Great Lakes Food Plots

[jnorm1984]

Has anyone ever used this type of food plot seed?? I just bought a bunch and was wondering if anyone has ever used it?, The good the bad and the ugly comments are welcome. I plan on holding off for a fall planting since I hunt in an ag area. this will be my first time planting a food plot also, so any hints or tips on planting food plots would be helpful...

[ARROW 1]

Not sure what kind of seeds you are planting. But I personally dont think many fall planting seeds come up good enough here in mn. I plant in the spring and let mother nature take its course. I use whitetail institite chickory plus whice has clover in it and have had good luck. If its to dry for the clover the chickory still grows great.

Good luck and have fun with what ever you plant. Its hard work but worth it. Its a great feeling when you have deer come in to feed on what you worked so hard on.

[jnorm1984]

The seed is a mix, mostly brassica (turnip), some white clover, and chicory. I want to plant it in the spring since I really want to get it in the ground and see how it grows, But I really want it to be at its peak in the fall. i probably wont be able to wait..But I do also have 125 trees to plant this spring so that may be enough work to hold off my seed planting.

[ARROW 1]

http://www.qdma.com/articles/list_articles.asp?id=2

The qdma HSOforum has allot of great info on food plot prep check it out.

I'm not sure if your turning over new soil or not. But when I made my first food plot I had a problem with weeds.When you turn the soil over you will expose weeds seeds that laid dormant for years. Then when it rains you will have weeds come up that were not there in the first place. This would be the ugly part of food plots. I'm going to try arrest spray this year. Arrest won't harm clover or chicory. If you could split your food plot up with one section the covers\chicory and the other brassica. That way you can control the weeds better. Also dont let the clover get to tall and go to seed. If it's growing good get in mow it a couple times a year. This will make a more lush full crop. Deer don't like to eat clover as much if its tall and stalky. But mowing is not recommended the first year. Also make sure you do soil test to check soil ph. I bought a hand held tester that seemed to work good. I could go on and on about stuff that needs to be done. Its allot of work but again worth it. I hope the QDMA HSOforum helps.

Good luck with the trees. A friend planted about the same amount of trees. He spent the summmer keeping them watered because of the dry year. Allot of work in it's self.

[Archerysniper]

Plant half in the spring and the other half in august if you plan on bow hunting it for gun season clover will not help that much since the deer seek out high carbohydrates later in the year for gun season plant soy beans. If for bow season plant the later half in august with clover and mow the the part you planted in the spring make sure to lime and fertilize a simple soil test from the local mill will tell you what to do.

[jnorm1984]

Thanks for the info guys. I man turning over new soil that is all praire grass.So im gona go out with round up and spray the area Im going to plant as soon as new grass starts to grow,and probably plant 2 weeks after that, so I am worried about weeds. Im not getting my hopes up to high for this first season, but I am going to to keep it weed free and looking good, and I do welcome any other info on food plots...

[Archerysniper]

Once you roundup and then disc you will still have all the seeds that were on the grasses to try to kill off they will come back so with clover and alfalfa you should mow it to keep the weeds down and use arrest weed killer it won't harm the clover and alfalfa but will kill the grasses. If you don't take care of the weeds and they go to seed again it starts all over again. Oh and make sure when you mow we are going to be getting rain otherwise the clover growth get stunted.

[sparkydm]

A couple years ago I had a DNR guy come to my place to offer advice on tree planting and food plots. I have an open area on my land that is about an acre that had buildings of someone's homestead at one time. He said the best thing to do was to plow up the area and let it lay fallow the first year. During this time you attack the weeds. Then the next spring work it up again and add lime and fertilizer and plant your crops. This is a free service from the DNR that may be helpful to you. Check into it.

[vister]

The best thing is to do spray In summer, mow, then fall plow. This exposes roots to a cold winter. What i mean is some exposed weed roots may die, if the roundup hasn't gotten them already. Also fall plow is better than spring, because the frost coming up in the spring, and frozen dirt clusters thawing help break the soil up a bit better, then disk. disk in the spring.

Takes some prep, but makes for a better plot having a softer, more weed free, seed bed!

[WaitForIt]

I don't buy seed with deer pictures on the bag. Visit your local co-op and talk to folks there - they will be able to tell you what works well in your area and how to prep the ground for it.

You really need to pay attention to maturity dates for annuals and plant accordingly. For example, you don't plant dwarf essex rape in the spring and expect it to be lush come bow opener - it'll be long mature and dry by then because it has a 60-70 day maturity at best.

Some of the commercial mixes are downright stupid..

For example, you don't mix brassica and clover when trying to establish clover. The brassica will totally outcompete and kill the clover, unless seeded at a microscopic rate, at which point there is no purpose to using it. A better mix is rye grain and clover as they will complement nicely.

As mentioned, chicory + clover is a great combo. I have such a plot in progress this year.

[jnorm1984]

Well I want brassica, and thats 40% of the mix, I have a test plot going out my back yard now and it looks great, already about 10" tall, I love the input, I finally had a chance to talk with my old man who has been farming for 40+ years, I think he has me going in the right directin now...