Food Plot Assistance

[Moonshine]

I have a new food plot I would like to put down in the Cass County area. It will be roughly 2.5 acres in size and is currently just grass. Last fall I added the recommended amount of lime and talked to the feed store to get the correct fertilizer(10-10-39 w/4% sulfur).

My dilemma; I really only have the next two weekends to till and plant. What steps should I take and when? I have acces to a Bobcat with a tiller and a John Deere tractor with a disc. We used both last year for another plot and it worked well.

Should I Round-up & fertilize plot this weekend to leave the tilling, discing and seeding to next weekend. Or can I just till & fertilize this weekend and disc and seed next weekend. I want to do this right so I end up with little weed and grass in my plot, but I am not sure which is best.

The plot we dug last year with the same equipment produced only a little grass and weed. Could I get away with not using the Round-Up application, till & plant now, then put down a herbicide application in the next month to keep the grass and weeds away?

Any thoughts are much appreciated!

Oh, by the way, I am planting a mix of clover, brassicas and leaving a small section for winter rye.

Jason

[PRWoody]

Moonshine,

Time is not on your side.

The best luck I have had is the following;

1) Till up the food plot.

2) Wait until new growth shows and hit with roundup.

3)_ Till up again, seed and fertilize.

Another thing to try, if worried about weed growth,

apply a cover crop, such as clean oats. The oats

will also help shade the clover and keep the moisture

in the soil.

Good luck,

Woody

[Mark Christianson]

I definitely wouldnt apply the fertilizer this weekend after tilling.

I'd say till now, let it sit, till next week or whenever, disc, fertilize and seed.

I don't know that I would use Round up, if you have to do seeding the following weekend. I dont recall off hand how long you have to wait to replant something, but I think thats pushing it.

If grass is a problem, try Poast Plus in the clover and brassicas. Man, that made a HUGE difference in grasses after I sprayed that.

It is however, very expensive. You can only get it in 2 1/2 gallon jugs and its about $250. It goes a long ways, so I have enough to get me through many years.

[jlm]

I hate to say it but you will have little chance of having a "good" plot if you only have the two weekends. It will take several discings to work the soil for a good seedbed (because of the sod build up). You can try with the time you have but you will have poor germination. However, some is better than none! Here is what I would do. Disc the heck out of it in one weekend and drag in some round up ready alfalfa or soy beans all in one weekend. The following weekend you can hit it with round up. You will have poor germination and the grass will eventually come back. However, like I said before, something is better than nothing. Good luck!

[deepportage01]

we are also in cass co we had the same proplem 3 years ago so we just planted buck oats and when we had more time the following year clover went in. you will have nothing but proplems if you rush the proses.

[PerchJerker]

Cass County foodplots? I have foodplots in Itasca County.

This advice may be a little late, but I would till with the disc this weekend. Chew the tuff up as much as possible. Don't plant until fall, spend the summer doing a couple of Roundup treatments to kill all the grass and weeds. This fall you can plant cereal grains, maybe even clover if you plant early enough. Otherwise do the clover next spring. The deer will pound cereal grains (oats, wheat, rye) planted in the fall. Good luck.

[Moonshine]

Thanks for all the ideas!

I used the tractor and three point tiller this past weekend. It sure digs up the ground real good. I went over it a couple times. Just soft black dirt now.

Based on everyones comments I am going to disc it real good Thursday night and plant clover in a couple small sections. I am going to leave a major chunk for fall planting of rye. Figure I could plant an acre of clover relatively cheap, so if it does not work I will just round up the area and disc next spring. As someone said in an earlier post, some is better than none. At least now the ground is broke and only need a disc to work it.

Deep Portage: My food plot is only a mile down 87 from your lakes access. My cabin is on Sylvan and Tamarack.

Thanks to everyone who respnded! I will post results with pictures in the future.

[Cooter]

Clover and rye will be a kick arse combo - plant the rye late for deer, say early Sept.

[BLACKJACK]

Plan on occaisionally working that spot for the rye during the summer, it really helps with weed control in the future. The weeds will germinate, you disc, they germinate, you disc... I've done that on several spots where I'm breaking sod, I should spray it, but I don't have a sprayer (yet!), so I plow and disc them in June, then disc it periodically, disc in July and Aug whenever it greens up, by planting time at the end of Aug, any weeds and grass are history!