Food Plots Found some success with the "Mulch Method" (Pics)

[DeerCamp]

Last year my daughter and I cleared out a small plot (by hand and push mower!) that ended up being a really good early season spot. There were bucks all over the place during Pre-Rut and lots of morning activity.

We then plated in Winter Rye in 2 batches, which came up really well. This year, the Rye popped up and then died out in the Summer. When it fell, it ended up doing exactly what we hoped.


2020 Early Fall

2021


This pic was taken about a week ago early Oct. As you can see, very few weeds and we have done NOTHING to this plot in 12 months.

I was able to direct seed into it with Forage Oats this year right before a rain without disturbing the soil in any way.

As you can see, it came up nicely.

May end up doing another seeding in a few weeks to get that multi stage growth.

But for now - I've got 15 minutes in this plot in 2021 and it seems to be going well. Probably fertilize again in the Spring and then do it all over again with a little luck.

Count me as a believer in the "Mulch method" - thanks Growing Deer TV

 

[BSK]

It works! I told Grant that for years and he just rolled his eyes at me. Amazing he finally caught on.

 

[DeerCamp]

It works! I told Grant that for years and he just rolled his eyes at me. Amazing he finally caught on.

I had to do that initial roundup spray, but that was 13 months ago.

I really don't like spraying it, so hopefully this will hold.

 

[DeerCamp]

For the record, this food plot pictured above has two offshoots, each about 30 yards long. When we bought this land 7 years ago, it had been logged on the front so we actually brought in a bunch of equipment and completely cleared about 3 acres (minus trees that were still standing). It was red clay dirt but soon after pine trees started shooting up everywhere.They are now 12-15ft tall and it is an absolute jungle up there. The deer seem to love it.

This little plot is the only shot you would have at a deer down in this stuff.

All total, it's probably less than 1/4 acre plant. But it consistently pulled deer in last year started mid-October.

Have a double stand up there and am really excited about Youth weekend!

 

[diamond hunter]

Question,what cereal grains does this work with? So,just spray and kill.Overseed rye ect and the following fall just seed again? Unbelievable!!!

 

[diamond hunter]

Will this work with a larger plot?Maybe 2 acres?

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Question,what cereal grains does this work with? So,just spray and kill.Overseed rye ect and the following fall just seed again? Unbelievable!!!

Oats were the only ones I would have been concerned with, but apparently it works fine. The smaller the seed, the more I have confidence it will get good seed to soil contact. Glad to see the oats did well.

If I can get good soybean production out of our fields with very little weed competition, I may broadcast seed with a 3pt cone spreader when they start turning yellow instead of drilling. Much less time consuming

Oh, and edit to add….I believe DC just let the rye die off on it's own throughout the summer and didn't need to spray. I'll be interested to see how much rye seeded itself and comes up.

 

[diamond hunter]

My problem with seeding into the soybeans is its the farmers beans and I cant just drive over it trying to sew seed for some deer plot.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

My problem with seeding into the soybeans is its the farmers beans and I cant just drive over it trying to sew seed for some deer plot.

Yea that would be a problem . May want to get a good shoulder spreader. It wouldn't take long to do a couple acres to walk in between rows

 

[megalomaniac]

My problem with seeding into the soybeans is its the farmers beans and I cant just drive over it trying to sew seed for some deer plot.

You can just hire a plane to broadcast the seed for you!

 

[Big Pop]

I know this sounds over the top but I actually soak my wheat , rye and oats in a bucket with water about 24 hours before broadcasting. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow of a few plots. It comes up in 2-3 days with little rain. I've been trying it off and on for years and for cereal grains it definitely works. It broadcasts out of my pull behind spreader very well.

 

[DeerCamp]

Question,what cereal grains does this work with? So,just spray and kill.Overseed rye ect and the following fall just seed again? Unbelievable!!!

Sure does. The method I found success with was initial spray and kill, broadcast the seed a week or two later (You can technically plant same die, but I wanted to make sure I got a good kill in case I had to spray again).

Broadcast the seed using a shoulder spread into the standing grass/weeds and THEN bushhog. That helps bury the seed under some organic material and gets it going.

Last year I planted (best I can remember) 100 lbs of Winter Rye mid September, overseeded another 50 lbs in Early October and another 50 lbs in Mid-October - basically every 2 weeks. In only takes make 10 minutes to spread 50# with a shoulder bag spreader.

Doing it in stages like that lets you have layered growth of different maturity by the time November gets here.

I personally suggest Cereal Rye since it will grow in almost any soil and ground contact. It started sprouting in the back of my truck and on the 4 wheeler where it spilled out if that tells you anything.

This spring when the Rye grew and sprouted, I cut some small lanes for turkeys and they really seemed to like it. Its an annual, so it died on its own in the summer and falls over.

But before it died, It stayed green all winter and the deer still ate on it throughout the spring.

This is what it looked like in Mid-May after shooting up from the previous fall. Coyote for reference.

And here's what it looked like late Summer after dying and falling over.

 

[DeerCamp]

You can just hire a plane to broadcast the seed for you!

And have Russell spray the wrong field again? No thanks.

 

[DeerCamp]

Oats were the only ones I would have been concerned with, but apparently it works fine. The smaller the seed, the more I have confidence it will get good seed to soil contact. Glad to see the oats did well.

If I can get good soybean production out of our fields with very little weed competition, I may broadcast seed with a 3pt cone spreader when they start turning yellow instead of drilling. Much less time consuming

Oh, and edit to add….I believe DC just let the rye die off on it's own throughout the summer and didn't need to spray. I'll be interested to see how much rye seeded itself and comes up.

I learned an important lesson.

I mowed my big plot and shouldn't have. It chopped the stalks up too much and they didn't last in places. Let the weeds make a comeback.

But on the smaller plots, I didn't mow and it worked much better just letting it die and fall over.

Lesson learned.

 

[DeerCamp]

Question,what cereal grains does this work with? So,just spray and kill.Overseed rye ect and the following fall just seed again? Unbelievable!!!

I planted cereal rye last year, but this year I went with Forage Oats broadcast into last years Rye. I will report back next summer to see how the oats held up. I suspect it will be ok but who knows.

Another popular option is buckwheat, but I think you may have to use a crimper to knock it over in the summer, which is why I opted for Rye.

Side Note: It is NOT too late to plant Cereal Rye. It will germinate down into the 30s. Great way to save a late season food plot failure too.

 

[Shooter77]

I've done this method for years. I will spread seed into high weeds then cut with weedeater to create this mulch layer 3-7 days before a rain late Aug or Early Sept. I will do like DC, I will put out a another light round of seed a month later, another 2 weeks later and will keep doing it it frost. I was able to spread my last round end of 1st week of Nov last year. It takes very little time. My plots are all in woods and get covered by leaves. Last Nov after hunting the AM, most of the leaves were off the trees, I backpack blowed all my plots. Took about 45 mins. I had deer all season on these little plots. My kids, dad & I killed 9 deer (4 bucks) off 30 acres of woods with micro plots.

First pic is how thick it was, 2nd pic is same spot. 3rd is the whole plot after i was done. 4th & 5th is another plot.

 

[BSK]

Great photos Shooter77!

Before we got the appropriate equipment, we cut our food plots (most were old 1/4 acre log loading decks) with weedeaters. Then sprayed and broadcast seed. Worked great as long as the right seeds were used.

 

[Shooter77]

Great photos Shooter77!

Before we got the appropriate equipment, we cut our food plots (most were old 1/4 acre log loading decks) with weedeaters. Then sprayed and broadcast seed. Worked great as long as the right seeds were used.

Thanks BSK! I rented a bobcat this year and opened up the plots. really improved the locations but things seemed to be very slow growing this year. even with more timely rains, I've had very little growth. Followed the soil test and added all the lime and fertilizer required. i've seen very limited growth. my brassicas were a total bust. none got over ankle high.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I've done this method for years. I will spread seed into high weeds then cut with weedeater to create this mulch layer 3-7 days before a rain late Aug or Early Sept. I will do like DC, I will put out a another light round of seed a month later, another 2 weeks later and will keep doing it it frost. I was able to spread my last round end of 1st week of Nov last year. It takes very little time. My plots are all in woods and get covered by leaves. Last Nov after hunting the AM, most of the leaves were off the trees, I backpack blowed all my plots. Took about 45 mins. I had deer all season on these little plots. My kids, dad & I killed 9 deer (4 bucks) off 30 acres of woods with micro plots.

First pic is how thick it was, 2nd pic is same spot. 3rd is the whole plot after i was done. 4th & 5th is another plot.

Nice!

What did you plant that had successful growth in years past? And did you plant anything different this year that wasn't so successful, or the same exact thing?

 

[Shooter77]

Nice!

What did you plant that had successful growth in years past? And did you plant anything different this year that wasn't so successful, or the same exact thing?

I created 2 new plots this year and enlarged 3 previous plots.

Plot 1 (0.27 ac) you see with the weedeater, I planted WI tall tine tubers. This has been of mostly clover, oats, winter wheat and winter rye since I created in 2017.

Plot 2 (0.18) was established last year, it was wheat and rye. Planted COOP turnips, radish & winter peas.

Plot 3 (est 2017, 0.17ac) has been wheat, rye, clover and oats. This year I planted Biologic Last bite w/winter peas.

Plot 4 is a 0.18 ac ridge top created w/bobcat. I did Biologic non typ clover.

Plot 5 is 0.53 acre bottom that I created with the bobcat. Did half in clover, turnips & winter peas. other half in WI tall tine tubers, turnips & peas.

My WI soil test came back good, put down 1480lbs of lime with push spreader. Put the required fertilizer it said also.