Just another food plot ?

[Cooter]

I have a small plot(approx 40yrd long by 10yrds wide) in the woods. Its surrounded by oaks and I'm concerned the annual leaf drop will cause problems if I planted clover. Right now I've been doing annuals do its not a prob but each spring there is a pretty healthy covering of leaves and I'm not sure if I want to invest in clover if its gonna get smothered. Any comments?

[blackrobe]

My brother and I have one just like this. We mow it early in the spring to mulch the leaves. So far it has worked good for us.

[Cooter]

Cool, what time of year, how low, and do you wait for upcoming rain?

[Mark Christianson]

I have one dead in the center of an oak forest. Its only 20 yds wide by 30 yds long.

Its on its 5th year now. And the deer use it from snow melt to late season.

[PerchJerker]

All my plots are in the woods and if downed leaves are bad I may pull my drag harrow though the plot, especially if I am overseeding or fertilizing in the early spring. The downed leaves have never been a problem for my clover, whether I pull the drag through it or not.

[Cooter]

Thanks, now I wish I'd had some clover in before all this rain...

[blackrobe]

We mow it when ever it gets dry enough to not leave deep tracks. We set the mower as high as we can and still pick up most of the leaves.

[Cooter]

OK, a related question. How low is too low to mow clover? I'm limited to a lawnmower

[Jameson]

I've had great success with push mowers set at the highest height. 4 inches or so..

[PerchJerker]

I have a bush hog style mower now that I pull with my atv, but prior to that I used a weed whip to mow my clover plots.

[Mark Christianson]

I started with a weed whip on Perchjerkers suggestion a few years back.

Now I use one of the pull mowers too.

Heightwise, I set it at about 6 inches or so.

[UdeLakeTom]

Great news, I just got back from deer camp and the deer were in my plots. Hopefully they will stick around come Nov.

[Cooter]

Sweet, I also have a weed whip, which will work but won't do the job on the leaves a mower would. Maybe this fall some clover will get seeded.

[Mark Christianson]

Tom

They will use em for sure.

BUT, will they use them other than late night hours?

[UdeLakeTom]

My hope is that they just stay within the area and not wander too far away. These plots are my spring and summer ones, later we will be putting in the brassicas. Food attracts them and we hope that they will be looking for the food or not leaving the area too far after the fill their bellies.

[Mark Christianson]

I like the plan!

[UdeLakeTom]

I fogot to add that my better half's Aunt is giving me about 20 hosta plants to put in. They love those hosta, even though they will be frozen by Nov, it will be another attractant to the area. There isn't any agriculture for several miles, so draw them in and keep them there. Now if I could only shoot straight.

[Mark Christianson]

I was going to bring a boatload of hostas up too.

The deer keep the ones here at home mowed down nicely.

A friend in New Hope has gaggles of them and splits out a ton of them every year.

I got an email from his a week or so ago.

"No hostas for you. Hail smashed them all"

Dang.

[UdeLakeTom]

Just wondering..I have to thin out my day lilies. Do deer like them?

[roosterslayer]

i will come and take the day lilies from you if you want. my wife want them in our flower garden.

[UdeLakeTom]

Thanks, but I have a few options. I am just trying to determine which if the best at this time.

[BigWormin]

Is there a time when it's too late to mow clover? Our clover is flowered and probably about 14 inches tall and the deer are just devouring it! Should I be mowing it right now or just leave it since the deer are eating it soo much? thanks!

[UdeLakeTom]

They claim to keep it around 6 inches, that is what 2 seminars on food plots told us.

[bigbluepirahna]

Just got home from the deer woods. Had a long and grueling day. Spent the whole day with a weedwacker, rake, and brush mower. We got a nice size area of thick grass mowed down pretty well and took the harrow and pulled most of the loose stuff off. There is still a fair amount of old dead grass mulch and the cut greeen stalks on the ground, but we sprayed everything with roundup to hopefully kill everything off.

This is our first attempt at putting in food plots.

Now we need to get the stuff turned over and the dirt showing so we can plant the fall seed (clover/chickory/brassicas) in a week or two.

What's the best way to do that, which equipment (disk, chisel plow, rotary tiller?) and anybody know where I can rent one in the Perham/Fergus Falls/Henning/Deer Creek area???? Our trail through the woods is just big enough to get a S-10 pickup through.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[PerchJerker]

I think you have 2 good options for turning over turf.

One is with a disc. More and more places are renting food plot equipment - I'm not familiar with the area you're in, but I've seen rentals from Gander, from MN Deer Hunters Association Chapters, from coops and farm service stores, etc. If you disc, you'll likely have to make several passes to really rip the turf to shreds.

Another good option is renting a tractor with a rotary tiller on the back. Probably can find something like this at a large rental business. I've never used one but have heard great things about them, and if you can stand to slowly go in reverse for a long time I think 1 pass is all you'll need.

Good luck with your plot.