food plots

[beeker]

so... if your an early bird your food plots would be in I'm guessing.. so... what did you do?

this year I had some corn (thanks spear foot) got that spread out last weekend in 2 separate plots. we'll see how it does.. I have never tried corn.. so maybe I have a new thing.   I expanded my first food plot and covered it in turnips. usually we wait until end of august.. but I thought we would see what would happen this time of year especially with all the rain. by the kids stand we did a fleet farm been mix.. kid wanted to try it so I figured why not her guess is as good as mine. covered all trails with a clover mixture.. and my nephew covered around his stand with every pumpkin seed he could scrounge up.   

how are your plots looking?

in other news.. my new drag.. worked perfectly.. mixed in with seeder and the sprayer.. this years food plots seemed to go in by themselves. working on a row planter for next year.. we'll see how it turns out

[stevejedlenski]

we usually plant end of july with brassicas. this year however we didnt get any rain until about 3 weeks later. needless to say the seed never germinated and the grass took over again. some of the smaller kill plots we were able to water a bit and that is taking off pretty good. that is unless we get frost soon and snow in september!?!

i just bought 40 acres this summer and we cleared a bunch of new plots gonna plant the trails in clover next spring

[deadeye]

great idea with the clover.  What we found is the other vegetation will out grow it during the summer.  However, just mow the area around the end of August (now is good) and the clover will regrow like wild fire.  Grouse love it.

[beeker]

. Some throw n grow beans from fleet farm grew like crazy. Deer have been hammering em,

[lentz]

Here are some photos of my first attempt at a plot this year

[Mayfly]

we usually plant end of july with brassicas. this year however we didnt get any rain until about 3 weeks later. needless to say the seed never germinated and the grass took over again. some of the smaller kill plots we were able to water a bit and that is taking off pretty good. that is unless we get frost soon and snow in september!?!

i just bought 40 acres this summer and we cleared a bunch of new plots gonna plant the trails in clover next spring

Last year was horrible!

Have you planted the clover this year yet or waiting?

[deadeye]

That's the risk of late July planting.  I did it two years ago and we didn't get any rain for 6 weeks.  It was a bust.  I plan to get the clover in by early June this year.

[Mayfly]

That's the risk of late July planting.  I did it two years ago and we didn't get any rain for 6 weeks.  It was a bust.  I plan to get the clover in by early June this year.

I'm right there with you... Not doing any clover this summer (as of now), but i'm getting more and more afraid to plant later than mid-June. Seems like year after year I have been getting burned. 2010 was awesome! Next two years weren't so awesome! 

[beeker]

well today was a bust.. was hoping to get up to McGrath and get the first round of spraying done. but with the rain it would have been a waste of 50$ of roundup so I didn't.  I picked up 2 apple trees at fleet farm heading out of town.. got them planted and with the rain I'm hoping they take off.. fleetfarm was out of the sale ones and I didn't want to go empty handed so I paid full price

 noticed one of the apples from last year that looks a little sick.. that one seems to be in a constant puddle.. think it may have drowned

forgot the bug spray when I left. and by the time I stopped the gas station in town was out.. had to layer up some shirts and fight through the bugs.. they are thick this year. must be a fresh hatching.

hopefully next weekend I can get out and get the plots sprayed and trim up around the fruit trees with the new stihl weed slapper (state tax refund).

[dakids]

Instead of weed whipping we always spray around our fruit trees to kill the grass early in the spring before they send out their suckers.  After weed whipping, mulch with wood chips and pee gravel around the trunk to keep the mice and voles away during the winter.

[beeker]

I was always worried about spraying around the trees as I mix this stuff so it looks like napalm after.  but I like the mulch and pea gravel.

[Mayfly]

well today was a bust.. was hoping to get up to McGrath and get the first round of spraying done. but with the rain it would have been a waste of 50$ of roundup so I didn't.  I picked up 2 apple trees at fleet farm heading out of town.. got them planted and with the rain I'm hoping they take off.. fleetfarm was out of the sale ones and I didn't want to go empty handed so I paid full price

 noticed one of the apples from last year that looks a little sick.. that one seems to be in a constant puddle.. think it may have drowned

forgot the bug spray when I left. and by the time I stopped the gas station in town was out.. had to layer up some shirts and fight through the bugs.. they are thick this year. must be a fresh hatching.

hopefully next weekend I can get out and get the plots sprayed and trim up around the fruit trees with the new stihl weed slapper (state tax refund).

Not sure if you bought your killer yet but don't pay the extra $$ for the round-up name. Just get the generic and make sure there is 41% glyphosate in it and you'll be good to go! Save some $$$$$

I'm spraying pretty quick here myself. My frost seed from this past spring/winter has taken off beautiful! Time to work on the other plots.

[Mayfly]

Not a bad price 2.5 gallon's

[attachment deleted by admin]

[deadeye]

You may also get the current 11% rebate on this item.

[beeker]

you guys have used that? with good results? I tried an off brand one year and it didn't work well at all..

[dakids]

I have never used name brand.  Your bad results might have been from hard water.  I think its something to do with iron binding up active ingredient.

[beeker]

well.. next weekend when I head up.. hopefully there will be no rain.. I will pick up a jug of that and the jug of roundup I have.. i'll use one on each plot and section of trails and post the results.

[Mayfly]

you guys have used that? with good results? I tried an off brand one year and it didn't work well at all..

As long as it has 41% gly its basically the same thing. I have never used anything but the off brand and the same goes for all my buddies who food plot. Don't know anyone that has used round-up. Jacked up prices. Just like food plot seed. Only buy from my local feed mill.

[deadeye]

Glyphosate is Glyphosate regardless of who manufactures it.  Only difference is the %.  Off brands are generally 41% and I believer Roundup is 48%.  Glyphosate is no longer copy right protected so anyone can produce it.

[deadeye]

Like dakids said, hard water may be an issue.  Not so much as affecting the ingredients but rather getting the product to stick to the plants.  Hard water often just rolls off the plants.  They produce something (I think soap does the same) that allows the spray to adhere to plants.

[beeker]

looks like with the rain today I'm missing another week

[stevejedlenski]

we have 6 plots consisting of a total of 1.2 acres. some are kill plots and others just for food/ not hunted. we planted clover and a brassica mix which will be overseeded in clover on some next year and left as a clover plot. the kill plots will have brassicas again next year.

i have a 40 acre square piece of land and with 1 of the plots we just made we did a linear plot that extends from one edge to the middle of the propertly. we piled all the cut brush and small trees along 1 edge to form a impentirable wall and then hinge cut the nearby trees onto the same pile. deer arent getting through. this was in attempt to direct deer movement accross the property and also feed the deer in the plot and with the hinge cut trees. the back side of the "pile" with hinge cuts has created an amazing place for bedding as well.

we also just established a 2 acre bean field which if it does well will be a 5 acre plot next year.

sometime this year we will log 3 acres of a 7 acre pine plantation. this is a 60yr old stand and the plot will have irregular borders to which a deer cannot see into much of the plot without moving throughout it. the pines are now thinned to where they are regenerating and the new saplings will be thick cover and winter shelter. this is a several year project in which the first years will be clover and have to be worked around the stumps until they are under the soil.

[Mayfly]

we have 6 plots consisting of a total of 1.2 acres. some are kill plots and others just for food/ not hunted. we planted clover and a brassica mix which will be overseeded in clover on some next year and left as a clover plot. the kill plots will have brassicas again next year.

i have a 40 acre square piece of land and with 1 of the plots we just made we did a linear plot that extends from one edge to the middle of the propertly. we piled all the cut brush and small trees along 1 edge to form a impentirable wall and then hinge cut the nearby trees onto the same pile. deer arent getting through. this was in attempt to direct deer movement accross the property and also feed the deer in the plot and with the hinge cut trees. the back side of the "pile" with hinge cuts has created an amazing place for bedding as well.

we also just established a 2 acre bean field which if it does well will be a 5 acre plot next year.

sometime this year we will log 3 acres of a 7 acre pine plantation. this is a 60yr old stand and the plot will have irregular borders to which a deer cannot see into much of the plot without moving throughout it. the pines are now thinned to where they are regenerating and the new saplings will be thick cover and winter shelter. this is a several year project in which the first years will be clover and have to be worked around the stumps until they are under the soil.

I like it. Sounds like you guys have a good thing going.

I love those clover brassica mix plots. We do a lot of that! Grows with minimal maintenance. Just get some rain to germinate and it takes off!

[beeker]

well.. not as early as I would have liked to have done it.. but finally got the first round of spraying done.  hopefully if all goes well i'll get the plots tilled and sprayed again next week.

noticed some of the apple trees had some apples on em already. i'll probably be cutting em off again this year to try to encourage the tree to grow bigger, instead of growing fruit.

as a bonus I hunted down a few blueberry bushes I planted a few years ago. they were looking pretty good. so I trimmed up the weeds around em and caged em off.

some day I hope these fruit plants will be large enough where I don't have to try to protect em so much.

all the rains we had a number of trees down over the trails. so that ate up a bunch of time today just clearing those off. one of the trees was one of my favorites for hanging a trail cam on . glad I didn't have any cameras out yet