Fall food plot
Whitetail Deer
I roto tilled my fall food plot today. 2016 has been a rough year here in SW Ohio. First we had a very wet spring and got my spring plot out a little late and had a long drought hit. Ended up with next to nothing except weeds. Never lost a spring plot before but the lack of rain did me in. Then we had a 30 day plus of almost no rain with only couple sprinkles during July and August. Two weeks ago we had 5 straight days of rain but it was a steady light down pours so no problem with the 8-10" we got. The ground was so dry it just soaked it up.
When I tilled today the ground had just the right moisture. Tilled up nice.
Tomorrow I will broadcast fertilizer, disk it down. Then I'll plant 1.0 ac of forage oats. I've had great luck with the deer useage of the oats and it will last all winter plus a good fall crop for bow and gun hunting. Plus I'll plant .5 ac of radish, turnips. Also had great luck with the turnips-radish with deer feeding in it all fall and winter.
Plan to use a fence drag on the oats then cultipack it. The radish=turnips I'll cultipack it and seed and re- cultipack.
I'll post pictures as we progress along.
I finally got my MF 271 65 HP tractor with frontend loader to run OK. I bought it May 2015 and it would run great for 600 ft and shut off. Changed all the filters, new shutoff switch, checked the fuel pump and injector pump and both were OK. Found out the fuel tank had a flakes of flat dirt in it and plugging up the in tank filter. So I took the tank off, had it steam cleaned at a radiator shop and had it sealed inside with a coating. When I put it back on I left off the small in tank filter and installed a large inline fuel filter. It ran 2 hrs today doing the tilling with no problem and it was 90 degrees out. Looks like problem solved. Wish me luck.
Too wet to plow here ! Maybe a little mowing and gly spraying next week, but discing and seeding may fall after my antelope hunt. Never planted this late in my life. I've always planted about labor day weekend or the week after. The 10th of September or a day or two after I'm gonna be staring at a lope over an FMJ ! I hope !
May have had some bad luck thrown my way today. After the 90 degree heat tilling the plot with my health issues I was unable to disk and plant today. I looked at the weather and next rain is on Wednesday. So I figured I would rest up and plant on Tuesday. Went down and watered the cattle and nice blue skies. 30 minutes later it's pouring down rain from a afternoon pop up thunder storm. Must have gotten close to 1". With this 90 degree temps and couple days I believe I will be OK. But sure would have been nice with the seed in the ground with today's rain.
We had 3 days of 90 degree temps and the soil that I tilled on Friday was dry enough to disk today. Weatherman claims we got 2 rain. So I spread 19-19-19 fertilizer, disk, planted the oats and drug a fence drag over it. I will go down and hand plant the radish, turnips, and rutabaga. I'll cultipack before and after planting.
Sounds like it's going your way ! I broadcast crimson clover seeds on three plots yesterday that had wheat/elbon rye volunteering, and mowed the plots today. I've never done this before, and I'm not sure it's gonna work, but it was only $20 worth of clover seed so I didn't see the harm. Worst case, I'll just plant the middle of September as usual. We've had 8 in. of rain this month, that's why the grain volunteered up.
I went down and ran the cultipacker across the plot before and after seeding. Then hand broadcast turnips, radishes, and rutabaga. All 3 seeds from Grandpa Ray Outdoors. Finished in a light dizzle but not enough to help any. But there is a slight chance of more rain tonight then nothing for 7 days. At least the soil is moist.
Some good news- Just had a heavy down pour of rain. This should get the seed off to a good start. Agood chance of more rain later tonight.
I planted mine two weeks ago just before it pour rain in less then a week it was up Grandpa Rays Grains and Greens Rock, now we need more rain it has not rain since .
Not going to get my planting done this year. Been raining on the weekends. So that's kept me from getting it sprayed. To tall to disk it like it is. Probably getting to late to plant anyhow.
Darrall Dougherty
I'm not even dreaming of planting anything right now. We are under mandatory water restrictions and we haven't seen a measurable rain in months it seems. 50 miles north of here has been pounded with rain but we have nothing. Its a sad sight. Crops look terrible too. Shame.
Sadly this is a picture as of Sunday of the main reservoir for Bedford PA. The mountains just to the west just seem to be breaking all the storms up before they get here.
Glad to hear its better up North.
It finally quit raining here with the total for August exceeding ten inches over much of East Texas. Unheard of, and broke the 1915 record ! I did get to do some mowing this week and sprayed several plots yesterday and gonna spray two more next week before I leave for Wyoming. (This weekend I'm gonna kill some rooters though).
All my plots will be ready for me to disc and plant after I get a speed goat in the freezer. Since I'm mosrly doing wheat/rye mixes, it will be pretty easy.
Looking good Pat.
Its crazy how parts of the world are drowning in water and others are with scorched earth.
I used to live in Beaumont TX as a kid Don. I've heard some crazy stories about the floods this year for sure.
Everything is coming up that was planted 8-9 days ago. Now we just had a nice heavy rain and hopefully more on the way. But the turkeys are play heck with the oats.
And rain did we get. It poured hard for couple hours and more over night. 60% plus chance of more rain the next 3 days. The ground is soaked now. When I can get across the creek I'll get some pictures as I need to change out the batteries and cards in my cams anyway.
Update- we got between 3.75-4" of rain last night.
It's rained exactly twice since we planted this 6 acre plot. Plan was to get some turnips, beats to break up some soil and there is some buckwheat in there as well. Nothing is doing too well due to the lack of rain. Hopefully it rains again one day. Otherwise at least we added some organically back I tot he soil.
Update- I planted on 8-16-16. Heavy rain that night. On 9-7 we got between 3.75-4.0" of rain. On 9-10 we got another 2.5".
Looking at it from a distance off my overlook it appears I have 50-60% coverage. I'll know better when I go down for a close up look.
Going down to do a over seeding of WTI Double Cross which is clover and beassica. That way at least I'll have some green plants on the bare ground. It's been a rough year planting in SW Ohio.
But my 1.5 ac of clover looks great.
I just went down and top seeded the bear spots. I hadn't checked it for couple days and was pleasently surprised that I had 80-90% coverage with bear spots. Got finished and now it's raining pretty good. May have a fill in crop yet.
I planted Grandpas Grains n Greens on August 19 just before it rained one inch after that i didn.t get any rain for 15 days the greens were up in a week but were slow to grow with out any rain finally it rained no down pour but enough to get it going. The deer have been hammering night and day a few nice bucks and a pile of does ..
I am just now ( today ) discing my fall plots on one place I hunt. Gonna plant tomorrow, wheat and winter peas, maybe a few oats. Gonna be a long day !
Well, it was a long day. Put out 900 lb. of seed, fertilizer, and pelletized lime on about two acres scattered over three plots. I got a pretty good burn on one of the bigger plots but my lighter quit working when I was trying to burn yesterday. I planted wheat and winter peas in all plots. Now, if the damn hogs won't eat the seed, maybe I can get some venison !
Same plot from the opposite end after planting and dragging.
I planted grandpa rays grains and greens back in August as well. It has come up well and continued to grow, only problem is the deer haven't hit it at all yet. In reading the 2015 seed review I hope it's usage picks up with some cold weather... Crossing my fingers.
tpb, as i have posted numerous times there is a reason for if deer hit not just brassicas but anything.
It starts with soil pH. Next soil organic matter Correct and balanced soil nutrients Sulfur Surrounding forages
I had this exact conversation yesterday with a close friend who started one of the first wildlife food plot lineups. He also has as much experience with managed intensive grazing as i do. I was discussing how ive been in so many food plots where deer were hitting my brassica blends in the past month or 2 and how so many people have been sending me pictures with deer in their brassicas. This is a-typical of the industry and for those who follow my PROGRAM, this is the norm.
So i mentioned how so many people ask me what deer prefer to eat. I asked him what does he think deer prefer to eat.......his answer was.....
ANYTHING....yep, i totally agree. Deer will eat anything depending on numerous factors. This is why i subscribe to the cafeteria style approach when it comes to cattle and deer grazing. They are selective graziers and know what their needs are. They also prefer young, succulent growth and will always prefer forages that are not diseased, insect pressured and in earlier vegatative stages.
So, deer prefer many forages over others but deer will eat just a bout anything if they have to, need to or want to.
Looking good guys. Great info also.
The deer are hammering my Grains n Greens next year i am going to fence off part of it so they will have something for later.
Went down to take a look see when out testing the UTV. Both plots look great. Will do some pictures when the hot weather breaks in a day or so.
Pat, I'll trade my dirt for your plot ! :)
If we get the rain we are supposed to get the next couple days, ( and IF the frickin hogs don't eat my seed again ), mine will favor yours.
