These are my thoughts. You’ll get lots on here, all valid.
Diverse mixtures are the key. You want to get your soil healthy. Constant tillage and discing destroys soil. When first starting it’s fine first plot. Every few years to smooth plot or incorporate some lime fine. But every time you plant is not good.
Food plots are different than farming. Farmers make money for every lb of harvest. The nutrients all go into the plant then is taken away. They have to constantly amend soil to add those nutrients back. But even they are changing to no till and cover crops.
Take a fallow field. The plants that come in will go through a progression. Early plants like the type of soil, and mine what they need with deep roots. They repair the soil, and a few years later a new group of plants take over that benefit that soil, and they do the same process. Then another. Finally, many years later you will get a lush are full of plants that grow great in that area and you have great soil. Think of the Great Plains when settlers first got there.
I try to replicate that process.
We know synthetic fertilizers, especially N, are bad for the world, water, and even your soil. They kill the microbes that make it all work. So does tillage. Those microbes symbiotically live with the plants. They produce nitrogen from the air. They help break down rocks for phos and k. Earthworms naturally aerate the soil and provide organic matter. That’s what I want working for me.
So how do I do that.
1. I severely limit turning the dirt.
2. I stopped using N, and I am almost to the point of no fertilizer at all.
3. I plant things that do well in my area. To grow things that don’t normally grow there is constantly trying to push a boulder uphill.
Cereal Rye is the key to it all. You plant it early, often, and heavy. It has deep roots that hold the soil, aerate it, and mine die nutrients. As it dies on top (remember we aren’t farmers. The plants die and decompose on the field) adding all those nutrients back to the next crop. They have an allelopathic effect that limits weeds in the next crop. It’s cheap and will germinate in back of pickup. And, deer love it. They eat it just as readily as oats or wheat.
4. I plant tons of clovers with mix. This is making my own nitrogen.
5. I plant a diverse mix. Think of that fallow field. Each different plant will mine different things, grow in different dirt and conditions. I sometimes plant 12-14 different things at one time. Including some brassicas. But they are a part of the process.
See how different that is than trying to grow a brassica plot?
This takes a few cycles. But you’ll have a lush rye field year one. Deer will love it. You’re never without a great plot. A lot of us started like you work plans to build soil and plant a beautiful brassica (or anything plot). But most of us just continue to plant a diverse mix. Deer our browsers. They like a buffet better than a one course meal. And will have something they prefer year round, not for 2 weeks when brassicas are the in thing for them.
Please read throw and mow thread. Read
@SD51555 posts. Read
@Native Hunter. Read
@Foggy47. Read
@Wild Thing
Go to growingdeertv.com and read and watch all of grant woods stuff.
Most on this board have some post documenting this whole process. This cycle has been repeated over and over. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I have a thread on here where I show my green cover.com release fields over past few cycles. The info is there. It is much more beneficial to spend a couple of days reading through others journeys than posting “what should I do.” It’s a simple process, but not specific to one scenario. It’s broad and has to be tailored to your scenario.
Good luck!
