What do you like to plant in a food plots first year?

[BJE80]

Growing brassicas like that with a 5.3 ph means the brassicas you'll grow with a 6.5 ph will be monsters. Watch the seeding rate, feed them a lot of N and you'll have ptt's the size of a youth basketball.

Its not 5.3 anymore Stu. I've limed and amended my soils since then. Remember we were talking about first year here right? ;)


Oh and yes. Its too thick. I suck at small seeds.

 

[BJE80]

This was opening day of bow two years ago I think. We got rain that week. See how I can get standing water real easy if we get rain. That would sit there for awhile. Now I either have to just assume I will have some flooding loss on some years and just live with it or like we have talked about try and crown the new plots so they don't have low spots in the growing areas. It is what it is.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Since its easy to spend somebody else's money, take some of those logging dollars and get a trackhoe in there to dig a long ditch along one side of your plots. I have relatives who farmed heavy clay along the Wolf River for years and did fine when the ditches were still in good shape. Now they are partially filling in after many years and these days its darn near an act of Congress to do stuff near a floodplain. Fortunately for them they are now retired, sold the farm and someone else's problem.

 

[rocksnstumps]

I think Honker may have delt with wet areas on his ground when he started out and may have some ideas. At least I think it may be the same Honker, was a different forum.

 

[BJE80]

Since its easy to spend somebody else's money, take some of those logging dollars and get a trackhoe in there to dig a long ditch along one side of your plots. I have relatives who farmed heavy clay along the Wolf River for years and did fine when the ditches were still in good shape. Now they are partially filling in after many years and these days its darn near an act of Congress to do stuff near a floodplain. Fortunately for them they are now retired, sold the farm and someone else's problem.

good place for a water hole too!

 

[Terrific_tom]

Actually Brad the ditch around the food plots may work in your favor to get the deer to enter the food plots where you want them to. If you have the ditch completely around food plot and then put a few culverts and cover the culverts with dirt for entries into the food plots I would think that the deer would use these entries rather then going thru the ditches filled with water.

 

[BJE80]

Actually Brad the ditch around the food plots may work in your favor to get the deer to enter the food plots where you want them to. If you have the ditch completely around food plot and then put a few culverts and cover the culverts with dirt for entries into the food plots I would think that the deer would use these entries rather then going thru the ditches filled with water.

I was planning on edge feathering the entire perimeter of the plots anywhere expect for a few select spots.

 

[BJE80]

This is what happens when you don't have the trails ditched. Yee Haw!


I won't be using this part of the trail anymore come next year.

 

[wiscwhip]

Are you sure that you weren't driving through the ditch?:confused::eek::D

 

[BJE80]

Every time I go through there I feel like this

 

[wiscwhip]

FWIW- I deal with this type of soil as well at my place. I, like you, have good fall planting success. I have stated it here before and it doesn't get much press but I like using jap millet. Especially the areas prone to seasonal flooding. My thinking; its better than bare dirt, breaks up the food plot for a feeling of seclusion (3-4' tall usually), the deer in my area eat the seed heads, cheap, and grows in marginal soils.

;)See post #39.;):D

 

[BJE80]

FWIW- I deal with this type of soil as well at my place. I, like you, have good fall planting success. I have stated it here before and it doesn't get much press but I like using jap millet. Especially the areas prone to seasonal flooding. My thinking; its better than bare dirt, breaks up the food plot for a feeling of seclusion (3-4' tall usually), the deer in my area eat the seed heads, cheap, and grows in marginal soils.

What time of year do you plant this? Spring?

 

[wiscwhip]

Jeff nailed it ^^^ mid May through mid July are fine. It is related to sorghum and corn and there are many varieties in addition to Japanese millet, so it can be grown on very marginal soils from droughty to extremely wet without any of the massive fertilizer inputs needed for corn.

 

[BJE80]

Wow. So do you just broadcast or are we talking about tilling up, broadcasting, and covering?

 

[BJE80]

RU kill weeds at green up, broadcast and culti-pack. That wetter soil almost guarantees good soil contact...IME

Then you just let go till fall planting and just nuke then? Or are you letting it go through fall until next year?