just tryed no till food plot

[Cody Gruchow]

just planted it on friday. i cleared a area of 10x10 just racked the leaves aside to test it out. it doesnt get a whole lot of sunlight but should be enough. i have no experience with this stuff so thought i would test it out, to see where its at by bow opener. i bought the smaller bag, it has Tetraploid Forage Rye Grass, Forage Rape, and Forage Clovers in it. so im going to see how long it takes to grow, we have had enough rain so water shouldnt be the problem. ill take week to week pictures and post them and give a review when its done and ive hunted over it.

[Big E]

Yeah let us know how it goes. What area of the state did you plant it in?

[Cody Gruchow]

west metro area. i hunt out by victoria.

[Big E]

Should come up pretty good. You have a little longer growing season there. Good luck.

[deadeye]

My guess is it will look ok this fall but really shine next spring and summer.

[JohnWester]

i tried that last year, in a shadier spot... didn't work to good.  and I planted before you did.  They don't work well in my opinion.

[Cody Gruchow]

ya john thats what im worryed about because it dont get to much sun. but if it doesnt work then i just know not to trust any of that no till stuff anymore. its a experiment and if it doesnt work then i didnt really lose much cause i bought the smallest bag possible, to try out.

[Big E]

It will depend on rain more than anything. Rapes, clover and rye grass are shade tolerant and can handle bad soil. If the soil is rock and sand then it won't do good because they don't have a tap root but that's about all that will stop it from growing well.....also seed to soil contact obviously but with those small seeds a moderate rain fall will get it to the soil.

[HD]

Just raking it down in, might not be enough. Big E is right...gotta get them little buggers to contact the soil somehow.

[Cody Gruchow]

well i racked everything clean and pulled very few weeds that were there. it looked like it was just black dirt no sand no clay, should have no problem growing. the ground was wet when i planted it and it rained here last night also, so i think im good.

[HD]

It'll prolly be fine then.

[dakids]

Hope the rain didn't wash it into the low spots.

[Cody Gruchow]

dakids i hope so also so i guess ill just have to check my trail camera earlyer than i wanted to, just so i can check on my plot also. the camera is only like 5 yards away, because im curious whats been coming down that trail.

[HUNTER2]

I tried some of that last year and didn't have much luck. This year I put some lime down in the woods and it made a world of difference. It gets pretty acidic in the woods. That trail is a sqirrel trail, I've seen them many times.

[boogityn]

PLANT TURNIPS!

[Cody Gruchow]

well its been 9 days and the plot has come up great so far, deer are hitting it pretty good also.

[JohnWester]

wow, i am surprised... I wonder why mine didnt work, looks like about the same light as your area...


what kind did you get?  I tried one of those shot-plots.

[Cody Gruchow]

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?i=412948&pdesc=Evolved_Harvest_Throw_Gro_Food_Plot_Seed&cname=Food-Plots&aID=503AC6&merchID=4006&r=view

that exact bag above in the link.

think im going to buy some imperial no till food plot for another area and try that one also and see which one the deer take to better..but ive heard nothing but bad things about that one though.

[Big E]

That came up really good. Those little plots in the middle of the woods are my favorite to hunt over. Deer use them all day long. I planted a plot by a bedding area and deer use it all day and night. Deer don't sleep for long periods of time they take little naps and get up every couple hours to stretch and browse and when you have a food plot in the middle of the woods where they feel safe you're sitting pretty. Nice work it looks great and it has another month to grow.

[deadeye]

Cody, Cody,
Last week Cody posts a picture of a 4 wheeler trail and calls it a deer path.  Now he throws some green carpet in the woods and calls it a food plot.  Makes me wonder about the deer in the trail cam pictures.  Low light,  out of focus makes it hard to see the seams in the deer decoys. 

In the famous words of Croc Dundee, thats not a food plot, this is a food plot.


P.S. Just joshing ya Cody.  I have some small plots in the woods just like yours.  The picture above is from a plot I sprayed and planted sometime in July.  It is a mixture of 4 clovers and some upland bird mix I had.  I also use the no-till process.  Thanks to abundent rain since planting, it looks great.

[Cody Gruchow]

deadeye you have no idea how long it toke me to get those pictures just right to make them look like real deer