Food plot progress

[rgw]

how do you have patience to mount animals, because you dont have it for crop growing

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Wow that was fast. You finished 100 heads already???

It's sunday... lol guy needs a day off every once in a while to take care of his clover field [emoji12]

 

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[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

how do you have patience to mount animals, because you dont have it for crop growing

Lol.

According to the seed package you can plant until may15th.. which means I need to decide NOW to either leave it alone, or spray everything with weed killer and wait 10 days and reseed.

 

Trying to decide what route to take and it's all time sensitive.

I guess I'll leave it alone and see what happens over the next month. Worst case I spray and seed again this fall

 

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[tcook8296]

Dont spray it and kill it.

If anything, I would over seed again before a rain. 

Maybe mix in some oats to get something to help with weed suppression. 

As I stated in my earlier post, clover sets its roots the 1st 6 months. 

Clover takes time. 

[tcook8296]

These clover plots are fall planted with rye as a cover crop. They are 2 seasons old   I over seed them probably 3 times a season and mow in the spring and fall

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

I read that overseeding is worse than underseeding.. I'll see what next week brings. I believe I have a lot of clover coming up... it looks like it to me

 

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[tcook8296]

According to the seed package you can plant until may15th.

 

Planting dates are estimates. Your actual plantings are better dictated by the field conditions. Rain and temperature.

Ive had much better results with a planting before a rain than going by the date on a bag.

The longer your seeds sit in the dirt with no rain the higher the chances of germination issues or birds getting your seed. 

I don't know what book or site you are reading, but food plotters overseed plots year round. Clover can be easily seeded 3 times a year

I am planting rr beans in the next 2 weeks which will be over seeded late July with turnips and radishes which will again be over seeded labor day with winter wheat and winter rye. A food plot that feeds almost an entire year. The small gap in my big food plot is covered by my clover and also all the woody browse created from the hinge cutting 

Edited May 8, 2017 by tcook8296

[MS22]

I read that overseeding is worse than underseeding.. I'll see what next week brings. I believe I have a lot of clover coming up... it looks like it to me

 

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I think what tcook means by overseeding, is just another application of seed. It doesn't necessarily have to be as much as the first round (but given whats showing up in your seed bed, i doubt it would hurt at this point). Since you still have quite a bit of bare dirt, and planting conditions are still good, it wouldn't hurt to put a little more seed down. This is for clover btw...which is much less affected by applying too much seed than say brassicas or some other food plot seeds. Brassicas, turnips, etc will be stunted if you put down too much seed(learned that one the hard way). You might want to look into getting your seed from welter seed & honey co in Iowa or the seed company tcook uses in Ohio which I believe was Merit(pretty much same price for either but are generally cheaper than brand name mixes). On my buddy's property in upstate NY, we use a combo of Alice, kopu II and jumbo landino clovers. They're all white clovers and have done very well for us. You want to plant a combo because some clovers will do better than others in your particular soil and deer may prefer one over another at any particular time. There are at least 5-7 deer in the plot every day hammering away on it. It also attracts turkeys, bunnies etc.

 

We've found its easier to establish clover in September. We burn the area chemically with generic glyphosate in late august to remove competition from weeds(may need a second application depending on the kill). Then we come in and plant clover in combination with a nurse crop such as oats or rye or both. It takes a bit of time for the clover to establish itself (as tcook mentioned, a lot of clover's energy is directed downward in the beginning) so its good to have another crop there to help control weeds until the clover is ready to compete with them. Then you just come back late the following spring and clip off the rye at the top of the clover. Clover will take over from there. 

 

We have also found frost seeding to be very beneficial(a form of overseeding). We do this in late winter while there are still freezing temps at night. If there are bare areas in your plot, just frost seed some clover into those areas, The freeze thaw in late winter and spring will work the clover seed into the ground. We actually did this first week in april this year as it was still freezing up in Central NY night(rain also helped with seed to soil contact). We came back 2 weeks later to plant apple trees and the clover already had great germination. 

 

Maintenance is fairly easy. Like tcook said, a mowing in the spring and fall will help...and is usually all you need to control weeds early on if you planted correctly. try not to mow during the summer as this isn't clovers best growing season(you don't want to stress it too much..especially if there is a lack of rain like last year). An application of p and k fertilizer each year will also help with plot longevity. You don't really need to apply nitrogen for clover as it fixes its own(its a legume). If you have too much grass, or broadleaf weed competition, you will have to apply herbicides that will take care of the problem and wont affect clover. Clethodim for grass and Butyrac for broadleaf weeds. They need to be applied in conjunction with some form of surfactant like crop oil or, crazy as it sounds, dawn dish detergent. This helps the herbicide stick to the weeds. 

 

Btw, we do all of this pretty much the poor mans way.  we use a hand crank spreader to broadcast seed and backpack type sprayer for herbicides. We use a Large lawn tractor with the deck as high as it can go for the mowings and drag the plot with the flat side of an atv harrow for seed to soil contact. We've found clover to be the easiest to establish and it will last a good 5 years or more with a little maintenance. 

 

Again, patience is key. Also, recognizing when weeds/grasses are becoming a problem is also key. They can quickly ruin your plot if not addressed.

Edited May 8, 2017 by MS22

[MS22]

Btw, great looking plots tcook

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Thanks for the info!

 

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[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

I'm gonna spray the field with roundup and reseed. I see very few clovers.. been several weeks. Guess something went wrong. My buddy's been planting food plots for 18 years, and he said spray and reseed. I should have seen more by now if it worked.

 

 

 

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[Psehunter]

It's not too late so you'll be fine..I'm going to be putting seed down end of this week too before the rain...I sprayed two weeks ago , fertilized and limed over the weekend and I'll spread seed this week

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Seed company said Temps too cold yet. I'll give it another month before deciding to spray and reseed

 

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[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Warm weather today let a bunch of clovers sprout! Keep bringing the heat and rain!

 

Looking better every few hours now!

 

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[Rusty]

Looking better every few hours now!  

 

It's time for AN INTERVENTION