First time planting plots and needing advice

[hunter 85]

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

I should have said no way to use a disc as my cart barely has enough power to get around with two people in it

 

[Canuck5]

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

Don't try to drink from a fire hose, just do what you can! Hauling 2000+ pounds of lime, then tilling it into the soil will take a fair amount of work. Again, I'd suggest you get that 1/4 acre plot "right" to start with and get a perennial clover planted in it, to make your life easier, later.

 

[Canuck5]

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

Here's where you can pick up a little bag and drop the sample off at. Probably not on a weekend, though.

http://extension.uga.edu/county-offices/telfair/contact-us.html

Bring cash, but it should be less than $10 and then they will email you, your results. You could also give them a call and maybe they will mail you a bag, then all you have to do, is put your dry soil sample in it and then mail it back. All the instructions are on the bag. Or maybe you could pick up a bag at your county extension service down in Florida. They really don't care where the dirt comes from.

 

[Canuck5]

http://www.walterreeves.com/how-to-archive/how-to-soil-test/

http://aesl.ces.uga.edu/soiltest123/Georgia.htm

 

[Canuck5]

You can order a prepaid bag, for $15 here

https://estore.uga.edu/C27063_ustores/web/classic/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=5508

 

[XIronheadX]

I'd sell the golf cart and call the forestry dozer. lol. Cost about $275 for us the last two years. A couple of plots and a few hundred yards of strips. Nothing gets torn up, and no gas gets burned up. 2 hours and they are gone. Sounds like yours may be in the $250 range. Borrow Kmac's wheel barrow. lol

 

[shdw633]

Can you get the golf cart down to your foodplots? Here why I am asking and again this is just a substitution for what you really need to be doing; however, since you have so little equipment and are looking at hours of backbreaking work I am going to suggest it anyway. Your golf cart should be able to pull a drag similar to the one I am posting on here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/V-4x4-Drag...248251&hash=item283838b000:g:01IAAOSwz71ZSnw9

This is a tines up/tines down arena rake. You can roll it up and put it on the back of your cart or you can just leave it dragging behind but make sure it's tines up if you do that to get to your foodplot. Once you are at the foodplot simply put it tines down and go up and down the foodplot with the drag tines down behind the cart a few times to loosen the soil and remove small debris, then I would throw a fast acting lime such as dolomite, in either powder or pellet, I like powder but it can be a pain to throw out but you have small plots so you might not mind that or you may want to go pellet form to be easier on you. This will not hurt your seeds that you are about to plant but it is also not a long term fix for your lime situation, you will have to get that figured out and work on your soil once you get your soil report; however, this method of liming will give your seeds a bump to start the growing process. Then plant your seeds after you throw the lime and go over them with the tines up on the drag and that will cover them and save you a ton of hurt and time tilling the soil to get it going. I used this method when I first started doing foodplots 15 years ago and it still works today, especially in pine forest lanes. Now that process will really only work well with small seeds like the ones I mentioned in my earlier post as you need to get those larger seeds like soybeans and cow peas deeper into the soil. Fertilize as I stated earlier and what should happen is the millet will act as ground cover for the clover and buckwheat, with the buckwheat coming up faster than the clover and giving your deer something to feed on while the clover and millet mature, then after three months the millet will mature and die but it should leave you with a beautiful stand of alyce clover for your deer to feed on until the first frost. Come fall if you still don't have equipment you can top dress the Alyce with crimson, rape, cereal rye or any other small seed, as well as winter wheat without having to till it all up to re-seed. The hope would be that by the time the alyce clover dies your other seeds should have taken hold and given you a great fall foodplot. This will give you 1 to 1 1/2 years to hopefully get the equipment needed to do a more thorough job on your plots going forward. BTW, first thing I would get is an ATV....can do allot more with an ATV than a golf cart in regards to foodplots. Good Luck!!

 

[hunter 85]

Can you get the golf cart down to your foodplots? Here why I am asking and again this is just a substitution for what you really need to be doing; however, since you have so little equipment and are looking at hours of backbreaking work I am going to suggest it anyway. Your golf cart should be able to pull a drag similar to the one I am posting on here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/V-4x4-Drag...248251&hash=item283838b000:g:01IAAOSwz71ZSnw9

This is a tines up/tines down arena rake. You can roll it up and put it on the back of your cart or you can just leave it dragging behind but make sure it's tines up if you do that to get to your foodplot. Once you are at the foodplot simply put it tines down and go up and down the foodplot with the drag tines down behind the cart a few times to loosen the soil and remove small debris, then I would throw a fast acting lime such as dolomite, in either powder or pellet, I like powder but it can be a pain to throw out but you have small plots so you might not mind that or you may want to go pellet form to be easier on you. This will not hurt your seeds that you are about to plant but it is also not a long term fix for your lime situation, you will have to get that figured out and work on your soil once you get your soil report; however, this method of liming will give your seeds a bump to start the growing process. Then plant your seeds after you throw the lime and go over them with the tines up on the drag and that will cover them and save you a ton of hurt and time tilling the soil to get it going. I used this method when I first started doing foodplots 15 years ago and it still works today, especially in pine forest lanes. Now that process will really only work well with small seeds like the ones I mentioned in my earlier post as you need to get those larger seeds like soybeans and cow peas deeper into the soil. Fertilize as I stated earlier and what should happen is the millet will act as ground cover for the clover and buckwheat, with the buckwheat coming up faster than the clover and giving your deer something to feed on while the clover and millet mature, then after three months the millet will mature and die but it should leave you with a beautiful stand of alyce clover for your deer to feed on until the first frost. Come fall if you still don't have equipment you can top dress the Alyce with crimson, rape, cereal rye or any other small seed, as well as winter wheat without having to till it all up to re-seed. The hope would be that by the time the alyce clover dies your other seeds should have taken hold and given you a great fall foodplot. This will give you 1 to 1 1/2 years to hopefully get the equipment needed to do a more thorough job on your plots going forward. BTW, first thing I would get is an ATV....can do allot more with an ATV than a golf cart in regards to foodplots. Good Luck!!

Thank you I will definitely look into the drag