Spring food plots
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
It's that time of the year guys ! I'm just this week starting to disc, spray, and otherwise get ready to furnish " my " whitetails with the protein they need to grow antlers and feed their fawns. The first pic is a destination plot that we hardly ever hunt, unless it's to take a doe. The strip in the foreground will be planted in Plot Screen as this plot is adjacent to the main road through my place. This seems to give them a little more security when feeding. The green in the middle is WINA clover and Extreme. The Extreme does really well in dry conditions, and the deer love it as much as the clover. I sprayed for grass today in that plot. The strip next to the woods will be planted in RR Eagle beans. If they don't do well, it's Pat's fault ! He talked me into it ( that, and the infestation of pigweed I had last year ).
This next plot is a new one that's just an experiment. I will plant iron/clay peas in this plot which is on my south property line. I don't know if they will mature or the deer will eat them to the ground early, but I have had success in the past planting them with beans, so maybe there will be enough that they can't overrun them. This strip is about 40/50 ft. wide and probably 250 yd. long so something around two ac. I normally don't plant food plots on the property line, but the land to the south of me has been clearcut and the hunters have no stands within five or six hundred yards of this plot.
Check your acreage this one before you plant. I think you are less than an acre.
D, you are right, at least from what I posted. The plot is actually 347 yd. long by my rangefinder, but in posting I said 250. I also have about a 1/8 acre plot to the left behind the trees that doesn't show in the pic. All in, probably about 1 1/2 ac. Guess spell check doesn't catch wrong numbers !
Drycreek, are you going to protect your eagle beans with anything like a plotsaver or electric fence? I am planting the same beans for the first time and was wondering how important protecting the beans to maturity is.
voodoochile is correct. 8 ft x 1 mile is approx. 1 acre. Or, if you're in to square plots, 208ft x 208 ft.
Yeah guys, I put the wrong number in the first post. Got another plot to the left also as I said in my corrected numbers. Probably a little less , but still gonna plant it for 1.5 ac. because I broadcast and all the seeds don't get covered.
King, I have never fenced my beans and have never had to. The deer don't eat them down fast enough to need a fence. My main problem is late in the summer the hogs will start eating them and they eat ALL of them except the main vine that comes from the ground. I may try to fence them out of part of the plot as an experiment.
Note: The monsanto people are really going to be cracking down on the people using roundup ready beans without having a monsanto tech number!!!
While i sell piles of eagle beans, note there are solutions for those who don't need the roundup trait or those who don't want GMO traits in their area for whatever reasons.
Nutritionist:
Can you buy the beans without the number? What are the alternatives?
I have an old spoil area, that I want to put in beans, and then frost seed next winter to switch grass. Thoughts or advice.
Well, you can YET, but i believe this is the last year that some companies will be offering them. I'm sure someone will jump in and replace them but MONSANTO does not lose lawsuits and they are not someone i'd want to put up a fight with in court.
So, alternatives....everyone thinks roundup , roundup, roundup....and yet conventional soybeans have been around forever and there is economic sprays that work just fine on them. I use a 7.3 maturity non roundup soybean that grows as tall and is as leafy as eagle beans and is 1/2 the price.
Other otions are: lablab cowpeas iron clay peas
and and if i can find me some liberty link forage beans, goodbye roundup soybeanssssssssss.....
wanna know what i'd do if i was an eagle bean lover and worried if u could still get them or if you would need to fill out the paperwork??????? Buy up a bag or 2 of eagle beans and then each year you want to plant them, plant 1 bag of eagle beans with 1 bag of some longer maturity roundup beans. Guess what?? The non eagle beans will grow tall like the eagle beans as they compete for sunlight......SHHHHHHHHHH, don't tell anyone I admitted this .
Nutritionist, this will be my first planting of RR beans. The reason I'm planting them is an infestation of pigweed last year and I'm gonna nip 'em this year before they get started. I'm sure there are plenty of seeds left in the plot. Next year, I might go back to regular group 7 beans. Probably plant oats or wheat in this same plot come fall. Beans wither down here in the hot summer and the hogs will make sure there is nothing left after about August. But by then , the deer will have had the beans long enough to get some good protein.
Looks like the ground is a little cool yet and nitetime temps in the high forties are not conducive to rapid growth. But, they are up and running, just not too fast.
First pic ( above ) and this one are the same plot. It is shaped somewhat like a check mark. Long side above, this is the short side. RR eagle beans.
My peas are about the same stage as the beans. Got some grass in them, as this was kind of a last minute deal, and I didn't spray with roundup, just disced them under. Just an experiment anyway, if I have anything left at all here after a few weeks, I'll do it right next year and possibly expand it. I have another pretty good spot just over the hill where I can get another 1/4 ac.