BSK
Well-Known Member
Most recommended seeding rates are for drilling. Best recommendations for broadcast seeding are 50% above drilling rate.
Food Plots Planting sequence questions for no-tillers
- Thread starter BSK
- Start date
Try this. Bushog about a month before you want to plant. Then spray. Then no till from into the tall
Grass. Then bushog to give mulch. That's what I was told works.
Grass. Then bushog to give mulch. That's what I was told works.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Only problem is, that mows down your summer plots a month prior to planting. I hate to clear the food plot table for that long.
Yes it would. I don't do as much summer stuff as you as I hunt in farm land. Always beans around close.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Actually, same here. In fact, I have a very low deer density in summer. All the deer are down in the bottoms feasting on beans. But I feel guilty not having stuff growing for them! Crazy, I know...
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I wish I was in your situation so bad - let the farmers grow deer all summer and you just have to have the attractant in fall. Would make life so much easier. We don't have any row crops 10 miles as the crow flies. This was the main reasons we went from 9 to 25-30 acres of fields…to help grow them. We know summer and fall shifts happen, but with all the select cutting and burning, we will hopefully have a few stay that would otherwise leave……over time - I think that will change over time. If just 1 or 2 target bucks stay around come fall, I'll be happy….not to mention the health of the does and their milk
BSK
Well-Known Member
That is exactly the odd situation my place is in. Before we started cutting timber and creating lots of cover and summer foods (weeds), our place was the summer range of quite a few bucks (averaging 15-20 of all ages). All of the does and fawns were in the bottomlands and bucks were relegated to our poorer habitat during the fawn-rearing season (summer). Since we got serious about cutting timber, now we've turned our place into the doe-fawn Mecca, and we may have no more than 3-5 bucks using our place in summer. Yet from velvet shedding to the end of deer season we are getting upwards of 50 different bucks using our place.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Looks like it was a huge mistake not to spray plots after seeding and mowing, even though all the growth looked dead at the time. Once we got some good rains, grasses are taking over the older, more established (better soil) plots. What I seeded did germinate, but grasses are outgrowing the beans and buckwheat. Can't spray grass-killer because sorghum is in the mix.
However, the plots that had little dead growth to mow down are doing quite well. A nice stand of buckwheat, soybeans and Lab Lab.
However, the plots that had little dead growth to mow down are doing quite well. A nice stand of buckwheat, soybeans and Lab Lab.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
We did a mixture of soybeans, sorghum, buckwheat and sunn hemp….with the huge majority being RR soybeans. We've been so dry, the weeds have taken over. Our salvaging plan was to go back through and spray (we didn't know how things were going to turn out with using the crimper for the first time). So spraying is the plan now before all the weeds to go seed. Should have a good stand of soybeans after that.
It's amazing how fast weeds can grow when it's dry
BSK
Well-Known Member
They are far more drought tolerant than the ag plants we plant!
I think I might give this a try on a plot this year.
I dont have a drill or cultipacker, but I do have a tiller. Lately my method is to cut, wait, spray, wait, then till and broadcast.
I use my tractor tires as a cultipacker.
My biggest issue lately is lack or rain during the fall planting season.
I use my tractor tires as a cultipacker.
My biggest issue lately is lack or rain during the fall planting season.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
My cousin watched a young buck just this week go and eat ragweed and completely ignored the soybeans next to it.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Two summers ago, when all my new plots had just been finished, I planted them in Buckwheat. Put a couple of cameras out to see if the deer were using them. I got video after video of deer feeding in the new plots. I zoomed into the videos and found the deer were eat... Ragweed!
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
They love it and it's packed full of protein.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
I got a great kill after bushhogging then spraying with roundup plus 24d this spring... drilled 50lbs forage beans/ 3lbs buckwheat/ 3lbs milo/ 3lbs pearl millet per acre.
But planting Memorial Day weekend, then 2w without rain was a killer for allowing grasses to take over before seeds germinated (plus 2w for the birds to eat seeds)
Most of my plots have a mix about 60% grasses, with 40% of what I planted. Should still be OK, as my main focus is not to feed the deer, but suppress woody and broadleaf weed establishment during the summer, making for a cleaner fall plot
But planting Memorial Day weekend, then 2w without rain was a killer for allowing grasses to take over before seeds germinated (plus 2w for the birds to eat seeds)
Most of my plots have a mix about 60% grasses, with 40% of what I planted. Should still be OK, as my main focus is not to feed the deer, but suppress woody and broadleaf weed establishment during the summer, making for a cleaner fall plot
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megalomaniac
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JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Ours is about the same percentages. The drought we had allowed weeds to come up and crowd out what we planted. We sprayed yesterday, so I'm hoping the weeds die out and then the soybeans take off. We wanted to spray before the weed seed heads made it to seed
BSK
Well-Known Member
Mine are about 95% weeds/grass, 5% what I planted.
Good info. Now I just have to figure out how to identify ragweed and see if my fields have any.
