No till food plots........

[MUSKY18]

Just got permission to hunt a little chunk of property for bow season. What it amounts to basically it a strip of woods between two large CRP fields. On the north end of the property it opens up into a large oak woods. I'm thinking that this area is, while an awesome funnel, is more a travel corridor for the deer. No real food to hold them around or keep them coming back. So.....I am thinking about going in and clearing out a couple of small spots and putting in a NO TILL food plot. Been looking at either the No Sweat from Antler King or Imperial No Plow from Whitetail Institute. Has anyone ever tried either of these products and had any type of success or failure? The Antler King says it is very PH and shade tolerant and will still grow well.

[sticknstring]

The key is having adequate sunlight. With the size of plot you're describing, clover is probably your best bet. For any results this year, that means an annual like red clover. Late summer is a great time to plant perennial clover along with a nurse crop such as winter rye or oats, but you won't see much until next spring.

The AK product didn't list seed contents. I'd stay away from that one. Probably rye grass which will look green but won't provide much attraction or nutrition. The WI product looks better w/ annual clover, perennial clover, & brassica. Without a soil test, some peletized lime and a bag of 6-24-24 or similar would be a good start for clover. The brassica are going to need some nitrogen, so a 10-10-10 or triple 19 would work too. Spray with gly and once everything burns down, broadcast the seed without disturbing the soil prior to a good rain. Make sure not to overseed - it's easy to do w/ tiny seeds. The rain will drive the seeds into the soil and you should have a weed-free plot. The brassicas will need full sun do grow bulbs, clover will do fine w/ partial.

Get in there now and cut trees/limbs and spray your gly. In two weeks, or before the next rain, broadcast your seed and fertilizer and you'll be all set. Sounds like that oak flat would be a natural draw come September if there's any acorns at all - and the timber connection the CRP bedding would be an excellent ambush, especially as a rut travel corridor!

[Jameson]

If the deer are staying around your food plot and you only have a small strip of woods, then how are you going to hunt them? I would think you would be way better off to try to block some travel lanes then concentrate your hunting efforts on the unblocked travel routes.

If you are going to no-till, I would suggest a bag of rye GRAIN, and some perennial white clover. Just broadcast the area with the rye GRAIN and clover seed, and then nuke it with round-up, or the generic (gly..something or another.) The round-up won't hurt your seeds and the dead grass will act as a mulch above your seeds to help hold in moisture as the seeds sprout.

[mrklean]

i would really look at the seed content of the no tills, many of them are 70% rye grass, you can buy a 50 pound bag for $15 at a feed store

[Archerysniper]

A 56# bag of rye was $12 at my local mill last week. Like the others have said I would do clover and chicory with rye grain as a nurse plant. I have had great luck with chicory the deer love it.

[psepuncher]

Get in there now and cut trees/limbs and spray your gly. In two weeks, or before the next rain, broadcast your seed and fertilizer and you'll be all set. Sounds like that oak flat would be a natural draw come September if there's any acorns at all - and the timber connection the CRP bedding would be an excellent ambush, especially as a rut travel corridor!

with our late winter we had..... I'm discounting acorns.

Usually by now we'd have some sign of acorns on the trees on our property. Havn't seen nuthin, so I'm going to grow a plot or two myself

[psepuncher]

i would really look at the seed content of the no tills, many of them are 70% rye grass, you can buy a 50 pound bag for $15 at a feed store

found a bag of no till that contains triticale, red clover, and a few other seed types.

It was called backwoods blend from evolved habitat at TSC for 14.99

I've used triticale seed before and it has great nutrition for deer.

rye's for me, have done good to help crowd weeds out.