Please Critique my Plan for tomorrow.

[ventilator]

Ok , Got two plots to plant tomorrow. Both are 1/2 acre plots. Currently , I did a soil test last year. Ph was 5.5 . Did all soil recs and have the PH up to 6.0 now roughly. I Planted Durana in both plots in April 2021. Frost seeded more Durana this year back in February. It is doing very well this year finally. Still have some patchy areas of little growth. I have Buck Forage Oats to plant tomorrow. Also, i have 17-17-17 fertilizer. My plan is to spread the fertilizer and BFO together and then use a spring plow to work it all in. I have worked too hard on the clover to just spray and kill it. I have kept it mowed this summer but its fairly high right now. Not much in the way of weeds. Once i have plowed it under i plan to overseed more Durana in the exposed soil and leave it. Rain in the forecast next week Thursday to Monday. What would you do differently if anything?

 

[mattb78]

Methods sound great here are thoughts on forage selection:

-At 1 acre you aren't giving them much warm season nutrition. I would consider geering more towards cool season plots (oats/crimson or oats/rye/crimson). A balance of both would be adding in crimson, arrowleaf and even red clover to have 10 months of nutrition if you still want warm season food.

-Depending on your deer density you may get more mileage out of a graze resistant grain like Rye. Or maybe throw some rye in there with the oats. Of course oats are more palatable but 1/2 acre plots can get hammered early.

 

[ventilator]

I do have two 50lb bags of abruzzi rye. I had planned to broadcast this on a couple of long roads in some pines. If i use 100lb of BFO on each plot, is 50lb of rye going to be too much seed with it? Or will it all do fine together? 150lbs on 1/2 acre seems heavy.

 

[mattb78]

I assume you have 200 lbs of BFO? That's alot already for just 1 acre.

Since you already bought the BFO just stick with that.

Definitely make a browse enclosure on both plots and that will give you an idea if you need to try a more browse resistant combination next year.

I would just consider making some future changes as suggested because its such small acreage. IMO those are small attractant hunting plots and not nutrition plots and I would manage with that mindset.

 

[Canuck5]

40 pounds per acre of a cereal grain is lots, mixed with clover. Like Matt says, go with the BFO and broadcast over top, but separate from the fertilizer.

If you have clover showing thru right now, I would NOT do any tilling. Just broadcast over top.

I no mow, no mo and just let the perennial white clover go to seed. It will drop seed for you, for the future. Use the proper herbicides to control weeds and grass.

Pray for rain and be cautious mixing seed and fertilizer (read the last line)



If, November first, after having adequate rain or not, you are unhappy with your stand, go ahead and broadcast another 40 pounds per acre of your cereal rye.

 

[Canuck5]

You can see the dropped seed, from my Durana plot, after a hot summer ... germinating, with no mowing.

 

[Ihunt]

I would not till a Durana plot. Broadcast the BFO over the top. If you don’t get a good stand, then overseed that rye.

 

[Milkman]

If you have access to an aerator that would be enough tillage IMO.

 

[TomC]

Interesting comment about the aerator. I realize food plots aren't lawns but was always curious if running a core aerator over a food plot in fall prior to overseeding an existing clover plot would not be beneficial to both loosen up compacted soil and to expose a little dirt to help with overseeding. Since core aerating is so beneficial to lawns it seems like it would be equally beneficial to food plots.

 

[Crakajak]

Interesting comment about the aerator. I realize food plots aren't lawns but was always curious if running a core aerator over a food plot in fall prior to overseeding an existing clover plot would not be beneficial to both loosen up compacted soil and to expose a little dirt to help with overseeding. Since core aerating is so beneficial to lawns it seems like it would be equally beneficial to food plots.

Although a core aerator will loosen the soil it will also pull up small plants.
If I need to loosen the red clay I plant Diacon radish .If the deer eats them it's a 2 fer.

 

[TomC]

Although a core aerator will loosen the soil it will also pull up small plants.
If I need to loosen the red clay I plant Diacon radish .If the deer eats them it's a 2 fer.

Getting ready to overseed an existing clover plot with cereal rye and thought about running my core aerator over it before overseeding. Would it be better to use a disk harrow, set the disc straight (not aggressive) to rough it up a tad before broadcasting the cereal rye into the existing clover or just broadcast the cereal rye without doing anything?

 

[Crakajak]

I spend to much time and money to get my clover established to take a chance on cutting to deep or destroying plants by any means.Once I plant ,I don,t turn the soil. Everything goes on top.
Best practice is to top sow seed as close to a rain event as possible when top seeding any seed,fert,or lime.
My theory is cereal grains are a bonus planting after the first year .

 

[ventilator]

Thanks for all the comments. Now i just need it to rain this friday as forecasted!

 

[Ihunt]

Getting ready to overseed an existing clover plot with cereal rye and thought about running my core aerator over it before overseeding. Would it be better to use a disk harrow, set the disc straight (not aggressive) to rough it up a tad before broadcasting the cereal rye into the existing clover or just broadcast the cereal rye without doing anything?

That rye grain will do just fine as long as it gets a good rain on it. I’ve seen it germinate and grow in the bed of pickup trucks and on ground so hard you couldn’t have harrowed it up with a normal sized harrow.

 

[ventilator]

Got turkeys all over my two plots right now. Hopefully fridays rain will take care of that promptly! Interesting how i only saw one turkey all of last year after i bought the place. It will be nice if they use the place full time now that ive got some plots going, along with the habitat improvements ive done.