Food Plots Just waiting on rain

[RobDooley]

Right the opposite for me. Only time I can get them knee high before frost is with Aug planting.

the problem I have is the deer will hammer them immediately in Hickman County. I actually pour 100 pounds of corn out nearby in hopes of keeping them away. Based on the price of corn this year...that may not happen this year.

 

[tnanh]

Right the opposite for me. Only time I can get them knee high before frost is with Aug planting.

I'm old school. Rotary tiller is hooked up and ready to go! Plots will be bare dirt as soon as we get a rain to soften the soil a bit. Otherwise it's concrete.

You should be getting rain right now and the last couple hrs. Hard rain from Lexington to Linden at least and North in Hickman county. Flash flood warnings out for Perry and Humphreys til 5:30.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

the problem I have is the deer will hammer them immediately in Hickman County. I actually pour 100 pounds of corn out nearby in hopes of keeping them away. Based on the price of corn this year...that may not happen this year.

I think I've asked you before, but can't remember. What part of Hickman are you in? Also, how big are your plots?

From the looks of the radar, Hickman is fixing to get hammered!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

You should be getting rain right now and the last couple hrs. Hard rain from Lexington to Linden at least and North in Hickman county. Flash flood warnings out for Perry and Humphreys til 5:30.

When it's rained lately, it has POURED! I tried to make a quick trip to our place last weekend and a bridge was out. Had to make a big loop around

 

[muddyboots]

We just got a good rain in Hardin county. Back to the seed being hard to find. I bought mine at local store. Hardin farm and tractor. He had pallets of stuff. If you need something I don't mind to check for you??

 

[tnanh]

When it's rained lately, it has POURED! I tried to make a quick trip to our place last weekend and a bridge was out. Had to make a big loop around

It has definitely poured this afternoon. Lots of runnoff. Have worked on my road with a boxblade
Some the last couple weeks. Probably washed some of that but we needed whatever we can get as far as rain. Sounds like some more coming. I am on the west end of rhe county right now but my land is due north of town of Linden. Pretty sure it got hit pretty good too.

 

[tellico4x4]

We just got a good rain in Hardin county. Back to the seed being hard to find. I bought mine at local store. Hardin farm and tractor. He had pallets of stuff. If you need something I don't mind to check for you??

Really like that store!

 

[RobDooley]

I think I've asked you before, but can't remember. What part of Hickman are you in? Also, how big are your plots?

From the looks of the radar, Hickman is fixing to get hammered!

Centerville/Nunnelly

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Centerville/Nunnelly

Ok, you're just NE of us. We are just SW of Centerville

 

[tnanh]

Ok, you're just NE of us. We are just SW of Centerville

Raining again north of Linden in Perry county. Raining hard for at least last hour.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Raining again north of Linden in Perry county. Raining hard for at least last hour.

Bring it on! Our logging operation is about done, so I'll take the rain. I'll go down next weekend and do a final check of cams on bachelor groups and see if there is anything worth pursuing. If not, I may spray and plan on drilling seed velvet weekend. Depends on the forecast

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

Really like that store!

I play golf with the owners all the time. Was actually in there myself this morning. Super nice folks.

 

[nwsg76]

Ok, you're just NE of us. We are just SW of Centerville

Both areas got heavy rain Friday....and today it was dusty. Rain fell fast yesterday and mostly ran off quickly. West of centerville got another good shower Saturday evening.

 

[BSK]

Last year I disk them for a summer crop and planted beans, peas and sunflower....did ok....but the deer hammered it and we ended up with allot of bare dirt and on one sloped portion of one plot we lost some soil from erosion....so we're focusing on soiling building now and having a root system growing the majority of the year also helps with loosening the soil......but I do like the ideas of disking in the dead buckwheat to speed up the process....may try that on a different plot where erosion is less of a concern.....I like experimenting with different techniques to see what works best in our area.

If you are going to till, there can be no slope in the ground. All of my new plots were designed with two things in mind: the best soil and the flattest ground. Deer travel patterns be damned. Deer will shift their movements to access a great plot.

For years I've been reading about how certain plants - especially turnips/radishes - will "break up" hard ground with their deep tap roots. Whoever came up with that idea has obviously never worked with REALLY thin, hard soils, because in real-world tests, it doesn't work. The plants just produce tap roots that run sideways just under the soil's surface, and the turnips grow up out of the ground, with just their root tip making contact with the soil.

The one technique I do agree with for building soil is the spray/broadcast/ mow planting technique. Do that for 4 or 5 years and all that mown material eventually breaks down and turns into some nice humus a few inches thick.

 

[BSK]

Both areas got heavy rain Friday....and today it was dusty. Rain fell fast yesterday and mostly ran off quickly. West of centerville got another good shower Saturday evening.

We got 1/2" Friday, and just sprinkles the rest of the weekend. But I still got half of my plots in. Will probably wait until those newly planted plots have germinated and have enough growth for deer to feed on before I till under the rest of the plots that are currently in soybeans.

 

[BSK]

You should be getting rain right now and the last couple hrs. Hard rain from Lexington to Linden at least and North in Hickman county. Flash flood warnings out for Perry and Humphreys til 5:30.

Unfortunately, we were only on the edge of that heavy rain. But we did 1/2", which was enough to till the plots.

 

[BSK]

the problem I have is the deer will hammer them immediately in Hickman County. I actually pour 100 pounds of corn out nearby in hopes of keeping them away. Based on the price of corn this year...that may not happen this year.

Unfortunately, the only answer to that problem is to have other foods for deer to eat. We just cut 1/5th of the timber on our property, so lots of natural foods for deer to eat, especially ragweed and pokeweed.

 

[DoubleRidge]

If you are going to till, there can be no slope in the ground. All of my new plots were designed with two things in mind: the best soil and the flattest ground. Deer travel patterns be damned. Deer will shift their movements to access a great plot.

For years I've been reading about how certain plants - especially turnips/radishes - will "break up" hard ground with their deep tap roots. Whoever came up with that idea has obviously never worked with REALLY thin, hard soils, because in real-world tests, it doesn't work. The plants just produce tap roots that run sideways just under the soil's surface, and the turnips grow up out of the ground, with just their root tip making contact with the soil.

The one technique I do agree with for building soil is the spray/broadcast/ mow planting technique. Do that for 4 or 5 years and all that mown material eventually breaks down and turns into some nice humus a few inches thick.

Agree...and two of our newer plots have slopes towards one edge so we are having to manage for erosion...I also agree with the effectiveness of soil building with spray, broadcast and mow technique.....on a couple of plots we are in year two and can already see a difference in the soil quality.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Unfortunately, the only answer to that problem is to have other foods for deer to eat. We just cut 1/5th of the timber on our property, so lots of natural foods for deer to eat, especially ragweed and pokeweed.

The pokeweed has really taken off since our timber harvest and I looked close last Saturday and on the younger poke weed the deer are absolutely hammering it!!

 

[BSK]

I use pokeweed usage in August as a good "indicator plant" of deer food resource availability. If resources are limited in August, most of the pokeweed will show heavy browsing.