planting oats

[xcell2]

I live in Maine, I want to make a few food plots. Im thinking of planting winter rye and oats, Is there any tips or any thing I should know before planting. Have never done any plots before. Does it matter if i dont have any way to water the plot?

[dogdoc]

I don't know if anyone on here has a way to water their plots. Like a lot of farmers we don't have irrigation and are dependant on mother nature to provide the moisture.

Where you are located I would try to get those seeds in the ground as quick as possible. Oats and rye grain are a great choice. Oats will be a great early draw but will die with your first good freeze. Rye is the most cold tolerant cereal grain and has the longest growing period before going into winter dormancy.

You didn't say if you had equipment like a tractor and disc?? If so what I do is mow the are to be the plot as low as possible then disc all the plant material into the soil to make a nice seed bed. Broadcast your fertilizer and seed and then lightly disc again to cover the seed and fertilizer. If the plot isn't too big then I like to drive back over the plot and have the tires compact the soil to get good seed/soil contact. A cultipacker works great if you have one. If you plan on broadcasting any smaller seeds like brassica or clover then broadcast after the cereal grains and just compact it into the soil. The smaller seeds shouldn't be buried deeper than 1/4 inch. I actually don't bury it at all--just smash it into the loose soil.

If planting cereal grains alone I like 75 to 100# per acre. Since you will lose your oats on your first good freeze I would plant 75# rye and 25# of oats per acre with around 200# of triple 15 fertilizer per acre. This will give you a great winter plot.

good luck

todd

[xcell2]

I live in central maine. I dont have all that fancy equipment yet. I have John Deere 410b back hoe/ loader. I used the front loader and pulled all the stumps and weeds, to a nice flat dirt base. Then i took the back hoe and fluffed the soil. It took a little while but looks good. then I plan on dragging the plots with my four wheeler. Then the rest im going to have to do by hand.

I was just worried about the ground being so dry, we havent had much rain this year,

[dogdoc]

I live in central maine. I dont have all that fancy equipment yet. I have John Deere 410b back hoe/ loader. I used the front loader and pulled all the stumps and weeds, to a nice flat dirt base. Then i took the back hoe and fluffed the soil. It took a little while but looks good. then I plan on dragging the plots with my four wheeler. Then the rest im going to have to do by hand.

I was just worried about the ground being so dry, we havent had much rain this year,

could retype this--can't read it