Ugh! Good food plot heap much work

[Sam McMichael]

I have spent a big portion of the day trying to get a food plot ready to plant. Just a few months ago, this area was thick woods. I have been removing limbs, stumps and all kinds of debris for several weeks. What a chore! I think it is now ready for planting. It will still need a lot of lime for clover to grow where oaks and pines and stood for over 40 years. That should happen this weekend. It is still pretty rough, but I hope it will produce enough food to be helpful.

I plan to have clover, turnips, rape, mustard, and radishes in the mix. On one spot that is hard to get the tractor in, I will plant chickory, as it doesn't require as much prep work.

This is the first time I have attempted a plot in ground this rough. I have always had a field that only needed a little plow and harrow work on an afternoon to be ready. I know why you guys who have gone into the thick woods and worked out a nice plot are so proud of them. It is fun, but still, it is a whole lot of work. I hope the wildlife appreciate it, especially the 9 turkeys in the area when I drove in today.

Any advice from experienced food growers will be appreciated.

[Hopewell Tom]

I don't have any food plot experience, but lots of woods experience. It will continue to be lots of work as the forest does not rest until all ground is covered in trees or shrubs. Some of the young growth will help as browse, but that won't last as they get up past that stage.
All the work will be worth it though if the plot does it's job. Good luck.

[TRAP]

"Any advice from experienced food growers will be appreciated."

Get a soil test done early in the game and treat your soil to obtain the proper ph range of the vegetation you are planting.  Establish proper ph first and then fertilize.  Good seed to soil contact is also important either by covering the seed lightly or by compaction.

DD

[Sam McMichael]

TRAP, several guys have told me to get the ph checked, so that is on my list of things to do. I have the seed and the budget set for fertilizer/lime, so now I need to get it on the ground before the next rain. To adequately cover the seed, will going over the seed bed with a garden rake be sufficient? I think going over it again with the tractor would be too much, because the seed package indicates a seed depth of 1/4".

[Pat B]

We used a piece of chain link fence with weight on it as a drag behind the tractor after sewing the seed. It worked well for covering the seed we planted in our food plots; wheat, oats, rye, ladino clover and rape.
  Contact your local Cooperative Extension Service about soil testing. In many places it is a free service and they will tell you how to do it and supply the containers to collect and ship the soil to be tested. The sooner you do it the better before your local farmers flood the testing lab.

[Jake Scott]

I second the soil test.  Standard ag grade lime usually takes 5-6 months to break down enough to become available.  Any basic test will give you a pH reading and macronutrients...nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.  Chances are the NPK will not need nearly as much adjustment as the lime.  Most wooded areas are acidic.  Keep laying the lime to it and that will free up any macros already available in the soil.  Get a test every year and make your fertility adjustments accordingly.  Good luck.  Food plots can be a ton of work, but pay off big time.

Jake

[Brian Halbleib]

Small seeds such as clover, rape and turnips only require good soil contact. Preparing a smooth seed bed, broadcasting seed then cultipacking/compressing the seed is all that is needed. If they get covered with too much soil, they won't grow. This plot was brush hogged, tilled smooth and seeded with turnips, rape & radishes on top just before a rain. This is 3 weeks of growth:

     

X2 on the soil test. Fertilizer is very expensive and a waste on low PH soil.