Food Plot 101 questions

[GloryDaysDesign]

I think my main confusion (and possibly other novice Plotters confusion) is understanding the standard methods of how/when to plant a new mix on top of a current standing food plot.

My biggest fear is putting in a lot of time and effort into a food plot, but planting incorrectly, thus screwing up a season of nutrition and hunting. I mean, do you think there is a solidified strategy/rule to the different planting scenarios? Don't get me wrong, we have a hell of a good time doing this!

For example (hypothetically):
EX1: If we plan on planting fall brassicas, but currently have a stand of Tritical (or grains/legumes) that we planted in the Spring, what is the Fall Planting Method? If there is a method, is that a rule for going from a Spring Annual into a Fall Annual? Or is a lot of the strategy based on seed size?

EX2: Let's look at the opposite of that: If we planted Fall Brassicas and want to plant a Spring Annual, what is the planting strategy?

EX2: If we frost seeded perennial clover but plan on planting beans for the summer/fall hunting season, what is the Planting Method - or if I am completely wrong, what Mixes "should" you plant in the Fall based off of what you planted in the Spring?

I guess I am just looking for basic rules to follow to give me a better understanding. I am being told that breaking ground should be a last resort and that the plot rotation combined with building a good PH organically should be the goal.

For this Fall, I am planting Brassicas in the same plot that is currently a great stand of Buckwheat/Trit/Peas. You had instructed me to:

1. Take a Soil Test prior to planting Buckwheat/Trit/Peas (done)
2. Clip my current stand of Buckwheat/Trit/Peas short between August 1 - Sept 10
3. Seed the Brassicas into the clipped Buckwheat/Trit/Peas
4. Roll the plot

So the long & short: What general rules should I follow to develop a Food Plot strategy, followed by what "instructions" do I use to give me the best chance of success?

 

[H80Hunter]

Short answer: I would flip steps 2 and 3 in your fall process.

Longer answer: I'm pretty new at this, but I've learned that this doesn't fall into a "IF this THEN do this" type of thing. You have to read whats going on once you learn the basic techniques. Two brief examples -- last spring was my first year plotting (BW/Cowpeas) and then LC Rye Mix in the fall. I planted the same mix in two small plots. One was in the woods, and one was on the edge of a large soybean field.

-One of the plots has been much more prone to weeds than the other.
-One of the plots is in the woods, and the leaves on the ground look like they prevented my frost seeding from having a good effect in that plot. I can see that throw and mow would likely fail here.

I could write all day on what I've learned, and there are better people to answer your exact questions about what to follow what with, but I think the best way to sum it up is just, learn the basics, read as much as you can (find all the old dbletree stuff) and make the best decision you can. You may be planting the "same" thing into the "same" standing crop in two different places. One you may have to terminate with gly and till up. One may work with throw and mow (T&M better with small seeds). One plot may have not enough thatch because the deer hammered it. One may have to many weeds and you need to kill them chemically. One may have no weeds and you just plant into it and roll it over. Just learn how and why plots work or don't work and adapt it to your situation.

I think, for plotting (assuming you don't have every piece of equipment you could ever need and all the time in the world), you're always going to have to read the situation, read what your equipment and time limitations are and then determine what will likely work the best and just go with it. Also -- keep good notes. I keep rainfall totals, soil test results, planting dates and rates, results, general observations. The more the better.

 

[yoderjac]

I'll say this in general. Minimizing tillage benefits soil health and can be effective if done properly. There are lots of ways crops can be planted into other crops.

1) The current crop has run its course and is yielding resources to the follow-on crop.

2) The current crop is a perennial that has been temporarily suppressed.

An example of 1) might be surface broadcasting a cover crop (I like PTT/CC/WR) into standing soybeans once the leaves have yellowed. In this case seeds fall to the ground just before the beans lose their leaves. The dead leaves form a light mulch and once fallen allow sunlight to reach the cover crop. While the pods can be very attractive in some areas, the beans are not actively growing when the cover crop takes off. Another example might be broadcasting cereal and clover into standing buckwheat at the end of its life and then mowing or cultipacking the buckwheat. Again, the mowed buckwheat acts to help retain moisture and the contact with the soil allows microbes to decompose it releasing the nutrients it scavenged to the next crop.

An example of 2) might be mowing a perennial clover field flat in the fall (or suppressing it with 1 qt/ac gly) and then using a no-till drill to drill groundhog radish into the standing clover. Timing is important here too. The radish and cereal germinate and get taller than the clover and then the clover bounces back from the root system. The results is a field of clover with rows of radish and cereal in it.

Which specific combination of plants and specific timing that will work best really depends on the type of soil and the locality.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[chickenlittle]

Have you read through everything in the Lickcreek section?

 

[j-bird]

For my fall plots into a standing summer crop I tend to simply broadcast brassica and cereal grains and let the rain do the rest. Now this won't get you the best results...but it typically allows you to leave the summer crop stand and serve as cover of food as well as your new seed. Shorter summer crops like soybeans I simply drive over with my conical spreader and broadcast away. Taller summer crops like corn I use a small broadcaster and walk every other row or the like. I do this simply to add diversity to my plot....my summer annual plots are typically corn or soybeans and as such I use the grain they will produce to be the primary fall/winter food source for the deer. The cereal grains and brassica I plant, just give them some other choices, but I don;t bank on them carrying the deer thru the winter. IF my summer plot fails.....then I go all in on a fall annual plot and may even go back to bare dirt to provide as much food as I can.

When spring rolls around and I have some fall plot stuff left I tend to spray, mow or till all of that under and start from bare dirt. You don't have to but again it's based on what equipment you have and what you want to plant. My planting method for corn/beans tends to work best for me by getting back to bare dirt.

Keep in mind when you try to mix planting or overlap them.....you have to remember when that plant is going to be the most active and what sort of traits it's going to have. When I broadcast into standing corn or beans.....I do so based on knowing that as those crops dry down more sunlight becomes available AND that the brassica and cereal grains will like growing in the cooler temps of the fall weather. also keep in mind that cereal grains and corn are grasses and as such love N (so do most brassica) so planting a legume to produce that N earlier in the year can help reduce your fertilizer needs and the like. Also some crops handle competition better or can form thick blankets that makes life difficult for other plants. Some folks can drill cereal grains and brassica into clover plots to consume some of that N in the soil. I don't have a drill so I don't do that. Also keep in mind things like seed/soil contact and soil moisture retention as well. Some methods like "throw and mow" can be very beneficial in the right conditions and be some what unconventional.....but we are plotters and we do what works as we are feeding deer and not in it for the money like production farmers....so we can be a little different!