Northern Food Plot Advice
Mule Deer
This is right in the middle of BC, so more northern than most all of you. I have carved a couple of small plots out of the bush, totaling just under an acre. One plot is a very lazy "S" shape and gets from full sun to little sun, the other two not a lot of sun. And the soil is poor, though the PH tested pretty good, a few year ago. Spring was late and wet this year , then extreme heat, now a bit of both. I started five weeks ago rototilling the dandelions and daisies under. Two weeks later I crossed tilled, then last week again. I floated it off, then seeded, then lightly floated and then packed. I made sure not to over seed. It was supposed to rain in a couple of days for a couple of days later this week, but now that's been called off. Some of the ground is powder dry on top, some still quite moist.
I seeded half and half by weight of Daikon radish and a brassica mix that consists of 35% Bayou Kale, 30% Purple Top turnip, 30% Titan Forage Rape and a bit of Dwarf Sussex Rape. I still have a quarter acre plot to seed yet and that's going to get a five clover mix., but the seed is not here yet. This is not ag country and we don't have farm co-ops to buy from.
So a couple of questions. Since the soil was mostly dry when I seeded, if it does rain before it (hopefully) sprouts, should I pack it again? Should I overseed the clover mix into the brassica/radish mix? I haven't fertilized yet, but can I or should I do that before or after a rain? Typically anything that does grow, the mule deer mow it right down to stems after the first couple of hard frosts, usually early September. It would be nice if there was some clover growing by then. July here is typically hot and dry and August starts to get some rain again. It always cools off at night.
I know guys like t-roy and sitO successfully pull it off on a large scale every year, but I don't have much luck, mostly because I just depend on luck.
I don’t want t-roy to get tractor envy, but here’s a couple of pics anyway.
This will be the clover plot if I get the seed in time.
And the “cultipacker” has done its work.
Following from northern SK
Only overseed with clover if you want to convert it to an annual plot for the next few years. Otherwise, you can see if the brassicas come in, and if not, plant it before Sept with winter rye. I would fertilize before the next rain.
Do you first spray it with roundup to kill everything before you tilled it up?
No Mike, I just tilled and killed a few times.
The biggest problem is a case of mistaken identity. I’m pretty sure God thinks I’m Adam and the ground is cursed because of me. I till it, but it yields thorns and thistles. :(
Starfire, I’d like some of the plot to become a clover alfalfa blend.
I only ask because I’m a very amateur food plotter myself the last few years in Northern Alberta and I consultant a farmer/hunter/food plotter guy and he told me if you don’t kill the weed at the start with round up you can just about forget about getting a good food plot. I hate the chemicals but he was sure right with my stuff.
I have lots of Round-Up and a boom sprayer, but I don't like spraying close to the edges of the plot. And since the plots are small and narrow, thats alot of it. I'm careful to protect and encourage the natural browse, which likes it when I till the weedy edges so it can expand. But yes, I use Round-Up to kill the dandelions along the laneways and other close areas because they just attract bears. And definitely on thistles.
That unit turbo-charged, Rod??! First, if you’ve already planted the brassicas and cultipacked, I wouldn’t worry about going over it again. I know that rig is probably a blast to drive, but you won’t gain anything by hitting it again with the cultipacker. Second, I’d suggest waiting to fertilize right before a rain, if doable, especially if you’re putting down N. The P & K will be fine sitting on dry ground, but N will volitize fairly quickly, if it isn’t incorporated into the soil, either by working it in, or by rainfall.
As far as getting your clover established, you probably won’t get very much growth on it this year, but it should take off next spring. I don’t think I’d seed any clover where you planted the brassicas. If they do ok, I’m thinking they would probably shade out the clover to a large extent. I’d suggest planting the clover in the plot you’ve earmarked for it. I’d also suggest seeding rye in with the clover. Seed the rye and fertilizer first, lightly drag those in, then seed your clover, then cultipack the plot. You could then frost seed clover into the brassicas plot in March/early April as well. If the deer have it browsed down to bare dirt, you’ll have decent chance of establishing clover there, in the spring. I’d also suggest frost seeding clover into your existing clover plot at the same time. As far as timeframes, my WAG for planting the clover/rye in your area, I’d say mid/late August, possibly a bit earlier if it looks like you’re going to get decent moisture. The rye might get a little leggy, but if it does, you could mow it off to generate some new growth. Might not be an issue at all, either. The earlier timeframe helps the clover get established (if you have the moisture). The rye is pretty attractive as a food source in of itself, as well.
Ok, we supposedly have some rain coming so I went and followed t-roy’s advice. I ran over the intended clover with a narrow tooth cultivator. Spread the fertilizer and rye, dragged off, seeded the clover then cultipacked.
If nothing grows, Troy said I can come to his farm and shoot his target buck.
I do have some growth where there is shade and moisture, but that’s a pathetically small area.
C’mon rain!!!
In case it doesn’t rain, and in keeping with the pathetic $hit show, that is the Netherlands beauty pageant thread, I have a couple of aggressive, butchy looking does that now identify as “target bucks”, so you’re in good shape either way, Rod. ;-)
If Troy told you that, I’m burning my plot down tomorrow ! Can we sit in the same blind, I promise I won’t hide your arrows !
Troy, if that tucker can win a beauty contest, then I can certainly claim one of the butch does is a B&C buck.
drycreek, you don’t have a hope getting a pity invite with that crop!
We did get a bit of rain, then hot and dry for the next several days. Then the sky’s opened about a week ago and if all it needs is water, then I’m golden.
I checked yesterday and the rye was about four inches tall and it looked like tiny little clover plants coming up. The Cursed Ground is doing better than it ever has which puts it up to mildly pathetic status.
I just hope the clover doesn’t turn the place into a friggin bear circus!!
How is your brassica mix coming along Rod?
^^^^ It’s variable. The shaded ground with moisture is doing OK , I think. With all the rain now, I’m hoping to see a major improvement. Still have a month of growing season. The mule deer will walk through and pick out the Kale until heavy frost. Then they demolish everything in a week, leaving nothing but four inch stalks.
I’ll take a couple pics every week to keep track of progress.
I checked the plots today and there is pretty decent growth. I had to run two bears off.
The rye is growing well and the clover is small but taking off.
Any updates, Rod, or you been too busy looking for bargains on freeze dried meals? ;-)
Haha , nope. Put my first two frozen dinners in the freezer tonight.
The brassicas are doing ok given my usual results. The rye is growing, but I’m starting to think the clover is a total bust. Or the friggin bears are eating it faster than it can sprout.
And I noticed yesterday that I have a fair infestation of horsetail in a couple of spots. Also a very fine grass that just keeps coming up year after year.
I think next year I’m going to go on a merciless Roundup regime.
I resisted Roundup and battled weeds for a few years. Then broke down and did it in early June when weeds were getting established, then disced it up 3 to 7 days later and very few weeds came back, even to today, Aug 28. I also resisted fertilizer because it was way more expensive than the seeds, thought I would prefer organic. Pitiful growth. Now I use 100-150 lbs of granular per acre and man does it grow! I guess my crop and deer aren’t organic anymore. I do an oats, peas and canola mix. Works great in our Northern climate. You can bury the oats and peas in 1-3 inches of loose soil to retain moisture and then spread canola, and or turnips, radishes on top and roll them in for seed to soil contact. The small seeds on top at least give something to grow if you’ve buried the oats and peas too much. Use an inoculant on the peas, don’t skimp.
Waist high now, timely rains helped
Waist high now, timely rains helped
That looks great Mike! Looking at my brassicas, I may just go for a rye and clover mix in the spring. The little plot I did with rye and clover is doing pretty good, but my fear of feeding the bears has come true. I hate those bastards. Might have to round up some tags and thin the them out.
And, your right about the Roundup, I shouldn't have been so lazy. This spring I'm going to till, kill, repeat. The ground is usually too wet to rototill before middle of May though.
Do you have cams on your plot?
Some clover under the rye.
Some clover under the rye.
Thick but short.
Thick but short.
Yeah bears are definitely a problem, especially with oats. Cams don’t work well because I purposely make the plots long and narrow so the elk don’t pound them so bad, I want it more for deer. Elk want one open crop where they can herd up, see each other and eat, they don’t like being spread out, so they keep moving along and eat way less. Deer love it. I can stretch 5-10 acres out to hundreds of yards long, or even just 2-3 acres can be really stretched out if it’s only 10 yds wide.
