Food Plots Planning for next season

[Shooter77]

What is everyone's plan for food plots for 2023? I've been doing no till last 5 years and I believe a lot of my dirt has gotten compacted and prevents good growth. I'm going to till up my 5 plots this year before seeding.

I've also been looking at planting brassicas (turnips and radishes) in late June/early July based on some data I've read. Says the bulbs grow large and to mow the tops down like mowing clover to create newer growth. Might do a 1/4 acre this way near a bow stand to see how it works.

 

[BSK]

I'll probably plant the same fall mixture as I did this year, but plant earlier, army worms be damned.

However, I still don't have my summer crop system worked out. I'm going to experiment with several different things, including just mowing a couple of plots all summer and see if I can keep the crimson clover growing instead of letting it seed out and die.

 

[rtaylor]

I plan on doing no till buckwheat early May and then cut it in late July to get a volunteer growth. I'll end up doing no till into the buckwheat with wheat, cereal rye and buck forage oats anywhere from end of August through end of September depending on what the rain looks like. I planted brassicas early last year and they came up good but the deer didn't seem to like them anymore than the other stuff.

 

[Popcorn]

No till drill almost all plots (except clover, I have a lot of blended clover) in a blend very much like Eagle seeds "smorgasboard" blend. Its food, cover and soil building. I have a couple strategically located plots that will get Eagle seed bean blend drilled in. I always follow in the fall with cereal rye, radishes, turnips, annual clovers drilled in. I shoot for August 31 for fall planting. I never till existing plots but will run a subsoiler or orchard plow through one if I feel its getting compacted and not absorbing water. I understand the desire to plant turnips earlier and in a wet year you might get away with it but if it turns off hot and dry late july / early august your newly germinated turnips will suffer.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

My crop crimper should be done at the start of the year. Plan on drilling soybeans in the main part of the plots. Will also probably drill in a mixture of corn and sorghum for screening to eluding and skirting some plots. Will crimp when appropriate.

For fall plots, 4 were transitioned to perennial clover plots this fall, so will be sowing a clover mixture in those. Spraying where needed just to help establish. The rest, we will drill a mixture of rye, oats, turnips and crimson clover straight into the standing soybeans

 

[megalomaniac]

So many variables... so many different things to do... so much time between now and summer planting...

I have one plot that was taken over by buttercup weed and failed. That joker is getting a healthy dose of 24d in late April.

Another experimental plot performed poorly due to the amount of the summer crop reside left (I'll someday get the time to make a review of that plot for posterity)

The main plots I won't make a decision on until I see how much balansa clover is thriving in early May... if tons of clover, I'll bushhog them high and not plant a summer plot. In those with poor clover stands, I'll bushhog, burn down chemically, and plant in millet, dwarf sorgham, buckwheat, and generic beans (new to me adding them, but at $19 per bag, who cares if the deer eat them out)

So... for most plots, I can't really say at this point what I'm going to do next year... other than suppress weeds in the summer and produce as much biomass as possible for fall and winter.

 

[deerhunter10]

We are going to do some things very different. We are splitting our acres in half and splitting corn and soybeans. Keeping our clover the way it is actually adding 1.5ish acres to it. We will no til our oats and wheat in the fall like usual. Hope the farmer gets his crop out in a timely fashion and then drill more wheat in. But we want standing corn and beans all year next year. We will see if we can achieve that. Going to be tough to keep the beans in with our deer density. Picked up another farm a couple weeks ago we will plan it out as well. Add some clover to it then probably just basic blends in the fall. Still a lot of time between here and then so may change some biggest is time in the spring between my business, farming, and then deer and weather thats our biggest obstacle.