Year around foodplot Dashboard

[wtruax]

Ok with the help of this forum I have finally grown my first succssful food plots. I would really like to have food in the ground year around and really help the health of the herd. I do not have enough acres of plots to achieve that yet but over time I hope to keep adding so that happens. With that said what is the best way to always have food coming out of the ground. I am really trying to not have warm season plots and cool season in different places. Do you terminate 1/2-3/4 of the cool plot and seed the warm plot and then do that again with the planting of cool season? Also if you need to lime a plot do you just spread it on top and not disk it in at all since you have a plot constantly growing?

I am also trying to set up a dashboard so I understand when to do what can yall fill in the blanks for what to do in what months- seeding, soil test, lime, fertilze, terminate.....

Jan-
Feb- soil sample?
March-
April- Lime (for cool season plot)
May-
June-
July-
Aug-
Sept-
Oct- Cool season seed (rain dependent)
Nov-
Dec-

 

[north_ga fireman]

clover is a good year round choice without having to till and replant yearly. we fertilize and lime earlier than april and oct we fertilize again with maintenance lime. this year we sprayed for grasses and the clover is really thick.

 

[Triple C]

I'll take a stab at it based on my non-scientific, novice, non-expert, just my opinion, try at your own risk experience of working my own piece of dirt over the last decade:

Jan- Habitat work: timber stand improvement hack n squirt, girdling, hinge-cutting, etc.
Feb- soil sample and continued habitat work including late winter discing of fallow areas to release seed bank for forbs n brambles.
March- Continued habitat improvement work.
April- Lime. Late April terminate cool season plots with gly.
May- Prep ground and plant warm season plots soybeans, cowpeas, buckwheat, sorghum, sunflower, lab lab, etc.
June- Control summer grasses in perennial clover plots with Cleth. Spot spray or mow broadleaf weeds in clover. If possible, do a prescribed "hot" burn to promote forbs and kill hardwood saplings.
July- Keep an eye on grass invasion in clover plots.
Aug- Take a break. Enjoy a few cold beverages in the shade. If good rain is occurring and you want to produce brassica bulbs, plant brassicas.
Sept- Prep fall plots that weren't planted in summer forage by terminating anything growing with gly and let it sit for at least 2 weeks until everything is flat on the ground.
Oct- Plant fall cereal grains, fertilize perennial clover.
Nov- Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Dec- Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

[wtruax]

I'll take a stab at it based on my non-scientific, novice, non-expert, just my opinion, try at your own risk experience of working my own piece of dirt over the last decade:

Jan- Habitat work: timber stand improvement hack n squirt, girdling, hinge-cutting, etc.
Feb- soil sample and continued habitat work including late winter discing of fallow areas to release seed bank for forbs n brambles.
March- Continued habitat improvement work.
April- Lime. Late April terminate cool season plots with gly.
May- Prep ground and plant warm season plots soybeans, cowpeas, buckwheat, sorghum, sunflower, lab lab, etc.
June- Control summer grasses in perennial clover plots with Cleth. Spot spray or mow broadleaf weeds in clover. If possible, do a prescribed "hot" burn to promote forbs and kill hardwood saplings.
July- Keep an eye on grass invasion in clover plots.
Aug- Take a break. Enjoy a few cold beverages in the shade. If good rain is occurring and you want to produce brassica bulbs, plant brassicas.
Sept- Prep fall plots that weren't planted in summer forage by terminating anything growing with gly and let it sit for at least 2 weeks until everything is flat on the ground.
Oct- Plant fall cereal grains, fertilize perennial clover.
Nov- Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Dec- Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

That is awesome thanks so much!
DO you have some plots that are warm season and cool season only?
In sept what do you do to the plots that were planted in warm season summer forage?
In April do you terminate all cool plots and do you just throw lime on top?

 

[Triple C]

DO you have some plots that are warm season and cool season only? Only 1 summer plot and it's 6 acres in size. All other plots only get fall plantings. Anything less than 5 acres is almost a waste of time and money planting any type of bean as deer just wipe them out before they get started, assuming you have a relatively high deer density. If you want to do summer plots less than 5 acres, plant a combo deal of sunflower, sorghum, buckwheat, cowpeas n soybeans.
In sept what do you do to the plots that were planted in warm season summer forage? Broadcast winter wheat and radish into the standing summer mix and call it a day.
In April do you terminate all cool plots and do you just throw lime on top? Mow and spray with Gly in late April. Let it lay till mid May. Plant into dead thatch in Mid May. I've never worked lime into the soil just for the sake of working lime in. When I lime, it lays on top until I"m ready to plant.

Final comment - Smaller plots are maintained with perennial clover. Some 100% clover and others just the perimeter and then overseeded with cereal grains in the fall.

In full disclosure, I haven't planted summer plots the past several years. Just maintained my clover. We will resume planting summer plot in largest field in 2021 to offset the loss of not having anything green growing in the plots for the six week period from the time we spray down with gly in late August or early September until planting and germination in mid October of fall plots.

 

[Released123]

The only thing I would add to Triple C's schedule, would be planting Fruit Trees in February.

 

[FootLongDawg]

maybe I just didnt see it mentioned, but mowing is very important

 

[Triple C]

maybe I just didnt see it mentioned, but mowing is very important

Check out episode 39 on the MSU Deer University podcast featuring Dr. Craig Harper from UT. I was once a "mower of fields" but over the past few years the mower gets used primarily to maintain interior roads. Left over winter plots that won't get planted in the spring nowadays just go fallow until I'm ready to plant the following fall. Also a great section on late season burns on that episode.

 

[wtruax]

CCC thanks so much for the time and knowledge.... getting these plots started has been much more difficult than I thought it would be, but now that I have some green coming out of the ground and the deer using it I am hooked.

I love Deer University. I have listened to all of the podcast multiple times and now that I am starting to plant going back and learning even more. I wish they would make some more episodes