what size food plat

[woodsman1977]

I am going to be planting my first food plot and was wondering what a good size is? I will be doing most of the work with my quad, I don't have the fancy equipment...just a few simple things....drag, disc, cultivator.

Thanks for the help

[wtnhunt]

Re: what size food plat

Depends really on how much you have available, and on your goals and on what you want to plant. Some plants will be prone to overbrowsing and will need to be planted in larger areas. Is this a hunting plot or a feeding plot? I prefer for my hunting plots to be long and narrow usually no more than a 1/4 acre. Feeding plots are generally about an acre in size or larger.

[woodsman1977]

Re: what size food plat

Thanks for the reply, I have been going wild...reading and studying everything I can on the subject.

Thanks again

[LETMGROW]

Re: what size food plat

pm sent.

[dogdoc]

Re: what size food plat

I've planted 2 acre plots before with my ATV--took a while but got it done. Like William stated I guess it depends on your total acreage and deer population. It also depends on what you want to plant. During the warm season plantings of peas and beans require a larger area due to heavy browsing.

good luck with your plot

todd

[deerslayer79]

Re: what size food plat

It depends on the area around where you want to plant the plot I believe bigger is not always better,Mine usually run between a 1/4 acre to 1 1/2 acres,most of the time I plant in far corners of fields or take an area of a field that has a section that is a pain to get around in with our large equipment an plant the food plot there to save us from the pain in the neck of a lot of short rows..

[Guest 257Roberts]

Re: what size food plat

Ditto on the above. It depends on what your planting, deer population, surround crops ect. If your neighbors plant 100 acres of corn every year i wouldn't bother planting any. Probalby the best option for a atv application would be something along the lines of clover. You can roundup the ground then lightly disc. Clover doesn't require a lot of disking. Actually it can be planted on bare ground and not covered. And it provides year round forage for the deer. If your wanting to go for something a little bigger like say soybeans, lablab, ect i'd recommend Iron/clay peas or cow peas (same thing) They seem to withstand brousing pretty good and put on a ton of forage. Any bean though (soybean, cowpeas ect) i would not bother planting less than two acres. If you plant small patches in beans the deer will eat the plant when they first emerge and you'll be left with a bunch of 2" stems and bare ground. All that work and fertilzer is shot down the drain the first two weeks. If'n it was me i'd think about buying a cheap 35 hp tractor and a disk. It will save you in the long run. You can normally buy a good used one cheaper than a four wheeler cost and using your four wheeler to disk can be very hard on it. I'd use the four wheeler for spreading seed and hauling the big boy out durring deer season. check the local papers and whatch for equipment sales. I've seen decent 35 hp tractors go for around $2500 and less. The last time i had my four wheeler enginer rebuilt it was over $1500 bucks. Hope this helps. Also you may recruit a hunting buddy that already has a tractor. When we interview prospective new members to our camp the first question we ask is do you have a tractor.

PS

Check ebay out and you'll get a good idea of cost on a used tractor. They've got a ton on there.

[wtnhunt]

Re: what size food plat

Smaller bean and pea plots can be planted with good results if you use something like sorgum in your mix. I think it helps cut back on the overbrowsing. Have had great results here with mini plots of beans and peas mixed with sorgum.