Bowsite.com

Biggest change is removing Alfalfa from the legume mix and replacing with Birds Foot Trefoil.

Established September 2016 with annual cereal grains and clover Alfalfa mix. Put in Frost seed Alfalfa Clover chicory mix late February looking at what type of maintenance recommended. 100 acres Woods ponds 4 Acres in six plots. Thanks for any advice haven't seen any Alfalfa clover chicory food plots in the Forum so think I might have screwed up LOL.

Keep it mowed (Before weeds head out, or at full bloom if clean). I mow half when required, then come back a week later to do the other half

Mow now lower than 6". Do not mow when dormant

Ensure base saturation K stays above 4% , best at 6% for clover forage

Spray any grass weeds with Cleth (Arrow) when very small

This mix has been the best /most consistant draw of any during SEP - DEC hunting season

I will be planting an alfalfa chicory + mix, High and Dry from Grandpa Ray's this spring.

I have planted chicory with Durana clover in a couple plots. The chicory had come up and was hit pretty hard last year.

Nice observation on alfalfa, clover and chicory. Maybe we can get some opinions.

Twanger - Howdy partner! I plan to bring some of the wild boar I got this winter and it definitely goes well with single malt. If you get lucky fishing I'll wip up that Walleye Marsala again. I will be there the first week as well.

A firm seed bed that allows your perennials to germinate fast, getting ahead of weed canopy is essential.

Thanks, Bill

Will mowing thistles before seeding get rid of them. I got thistles with some seed I planted. Never had them before.

To start I'll hit the wavetops.

- Sep '17 Fertilized as in the previous post Plus added a awnless winter wheat and cereal rye I mixed.

- Mar '18 Leaf Blew the main plots and DIDN'T blow one half of one to see if really makes any difference. Frost seeded some sketchy/thin areas.

So I'm a FIRM believer in blowing leaves off if frost seeding and actually for the health/growth of the plots. Here are a couple examples - my plots are all thin and get heavy leaf cover.

Best Rergards, Stressless

So, without starting a new thread (I'll see if I can change the title) I've moving the summer and later fall legume in the plots to Birdsfoot Trefoil (BFT) - my plots aren't pH perfect and don't have loamy soil, most are 60 y/o old weathered spoil banks from strip-mining. I need something that will take those conditions and produce.

Here's the plot mid summer, doing well and a decent mix although the BFT is still young and not robust, but it's there.

2 1/2 months.... smile...

SMILES! here's of the plots (in the background) update once I frost seed the Birdsfoot Trifoil.

Best, Stressless

So as in 2018 the mature Toms loved the food leaf free plots!

The video is here: https://youtu.be/ZHU7OApGEVM

Any tips or tricks on blowing the leaf litter off of your plots? I’m assuming it works much better if the leaves are completely dry, but maybe not?

Some of the turkey bowhunting highlights over the years on this plot and some others on the property.

Update on the plots next.

Mark

To kickoff the bare dirt/poor soil I split apply 2T of Lime and I use the pulverized AgLime that will flow thru a ATV multre spreader. Having a good friend/neighbor (Goyt) to loan a 2nd spreader makes quick work of it between two bikes helps!

This is applying 1500#/acre of gypsum to loosen the clay and leach some Magnesium I got too high by spreading pellitized dolomite lime for the first couple years.

All the plots are in perennial legumes: 15# total live seed/acre

40% Birdsfoot Trefoil

20% White Clover

20% Red Clover

20% Chicory

One application of IMOX in mid Apr

One Application of Clethodim mid summer (edited)

Overseed tillage radish 6#/acre ~1 Aug

One spot spray of broadleaves ~ 1 Aug or as needed

Overseed 150#/acre cereal rye ~ Labor Day weekend

They love it and it keeps growing unlike brassicas and buckwheat that I've tried. This is a summers growing season inside and out of the UT cage. All plots experienced about the same browsing pressure.

That's the growth tuff over on the left in the UT cage

Greenbrier that half was sterile clay/shale after work last year. The light stuff is 2T/acre Aglime from the Moultre spreader.

Dam Plot (this doesn't get any herbicide only overseeding and mowed)

Edge Plot

Bottom Plot

FrontPad Plot

Pine Plot (this doesn't get any herbicide only overseeding and mowed)

BackPad Plot

This is Bottom Plot from this winter, '22, same legume mix overseeded with 150#/acre of cereal rye. Didn't put tillage radish in last fall so they're after just what's still green under the snow.

Which brings me to good story from last year on the plots and that fits at this point of the thread on plots - and who doesn't like a good story!

So, on Bottom Plot I snuck in on 27 Oct and picked up a card.

That was my #1 hitlister Dutton and so with the right wind forecast I got into the stand on Bottom mid afternoon the next day.

He came out and He hit the licking branch at 30 yds - but looked like he was just gonna keep heading up the plot - and it was a quartering to shot - which is a no-go for me. Bow in hand and hooked up, he continued up Bottom Plot, stopped and looked back at the licking branch= I drew back, he started back up the plot and passed the 20 yd mark I had ranged.

To "Baaaa" or not to "Baaaa" that is the question - kinda screaming in my mind as he got parallel with me. good form, good sight picture, 20 yrd pin right where it needed to be, watching him walk and he took that front foreleg out for another step - release. Saw the arrow hit true and thru and thru.

My first thought was That's a dead deer running. Second was that's the first deer I shot walking - arrow was buried in the ground on the far side of him at 18 yards.

I heard him run in the dry leaves for about 2 seconds - he ran outa sight and stopped, 5-6 seconds later - seemed like a week passed - I hear a step - then crash. Rain was about 30-45 mins out so I made the call to trail after only about 5-10 mins just in case -

I dint think there was any doubt... and there wasn't// ran about 40 yrds and stopped in a thicket... died right there.

Doesn't the rye come back in the spring? Does your mowing take care of it, or how are you controlling it? Imox?

Rye, 150lbs/acre why this amount?

Doesn't Butyrac kill the chichory? Must not ( I answered myself :) ).

Birdsfoot Trefoil, why the highest percentage of the mix?

How tall do the radishes get?

Thanks! BC

Overview:

Almost all my plots are on ~70 y/o spoil banks from strip mines and hot (pH) as hell. There's a 1/2" or so of organic material on them then rock, shale, clay and other sterile compositions.

---------------------------------------------------

Bare dirt recipe, first year only.

- Anytime prior to planting apply 2T/acre Aglime

- If dirt opened up more than 3 weeks before planting your fall crop rye and legumes

-- Spray 2 quarts/acre Gly with 1 pint 24d ester + AMS

-- If less than 3 weeks just spray Gly and AMS

- 150#/acre Rye o/a Labor day

- 15#/acre Legume mix Live Seed o/a Labor Day

- Do Not terminate the rye the first Spring let bolt and cut when dead in June.

- Soil Sample and apply the correct TNV (Total Neutralizing Value) of lime to get your plot to 6.8pH

- Add fertilizer, P and K as needed

- Spray IMOX 6.5oz/acre with crop oil directly after cutting rye

- Spot Spray boradleaves Jun and Aug

- Spray clethodim in July or Aug after a good moisture event so grasses are growing

New area I opened up 27 Aug, Lime, rye and legumes went in 3 Sep. Pic is 6 Sep.

^Treat as an established plot thereafter

-------------------------------------------

Established Legume Plot recipe.

- 6-8#/acre LiveSeed Legume mix in Feb-Mar (Frost Seed)

- Spray IMOX 6.5oz/acre with crop oil once mid-April when weeds are 4-6" and growing aggressively.

- Spot Spray boradleaves Jun and Aug

- Spray clethodim in June + or - 3 or 4 days from mowing

- Cut plots to 6-7" as needed over summer

- 6#/acre tillage radish o/a 1 Aug

- 150#/acre rye on o/a labor day

- Mow plots directly after seeding rye

- Soil Sample every other year amend as suggested

^ Repeat annually

----------------------------------------

The yearly mix is what I've found to offer a blend of crops they desire and that withstands the browse pressure in my small plots while also improving the soil to make the crops work in a bit of harmony. The legumes are all inoculated so they make N, the rye and tillage radish consume N in a big way. Since I don't till, I use the tillage radish to open up/break up the surface soil and offer organic materials below the 1-2" zone. Note that my lands are NOT fertile black loamy soil.

Perennial Live Seed Mix:

15#/ acre bare dirt 6#/acre frost seed into existing plots.

Note that it's 40% Birdsfoor Trefoil and 40% clovers, 20% chicory. Each will have it's own % coating so you or your seed folks will have to do some math.

Your questions are good, my co-op neighbor sprays Butyrac but I don't as, yes sir, it will kill chicory. The Single application of IMOX in the spring stalls broad leaves and like Pat mentioned in one of his posts, I make a mix of Gly and 24D, and spot spray the broad leaves. Did that in Sep after I planted rye this year.

- Doesn't the rye come back in the spring? Does your mowing take care of it, or how are you controlling it? Imox?

Yes and Yes and yes -LoL Cereal Rye is an annual. On a new plot I let it bolt and die, then cut (brushhog) and spray Imox mid Juneish after the fawns can get up and away. The IMOX spray after cutting terminates any viable rye seed from the seed heads - as well as everything else IMOX kills.

Established plots I terminate the rye when I spray the plots with IMOX in mid-April - what I miss or doesn't get fully dead I mow in Mid-June

-Rye, 150lbs/acre why this amount?

I know I'm not getting good seed to soil contact when overseeding into a established legume plot so there will be a decent percentage that doesn't germinate and or is not viable for all sorts of reasons.

Conversely I need the rye to come in thick enough when the legumes start to falter and die off in late Oct - Early Nov to continue to draw deer to the plots - and to green up first thing throughout the winter when the temps are > 37F.

150# is an easy # to work with and I guesstamate when doing rye by the 56# bushel. I made a spreadsheet to help me figure the totals and by the plot.

-How big do the tillage radish get.

Adding the tillage radish helps add food to the late plot as well. This is from -inside- the utilization cage last years failed brassica planting - it just couldn't keep up with the browse pressure. So outside the UT cage it got smashed and didn't produce. The tillage radish are the long white ones.

On a side note all this is done with an ATV - Pepe - Spreader/Sprayer/Pull behind brushhog.

Cliff and Chris are sitting cold front today, one across the gravel and one in Glenmont at his family farm. Having "those" conversations with the Mrs. on When and How long I'll be at the farm for this hunting season...

THIS ? is not helping my objective outlook ??

Drought, it's one thing we don't any control over. In our county, since Jun, we're over 40% less than average rainfall. By keeping growing things in the dirt and not exposing the soil my plots are all diminished by the drought but not barren. Even with the high browsing pressure.

How wide are your plots (the ones in the woods, not the pad)?

What would you think is the minimum width for such a plot as yours in the woods?

Are you plots oriented in a certain compass direction to maximize sunlight?

Given that the GFR didn't produce outside the utilization cage, do you still recommend planting it at 6# per acre? If it is not able to grow, what benefits is it providing?

I have a heavily wooded area that has some logging roads on it, but not sure if I need to widen them or just plant them as is with a clover mixture and then add the GFR and rye. I have several larger plots on the property, but wanted to use the logging roads in order to direct/funnel the deer toward the larger plots.

I wouldn't access the stand sites by way of the logging roads. Access would be from the property borders, then perpendicular to the logging roads.

I was more interested in planting them in order to direct the deer toward the larger (1 acre) plantings which are 20 yards by 250 yards rectangular.

This was just a thought in order to provide some more food in an area that is heavily wooded, versus taking in equipment or manpower to clear a 0.25 to 0.4 acre plot along the border.

Thanks for the clarification. I think that anytime you can add food without hurting access it is a good thing. If you have an ATV mounted sprayer it is a simple thing to use roundup on the roads and then seed them with a clover blend, Some of the clovers are very shade tolerant. If it holds deer and causes movement you will gain from it. Very low cost.

Can you provide some details on your equipment (ATV, spreader, mower/brushhog, sprayer)? I'm looking to upgrade some of my equipment.

The farm equipment I have is all based on no-till. The results are above. Get the right configuration for all your tow implements - I had a Pin and Ball connection on different implements and then bought the Ball+Pin Hitch for both the ATV and UTV to mount on both tow vehicles so you don't have to switch things to use any of the items below.

Environmental - most of my plots I can reach with 10' wide clearance - i.e., tractor, but some are only 6' wide paths to get tothe plots. So I use ATV/UTV to keep 1.5 miles of trails open and get up a couple 40° slopes

*ATV - (Pepe) Yamaha Grizzly 450 2005

I bought it used in 2010 for my brother who had developed a heart condition. Used it for general farm chores and game retrieval until I stated doing food plots in 2016.

After a couple years of plotting and using the machines I decided to add a UTV as the ATV was getting long in the tooth, and dragging the "implements" seemed to be just over the edge of the limit I felt was reasonable for the littler ATV. So instead of a newer bit bigger ATV which could do it without issue, I went with a new UTV.

*UTV - (Red) Kawasaki mule pro mx LE

This is a smaller UTV and packs more than needed for just "plotting". I could do the entire farm with either Pepe or Red but Red pulls the harrow and brushhog with more power margin / not work as hard. I could do the entire farm and 8 plots with either.

*Sprayer/Boom - FIMCO 25 Gallon ATV Sprayer 4.5 GPM 7 Nozzle

You want as much water volume as possible so the 4.5GPM is the way to go IMHO. Sh@t happens so get your expendable spares when you buy the sprayer/boom

*Harrow - 6 ft. x 8 ft. Loyal Drag Harrow

I really like this tool, you can configure it in separate 6'x 4' sections, rough and smooth, light and smooth, rough and rough etc or just use a single 6'x4' section. Very easy to configure.

* Brushhog - Swisher 11.5 HP Rough Cut Tow Behind 44"

Get the 2"ball hitch for it, spare belt (haven't changed my belt in 4 years) grind/sharpen the blades

* Spreader(s) - Moultrie ATV Spreader – Manual Feed Gate - and earthway hand spreader

This is the product I've used and used and abused - still keeps ticking. I use the Moultrie from Rye to fertilizer to pulverized AgLime.

* Culitapacker - Packer MAXX 4'

My soils are so poor that the rock and shale really don't allow this implement to really shine but it does help. I'm currently eyeballing the Packer Maxx Crimper attachment - but for hte $ I have to KNOW I'll use it in the plotting line-up.

That's it. No disc, no plow, no tractor - Not that there's anything wrong with that, just I'll spend my $ on other things I actually need.

Wow! What a great response! Very thorough.

What would you suggest would be the minimum width I should plan for when planting woods plots? I will be planting current logging roads, but will not be walking on them to hunt them. These logging roads parallel my borders, so I will be accessing them perpendicular to the logging road.

I've heard pulverized lime wouldn't work through spreaders and was told to use pelletized lime. Does that Moultrie spreader have an agitator?

AgLime - Look closely at the bag - this is a specific composite grind that will flow thru a drop or gravity spreader.

AgLime -So I thought, wrongly, after reading a bunch of posts that I'ld have to do Pellitized Lime (Powered lime that's glued together) which isn't really bad but generally you have to reapply every year or two which equals- expensive, labor intensive, time consuming - everything wrapped up neatly in what I don't want on my farm.

So I found this little GEM at the local Ag co-op which is truly AG Lime, but will flow via a simple spreader - it doesn't cake and pack like traditional hard to spread Aglime.

With a counterweight on the front of Pepe I load 3 AgLime bags or 150# in the spreader at a time.

Harrowing in the 2 ton / acre lime.

The process to dial it in and experiments to see what crops combos are all documented above. This is by far the longest in the season I've had good producing plots. Lots of thought, sweat and effort put into it.

Pine Plot is one that has had soil amended but no herbicides, just cutting 3-4 times a year and frost seeding legumes. I've noticed the legumes are coming stronger and more plentiful each year. These pics are from Dec 9th, post gun season and you can plainly see the edge of "Field" where I cut and let it go native. The grasses in it seem very pitiable to the deer due to the pH and other particulars being dialed in. It doesn't look like much until you look around and everything else is brown.

The plots, too many to do individually, have all come into 90%+ efficiency for production. Weeds, browse resistance, multiple species, etc... here're a couple.

BackPad and Edge two years ago just rye with no legumes...

Full legumes and overseeded rye - increasing dry tonnage a huge step.

Greenbrier

Only three mature does taken from the 100 acres this season. With the plots in order and meeting the demand signal for browse thru the major hunting dates and finalizing the 1.2 acres of expanded plots for 2023 we should be good to go for years to come.  

I’ve adopted many of your practices here in MN with good success....including the spring leaf blowing practice!

Congrats on your successes and thanks again for all your help!

Mark

The weekend before the week in OH the Mrs and I drove up to my boys place and found us working hard trimming and grinding about 3 tons of limbs and two trees Fri and Sat.

Some tasks have priority due to the time of year, those got in front and done:

5 of 6 mineral links in and going went kinda heavy year 2 for adding dry molasses to the standard mix.

All new turned dirt from Sep last year got gypsum finally, 2450# on 4 plots. Snagged the soil samples and went with WTI - sent Fri and got them back already.

With the price of fertilizer not sure I'll be amending in April as planned.

Had 2 duck boxes, poles, predator shield so got those two up.

Going to harrow the leaves and of course girdled tree fall into the center ?? time suck..

Got it all cleaned up ..

Trying to see if I can draw turkey to this plot, had good pics last year

Got a couple other strutting plots cleaned off as well.

Hope to have three spots for the blind this year.

All the plots are looking very good with the mild winter the rye and legumes are both putting forage up whenever the soil gets a hint warmer. Utilization cages making it easy to see.

Had many issues with the cold coupled with thick simazine for on switchgrass, lost many hours fighting that but neighbor Cliff and I got it all down for premeergent weeds. Biggest issue was the in line filter on the 25gal Fimco sprayer. It never seems worth it until It works, 2y/o switchgrass is standing shoulder high.

Didn't get to the stands I wanted to get up but don't need them in until early Sep, plenty of time. Marked some trees while scouting with Chris so all I need to do is put them up at this point.

Bottom line is early March and the herd looks healthy.

And the plots are frost seeded and rolling for the '23 season.

Ahhh just looked at the 6’ pull behind estate rake - it's a poor mans harrow. I use a harrow on the plot, it loosens the leaves but doesn't remove them. so how do remove the leaves after the 6’ pull behind estate rake is done loosening them?

I've tried just loosening the leaves and frost seeding but "removing" the leaves on heavy leaf matter really makes a difference. If you use the rake it must operate like a thatch/hay rake and make windrows 6"-1' deep that will have to be moved, or kill that line of in the plot?

Man I wish we had no snow. We haven't even had above freezing temps, so melt hasn't even started yet. Seems like the winter is starting later but ending later past couple years.

Once the leaves are 'unstuck' from the plot ground the question is how to move them to the edge the easiest. That's the mini hayrake I think - but wanted to get some 1st hand "how it works".

I think a smaller ag type hay rake would work better, plus I WILL be buying a “backpack style” leaf blower tomorrow! ;-)

Stress less, What an incredible thread! Thanks for documenting and sharing as Ive learned a lot!

Mark

Jake….I thought about using a mower and bagger as well, but my wife’s 4wd John Deere mower doesn’t have a bagger attachment. We’re about due to upgrade it, and will most likely get a bagger attachment for it, as well as a snow blower, too. She’s been complaining about her back after she gets done shoveling snow. It would be a nice Christmas present for her ;-) I’m wondering if a guy attached a de-thatcher to the front of the mower, if it would loosen the matted down leaves even better?

As for the plots I moved the leaves off and/or harrowed and frost seeded they are doing great.

Had a good turkey season, collected my globber off one of my plots - that makes me smile.

The teenage boys giving ol'Tom a hard time and he's having non of it.

Back to the plots- 2inch, note that it was mostly bare dirt in early Sep '22.

Edge, again mostly bare dirt early Sep '22.

Spoil, established plot that was browsed to "chin high" about mid Dec but the rye kept producing in the those warm periods.

Backpad

Pine

I had planted Chestnut trees, they're one of those diluted Chinese Chestnut's with American Chestnut... after getting them behind browse guards they really responded and had good growth. The freeze nipped them fairly hard thou... other tree species that had bedded out didn't show anywhere near this level of burn.

I got the second application of lime down on the plot areas zi opened last Sep. Letting it cook over summer and test again this Sep to know where I'm at... put 1700# on the plots and 1150# in Crescent pond.

The 160 buck Cliff shot last fall walked thru FrontPad and 150 Dutton the year prior walked almost the exact same place. Hung a stand, licking branch and dropped trees to funnel them where I might have an opportunity before they cross the road and "Killer" Goyt gets a crack at them LoL ;)

The farm got ~ 3" of rain mid June, I got here and terminated the rye by cutting with a brushhog 5 days later. Many weeds that were just about to go to seed or viable seed from grasses to thistles also got lopped off. That saved broadcasting those weed seeds if I would have done it even a week later. At this point I have two "sets" of plots, Those tthat are just coming into perennial stage from bare dirt last Sep and those that in the perennial stage. Making observations this week of the plots that got IMOX'd in April and those that didn't I will most likely go to an every other year IMOX'ng the plots. This is due to the setback IMOX causes on the legumes and the heavy browse pressure all the plots get - that double whammy in the spring Apr/May early June growing season has some of my established plots struggling a bit - the drought we had Mid-May to Mid - June also played a part but removing the IMOX on half the plots going forward is the next experiment. I hope to see some of the residual IMOX and as Albert points out, "Rye is inherently allelopathic which helps to suppress weeds for the next year from germinating." as well as mowing once or twice a summer might be enough to suppress the weeds.

After sharpening the brushhog blades and basically running it thru the farm pit-stop I got going on the mowing.

2" plot is in the finale stage of beginning to soil build lol. In that it's been amended with AgLime and Gypsum to help the pH and loosen the soil, no synthetic fertilizer has been applied to date, I'll check via soil samples this fall mostly to dial in any pH gap to the desired 6.8 pH. The rye and some grasses seed heads were all in still the dough stage the thick vegetation helped keep much of the mid-June rain. The thatch from the rye and 2-3" of legumes, Red and White perennial clovers, Birdsfoot trefoil and Chicory didn't clump and bunch too much - I had been worried that it would and smother the legumes. Planning to take some after shots and see how that part, Is the Thatch too thick? question gets answered. This was 130#/acre rye sowed 8 Sep, initial planting of legumes at 15#/acre same date, frost seeded 6#/acre legumes 10 Mar.

Edge plot in the same shape.

Spoil Plot is in perennial stage so it got IMOX'd last spring '22 and this spring '23, it's a 1/4 acre in woods, it gets browsed heavy and you can see the IMOX terminated the rye so there's very little thatch to lay down while mowing. This is one I'll try to build better soil with no IMOX in '24 and heavy rye this Sep.

The 3 y/o swtichgrass is really jumping right now, it's on track with being 6'-7' in Sep. BackPad is another plot that got IMOX'd twice in two years and will let the Rye go until June in '24.

I was having fun mowing the plots and wanted to revamp a old plot I let go for three years, lots of 8'- 12' suckers and briers on Grassy Knoll, I could tell the belt was getting worn so I figured I'd use it on that plot until it went bad and change it. It almost got through it... but not quite. Put the new belt on and got it done proper.

One thing I found interesting, in every utilization cage there was blooming Red Clover, outside the cage nadda, not one bloom, which leads me to believe that the deer are selectively browsing the red clover. Chicory and Birdfoot Trefoil were close seconds to the selective browse pressure but nearly as pronounced.

Inside the utilization cage it's 12"-14" of lush legumes, outside the cage, 4+ acres and 10 plots, all in the same legume blend it's browsed down to 3"-5".

Soils dark and moist in all the plots, there's some shale outcrops that only lichens would love so not really counting those few spots.

The tow behind brushhog nicks the ground once in awhile making soil obs really obvious lol.

This is on top a spoil bank so really happy with the results from keeping it covered in perennial and annual forage.

3 y/o Switchgrass is 5'-6' tall and growing.

The switch got a little too thick/high so trimmed it back into the shooting lane for gun season in Halfway blind. Pics are from the same cam/tree.

Broadleaves are making inroads on 2 or 3 plots, trimmed the plots to clip the them and other annual weeds, we'll see in a couple weeks, might spot spray them or just hit the worst plots with Butyrac then reseed chicory.

The overall outcome desired is to capture some mature bucks that will make this area their daylight home range. ?

Took three years to getrdone.

On the other side of the blind is a third plot the layout looks like a Y with the blind hidden in the woods at the juncture.

Access to the blind is thru open woods 30' down and to the right side of this and the Gully and switchgrass is to the left- the Blind is at the far end and this is one Leg of the Y plot(s) design. The open woods down to to the right doesn't 'hold' deer, no food, no cover.

The layout makes it so a buck sight or scent checking the three plots HAS to walk through or cross the Y conjunction.

Who doesn't like hunting a food plot? LoL

Well. That's a good mix Jeff ;)

Quinclorac 1.5L must be used with Methylated Seed Oil (MSO) to target foxtail and other noxious grasses/weeds. The application rates are somewhat strict or you'll harm/kill the switchgrass you are trying to recover. The switch must have 3 to 4 leaves off the main stem usually 2 y/o switchgrass or the quinclorac/MSO will kill your young switch.

I sprayed on 21 Aug. Effects pics below are on 30 Aug.

Application rate was 64oz of Quinclorac 1.5L/acre+ 32 oz of MSO/acre and 20Gal water/acre (for the Fimco 7 nozzle sprayer that's 40psi@3mph)

I knew I'd overspray a foot or two of the legumes but wanted to terminate the foxtail starts that were in that edge. As you can see below the quinclorac smoked the legumes and is terminating the foxtail. The switch is still dark green, where I didn;t overlap the spary. Where I did about 20'x2' I might have burnt the swtich... we'll see. The foxtail, other weeds, and everything else that got hit or overlapped spray areas are browning up.

Hit this plot and two other areas where the switchgrass has a larger footprint next to bedding/travel areas for about a 1/2 acre total.

17 Mar, frost seeded legume blend 8#/acre 23 Aug Overseeded crimson clover and oats into the legumes 50#/acre 13 Sep Overseeded cereal rye into the oats crimson clover and legumes 150#/acre

The plots and dry tonnes I have growing is either going to draw good deer or not. If the kids come up to harvest some meat in gun season I may put some corn out but that'll depend on what we see on camera and the neighbors. Cliff and I are planning to go w/o "Bought and Bagged Bait" this year. We'll see. The Amish on the West are baiting, the the outfitter to the North is baiting so planning on primarily rut hunting. Nothing exciting showing up on cams so far to get me back for those glorious pre-rut 20-31 Oct days.

Got a question on the, "edge of switchgrass" and how close do you spray. I spray right to the edge of the switch.

Herd management: We put seven 1 1/2yo or older does on the dirt (1 per 14.3A), The property is still carrying a healthy herd population and getting closer to a 1:1 ratio and age class spread than we've had in a number of years.

The buck above, Willis, just kicked the crap outa me this year. I had him on daylight cams thru 11 Nov (when I left) and hadn't blown him off the property, I think creating deep woods bedding/woody browse pockets (in 2021), softening the edges of the plots, redoing access routes and some stands all played a part in giving me the most opportunity at a decent buck.

If you like hearing a nice buck grunting like a mule turn it up a bit.

Winter chores coming up, blowing leaves off the plots, terminate any large suckers/large invasives in the deep woods pockets and frost seeding are the primaries prior to turkey season. Indications are good. ;)

How old do you think Willis is? He looks like a younger buck to me, possibly only a three year old? Any previous history with him? Also, you have an extremely thick carpet of leaves in one of the videos. Hard to tell in the video, but what types of leaves are they? Don’t look like they are all oak leaves, but can’t be sure. I have more issues with oak leaves carpeting some of my plots (as well as removing them) than any other variety of leaves. Same for you in your area?

I was just a poor excuse for or an unlucky hunter in the 28 Oct-2 Nov timeframe this year. Had 4 bucks in daylight I would have shot but never was in the right place/right time.

Leaves... A large percentage of them are chestnut oaks, various other red oak and white oak family, many beech and lots of soft maple. Back in this thread we talked about a leaf rake etc.. This year I'm going to harrow them loose from the ground again and tow a 250mph leaf blower and see if I can get them off without the back breaking backpack blower but so far that's all I've found that works 'well'.

I have to remove the leaves from my plots or I'll loose most of the seed. They'll just lie on the leaves, germinate and die. and it'll choke a bunch of the perennial growth in the spring.

I was toying with the idea to blow them off after my Nov hunt prior to gun season, they are much easier to move before the winter snows and rain plaster them to the dirt. Obviously I dint do that so now I'm stuck with harrow and tow blow. Even if I can get 80% with the towed blower and finish with the back pack it'll save 5-6 hours of labor.

Anyway I changed from Alfalfa to Birdsfoot Trefoil in my mix after a couple years as my soils are so poor alfalfa just didn't produce. Birdsfoot reseeds if the browse pressure isn't too bad and by the looks of your clover plot there is light to no browse pressure on your area.

T-Roy - Holmes Rental has this combo for rent and I'm going to try it after I loosen the leaves with the harrow next month. 10,000 CFM, 175mph.

Most of the bucks have shed, but the majority of deer around the farm right now are unaccompanied minors.

I cleaned off another 1/3-1/2 of an acre on this plot last summer and planned on seeding it to rye/clover in early September, but it was terribly dry, so I waited until we had a decent chance of some measurable precipitation. That didn’t happen until around October 10th. Pretty late in the year in my area for seeding clover, but I thought I’d try it anyway. We had a super mild winter for the most part, and it looks like I should get a decent stand of clover, especially frost seeding into what’s already there. You can see the rye (along with the clover) greening up in the pic. Just need some decent moisture this spring!

Keep on with your updates and progress reports Stressless!!!

Mark

Purpose built machine, didn't use on a couple plots that weren't too bad per Albert advice but on ones that were saturated with leaves and they weren't dry and fluffy, it did great! Based on obs from past years I don't think I could have moved that amount of semi wet leaves with a backpack blower. Period. Ground was a bit spongy wet from the rain we got 3 days and then the day before. The 8 wheels on it floated that contraption over the fields and up 20 degree slopes without ruts or issues. Frost seeded and soil samples the next AM.

Okay looks like the BoowSite's WebSite has gif's prevented from auto playing so pls click the pic...

BLUF: Aug'23 Oats and Crimson Clover

Sep'23 Rye

Mar'24

Blew leaves off plots

Frost seeded legume blend

Soil Samples

Apr'24 NO IMOX

Added required P and K (11-52-0) (0-0-60)

Added required Ag Lime

Shot my gobbler

Below is first soil sample taken in 2017 and last sample taken last month. All farm soils were below 6 pH when I started this food plot endeavor. I screwed up by tilling a couple plots in 2016 instead of going no-till - LoL but I didn't know what I didn't know. Tilling was what the organic farmer neighbor told me was best. A disc hasn't touched it since the fall of 2016. I've learned much from the No-Till So Easy thread on the OH TOO forum and have tried to apply the TTP's to my small farm to increase the draw, create lines of movement thru the same blends of crops and keep crops growing in the plots throughout the year.

pH: Below are lots of numbers but by sampling and administering the bag spreadable lime in posts above we've been able to bring most of the plots into the correct 6.7-7.0 pH range. Two Plots SkiJump and Edge, both relatively new, still need an application of lime to bring them into the desired range, which I got done in mid April, the rest are in the target window.

Organic Matter: Across the plots the OM is being built up by 100-300%

One thing I don't like about WTI Soil sample results is they don't give you the Saturation% or Ratio's. Found a couple ref documents on OSU Ag site that allows you to figure those from the WTI PPM results. So you can get the raw values to start figuring.

From this it's strait forward to get the Lime required and P and K if you go the synthetic fertilizer route. Called the local CO-Op and the cost of fertilizer has gone down dramatically from last year. I applied the P and K in mid-April as well.

To get the plots dialed into the pH and P and K nutrients the spreadsheet takes the WTI results and spits out what's needed. Total to dial the plots in, 19 bags of spreadable AgLime, 17 bags of MOP (0-0-60) and 9 bags of MAP (11-52-0) across the 11 plots. I have feeling the P and K values will be required yearly due to removal of a majority of crop.

Plots are all coming along nicely. I'm forgoing the April IMOX application this year. I think every other year with IMOX and then Cleth Spot spray Butyrac on the off years letting the rye and crimson clover go to maturity then brushhog down for thatch. Spoil plot with the rye coming up just at greenup. This plot got IMOX'd twice in two years. This year, Cleth in June and spot spray for broad leaves twice over the summer of '24.

Onto the turkey hunt!

Three days without hearing or seeing a bird, this AM at daybreak one gobbles up the hill, I call lightly and off he goes. Text our hunt group that I may get a Late Day'er walking back, Cliff, Chris and Mooch, 4 hours later this one, maybe the same one comes up following a feeding hen, she drug him to his doom.

9yd 125gr Bullhead does it again.

I've been working on getting switchgrass to grow in food plot areas that need screening or soft edge to have the does/deer bed closer to the food. That in turn gives me more depth of cover. Some of my switchgrass plantings are doing well, some not so much. BackPad plot switchgrass was 3 years old and from what I've read every 3 years is about right to burn and kill off woody stems in the switch if burnt at the right time. The right time is right at spring green-up when the energy store has moved from the root to buds/leaves. The fire terminates the stems ability to move energy back to the roots and 'should' kill the woody stem.

I took an afternoon during turkey season that fit the 60/40 rule, 60? or less and 40% humidity or higher. Prescribed burns call for Winds 5-15mph but I like >=5mph or close to that. I did this chore solo and had a couple brush fire tools but only used the backpack blower to stop cold a couple very minor kickups.

Great shot on the turk with the Bullhead! I’ve killed at least a dozen toms with them, including 2 this spring, but I’ve yet to totally decap one. Might have to switch to the 125s.

I didn't apply IMOX in April but I did apply fertilizer across all plots and added lime on two plots, bringing them into the ~6.7-6.9 pH range. Sep '23 was when all the plots were now in the 'same' rotation, i.e., no new ground, same crop ( legumes and overseeded annuals ).

The overseeded annuals, Crimson Clover, Oats and Rye had a good catch thru the perennial legumes. The amount of catch varied but the older plots seemed to get a better catch than the newer plots. Without IMOX some grasses were in dough stage and would have been GREAT to terminate that garss seed but it wasn't worth the risk of injury to the target wildlife. Figured I'll spray Clethodim in later June a week after I brushhog all the plots down to 7"-8".

Older plots - Spoil

FrontPad

BackPad

In these thicker older plots I could see beds in them, and no way to clearly see if there were fawns or poults so I didn't molest them, left them until I'm back in later June and will cut at that time, as I did in '23.

2inch, Dam and Ski Jump didn't have nearly the heavy rye so I crept along about 1-2mph and everything worked as planned. The tow behind brushhog with freshly sharpened blades didn't make too much clumpy mulch with the 6"-10" of legumes and sparse rye, and I didn't jump/bump/hurt any wildlife.

2inch

This is first time the plots are outpacing the browse on the farm.

- Significant doe harvest

- Upping the dry tonnage by no-till (thanks Albert!)

- Not applying IMOX across consecutive years

- Getting the N,P,K and pH dialed in

All the factors above played a part in this. This is chicory outside the utilization cage and there wasn't any discrenable difference for the first time between inside and outside the utilization cage.

The switchgrass screening in a couple plots needed some help, the Switchgrass was trying but competing with weeds on TopTop and Pipeline (both about 1/2 acre planting of switchgrass). There wasn't any issue with endangering wildlife so it was just whether to cut or not and see if it helped let the switch outperform the weeds. Also

an update to the switchgrass burn and termination of early successional growth.

TipTop

Pipeline