Large(er) Plots with UTV/small equipment

[BJE80]

Maybe this isn't the right time of year to bring this up because most people are busy hunting these days. But I'll take a shot at getting some input. Going back to this thread: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/how-many-of-you-have-bought-hunting-land-and-ended-up-disappointed.1475/
Lets say I put in 2 to 2.5 acre plot and want to attempt to do it with an UTV, disc, sprayer, drag and maybe a cultipacker (I don't have that yet). Give me some more detailed tips on how this could be done effectively. I would want mostly late season (rut, gun, muzzle load, late bow type food sources). Jordan brought up clover in the thread linked above on post #31 but in my climate that would not be a great source for late season. What are my options?
It isn't getting, renting, or borrowing a tractor I'm worried about. It is getting decent access to where that large plot that would concern me as the extra cost/maintenance. If doing it with small equipment isn't really feasible I would need to consider that into the cost of actually doing the large plot or not and that is a big factor if I do it or not.


Are we talking no-till all the way and it could be done well? Plant something special? Forget about it and either plan on a tractor or don't do it? What are my options?

 

[JackTerp]

When we first got our property in PA, all we had to work with an ATV disc, a backpack sprayer and two ATV's. Our biggest plot was about 1.5 acres. It was very hard to get to due to very steep, long trails being the only access. We did it, it simply takes a lot more time and thought. Now we do the same plot in no-till and it is great. Chickory and clover are the primary greens. We broadcast rye in late summer and oats in early spring. We broadcast our seed and drag heavy old cedar carcasses to knock down everything. We have never had a mower that we could get in there so if it really needed n\knocked down better, we'd have to use the old atv disc.

 

[PRK]

My largest plot is ~5 acres and I do it no problem with atv equipment: disc, cultipacker, sprayer, drag. I also experimented on a 2 acre plot with no till and it worked out great. A couple of my smaller plots are deep woods and the atv equipment gets in there no problem. So either option works. The no till was much less work with good results.

 

[BJE80]

My largest plot is ~5 acres and I do it no problem with atv equipment: disc, cultipacker, sprayer, drag. I also experimented on a 2 acre plot with no till and it worked out great. A couple of my smaller plots are deep woods and the atv equipment gets in there no problem. So either option works. The no till was much less work with good results.

Do you guys do the traditional LC mix with plots that size and ATV equipment?

 

[Freeborn]

Maybe this isn't the right time of year to bring this up because most people are busy hunting these days. But I'll take a shot at getting some input. Going back to this thread: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/how-many-of-you-have-bought-hunting-land-and-ended-up-disappointed.1475/
Lets say I put in 2 to 2.5 acre plot and want to attempt to do it with an UTV, disc, sprayer, drag and maybe a cultipacker (I don't have that yet). Give me some more detailed tips on how this could be done effectively. I would want mostly late season (rut, gun, muzzle load, late bow type food sources). Jordan brought up clover in the thread linked above on post #31 but in my climate that would not be a great source for late season. What are my options?
It isn't getting, renting, or borrowing a tractor I'm worried about. It is getting decent access to where that large plot that would concern me as the extra cost/maintenance. If doing it with small equipment isn't really feasible I would need to consider that into the cost of actually doing the large plot or not and that is a big factor if I do it or not.


Are we talking no-till all the way and it could be done well? Plant something special? Forget about it and either plan on a tractor or don't do it? What are my options?

A couple questions, where are you located and what food plot competition do you have? If you have no Ag around you it opens allot more options as deer that live off of browse will be attracted to a wider variety of plants. What is your deer density like?

Based on the timing of your hunting I would recommend Soybeans (protect if needed), Brassicas (I like radish allot), LC mix and Clover. All of these grow easily by broadcasting and disking in.

 

[BJE80]

A couple questions, where are you located and what food plot competition do you have? If you have no Ag around you it opens allot more options as deer that live off of browse will be attracted to a wider variety of plants. What is your deer density like?

Based on the timing of your hunting I would recommend Soybeans (protect if needed), Brassicas (I like radish allot), LC mix and Clover. All of these grow easily by broadcasting and disking in.

where are you located? North Central Wisconsin

what food plot competition do you have? Its a big block of woods with some neighbors having some small plots as well. Click on this link as I posted this information in the previous thread. How many of you have bought hunting land and ended up disappointed?

What is your deer density like? Not that high but there are deer around. My small plots do not get overbrowsed right now at all. But there are deer around.

Based on the timing of your hunting I would recommend Soybeans (protect if needed), Brassicas (I like radish allot), LC mix and Clover. All of these grow easily by broadcasting and disking in. I agree soybeans would be a killer thing I would love to do. If I can get it done in that size plot. Of course I don't even consider doing soybeans with the size plots I have right now.

 

[PRK]

BJE80: I am going to primarily use the LC rotation going forward but I have a couple areas set aside to experiment on different plantings. On my no till experiment I broadcast ptt, gfr, rape, clover, oats, WR, rutabagy's and was amazed at how well it all grew.

 

[BJE80]

BJE80: I am going to primarily use the LC rotation going forward but I have a couple areas set aside to experiment on different plantings. On my no till experiment I broadcast ptt, gfr, rape, clover, oats, WR, rutabagy's and was amazed at how well it all grew.

Did you have to break ground for the first planting? Or did you go no till right away with virgin ground?

 

[PRK]

On my no till all I did was kill the grass, drag a weighted chain harrow to expose some soil, broadcast seed and drag a weighted piece of chain link fence to flatten the thatch. I was lucky to have a lot of rain so the ground was soft and the thatch was moist. I posted some before/after pictures earlier this summer on the plot forum.

 

[BJE80]

What are your soils like?

 

[PRK]

Well, I'm far from an expert on soil but I can say the top 6 " is a good looking dark soil with sandy loam beneath. Ph was 5.5 which I didn't adjust. High in phosphorus, low in potassium, OM was 1.7%

 

[phil@thesidehill]

if you go the LC rotation route you can certainly produce a nice plot by mowing and spraying through the summer and then just broadcast into the killed sod/thatch. You could then ride around on the UTV to "cultipack" some...but that isnt even necessary. Not knowing what your soil conditions are....if you need to lime. you can lime late winter or early spring before the vegetation in the field gets up and going and then you can lime again at or around planting after you have mowed and sprayed. If getting larger equipment in is a concern....you absolutely do not need it in order to establish a great plot. I did all my fall planting this year without breaking ground. I planted the whole field in crimson clover in late April. I let the crimson go until late June...then i mowed and sprayed strips into that I then planted to the LC brassica mix. I left the other strips in crimson clover until late august when i mowed and sprayed them and planted the LC cereal mix. the plot looks great..and i fed it a ton of organic matter in the process.

 

[BJE80]

if you go the LC rotation route you can certainly produce a nice plot by mowing and spraying through the summer and then just broadcast into the killed sod/thatch. You could then ride around on the UTV to "cultipack" some...but that isnt even necessary. Not knowing what your soil conditions are....if you need to lime. you can lime late winter or early spring before the vegetation in the field gets up and going and then you can lime again at or around planting after you have mowed and sprayed. If getting larger equipment in is a concern....you absolutely do not need it in order to establish a great plot. I did all my fall planting this year without breaking ground. I planted the whole field in crimson clover in late April. I let the crimson go until late June...then i mowed and sprayed strips into that I then planted to the LC brassica mix. I left the other strips in crimson clover until late august when i mowed and sprayed them and planted the LC cereal mix. the plot looks great..and i fed it a ton of organic matter in the process.

Thx. I don't have a mower either. The small plots I have now I just used the weedwhacker with the saw blade thing. Getting a rough cut mower back there might be a stuggle as well with the ruts in the trails. Hard to say as I don't know how much ground clearance they have.

My soils are heavy heavy heavy heavy........... did I mention heavy? Clay.

I'm going to be putting a remote plot in by hand this spring/summer where I will be no tilling by hand with just a sprayer, hand broadcaster and rake. That might give me an idea on how well it works.

I will need lime. My soil test came back at 3500-4000 lbs/acre. I'm sure that will be a process for sure of a couple of years.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Thx. I don't have a mower either. The small plots I have now I just used the weedwhacker with the saw blade thing. Getting a rough cut mower back there might be a stuggle as well with the ruts in the trails. Hard to say as I don't know how much ground clearance they have.

My soils are heavy heavy heavy heavy........... did I mention heavy? Clay.

I'm going to be putting a remote plot in by hand this spring/summer where I will be no tilling by hand with just a sprayer, hand broadcaster and rake. That might give me an idea on how well it works.

I will need lime. My soil test came back at 3500-4000 lbs/acre. I'm sure that will be a process for sure of a couple of years.

10-4 on the mower. My plot is small...a little over 1/4 acre. So i weedwhack....but a buddy of mine does have one of those DR walk behind brush mowers..and that thing did the trick on the golden rod and 3 foot tall crimson and rag weed.

As far as the remote plot goes....you may not even need to rake. if its in the woods and the ground is covered with leaf litter than you may want to rake...but if it is just going to be thatch from the stuff you spray...don't bother wasting the time and effort raking. just broadcast right into to it.

 

[BJE80]

10-4 on the mower. My plot is small...a little over 1/4 acre. So i weedwhack....but a buddy of mine does have one of those DR walk behind brush mowers..and that thing did the trick on the golden rod and 3 foot tall crimson and rag weed.

As far as the remote plot goes....you may not even need to rake. if its in the woods and the ground is covered with leaf litter than you may want to rake...but if it is just going to be thatch from the stuff you spray...don't bother wasting the time and effort raking. just broadcast right into to it.

Its prety thick thatch not in the woods. Just a natural opening. I planted 5 apple trees there this last spring.

I'm going to weed whack the scrub brush down. Then keep spraying all summer to keep it from growing much. I'm not sure if seeds will get through that dead grass?

 

[phil@thesidehill]

yep...they will. I have seeded clovers, brassicas, oats, and rye into thatch that looks just like that.....with nothing more than a hard rain or two to push the seeds down.

Its prety thick thatch not in the woods. Just a natural opening. I planted 5 apple trees there this last spring.

I'm going to weed whack the scrub brush down. Then keep spraying all summer to keep it from growing much. I'm not sure if seeds will get through that dead grass?

yep...they will. I have seeded clovers, brassicas, oats, and rye into thatch that looks just like that.....with nothing more than a hard rain or two to push the seeds down.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Here is a strip of crimson clover with various weeds that was mowed and sprayed...then brassicas broadcast into the sod....this is at about 10 days after seeding. you can see the thatch pretty well. As of right now...when you look under the brassicas it has all decayed already.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

same plot....you can see the tall crimson and ragweed strips between the brassica strips....then you can see what it looked like after i mowed. about a week after mowing I sprayed. then I broadcast right into it.

 

[scott44]

I think you have a good plan on knocking the brush down and spraying to kill the grasses. I agree with Phil and I think the seed will get down to the soil with a good rain, the smaller seeds will for sure and the cereal grains could germinate in the thatch if they don't get all the way down. Maybe you could get a 3-4' disc and pull behind your UTV and do some minimal till but I think the kill and spread will work.

 

[BJE80]

I think you have a good plan on knocking the brush down and spraying to kill the grasses. I agree with Phil and I think the seed will get down to the soil with a good rain, the smaller seeds will for sure and the cereal grains could germinate in the thatch if they don't get all the way down. Maybe you could get a 3-4' disc and pull behind your UTV and do some minimal till but I think the kill and spread will work.

I already own a small disc. Getting the machine to that plot will be really hard and I still would have to deal with the stumps and crap left in the ground. Plush it is so small and will have such an irregular shape it will be tough to drive around at all.