2018 food plots
Whitetail Deer
Time to start on the food plots.
A week ago I frost seeded the 3 older clover plots.
It's been so wet here in SW Ohio that I can't get on the ground or across the creek.
I worked yesterday afternoon on my sprayer mounting it on a tractor 3 pt rig. Had it on a small trailer but the creek washed out and can't get my ATV or golf cart across the creek bank.
Planned on spraying grass killer today but we have 20-40 MPH wind. Going to be nice Friday then colder and rain again. My 2 day window just went down to 1 day.
Was going to spray today and spread fertilizer and sow clover mix in another plot that was radish-turnip in 2017 that is bare ground. I may have to make it a full day on Friday. But being 74 and having MS my energy doesn't keep up with my mind doing hard work. But even though I have problems it's still better than dying young.
SHUT IT!!! Up here (ND/MN) we still have a foot of snow on the ground and high temps have only been in the 30's to low 40's, lakes still have several FEET of ice........ugh! I am anxious to get going in my plots, but I am not expecting to till the end of May!
4 feet of ice here. I have seen a few spots of soil in the fields though.
One word. WET ! Well, too wet on a couple places that I plant, (4" one week and 3" the next), probably about right on the other two. However, I like to make sure the ground temps are high enough to promote vigorous growth so that I can get beans and IC peas up and ahead of the hungry horde. I can't afford a cool front to shut it down for a few days, at least in my mind. I'm going turkey hunting next week, and when I get back it should be GO time.
I'm gonna try some Sunn Hemp in a two acre plot that IC peas were planted in last year. The peas lasted six or seven weeks before they were eaten up. I'm told Sunn Hemp can outgrow the deer, but that's just second hand info. Anybody out there familiar with it ? All the info I have is the planting rate and the advice to mow it if the deer don't keep it browsed down. I'm gonna plant a small amount of IC peas with it to "introduce" it to the deer, because I've heard that they might not take to it immediately. Advice welcome !
Last year I got in early and experienced near complete failure in my largest plot. We never have to worry about it being dry in the spring here but last spring my seed laid in the ground and didn't germinate. Ill hold off this year if it looks like moisture may be a problem
I believe summer hemp is more of a soil conditioner building Nitrogen back into your soils. Planted summer time after last years fall Brassicas used as a cover crop. Not sure if you intend to use it as a food plot or cover crop but I think cover crop is your best use with Hemp.
Deerplotter, I intend it for a food plot. I don't plant brassicas here, my deer won't eat them. I would keep planting IC peas if the deer didn't eat them so quickly. Supposedly the Sunn Hemp grows fast enough that the deer can't outrun them.
That will be interesting as a food plot. Let me know how it does. GL
I think getting food plots established this season is going to be a challenge.
Gee I didn't mean to upset anyone with our decent weather here. LOL
Wind let up today so I went down and sprayed Dakota grass killer with crop oil. My sprayer pump wasn't putting out the full 3 gl per minute so sprayed it 2 times.
Doing a rest period of lunch now then going back down and spread fertilizer and GRO clover seed mix called Mast Builder.
4-13-18 Went back down and spread #200 of 19-19-19 fertilizer and sowed GRO Mass Builder of Ladino 20%, Medium Red 20%, Berseem 20%, and Alsike 10% clovers. With Alfalfa 20% and Chicory 10%. This was in .75 ac that was a bare radish-turnip 2017 plot. There was not one radish-turnip bulb in that .75 ac.
It is forecast for 2 days of rain this weekend and that's what I hope for for the new seed.
All I read on a forum here about a brassicas. I thought the title was big ole brassicas. I can't seem to locate it. It show a picture of a young boy with the brassicas was 5 feet tall and it was cut down a couple of time. I wanted to find out what type of brassicas seed it was and if it planted well in central PA. Any help on this would be appreciated.
LouMan
I am an old timer but this is my Giant Rape field a couple years ago if you are looking for tonnage per acre.
I am an old timer but this is my Giant Rape field a couple years ago if you are looking for tonnage per acre.
4-18
Went down to the plot on another project and checked the clover plot I planted 5 days ago. We have had 3 days of off and on rain. I have some clover up already.
I am going to try Sunn Hemp this year as a soil conditioner;my biggest concern is this fall when the "narco" choppers are flying they will spot it and think it's "pot".I think I will hang on to the seed bag. Normally plant a couple acres of corn;adding a cow pea/sunflower plot,a stand alone sunflower plot ,radish,sorgum and a few other mixes.Sizes will range from 1/4 acre to 2 acres.Total should be about 20 acres.
Dont sweat the PoPo on Sunn Hemp, it looks nothing like weed.The deer eat the Sun Hemp but it grows rapidly and very quickly gets out of browse range if not deceimated. I primarily use it as a screen and for soil building.I border my plots and 8 acre main field with a 40-50 strip of Sunn Hemp, Buck Wheat, a climbing Soybean and as of last year, Teosinate, which is an ancient relative of corn.It has been reported that growing Sun Hemp for more than a few years in a row can result in disease problems, which I noticed last year personally.
