I planted my first food plot this year on an acre field with about a ¼ acre of radishes and then two 50 yard test strips of oats and cereal rye which didn’t germinate that well and the remaining ground was just grass. I only have minimal equipment and don’t have the means to drill seeds into ground. The radish plot took off great and attracted deer in it from sunset to sunup from what I could tell on my trail camera and its basically mowed to the ground already. I'm trying to plan ahead to spring (for cover crop) and fall for food plot next year and looking for advice on what to plant and how to go about that. Next spring was thinking about planting buckwheat over the radish plot as a cover, but don’t know how well that will germinate/grow with broadcasting? Also with the remaining ¾ acres was considering making that a clover/chicory plot or attempting cereal rye again. With only a lawn tractor, lawn roller, back pack sprayer and a hand seeder what would be my best options? Are the radishes a bad idea as they have been completely wiped out already or do should I just plan to plant a bigger plot of them next year? I had done a soil test last summer and ph was 7.1 and I’m located in Iowa. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
Food plot advice
- Thread starter rg83
- Start date
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
I would up the ratio on the radishes or plant some and then plant some more a month and a half later. Clover and chicory is my go to plot and adding winter rye is never a bad idea in my opinion. I would do the basic throw the seeds on the plot and then mow what weeds/grasses are there at the time to help cover the seed and help retain moisture also. Can always experiment in a small area with something new to see how it grows and if it gets used.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Should also add that if you have any way to scratch the surface a little bit will help germination too if you can get some seed to soil contact. Some will say not to use any type of tillage whatsoever but that is up to the person doing it and how they choose to go about it. There is no 100% in any form of trying to grow plots. It's just some food for deer a few weeds never hurt anything in the plotting world.
There is 100 things to do here and all will help deer and none are right or wrong. I would hand spray and kill any weeds in the radish bed and then wait until imminent rain and broadcast 50 lbs of wheat on the half acre, I like wheat because it is cheap and I have never had my deer eat it to dirt, it can handle heavy browse. I agree with Jsasker to rough up the soil after spreading to help with germination, this could be a log drug behind truck, a piece of fence behind the lawnmower or blocks behind a 4 wheeler. Then on the other half I would probably try to add clover and chicory as Jsasker mentioned and then I would frost seed clover again in Feb. If want to switch and try something else in the spring you could or let this ride out until fall but at least you would have some food this winter. Maybe someone else will tell you 98 other possibilities
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Pretty much anything you can drag around with some weight to it should help. I've used old box springs from beds before. Just remember that you parked it in the weeds so you don't run it over with a flail mower or any other equipment. Yeah, that sucks.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
When I first started food plots I was out there taking down weeds with my hand held trimmer. Don't miss that at all but it did carve out a spot to plot. Small seeds have been easier for me when broadcasting. Larger seeds usually need to be in the ground to get good germination. Plots can be simple or as complicated as a guy wants to make it. Planting winter rye will make the ground easier to work the following year and it also helps keep the weeds at bay. Good stuff that winter rye. Wheat seems to be catching on more and more for plotting lately. Radish is good for a lot of things and at my place they start eating radish as soon as it starts coming up. Turnips don't get touched here until we've had a couple of frosts, then it turns sweeter and the deer wipe them out quickly in my experience on my property.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Adding your USDA zone to your avatar or signature line will help us know your location temp zone wise.
A drag harrow would work well, it's what I started out with my ATV before upgrading to other equipment.
The problem you have is too small of a plot area based on the # of deer you have. You need to consider stuff that is regenerative (will regrow after browsing) such as clover and forage radishes/turnips.
For your spring plot and cover crop, broadcast 50 lbs of winter rye (WR) along with some red & white (ladino, alyce, etc.). WR should have been spread in early/mid sept; however, you could still throw out a bag now as it will germinate down to 32F. You could broadcast the clovers now, but they may not take of this late. You can always frost seed them in Feb/March.
The WR will provide cover as it grows next spring and the clovers will scavenge nitrogen.
Then in mid summer, when you terminate the WR, you can broadcast the turnips/radishes.
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Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Welters Seed has some good forage turnips/radishes one being Appin turnips, along with PTT.
welterseed.com
» Appin Forage Turnips
welterseed.com
If you are going to plant grain or brassicas this fall and have not already applied fertilizer then it would help to add fertilizer. If you do not plan to plant until spring then I would wait to spring to add the triple 13.
swat1018
5 year old buck +
With limited equipment I would look into a white clover plot. If established well and maintained it can last you 5 years or more. Maybe rent or hire a tractor / tiller to get it done. If you can't work the ground you can still have some great plots. I planted brassica in July in one of my plots that was too wet (standing water in places) to till or drill. I walked it with a hand spreader spreading radish/turnips, then mowed down the rye, grass and weeds over the seed. It turned out well. Plots are very possible without equipment, but timing is more critical if you just throw your seed on top the ground. Try and get a good kill by spraying, then wait till a rain event to spread seed. I think it helps to mow down the dead plant material to mulch the seed, but may not be necessary. I'm not sure where you are located, that might help some of us to know.
356
5 year old buck +
I have a remote property with a 1/4 acre plot. Here is the link to my land tour page that includes some posts of what I do with a lawn tractor. In the early years I hand broadcast seed and used used a rake after spraying with roundup in a $8 dollar store sprayer. It sounds like you have the equipment needed (I use a lawn roller as well) for these plots.
This is a marathon, not a sprint, so be sure to record what you do each year, and build on the experiences. Included information such as end of year reflections (drought, flood, browse pressure, other issues) that impacted the plot that year. Most of all, have fun! As others mentioned, there are few absolutes in the “right/wrong” of foodplotting. (PS…having the soil sample was a great start).
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Just throw in some medium red clover with your grains and flip flop them every season.
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