First Time Food Plotter

Dbender

Senior Member
In my experience, clover is not as big a draw as cereal grain during hunting season. Not knocking clover, but as a primary draw, doe food source for early fall/winter cereal grain is hard to beat.
 

Canuck5

Food Plot advisor extraordinaire !
I don't disagree with you. Since he has lots of shade and isn't able to get to his property regularly, getting a clover plot established and over seeding with wheat (or other things) in the fall is a compromise. Something to keep the deer hanging around, year round, and feeding them well, has always been a good thing.

Another option, since he has 3 rows, he could always replant one and keep the other 2 in clover.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
In my experience, clover is not as big a draw as cereal grain during hunting season. Not knocking clover, but as a primary draw, doe food source for early fall/winter cereal grain is hard to beat.

I used to think that too and I planted cereal grains like tomorrow wouldn't come. My first clover plot changed my mind.
 
Well, decided to take the day off and haul my camper up so it is one less thing I will have to do before season begins. Unfortunately, that means I did not have my 4 wheeler with me so I was not able to scout out my areas but I did make it out to my wooden fence box which is where the bulk of the pictures above come from. This is the area that stays really wet and the ground holds moisture even during dry spells. :banginghe:huh:

I was less than disappointed with what I saw. I was able to find clover scattered out, but unfortunately it was among the various varieties of Barbarea Orthoceras I’ve got going on.

HELP! Now what???
 
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Dbender

Senior Member
Nothing, you've got a ton of natural, preferred, browse in there. Closer to season mow, harrow, and replant. You could skip a step depending on available equipment. Plenty of available food for the next 2 months or so.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
2-4-D-b for the win.
 
Nothing, you've got a ton of natural, preferred, browse in there. Closer to season mow, harrow, and replant. You could skip a step depending on available equipment. Plenty of available food for the next 2 months or so.
Ok, so it’s not as bad as it appears?? Might be able to get it mowed around the end of the month or so.
 

Dbender

Senior Member
Ok, so it’s not as bad as it appears?? Might be able to get it mowed around the end of the month or so.
No, it's got a bunch of food, beauty berry, maypops, ragweed, clover. I wouldn't spray, your going to turn it under in a month and a half or so anyway plus it'd take a bunch of chemical on weeds that size. Since you only have a harrow, id plow it 2-4 weeks before you plan to plant then spread your fert turn it in spread your seed and drag it smooth.
 
No, it's got a bunch of food, beauty berry, maypops, ragweed, clover. I wouldn't spray, your going to turn it under in a month and a half or so anyway plus it'd take a bunch of chemical on weeds that size. Since you only have a harrow, id plow it 2-4 weeks before you plan to plant then spread your fert turn it in spread your seed and drag it smooth.
Awesome. Sounds easy enough.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
Thanks. Spray when? Will that kill off the existing clover as well? What part of the process would I start at after that?

Spray now and again in about 4-5 weeks. 2-4-Db won't hurt the clover. It's what you use for broadleaf control in clover.
 
YEAR 2 UPDATE:
So I was able to get access to a tractor. On 9/8, we simply harrowed everything into the ground. Sprayed nothing, but ran it over and over until it was all knocked down and tilled into the ground. Took a good hour and a half or so.

Came back up weekend of 9/20 and had him harrow it up one more time—mainly to loosen up the dirt and get any remaining vegetation broken up. Took about 20 min. I planted that same weekend before I went home: The 5-seed mix from Minton’s, but this year I broadcasted it at probably about 6x’s the rate it called for (did 2 50-lb bags on about 1/3 acre of lanes).

There was only about 1 day of rain since that time (on/about 10/14). When I arrived Saturday, here is what I came to. Pretty proud of what you folks have taught me. 32EAA499-8315-41E5-9560-770408DEECF7.jpeg
 

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And with all the rain from TS Nestor on Friday/Saturday (about 2.25” here in NE Macon), the plot has literally exploded overnight. Below are photos taken mid-day Saturday afternoon and then again this morning (Monday) from the same spot. Different angles from the sun obviously, but still amazing what a little rain will do.
 

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Year 3 update:
Moved to new lease in Taylor County. Along with scouting out new places to hunt, I was also mindful of potential food plot locations here within the club. Decided to wait until as close to October 1 as I could to get seed in the ground based upon all the wonderful comments from each of you kind souls on this forum.

9/23: Convinced one of the members to help me out with his tractor/tiller.
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9/24: Bought several bags of a 5-way mix along with Black Oats as recommended by the fellas up at Mid-Ga Feed. Had a bag of ICP I bought back in July and never threw down, so a thin spreading of that found its way in as well. Also, tried something new this year in adding fertilizer—10/10/10 I think?—threw it down right along with the seed. Once seed was down, I drug with a chain drag behind my 4-wheeler. Did not cultipack as I thought the drag would be enough.

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Was very fortunate to get rain on the evening of the 24th, and just a few days later, I had green stuff popping up.

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Was nice to be able to watch the plots from my cell cams. Hard work paying off.
EB63BBAD-0C2B-4544-9AF0-4DF28D36E669.jpeg
 
Three weeks later, I’m more than proud of the work put in.
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Again, as previously mentioned, I am by no means a farmer. Heck, two years ago, I had no clue what to put down, when or even how to do it until I came on here. After plowing through several of these forums, I gave it a shot and have been more than pleased with the work put in. I have no doubt I’ll own a tractor someday and repay the favor by helping out some young, inexperienced club member who doesn’t have the right equipment or much less, doesn’t know where to begin. Each year, I learn a little something new and read more and more of what each of you share on here.

For those who aren’t sure where to begin or have never done this before—use these forums to your advantage. Start small with whatever equipment you do have available. Finding a tractor certainly cuts a lot down but once you’ve got the ground turned under, throw some seed and then hope and pray for the rain. Timing was probably the best tool I utilized this season. And ohh yeah, the new addition of the 10-10-10 stuff helped out a little bit too I think.

So as many have said on here before, if I can do it, you most certainly can! Good luck to all!
 
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And one other note I’d like to add—two years in a row now, I have had the most amazing success with the Iron Clay Peas. I did not include photos of it here, but as I was looking through trail cam pics last night, I noticed the ICP were the first thing to sprout up-and boy did they come up quick. But in no time at all (like nearly overnight), the deer mowed them down. Those things seem to be the easiest to get to grow and they’ll get deer to your area quicker than anything it seems like. Just a little food for thought.
 
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