small food plot in the woods advice?

[Slingshot85]

I'm wanting to plant a small food plot in an opening thats near my stand in the woods. There is an old roadbed and a couple of huge oak trees that got blown down last year. So far I have cleaned out all of the growth that has come up and raked back all of the leaves and limbs. I sprayed with roundup and will go back in a week to finish cleaning out all the dead weeds. The clearing will be close to a 1/4 acre and gets 4-6 hours of sunlight. My questions are...

1. When would be the best time to plant?

2. Im planning on planting white clover, chicory and turnips or oats. Would you recommend planting something different?

3. When should I fertilize and lime the area. (I will do a soil check)

4. I have a rear tine digger. should i use it or just rake the seed into the soil?

Any other advice is appreciated.

 

[Canuck5]

I speculate that you'll have some very acidic soil, so, after you get your soil test done, buy your lime, use your tiller and work it in to the soil, 4-6" deep, ASAP. Doing this, this year will pay dividends down the road.

Since lime takes 6+ months to work, I think you need to just try oats (or wheat or cereal rye) and crimson clover for this year. They'll tolerate more acidic soils and it is a good attractant for deer season.

Fall of 2017, you can add more seed options, to your blend, since the soil should be up to snuff, then!

Fertilize and work it in to the soil when you seed and get your weeds under control, till then. Not sure where you're located, but plant late September or early October.

Good luck!

 

[shdw633]

I agree with a lot that Canuck is saying; however, I don't think you only have to plant the oats. I would lime now and work it in and then in September (we are in south central Ga and plant around Labor Day every year) get you a seed blend like Pennington Rackmaster and then if you want, add the white clover to it. When planting get some dolomite to add at the time of planting to "sweeten" the soil at the time of planting and you should have a great foodplot. Put the dolomite on, work it in the soil and then plant and drag (or rake) the plot to get good soil contact. I have been doing the dolomite and seed blends in pine rows for over a dozen years and have always had great success with many, many of those pine rows being first year plots, doing one this year as a matter of fact!!

 

[benellisbe]

I have several smaller plots, I have switch to just clover in them. The deer wipe out almost anything I plant that isn't clover before it gets a chance to get established. The hogs haven't bothered the clover as much as they did everything else I planted. Like the others have stated, lime now. Clover will help your soil with nitrogen as well.