Spring is near

[northspear]

I did my first food plot last year and went good but hope it goes better this year. Last year i was all about turnips and brassica but i think i planted too soon.

This year i was thinking of doing my one acre food plot half clover and half turnips and brassica. When is the best time to plow and get clover in and when is the best time to plant the turnips and brassica. and one more thing i was thinking of putting corn in what month is best to plant corn. Last year i planted it and lost all of it to deer and geese eating the shoots.

Thanks

[Code-Man]

Northspear,

I'm trying to understand your post the best I can so bear with me.

Turnips are a great source of food. Keep the planting rate LOW so the turnip will grow bigger instead of having a lot of small ones.

Brassica, Rape/canola/broccoli key is to NOT let it flower! Plant brassica's later in the year and hopefully it wont flower before frost. When brassica's get frost they change the carbo hydrates in the leaves to more of a sugar content. I would suggest planting these later...Open situation Mid July, wooded situation it's hard to say. You plant too early it flowers you plant too late you don't get growth. Tip Brassica's LOVE Nitrogen.

Clover: If you have a spot cleared out ready to go Frost Seed it. When the snow has melted BUT the ground is still solid spread your clover. When the frost works its way out of the ground it will "Seed" the clover/alfalfa. Clover works best if you can mow it just an FYI before flowering unless your getting that much feeding. If you haven't gotten a spot cleared out I would suggest doing ASAP when you can get back in there without tearing things up because if you plan on mowing and you got ruts it's not a good mixture.

Corn: Ideally you want to plant corn the moment the frost is out of the ground and everyone else is planting. If you plant later you run the risk that the crop don't pollinate correctly or that you don't get as much yield possible. One month can mean 50 bu/acre difference depending on location and it can add up quickly. I've had some friends plant really late end of June/Beg of July and they've had good crops but they also increase the Nitrogen and they are having to spray before planting and again after it comes up. If you plant earlier you have a better chance of the crop shadowing weeds. If you are worried about deer eating your crop try fences if that is not an option there are some products out there call Plot Save or something like that. You spray it on the crop every so often and it makes the plants not taste good to the animals. I've never tried it but I've heard of people using those types of products.

Ultimately though it's a lot of work but make it fun or you wont do it again a second year. Have fun and good luck.

[hockeybc69]

You said you have a 1 acre food plot.

How much land are you hunting that is holding animals that will use the plot?

Where is this land? Any ag land around you?

[lungdeflator]

^^^ what code-man said. I planted a turnip mix to early last year and they were all rotten by october. I have almost the same sitiation as you. last year I did half clover, half turnip mix with 3 rows of corn and about 20 pumpkins in a one acre plot. Kind of a lot packed in there but I like the diversity. The corn did well, I planted as soon as the ground was somewhat warm. With only 3 rows though, it didnt last long past the middle of september, Im guessing coons had alot to do with it.

[northspear]

Last year was a trial and error. my corn didnt make it not even one stock made it. the turnips were some what big but most small. i ended up doing a second round of trunips. so this year i will be trying new things. plan to plant corn early and doing something so deer and geese cant get to it. plant my clover like codeman said. and my trunips late as possible.

This acre sits on about 100 acres. There is a golf course that is next to it and a small lake and the rest is private that borders it. I had about six bucks on it last year and about nine to a dozen does using it.