First time planting plots and needing advice

[hunter 85]

Needing some food plot help. This is my first time at trying to really plant a food plot other than just throwing out no till. I’ve got two spots I’m going to plant and have not gotten soil samples done as this is kinda an impulse decision to do an running out of time to plant. I am planning on putting out probably 1500 lb of lime as I don’t believe the soil is very good and I’m having to do all the work by hand and tiller. I got a clay pea and soybean mix and purple top turnips to plant but I’m wondering if I go ahead and put the turnips out will they still grow and the deer eat them as I will not be able to get out in the fall to retill and plant. So if they won’t stay growing into the fall/winter can I just throw the seed out in the fall and it grow? Also can I use something like malorginite ( not sure of spelling) to keep the deer off the peas long enough for them to actually grow,or will it cause the plot to go bust and they not eat it at all? Sorry for the long post but thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Canuck5]

Do yourself a favor and before you put anything down, go ahead and take a soil sample. It will cost you $10 or so and really and truly may save you a lot of money, or it may save you a lot of heartache. It will be the cheapest, yet most important food plotting decision you can make .... for $10!

If you are doing an iron and clay cowpea/soybean mix, by hand and with a tiler, I am assuming you're doing a very tiny plot. Something less than acre, I suppose? If that is the case, I'd save those seeds and plant them with my fall mix, because they just won't last any length of time and the deer will have them consumed in a matter of 24 hours, once they emerge. That is, unless you put an electric fence around them.

Turnips are a cool season crop, so save those seeds till the fall. Don't plant them now.

Go ahead and apply your lime now and get it worked into the soil. Properly amended, the lime will have a chance at changing your soil ph by October, at which time, you can focus on your fall crop and I'd suggest looking at a perennial white clover. White clovers are good deer food and feed the deer almost year round. I have clover plots that are going on 11 years now, with only taking care of weeds and grasses and fertilizing. Have never worked up that soil, again.

Without proper soil ph, most of your fertilizer cannot be used by your plants, so it's a big waste.

 

[Canuck5]

This fall, if you opt not to till the soil, but have amended it, and you're not covered up in weeds and grasses, you can broadcast wheat, crimson clover, durana clover and your purple top turnips and you'll stand a good chance of getting a perennial clover plot going.

 

[hunter 85]

Do yourself a favor and before you put anything down, go ahead and take a soil sample. It will cost you $10 or so and really and truly may save you a lot of money, or it may save you a lot of heartache. It will be the cheapest, yet most important food plotting decision you can make .... for $10!

If you are doing an iron and clay cowpea/soybean mix, by hand and with a tiler, I am assuming you're doing a very tiny plot. Something less than acre, I suppose? If that is the case, I'd save those seeds and plant them with my fall mix, because they just won't last any length of time and the deer will have them consumed in a matter of 24 hours, once they emerge. That is, unless you put an electric fence around them.

Turnips are a cool season crop, so save those seeds till the fall. Don't plant them now.

Go ahead and apply your lime now and get it worked into the soil. Properly amended, the lime will have a chance at changing your soil ph by October, at which time, you can focus on your fall crop and I'd suggest looking at a perennial white clover. White clovers are good deer food and feed the deer almost year round. I have clover plots that are going on 11 years now, with only taking care of weeds and grasses and fertilizing. Have never worked up that soil, again.

Without proper soil ph, most of your fertilizer cannot be used by your plants, so it's a big waste.

View attachment 967331

one plot will be 170yd by 20yd and the other is 60x40 to 60x20yds I have to do them by hand cause I don’t have a tractor or atv and the areas are not the easiest places to get to so don’t really want to barrow someone else’s stuff and mess it it.

 

[Canuck5]

There's 43560 square feet in an acre, so your 170 x 20 yard plot is about 3/4 of an acre (.70 acres) and you 60 x 40 is about .25 of an acre, so your total is around 1 acre.

The soil test on one of my food plots required 3.75 tons/acre of lime (7500 pounds of lime per acre). Every area is different and that's why it's always good to find out what you've got. What county is the property in? Mines up in Talbot County. Maybe someone in your county could share their soil test results with you, just to give you a ball park.

Money & time is always an issue. Did I say that money and time are always an issue? If your soil test comes in as bad as mine, take that 1500 pounds of lime and put it on your .25 acre plot and work it in, 4" deep. Get it going right and determine what you want to plant in there, this fall. Make it a plot that you can leave year round and not have to work it up again, for a while .... like perennial clover.

Your .75 acre plot, add your lime on it next year, or on 1/2 of it next year. This fall, buy yourself a good back pack sprayer, 2 1/2 gallons of glyphosate, 100 pounds of wheat and 25 pounds of crimson clover. Spread your wheat, crimson and (2 pounds) turnips, then immediately spray over top, then sit down and have a cold beverage. Your deer will appreciate your efforts.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-4-Gal-Diaphragm-Backpack-Sprayer-MS-401/204631895

Next May 15th, bring in as much lime as you can and if you can only do 1/2 of that 3/4 acre plot, just work that part up and start over again in the fall. In the meantime, your .25 acre plot will have some clover in it, to keep your deer hanging around!

In February of next year, bu 100 pounds of bagged white salt and 100 pounds of mineral salt, divide both in 2 and make your self 2 mineral sites 100 yards apart.

We all try to drink from a fire hose, but very few are successful!

 

[shdw633]

one plot will be 170yd by 20yd and the other is 60x40 to 60x20yds I have to do them by hand cause I don’t have a tractor or atv and the areas are not the easiest places to get to so don’t really want to barrow someone else’s stuff and mess it it.

That's not a large enough plot for peas and soybeans to survive. The deer will let them get up to about three inches and, like Canuck5 stated, they will wipe them out over night unless you put an electric fence around them. Even if you do that, they will wipe them out within a couple of weeks once you take the fence down. My recommendation for you is to get some Alyce clover, Buckwheat and Brown-top millet. Put out your lime and then ruff up your area with a tiller, then just broadcast the seed and then lightly rake your area to cover the seed. Don't do this until you have a good rain coming through or the birds will eat all your seed. It would be better if you could run a drag over the plot before and after planting but since you don't have that I would recommend you till it, plant it, then rake it. You do all that on those two foodplots and you will get you an atv and drag for next season I promise you because you will be whooped!! I would also consider some fertilizer, like a 19-19-19 when you plant or at least sometime within a few weeks of planting.

 

[shdw633]

That's not a large enough plot for peas and soybeans to survive. The deer will let them get up to about three inches and, like Canuck5 stated, they will wipe them out over night unless you put an electric fence around them. Even if you do that, they will wipe them out within a couple of weeks once you take the fence down. My recommendation for you is to get some Alyce clover, Buckwheat and Brown-top millet. Put out your lime and then ruff up your area with a tiller, then just broadcast the seed and then lightly rake your area to cover the seed. Don't do this until you have a good rain coming through or the birds will eat all your seed. It would be better if you could run a drag over the plot before and after planting but since you don't have that I would recommend you till it, plant it, then rake it. You do all that on those two foodplots and you will get you an atv and drag for next season I promise you because you will be whooped!! I would also consider some fertilizer, like a 19-19-19 when you plant or at least sometime within a few weeks of planting.

I should state that I totally agree with getting the soil tested...it will save you a lot in money and more importantly, frustration. Just because you plant it don't mean it will grow. I only stated what I would do because I have very poor soil and it's taken me a lot of time and money to figure out what I can get to grow there because I didn't listen to the advice of getting a soil test sooner.

 

[Canuck5]

And, once you've got your soil ph properly adjusted, you may not have to add more lime for another 3 or 4 years.

 

[hunter 85]

Thank you every one for the advice!
Canuck the property is in telfair

 

[Canuck5]

I'll have a ballpark answer for you shortly .... soil ph for Telfair County

 

[kmckinnie]

one plot will be 170yd by 20yd and the other is 60x40 to 60x20yds I have to do them by hand cause I don’t have a tractor or atv and the areas are not the easiest places to get to so don’t really want to barrow someone else’s stuff and mess it it.

U got a Roto tiller ?

 

[kmckinnie]

U got a Roto tiller ?

They are not that much.

 

[hunter 85]

They are not that much.

Yes I think is a rototiller a 14in rear tine

 

[hunter 85]

*have

 

[Canuck5]

So, I still encourage you to get the soil test done, ASAP, as you can see above, in mine, it told me how much fertilizer to use as well. I didn't have to guess or waste money on applying too much.

 

[Canuck5]

So, from a "good" source who knows the area you're in, he's guessing your soil ph is around 5.8 ph and a rough recommendation on lime needed would be around 2000+ pounds per acre.

 

[kmckinnie]

So, from a "good" source who knows the area you're in, he's guessing your soil ph is around 5.8 ph and a rough recommendation on lime needed would be around 2000+ pounds per acre.

That would be quite a bit to haul down in his woods with no 4 wheeler.
I would recommend a wheelbarrow!

 

[Canuck5]

LOL, oh, to be young again ......

 

[hunter 85]

IM not too young no more and have a golf cart so I will be getting it as close as I can in my truck and running it back in with my wife and cart but if I can fit it I may try to get 50 bags to put out cause if it is to much lime than what is really needed I don’t think it will hurt will it but I’m pretty sure anything will be better than nothing

 

[hunter 85]

Also how do y’all go about doing the samples other than the 35$ kit off of amazon