Sam16 Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 After preparing 3 areas totalling a little over 1/2 acre for my first food plots, i have to hand it to you guys... this is tough! Granted we didnt have the best suited equipment to work with, but good golly im exhausted. We had to mow w/ a push mower, then go over it with a tractor... Then we sprayed. Then we tilled with a push tiller, which was our biggest mistake. It took me and my buddy 5 hours and all the energy we had to get the tilling done. We then sprayed again with the extra weed killer we bought. Then put in the necessary lime. 2 days of extremely hard work. We are now waiting for a good rain to put the turnip/brassica blend into the ground along with 10-10-10 fertilizer. I keep telling myself it will pay off come october, and hopefully it will. None the less, we need to find a local farmer with a tiller for next year, haha. I'll get some pics up when i go to seed, we were too tired yesterday to get out camera. Thanks for all your help fellas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I'm sure your hard work will pay off. Only problem I see is a good population of deer can wipe out 1/2 acre of brassicas in about a week. Personally if it was me I wouldn't plant anything right now and spray again this summer then plant you a nice cereal grain plot (wheat/rye). Don't get me wrong I love brassicas-- but once they become sweet and the deer start eating them they can wipe out a small plot pretty quick. good luck and look forward to your pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 one thing for sure..you are learning as you go..hireing a tractor for tillage is pretty cost effective...watch the weather channel before you plant, make sure rain is on the way, and you should be ok..Todd has a good point about the deer wipeing out the plot before fall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sabotmaker Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 After preparing 3 areas totalling a little over 1/2 acre for my first food plots, i have to hand it to you guys... this is tough! Granted we didnt have the best suited equipment to work with, but good golly im exhausted. We had to mow w/ a push mower, then go over it with a tractor... Then we sprayed. Then we tilled with a push tiller, which was our biggest mistake. It took me and my buddy 5 hours and all the energy we had to get the tilling done. We then sprayed again with the extra weed killer we bought. Then put in the necessary lime. 2 days of extremely hard work. We are now waiting for a good rain to put the turnip/brassica blend into the ground along with 10-10-10 fertilizer. I keep telling myself it will pay off come october, and hopefully it will. None the less, we need to find a local farmer with a tiller for next year, haha. I'll get some pics up when i go to seed, we were too tired yesterday to get out camera. Thanks for all your help fellas. How much time did you spread your mowing, spraying, tilling over? Yes foodplotting can be hard work especially without equipment but it is very rewarding in many ways! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I agree with Todd here. Might be a bit late on a summer plot. I'd wait until fall. The tilling gets easier from year to year. The first year is the toughest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam16 Posted June 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I would say we spent 2 hours mowing with the DR mower, an hour spraying, 5 hours tilling, another hour spreading lime... As for the planting, i havent planted yet, so is there anything i could add into the plot to maybe make it last longer? I've seen those little 2 pound biologic bags of chicory, alfa alfa, clover, and others that are meant to mix into your seed. I wouldnt be against doing something like that, making it into a mixture. Would chicory make it last longer into the fall? Thanks again guys... Yes you guys are right, we are definitly learning on the fly this year. Gotta start somewhere, and we dont really have access to a knowledgable person per say on the food plot subject. I'm going by what i've learned from you guys on the forums and what ive read about in a few articles. Thanks for gettin me this far guys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2Hunt Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I agree with Todd here. Hold off! If I am reading this right the Round up was still wet when you tilled the plot up. If this is true you may not have had an effective kill on your weeds and grasses and that call spell trouble down the road. As far as Brassicca Todd is also correct. Last year we planted 1 1/2 acres on our lease and it was great. All fall it looked good and I kept saying this is going to be great then it happened! I went back after the first real hard frost got in my stand before light and when the sun came up the whole plot was gone. They hit it when I was not there and I never saw a deer in it all season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Also got to agree with Todd here. Would wait until a bit later to plant the brassicas mix. Good luck with the plot, look forward to seeing your progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam16 Posted June 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 sorry for the confusion, but i sprayed the day before i tilled. Then i tilled it up, and sprayed it again with the leftover spray. So weeds shouldnt be a problem. As for the brassicas, i guess i should look into mixing in some other types of plants to keep deer coming back. I'll keep everyone updated... Any ideas for a good mixer i would consider, or anything that WONT work with brassicas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted June 15, 2007 Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 your cereal grains and austrian winter peas make a great combo with brassicas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSU_Seminole Posted June 16, 2007 Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 After preparing 3 areas totalling a little over 1/2 acre for my first food plots, i have to hand it to you guys... this is tough! Granted we didnt have the best suited equipment to work with, but good golly im exhausted. We had to mow w/ a push mower, then go over it with a tractor... Then we sprayed. Then we tilled with a push tiller, which was our biggest mistake. It took me and my buddy 5 hours and all the energy we had to get the tilling done. We then sprayed again with the extra weed killer we bought. Then put in the necessary lime. 2 days of extremely hard work. We are now waiting for a good rain to put the turnip/brassica blend into the ground along with 10-10-10 fertilizer. I keep telling myself it will pay off come october, and hopefully it will. None the less, we need to find a local farmer with a tiller for next year, haha. I'll get some pics up when i go to seed, we were too tired yesterday to get out camera. Thanks for all your help fellas. Congratulations!!! I hope your plot does well. You sound just like me & my girlfriend when she helped me plant my first plot. We did 1/2 acre of planting in August here in South Carolina. We wanted to plant in the middle of the day so not to spook deer. That was a huge no no!!!!! It was unbelievable hot that summer day & the ground was hard as a brick. I went ahead & coughed up 8k for a Yamaha 660 to help plant back in 2003. Even with a powerful 4wheeler I've just decided to hire a local farmer who does all my disking. I do all the fertilizing, seeding & dragging with my 4 wheeler. Food plots are indeed tough to make if you have hard soil & not the heavy proper equipment. I suggest anyone who has access to a tractor or know someone with access to a tractor to pay them for their time & gas to do the heavy disking & tilling. Most people are reasonable. After that's done even the smaller 350 & 400 ATVs can be used to fertilize & cover seed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PotashRLS Posted July 13, 2007 Report Share Posted July 13, 2007 It sounded like you sprayed again right after you tilled. RoundUp type herbicides work by being absorbed through the foliage of the plants it kills. It doesn't work unless it is sprayed on living plants. Just thought you should know. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck75 Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 I have been doing the same thing for a couple years here in N Illinois and I can attest to the brassica "problem." Last Year I had a 1/2 acre plot and it was wiped out in about a day maybe two. I have had alfa, brassica,and clover plots and the clover have been the ticket for us. They hold up well to the pressure the deer put on them and they are great for small hunting plots. Plus we have had luck growing them just about anywhere we get some sun. Also all the hard work is worth it when you harvest your first deer out of a plot you did yourself!! Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 That's so weird. Deer won't touch brassicas around here. I have a 50' strip of broccoli in my garden right now, and the deer just don't touch it. Wish I could say that about my corn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 That's so weird. Deer won't touch brassicas around here. Really did not have the results with the brassicas mix we planted last fall that I had hoped for either. Think areas where there is an abundance of other food available the brassicas are just not as desirable to deer. With the mild fall and winter we had during deer season, there was no shortage of food here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Posted July 14, 2007 Report Share Posted July 14, 2007 I'll be planting my first plot over the Labor Day weekend. After reading this thread it looks like I have my work cut out for me. Any of you guys from East Texas?? Could use some advice on what to plant. Thinking about getting what I think is called Buck Harvest. It's a mixture of three different seed. Anyway, hope yours turns out and produces some good pics and awesome deer!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSU_Seminole Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Really did not have the results with the brassicas mix we planted last fall that I had hoped for either. Think areas where there is an abundance of other food available the brassicas are just not as desirable to deer. With the mild fall and winter we had during deer season, there was no shortage of food here. I think that may be part of it but I also think all brassica seed aren't created equal. I've tried numerous brands of brassica & almost threw my hands up with it all together until I planted some shot plot. I don't know what it is about shot plot but the deer grazed heavily on it here when they wouldn't touch the other brassica blends I planted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam16 Posted July 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 Well after reading all these posts, we decided to throw in a little biologic full draw and another mixture of clover, ryegrass, and chicory. We figure we'll throw everything in and see what grows. Especially since we dont have more than an acre total planted and it sounds like thats a weeks worth of brassicas for them. The good news there is there are 15 acres of corn and 25 acres of alfa alfa on our 225 acre farm in addition to our 3 seperate 1/3 acre hunting plots. I think there should be plenty of food around. I need to get some pictures up eventually for you guys to criticize, haha jk. I actually havent seen the pltos since we planted since our land is 3 hours away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildthing Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 I just joined this forum last week, so my comments are a little late to your first post, but I can definitely relate to your food plot efforts! My brother and I made the committment after last season that early Spring '07 we were gonna be "on top of things" with food plots. We had a 2 acres area targeted. The problem was, we only have basic equipment: 18 HP tractor, roto-tiller, push mower, rakes, old box springs covered to drags...old school stuff. We spent the early spring burning old weeds and grasses, removing timber, etc., etc. When the time was right, we struck and spent an entire weekend getting the dirt prepared and the seed planted. Physically hard work...yes, but mentally I had the images of big bucks in mind! I have a lot of good video footage and visual morning / evening sighting of nice bucks and does using the plots. Hard work still pays off! Good luck this season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam16 Posted August 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 An update on our plots... I couldnt get pics loaded on here because they were too large and i am too inept with computers to resize them. Anyways, the plots are looking good in their early stages. A few of the brassicas were as big as my hand 1 week and a half ago. They are coming up good, but unfortunately i dont think i will be back to the farm until hunting season seeing as i hafta go back to college soon in Champaign. Im trusting the fields will be in good shape with the plentiful rain. The only problem i've noticed so far, is our 3 plots equalling maybe a 1/2 acre result in the outer edges growing much slower due to lack of shade. Since our plots r so small, a good majority of it is slowed down in the shade. Next year i definitly plan on making them bigger. You live you learn. Hopefully this produces some deer though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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