Food Plots Mulch, and appropriate lime and fertilizer

[BSK]

A couple of pictures of what good mulch, and appropriate levels of lime and fertilizer, can do for terrible soils plots. The first picture is a food plot made from a powerline right-of-way. The first picture was taken late last September. The plot had seen no rain since it had been mowed in early August. And the plot had not yet been seeded. However, the mulch from mowing had allowed old crimson clover seed lying dormant in the soil to germinate, despite having no rain. This year, we did not till the plot. We just mowed and sprayed, leaving the mulch alone to do its thing (hold in soil moisture). About the same time, we had spreader trucks deliver and spread the exact amount of lime and fertilizer soil tests called for. The plot had received some lime and fertilizer in the past, but considering we were doing it with bagged lime and bagged fertilizer from a seed spreader, we could never get enough down. The second picture was taken today and shows how much the crimson clover has grown this year. The black oval in the first picture is where the second picture was taken today. We have NEVER had crimson clover grow like this.

 

[BSK]

Another example: The below pics are one of our newest plots. It was bulldozed out three years ago. We have been tilling and planting this plot every spring and fall since it was created. The first picture is about the best results we've ever achieved. The second picture, after mowing but not tilling, and spreading the appropriate amounts of lime and fertilizer.

 

[Split Brow]

That is amazing results!!

 

[Popcorn]

Same reason I drill wheat or cereal rye into my clover plots!
Beautiful

 

[TNTreeman]

Beautiful.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Looks great! All our crimson is looking good as well. The rain and warmer temps thus far this year has been perfect for it. Hoping for another great year for the crimson.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Looks great!! Our crimson is doing good...but not that good!! We hadnt limed or fertilized in a few years...so I completely agree that your plots show what appropriate levels of lime and fertilizer can do...very nice!

 

[Fire_Medic890]

Good looking stuff! Look into the "Buffalo System" it is very similar to what you're doing.
I've been doing it the last 6 years and have not had to buy any lime or fertilizer. Amazing the results when you go back to the basics and use minimal soil disturbance.

 

[BSK]

Maybe someone with more of an Agronomy background can answer this question. In late spring, after the wheat and crimson clover had seeded out and died, I broadcast soybean and sorghum seed into the standing dead plots and then mowed. The soybeans and sorghum germinated and did OK. But all of that crimson clover seed from the seedheads did not germinate. The crimson clover only germinated after I mowed down the summer crop and sprayed in early to mid-August. Why did the Crimson Clover seed not germinate after the first mowing in late May? I realize Crimson is a cool season clover, but what prevented it from germinating anyways once it hit the ground?

 

[BSK]

Good looking stuff! Look into the "Buffalo System" it is very similar to what you're doing.
I've been doing it the last 6 years and have not had to buy any lime or fertilizer. Amazing the results when you go back to the basics and use minimal soil disturbance.

Is the "Buffalo System" the one Dr. Woods promotes?

 

[BigAl]

I planted some perrenial clover back in the fall. Due to the drought, it never came in so I thought it was a waste. Its coming in like gangbusters now. Its got other stuff mixed in it, so I'm going to try to do some spraying to get the other stuff out of the clover.

 

[Fire_Medic890]

Is the "Buffalo System" the one Dr. Woods promotes?

It is, also goes by "The Release Process". A lot of benefits to it and drastically reduces man hours. Only downfall to it is you really need a no-till drill to do it correctly and they can be costly.

I'm a firm believer that once you go no-till you will never go back to the "old ways" again.

 

[BSK]

I'm a firm believer that once you go no-till you will never go back to the "old ways" again.

Funny thing is, back when I first started working with food plots, I had no equipment, so the only type of "food plotting" I did was "throw-and-mow." And back then, we were mowing 2 1/2 acres of food plots with weed eaters! We tried summer plots but the weeds took them over quickly and we gave up on them. We stuck with just fall plots. Grant laughed at my food plot efforts and the idea of throwing and mowing.

For years, we worked at building up our equipment, first ATV-pulled mowers and even pull-behind disks we pulled with trucks and jeeps. Eventually we got much of the required equipment (tractor, tiller, sprayer, etc.) and we were off to the races for planting the "right" way. In years with good summer and fall rains, tilling and planting worked great. But in years with extended drought periods, tilling allowed too much soil moisture loss and the plots were failures.

Now, after years of using the "right" equipment, we're going back to throw-and-mow, albeit a much better designed and timed system. Last year, mostly by accident, it worked quite well. I'm hoping this year we can fine-tune the timing and species mixture to get it just right and accomplish what we're after - better quality soil, soil that holds more summer/fall moisture, plants that will compete with native weeds/grasses, and a species mix the deer like and will grow well with throw-and-mow techniques in our thin, chert, ridge-top soils.

So you could say I've come full-circle, from simple throw-and-mow, to standard tilling/planting techniques, and now back to throw-and-mow (although a bit more high-tech throw-and-mow than I used to use).

 

[Fire_Medic890]

Funny thing is, back when I first started working with food plots, I had no equipment, so the only type of "food plotting" I did was "throw-and-mow." And back then, we were mowing 2 1/2 acres of food plots with weed eaters! We tried summer plots but the weeds took them over quickly and we gave up on them. We stuck with just fall plots. Grant laughed at my food plot efforts and the idea of throwing and mowing.

For years, we worked at building up our equipment, first ATV-pulled mowers and even pull-behind disks we pulled with trucks and jeeps. Eventually we got much of the required equipment (tractor, tiller, sprayer, etc.) and we were off to the races for planting the "right" way. In years with good summer and fall rains, tilling and planting worked great. But in years with extended drought periods, tilling allowed too much soil moisture loss and the plots were failures.

Now, after years of using the "right" equipment, we're going back to throw-and-mow, albeit a much better designed and timed system. Last year, mostly by accident, it worked quite well. I'm hoping this year we can fine-tune the timing and species mixture to get it just right and accomplish what we're after - better quality soil, soil that holds more summer/fall moisture, plants that will compete with native weeds/grasses, and a species mix the deer like and will grow well with throw-and-mow techniques in our thin, chert, ridge-top soils.

So you could say I've come full-circle, from simple throw-and-mow, to standard tilling/planting techniques, and now back to throw-and-mow (although a bit more high-tech throw-and-mow than I used to use).

Isn't it weird how food plotting has changed 180 in the last 10 years? Sounds like you're on track for wonderful results. I look forward to seeing & hearing about it.

From my experience, money saved on chemicals, lime & fertilizer will pay for the drill in 3-5 years depending on the size of property.

 

[@fulldraw]

Maybe someone with more of an Agronomy background can answer this question. In late spring, after the wheat and crimson clover had seeded out and died, I broadcast soybean and sorghum seed into the standing dead plots and then mowed. The soybeans and sorghum germinated and did OK. But all of that crimson clover seed from the seedheads did not germinate. The crimson clover only germinated after I mowed down the summer crop and sprayed in early to mid-August. Why did the Crimson Clover seed not germinate after the first mowing in late May? I realize Crimson is a cool season clover, but what prevented it from germinating anyways once it hit the ground?

I'm no agronomist but maybe high soil temp kept the seed from germinating until later.

 

[megalomaniac]

Man, you are creating quite the doe sink

 

[BSK]

Isn't it weird how food plotting has changed 180 in the last 10 years? Sounds like you're on track for wonderful results. I look forward to seeing & hearing about it.

From my experience, money saved on chemicals, lime & fertilizer will pay for the drill in 3-5 years depending on the size of property.

Drilling won't work for now on my place, because of the rocky soil. Drill would just roll across the surface and probably be damaged. But once we get some topsoil built up through repeated mowings and natural spoil-development, then a drill might work quite well.

 

[BSK]

Man, you are creating quite the doe sink

Crazy thing is, we're still running more bucks than does, but our doe numbers are definitely improving.

 

[megalomaniac]

Crazy thing is, we're still running more bucks than does, but our doe numbers are definitely improving.

Just wait... let's revisit in 2 years does are gonna take your place over!

 

[Popcorn]

Good looking stuff! Look into the "Buffalo System" it is very similar to what you're doing.
I've been doing it the last 6 years and have not had to buy any lime or fertilizer. Amazing the results when you go back to the basics and use minimal soil disturbance.

Is the "Buffalo System" the one Dr. Woods promotes?

The buffalo system was created by Dr. Woods but the name and blends now belong to Eagle seed in Weiner, Arkansas. I will be going out there in a few weeks to pickup my seed for the coming plantings.
Dr. Woods is now pushing Green Cover Seed blends. I tried those but success was not comparable to the Buffalo Blends.