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I decided to give planting a small food plot a try this year. We need rain!!! The food plot is fried, and the grass in the pasture around it is starting to turn brown in spots. Already had a week of army worms killing the grass. Hopefully what few oaks that are here have a good acorn crop.
I plant a mix of peas, winter wheat, cereal rye, and oats in 3 plots for a total of about 4 acres. Will be putting in my seed this weekend would normally wait to plant before a good rain but will be gone from the 8th-19th so just have to hope for the best.
July 5
July 5
Just too damn hot to plant now and no rain in the forecast. Last year I planted on 9/18 and think I'm going to target around then for this year. I have 3 plots for a total of about 3 acres(1 is 2 acres and the other 2 are only 1/2 acre each). Will plant a 4x4 mix on the 2 acre plot and buck forage oats with clover and chicory on the other 2.
Yeah, the drought has stressed most plots. On my small plots, last year I planted a spring/summer mix to try and suppress the weeds. I planted it May 14th. It came in pretty well so maybe you'll want to look at something similar for next year. Pics were taken July 5th and August 1st.
I knew it was early to plant. I planted early in August, had 2 inches of rain over three days after planting. Lesson learned . Thanks for the advice.
The "too damn hot to plant now" was only intended towards me and being a lightweight as I get older! Also, it's not too late to overseed your fried plot and run a cultipacker over it. I'd suggest winter wheat as it'll grow just about on concrete if there's some moisture along with a perennial clover. Both could be spread using a hand spreader or small yard fertilizer spreader. If you have any interest in what I'm planting or how, feel free to post up. I'm a newbie to food plots but others here have been doing it for years and are very accomplished at it!
Thanks Russ. I have clover to seed again. Just waiting on some forecasted rain.
BigOk…..You could seed some type of cereal grain (rye, wheat, oats, triticale) along with your clover, this fall, and get more bang for your buck. IMO, you probably won’t get a lot of growth on your clover this fall, but the cereal grains will give you some attraction this fall.
BigOk - when I mentioned "very accomplished", I was referring to Troy. The man knows his stuff about food plots.
Anyone in OK planting plots this weekend? Got all of the seed and fertilizer but tractor is still at shop getting freeze plugs replaced(one leaking). Our property is South of Okemah and not really any rain in the forecast so I may wait until next weekend. The drought really hit my clover/plantain/chicory pretty hard so looking forward to some rain. Ready to get in a stand!!
Still to dry in NE OK, I was hoping to redo my plot this weekend but no good rains forecasted as you stated.
BigOk did you get your plots redone last weekend? Looks like a good soaking rain the next few days. Decided to hold off on putting my seed in before my trip due to the lack of rain. Got them all planted this weekend latest I've ever planted just grateful for the rain.
I'm the same as you PushCoArcher - planted last weekend too. Don't have a 3pt disc but a couple of plots needed turning under a little so I used my friends king kutter tiller. Man, was that a mistake with this dry soil! Our land is very sandy so at times running the tiller I honestly couldn't see the front loader on the tractor due to the dust. I know I will have some weeds/johnson grass come back up as I didn't spray first but this late summer has been a real challenge with plots.
Looks like Okemah area got close to 2" of rain yesterday with more to follow late tonight and most of tomorrow(fingers crossed). With the sandy soil, we really need a good steady soaking which should be Saturday.
I planted a 4x4 mix which includes a clover that is more tolerant of the summer weather or at least it's supposed to be. Anxious to see how it does in OK. Would like to have a better browse up for early archery as I don't rifle hunt much but figure my plots will be doing great in November!
I sprayed over the weekend and spread seed on Monday. Hopefully it comes up good.
I think the heavy dew must have gotten these seeds from last week to sprout. I believe it's clover but part of a blend so can't tell until further up. Now, if I could just keep the deer from stepping on them I expect will have some good plots in a couple of weeks.
A couple weeks!!!?!?…..You sprayin those plots with Miracle Gro, Russ?? ;-)
Hopefully you guys get some more much need moisture, down there! My buddy missed out on the last rain down there. He’s still holding off on planting his winter rye for his winter pasture.
Troy, we get some "special" fertilizer from the Asian pot growers that will have clover up to 6" in a month. Only downside is after the deer eat it they get lazy and go lay on the couch and lose all motivation!
I strongly considered not even planting this year due to the lack of rain. When I decided to go ahead there was rain forecast almost 2 weeks out. Lying bastards at weather.com!! Supposed to be sunny and no chance of rain now for at least 2 weeks. Don't think heavy dew will get them where they need to be! We have a pretty good crop of acorns now so if it takes longer to establish the plot then should be fine.
I got almost 2 inches of rain of 3 days, however within a day and half the ground was dry as a bone. I do have a few sprouts coming up as of yesterday so fingers crossed.
BigOk, sounds about like us in Okfuskee County. 1.9 inches reported in Okemah via Mesonet over the last 10 days so definitely should give our plots a kick start. Rain forecast early next week so fingers crossed here too!
Rye has came up good. Some clover and radishes too. Good luck to everyone.
About the same BigOk. Our oats are up pretty good with clover and other varieties from a 4x4 mix coming in well. Wish the rain/sun were more consistent instead of 2" of severe thunderstorms then 2-3 weeks of drought and mid-upper 80s!
