For you guys that planted a cover screen, what's it looking like now. I'd like to do an Egyptian wheat or Sudan grass or sourgum screen but having the screen now would be more beneficial for myself.
Food Plots Planting a cover screen.
- Thread starter Jcalder
- Start date
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
This is a 2.2ac rectangular plot. Entire plot planted in mix of sorgham, pearl millet, and forage beans last weekend of May. Bushhogged the middle section early Aug, sprayed with gly mid Aug, then drilled with fall blend mid Sept. You can get an idea of the screening in the pic on the outside edges. I used this more for a feathered edge for deer to feel safer coming out of the woods and into the plot itself as well as to save a bit of $$$ not planting the entire field
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I'm wanting to make a screen that serves two purposes, blocks the view from the road but also gives me something to walk behind to get into my hunting house. Part of my walk now is blocked by Johnson grass which is great but some of it I have no coverage at all, and you can see some of the food plot from the road. I'd like to plant about a 12 foot wide barrier but wanted to know if it would keep its height thru most of the season.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
So... actually in the photo I posted, my access is from a public road along the powerline 75 yards to the left of the shoothouse/ powerline poles. That part of the plot is left in sorgham, so I can not only access the shoot house without disturbing the deer, folks from the road can't see any of the plot, just the tall sorgham.
Now once we get a hard freeze, the plants die and slowly break down over the course of the winter. Cover is great right now, but it will be fairly sparse once we get to late December as the stalks of the sorgham/ millet are standing, but the leaves have dried up and collapsed.
Thanks, that's the info I'm looking for. Do you think a 12 foot buffer is enough or would you do say a 20 foot buffer.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
30ft early season, but really need closer to 50ft by end of December honestly. When it's green and growing, you only need 12ft.... but again, after that first freeze, it all dies, the leaves droop vertical, and you really need quite a wide buffer to maintain effectiveness.
Thanks.
deerhunter10
Well-Known Member
I will get pictures of ours. We planted sorghum and it did really well. It's not quite as tall as I wanted it to be once it dried also curious if deer will actually eat it worth anything. It's cheap to plant relative to other options. Green graze (sudan) would be an option we have grown it for hay it can and will lay over with wind sometimes. Not sure about plant date with it either being it grows so fast and you wanting it in the fall. Haven't tried Egyptian wheat. It'll be next week before I get any pictures hunting a couple different farms the next couple days. We will plant sorghum from here on out.
I'll be waiting on the pictures!
I planted one mile of a 20 ft wide screen of Egyptian Wheat at the end of May. Came back in and fertilized it again. I still can't see a vehicle from the road in all of it but one little spot where it drains and the soil wasn't good enough to make the stalks strong. It is not as thick as it once was now that it has dried out. It may fall over tommorrow but so far i am pleased. It reached the heights that they claim 10-12 ft and seems to be a little more durable than i thought it would be. I tested it several times with my thermal and you can't see through it so far. (I have problems with thermal road hunters). I will be replanting it again next year at 30 ft wide. I got my seed at the CO-OP.
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If it'll do half as good as the Johnson grass patch I go thru I'll be pleased. Sounds like it's working for you
