Anyone from NE still planning on making food plot

[Exo]

I am in Mass and we have had no rain in what seems forever and we are only about 6 weeks away from opening day.

So is anyone up in this neck of the woods still going to try and get a food plot in or would folks from different area's of the country under similar circumstances try and get one going or just wait until next year? Thanks.

 

[yoderjac]

It depends on your purpose. For folks trying to improve the deer herd, even if the volume of WR is low this fall because of late planting, as long as it germinates, it will produce in the spring and keep your ground covered and fight weeds. I'm not sure when your first frost is.

I'm quite a bit south of you in Virginia. I just finished my fall plant yesterday and our opener is on Oct 1st. I can plant things like WR down here in the middle of October with no problem. Hopefully someone in your zone will respond with drop dead dates for your area.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I'm in western Mass. at 2,000 ft. elevation. I planted mine a month ago. Not sure where you are, but if I tried planting anything now I wouldn't get much growth at all. Might get some rye to grow a few inches.

 

[Exo]

Natty,

That is sort of what I was thinking.

I guess I will haul the seed down into the basement so it will stay usable for next year.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks for your reply.

Of course.

Where are you located?

Rye is so inexpensive that if you have bare soil it might be worth it just from an erosion control stand-point to get some planted.

 

[Exo]

I am over in Groton.

 

[BobinCt]

I just planted 3 plots with Cereal Rye 2 days before that good storm. My other plots were in earlier about 3 weeks ago. We been in a big drought in NE this year. I don't think it was too late for the Cereal Rye. It certainly isn't going to grow sitting in the bag and the stuff is so cheap. Rye is one of the easiest to grow and grows quick. I generally plant Rye around Aug 25-Sept 7 around here.

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

Your 45 miles east from me. Plant winter rye now if you can, and if it rains deer will be in it by late October early November. I would throw some clover in with it and next year you will have clover growing.

 

[Exo]

Your 45 miles east from me. Plant winter rye now if you can, and if it rains deer will be in it by late October early November. I would throw some clover in with it and next year you will have clover growing.

According to my soil tests clover is not going to grow there unless I can bring the Ph level of soil up. It is only at 4.7 right now.

 

[BobinCt]

Put the lime down now at the very least . It will take about 8 months to bring the PH up.

 

[Exo]

Just cannot pull that off right now. I am going to wait until spring and do a good clearing of the area first and than get the lime put out. Not sure how the heck I will be spreading a ton of lime down though :)

I found a local place where (off the top of my head so maybe a few bucks off), where they sell a ton of palletized lime for around 250. Problem is they do not deliver or spread it.

I am going to at least get some of the winter rye and another seed I have put in some smaller places this weekend.

I am a wheelchair so that always adds more time and effort for me to get things done. And hopefully my Action Track Chair will not be unusable next spring like it was this year.

 

[BobinCt]

How big if your plot that you plan on doing?

 

[Exo]

How big if your plot that you plan on doing?

This year most would consider them "micros" since each one will be approximately a quarter of an acre.

I will be heading over there tomorrow to put in a swimming pool for a watering hole and either than or Sunday seeding both areas.

Next spring I plan on enlarging them to hopefully at least a half acre and getting the lime down. I will just need to get some trees out of the way and see how much my body can take doing all of it.

Sorry for the long winded answer.