (I did 56 lbs/half acre) and it coulda been thicker....you can add more clovers in the spring by frost seeding to get even more coverage....just make sure to spray (even the day of planting is fine if its gly)...Boot picture is a close up of the clover in a spot where the rye had been wiped out
we had deer in the rye/clover plot everyday into February, then again in March when the deer and turkeys were all over it..
Also be sure to manage the pressure, especially on a small plot...don't hunt it in the AM early in the bow season and DEFINITELY play the wind right (we have a blind a 2 tree stands on a 2 acre plot, which can be hunted in all but 1 wind direction)

I'm now thinking of expanding my plan to include the other 1/2 acre (which I have not limed yet) with just Rye & Clover. What would be the best Clover for my un-limed soil at 4.9ph??

 

[Bassattackr]

Personally, I’d keep it simple. Ditch the brassicas and just go with a cereal / clover plot.

Given your low pH, I would also utilize Rye as your primary cereal grain. In my area, when the crops are gone, it is extremely attractive from December thru March. They eat it down to the dirt here until the native browse starts growing again. Paired with an annual clover (like Crimson) and a light amount of buckwheat, you should have a great fall plot.

You could use some premade fall mixes (As DaveH2001 suggests) but I’m always annoyed at how much of the “junk” bolts in the spring. But I guess I just like pretty plots.. HA. I also don’t like to plant things I’m not very familiar with as it could volunteer seed bad later etc..

 

[Skeeter]

I think your original plan, plus planting the other half acre, sounds like a great place to start your first year. If the brassica or clover don't grow like you want just put down more rye.

 

[BobinCt]

Whenever you applied the lime, it is prob going to take 9 months to bring up your PH. Your soil is very acidic so you don’t have lots of options but you def can plant Winter Rye and I would go with an annual clover. Once your PH comes up, you will have more options. Nothing wrong with Rye and annual clover . Don’t know where your P & K levels were at, but if they are low then adding those in will definitely help as well. Your on the right track tho .

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I'd do rye, peas, and radish. Those three are pretty hard to beat. Depending on your location wheat may be a better option though.

For me I don't get much browsing on any of the cereals so I plant barley for an entirely different reason.

Where or what brand pea do you use, and when do you plant them? I need to add an attractant to my plots for this fall. If I can find some peas, that may be the ticket for me.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Where or what brand pea do you use, and when do you plant them? I need to add an attractant to my plots for this fall. If I can find some peas, that may be the ticket for me.

Icicle Winter peas (Albert Lea Seed Co.) I plant around Aug 15-20

 

[Derek Reese 29]

I'm now thinking of expanding my plan to include the other 1/2 acre (which I have not limed yet) with just Rye & Clover. What would be the best Clover for my un-limed soil at 4.9ph??

I would go with alsike and medium red...these have both done well for me in soils close to that pH (though even a small amount of lime would help)...also go strong on your amounts (I would do 6 lbs of each clover and at least 100 lbs of rye)....if there's any way possible to get lime down I would do that too

 

[driven2tri24]

Lot of good points here...
I'm taking these all in and have now definitely committed to TnM the other 1/2 acre in Rye/clover as an insurance plan....I don't know if the original 1/2 acre I limed in June will have any significant rise in PH by planting time but I do have the seed already and a contingency plan. Should either/both fail, I thought I'd layer more rye over it as the season went on.
Seed companies list the brassicas and Oat grain/clover mix will grow in 5.5-7.0....my hope was to gain that .6 of a point by Sept..and hopefully be in the 6.0-7.0 in spring when I re-test.
I'll add more lime if needed when I lime the un-limed 1/2 acre I'm planting in rye/clover.

-Do you guys think the limed soil will be close to 5.5 by August or Sept?
I used pelletized lime in June and we have had lots of rainfall this month. I've also harrowed it about 1/2" deep.

FWIW, I planted some Conceal/Barricade(they recommend 5.5 or better) across one edge of the soil and it's growing nicely.

 

[Bassattackr]

Whenever you applied the lime, it is prob going to take 9 months to bring up your PH. Your soil is very acidic so you don’t have lots of options but you def can plant Winter Rye and I would go with an annual clover. Once your PH comes up, you will have more options. Nothing wrong with Rye and annual clover . Don’t know where your P & K levels were at, but if they are low then adding those in will definitely help as well. Your on the right track tho .

Agree with everything in this post

 

[Bassattackr]

-Do you guys think the limed soil will be close to 5.5 by August or Sept?
I used pelletized lime in June and we have had lots of rainfall this month. I've also harrowed it about 1/2" deep.

3 months should be enough to start to see results with pelletized lime. Tilling in accelerates the process.

 

[driven2tri24]

3 months should be enough to start to see results with pelletized lime. Tilling in accelerates the process.

I know it's not tilling, but I've harrowed it(with tines down and weight added)in both directions several times when it was wet to break up the dead(Gly sprayed 7/1)vegetation. It's currently a minimum of 1-2" deep everywhere.
Do you think Rye would be as attractive & accessible in January with our normal 3-4" of snow vs Brassicas when there is only browse available?
If so when, would I want to time its planting to be remain above snow and yet still tasty enough to eat?? Our Frost date is 10/13

 

[FarmerDan]

I think you are over thinking this. Everyone's provided good suggestions. No matter what you plant you'll wish you'd planted something else. We all have high expectations that are rarely realized. A half-acre isn't going to take you too far. If you consider how far a doe or a buck will range, they will have access to many different food plants. Don't worry! Be happy. I'm going to suggest a doe will range 3/4 to one mile radius. My math isn't very good this morning, but's about 500 - 640 acres. I'd guess a buck will roam twice that far.

The lime question. Everyone's response is correct, but any application of lime provides a multitude of benefit - immediately. Ok, so the 6" soil profile pH might not increase to 6.0 for six months, but the one-inch profile responds almost immediately - depending the the lime particle size you applied. The joy here is, when the plants start to grow, guess where most of the root system is?

 

[Bassattackr]

Disking/tilling/dragging.. Method of working in the soil doesn't matter, you just don't want it sitting on the surface. Leaving on the surface will just take longer to take effect, that's all.

Late winter is when my Rye gets the most use. They dig through the snow to eat it for me. By march it's almost mud.

Your frost date is similar to mine, mid October. I'm in central MO, I typically plant my fall cereal plots around Sept 1.