reelsouthern1220
Senior Member
Hey guys. This is a little long winded, I apologize. I was hoping to get some input from those who have had success with spring plots in South Georgia. A little background: I have hunted this property since I was very young, about 25 years, with my father. It's about 1000 acres. Up until about 6 years ago, the planting was done by someone else. We have since been plugging away at maintaining/improving the plots as best we know how. Always planting the standard wheat, rye, and hint of cover mix you can pick up at the hardware store in the fall. We have access to a couple of old tractors, Bush hog, and a new harrow. We have had marginal success and just haven't really had the time to devote to making it what we want. I am committed to doing so this year.
Last spring was our first attempt at a spring planting. We have about 30 acres of food plots total. Plots range from 1/2 acre to about 5 acres (probably 3 of them in the 5 acre range, 3 around 2 acres, 4 around 1/2-1 acre). We limed them before planting last year based on soil test. Planted iron clay peas throughout the farm on the smaller plots last spring. We did not do the couple larger plots. As I have since read is common, most of the smaller plots got hammered before they made it. The couple that did make it were beautiful!! But drought finally got them in early fall. We gave a half effort at some late fall plots once rain was forecasted, but there was not much food for the game all in all, in my opinion.
This year I want to do what it takes to get some variety of food for the deer this spring/summer, and ultimately the fall also. I have been searching the Web and man there are a lot of products out there...For the convenience, the pre mixed stuff looks great, but kind of expensive and reading mixed results from people who have used them. We had the local feed store mix our seed and fertilizer in a large spreader that I was able to tow back and hook up to the tractor to spread. I like keeping my money local and it was relatively convenient and would like to use them again. I assume others do this on their farm for deer plots? It seems they probably cater to farms for production more than recreation.
Again, I am new to all of this. So here come the questions:
So being that we limed last year, we should be good for a couple of years, correct?
Has anyone had success with coming up with their own food plot blend that would include maybe some clover, peas, and some sort of millet? I'm obviously open to suggestions/thoughts but I really like the looks of those options I have seen. Makes a lot of sense to me to have the millet for support for the peas and a later food source, and even cover. I assume the feed store could mix up whatever you wanted?
If so, how do you figure the blend, or proper amount of each?
And being that our winters are so mild, is it possible for that planting to last through the fall, or would you typically still do a fall planting no matter what?
The other thing we have never really done that I can remember is roundup or weed killer. We would typically just mow it, disk it a couple of times, clean up excess grass, then plant and fertilize. Are we making a major mistake? And how do you go about getting/applying that amount of roundup? And do it without ruining any plots. Probably stupid, but honest question lol...
Anyway, I apologize for the long post. The questions could go on for days. I feel like this is pretty darn involved and a lot of info is needed to get a good grasp on it. And reading some of the stuff online you'd need to be a scientist to figure out what's what. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to give some advice.
Last spring was our first attempt at a spring planting. We have about 30 acres of food plots total. Plots range from 1/2 acre to about 5 acres (probably 3 of them in the 5 acre range, 3 around 2 acres, 4 around 1/2-1 acre). We limed them before planting last year based on soil test. Planted iron clay peas throughout the farm on the smaller plots last spring. We did not do the couple larger plots. As I have since read is common, most of the smaller plots got hammered before they made it. The couple that did make it were beautiful!! But drought finally got them in early fall. We gave a half effort at some late fall plots once rain was forecasted, but there was not much food for the game all in all, in my opinion.
This year I want to do what it takes to get some variety of food for the deer this spring/summer, and ultimately the fall also. I have been searching the Web and man there are a lot of products out there...For the convenience, the pre mixed stuff looks great, but kind of expensive and reading mixed results from people who have used them. We had the local feed store mix our seed and fertilizer in a large spreader that I was able to tow back and hook up to the tractor to spread. I like keeping my money local and it was relatively convenient and would like to use them again. I assume others do this on their farm for deer plots? It seems they probably cater to farms for production more than recreation.
Again, I am new to all of this. So here come the questions:
So being that we limed last year, we should be good for a couple of years, correct?
Has anyone had success with coming up with their own food plot blend that would include maybe some clover, peas, and some sort of millet? I'm obviously open to suggestions/thoughts but I really like the looks of those options I have seen. Makes a lot of sense to me to have the millet for support for the peas and a later food source, and even cover. I assume the feed store could mix up whatever you wanted?
If so, how do you figure the blend, or proper amount of each?
And being that our winters are so mild, is it possible for that planting to last through the fall, or would you typically still do a fall planting no matter what?
The other thing we have never really done that I can remember is roundup or weed killer. We would typically just mow it, disk it a couple of times, clean up excess grass, then plant and fertilize. Are we making a major mistake? And how do you go about getting/applying that amount of roundup? And do it without ruining any plots. Probably stupid, but honest question lol...
Anyway, I apologize for the long post. The questions could go on for days. I feel like this is pretty darn involved and a lot of info is needed to get a good grasp on it. And reading some of the stuff online you'd need to be a scientist to figure out what's what. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to give some advice.
, but hedge your bets!
