What mistakes have you made ?

[canyonman]

Now that the season is over and the real work begins. I would like to know what mistakes have you made when it comes to Q.D.M.
For me it has been:
Soil testing I used to skip this step and wasted alot of money when my plots wouldn't grow.This is the most important step in planting food plots.I learned my lesson.
I was told back in the early 90's to shot all the spikes our club could kill,that they would always be spikes and we did this for 4yrs.Our harvest of good deer suffered for many years after this.This was a huge mistake.

 

[Chaneylake]

as far as food plots go follow the label on the sack as close as possible, whatever you are planting, if sack does not have a label then it just might be inferior germination seed, or seed that has a lot of foreign matter, weeds etc. soil temp is real important also. you can usually do a google search and get any answer you need if you have the name of the seed.

 

[Food Plot 101]

Mistakes I've made: Where do I start?
1)No soil tests in the beginning. Ever tried to get Lab Lab to grow with 5.6 PH?
2)Weed control. Sometimes, when you disk, you'll unleash the beast of unwanted weeds!
3)Conditions. Never try to disk in the rain on a hill. It's not only dangerous, it's mighty messy.
4)Read the Farmers Almanac. A bunch of geezers can't be all wrong.
5)If your short on pasture space for food plots, don't try to eliminate all the native grasses. Deer will still be munching those edges long after the plot is toast.
6)Let more light in the woods. Cut more trees down along the edges to make them thicker. Best thing I've ever done. Hands down.

 

[uk rph]

Poor grass/weed control.

 

[BSK]

Not being able to convince my wife to let me buy a tractor!

 

[JohnnyBond]

Getting married 5 years ago and not getting my priorites straight
1. HUNTING
2. HUNTING
3. HUNTING
4. HUNTING
5. wife


Boy I glad so do not see if I would be in trouble.........

 

[Winchester]

I hear ya BSK, this past year we had a highlift and a 4 wheel drive tractor to use and it was great, unbelievable what you can accomplish with a big highlift!!

 

[BSK]

If I could just chisel plow and rotary till my plots....

 

[Radar]

Not killing enough does !

 

[Chaneylake]

many of the common mistakes on food plots can usually be cured.
seed population is a common mistake made by many people.
too little seed, then not enough canopy to help choke out weeds
too much seed, the food plot is to competive with its own plants

improper use of chemicals: most chemicals are applied with 10 gallons of water per acre. if one is not properly set up to apply chemicals, too much per acre is just as bad as not enough.
its a simple equation of volume, acreage, and speed.

small seed food plots are usually the hardest at getting proper seed population per acre. this can usually be cured by mixing seed with sawdust, fertilizer, etc cutting the rate in half and applying twice. i have had great success with this.

it is almost impossible to properly apply any chemical correctly unless a person knows volume spray system is putting out, width of spray or spray boom, and speed down to tenth's in mph.

with the chemicals that are available today and all of the advancements in no-til, one should very seldom have to disc or til the soil.

every time you disc the soil, you are bringing new seed to the surface to germinate agian

 

[BSK]

with the chemicals that are available today and all of the advancements in no-til, one should very seldom have to disc or til the soil.

Unless you don't have any soil! Then a little chisel plowing and rotory tilling might create some!

 

[HOOK]

RAIN....Thinking that if I plant...it will come.

 

[Quailman]

-Not taking soil tests.
-Not applying lime and fertilizer according to soil test results (trying to cut corners).
-Buying expensive commercial seed mixes and "specialty" seeds when I should have stuck to the basics.
-Not establishing the right percentages of annual vs. perennial plots, warm season vs. cool season plots.
-Using both grasses and legumes in food plot mixtures, thus complicating the process of weed control.
-Not utilizing native plants as a primary summer food source.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Soil tests for sure.

 

[Chaneylake]

one of the major and most common mistakes on food plots is poor record keeping.

keep detailed records of exactly everything that you do to food plots. photos from beginning to end each year.

time of year planted, chemicals, fertilizer, etc used,
exact month and day anything is done.

as you accumilate this data, then it will become your food plot bible.

i have 10 years of detailed records on my sunflowers, i had rather my 4240 John Deere blow a piston, than i had to loose my records.

good record keeping will lead to less mistakes in the future.

i do not care who you are, one will not remember the exacts from year to year, been there and have done that

 

[kholmes]

The biggest mistake I've made is guessing weights of wheat and oats in the field and planting them way to thick as a nurse crop.
I pi$$ed away a good amount of Durana seed last fall by getting my nurse crop to thick essentially killing my clover seed. I will not make that mistake again. Prolly won't even plant a nurse crop again.

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

Not taking enought doe.

 

[Chaneylake]

kholmes, seed population is real important as you well know, real easy to get to thick or to thin. it scares me every year till i start getting a stand, the main thing that i have found with seed is that less is always better.

 

[deerchaser007]

To funny,.. the question asked says mistakes in qdm ,.. most all responses thus far is food plotting only. Thats a mistake in itself. A big one if thats the only focus period.

My biggest mistake in qdm was not setting out goals and setting out a plan of action in the beginning to create what i wanted from my place in the years to come. Going into qdm on your property blind is useless and will cost you alot of money and wasted time. Learn what needs to be done in correct order and set a plan for yourself to get it done in a way that you can afford it and can do the work.

I can tell ya,.. starting backwards doesn't work!!