Buying land, starting plots from scratch, HELP!!!

[tbrown913]

My wife and I are going to be buying land soon. Very possibly her grandparents house and land! There is about 8 acres of grass around the house right now. Her uncle and nephew spend about 10 hours a week, each on zero turns, cutting the grass. I'm not willing to spend all my time cutting grass and I want to convert the grass to long growing food plots. I am thinking about 4 acres of soybeans, 2 or 3 acres of clover, and the rest will be garden space. As soon as we know what ground we will be buying I will do a soil test, one where the clover will be and one where the soybeans will be.

How would yall get rid of the grass? I am thinking about making a long process to kill everything. Spray roundup and if needed a broadleaf killer too and let everything die, then do a controlled burn. Then disc the land and let whatever seeds are in the dirt sprout. Spray them to kill. Put out what is needed per soil samples, and lightly disc in. If anything else grows kill that too. I figure this will take me until fall to get it done how I want. Then I would plant clover where I want it. Soybeans dont get planted in sept/Oct so that would have to be a normal plot the first year with some wheat oats and rye, then in the spring plant the soybeans.

What do yall think? What would yall do?

 

[Crakajak]

I would include some apple,pear,persimmon muscadine and blueberries in the plantings.Sawtooth oak, honeysuckle blackberries and maybe peach depending on where your at.

 

[tbrown913]

I would include some apple,pear,persimmon muscadine and blueberries in the plantings.Sawtooth oak, honeysuckle blackberries and maybe peach depending on where your at.

I'm definitely going to be adding sawtooth and persimmons. The land is 10 minutes south of I20 about 40 miles east of Atlanta. I havent seen a pear or apple produce anything in the area. There are actually a lot of muscadines in the trees along 2 edges of the field, big mature water oaks on one side, and planted pines/highway on the other. We will likely have blueberries growing inside the fenced garden. Have to have a deer proof fence for the garden otherwise the deer eat everything in years past. I'm hoping that the addition of clover and soybeans will ease the pressure on the garden. The deer have never had any plot on the land before.

 

[Canuck5]

I wouldn't burn ..... just from a safety standpoint with buildings around.

Keep some grass around the house, but not a lot.

Grass is very easy to kill with glyphosate (RoundUp). Use 2 quarts per acre and you will kill everything that is germinated. That will do a burndown on most every weed growing. Take your soil test and make sure you go at least 6" deep, to take your samples.

Have a truck come in and spread your lime, then immediately work it into the top 6" of soil, if you can. Use a disc harrow and not a plow.

Do weed control until next fall. Disc, spray, or whatever your choice is. Then 2 weeks before you plant, go ahead and spread your fertilizer and work it, into the top 4-6" of soil.

Pick your perennial clover(s) and plan your "mix" for next fall and do all 8 acres. I say that, because if you have a medium density of deer, 4 acres of soybeans may work the first year, but chances are in year 2, they would be wiped out, as soon as they get out of the ground.

I'd consider, with the 4 acres doing some alyce clover & vetch, or buckwheat or ........ instead. I'd also look at what I want to hide and plant some 10 foot wide strips of deer corn (cheap), to give some vertical structure, if you have a lot of open area. Plan your areas that you want to hunt.

I love perennial clover, but having areas where I can plant an annual "mix" is always a good idea. Having multiple annual clovers is a good idea too.

 

[Canuck5]

 

[elfiii]

Canuck is good. Canuck is wise. Follow his lead.

 

[Triple C]

Canuck is good. Canuck is wise. Follow his lead.

Well said elfiii. His Fall Food (for thought) Thread II should be required reading for anyone wanting to know anything about food plotting. Don't know what we would do without him!

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Roundup is the cheapest and lowest labor approach to killing stuff. To really kill everything, apply it twice two or three weeks apart in the growing season.

To keep grass and clover type plots in good shape, you need to mow a couple times each growing season unless the deer browsing is enough to keep it lush for them, which is rare.

 

[RootConservative]

How close is cover? Since it will be around the house and if bedding is any distance chances are you will making a nighttime food plot. I made this mistake years ago.

 

[Crakajak]

How close is cover? Since it will be around the house and if bedding is any distance chances are you will making a nighttime food plot. I made this mistake years ago.

I had a 5 acre food plot surrounded by 400 acres of pines.I killed good bucks every year.I planted a diverse food plot and had some thing for the deer to eat year round.Deer need a variety of browse and will find the most nutritional food source around.

 

[ucfireman]

Cutting grass does get old. I have 4-5 ac pasture and 2-3 ac paddocks and when I cut them all it takes about 7 hours with a 52 inch zero turn. I'm converting a couple of paddocks to clover food plots and going to just let them be and bush hog 1-2 times a year.
The pasture I will maintain in case I decide on a horse or cow or something, Deer love it though.

 

[tbrown913]

View attachment 993936

Great info, and I think I've read all those pics a few times over! I guess I should have stated, the front 3 or 4 acres can all easily be burned with no danger to the house or sheds. It goes straight to the road at the front of the property. The back is easily burned also by having a fire break disked around 3 sides, a pond on the other side. In the middle where the house sits is a hilltop, and all of the grass is about ankle deep right now. Also, I wont be hunting these plots. All I would have to do is open the front or back door to shoot, and I would only do that if the one biggest deer on the property is begging me to. There is tons of bedding in planted pines, within 200 yards of one border, planted pines directly bordering the back plot on one side, and nasty thick woods on the other. As far as keeping some beans, I have looked into getting a hot zone fence for an acre to let them grow to sprout beans. If they keep the rest eaten at 2", I wont mind as it means they need the food and I will be able to run wheat/oats etc in there for the fall.