Food plots

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  • 66chevelle

    Sharpshooter
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    25   0   0
    Jun 16, 2008
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    greenfield
    I bought some land and am wanting to put in a food plot. I have been looking at different types of seed but there is a billion different ones out there. My question is what have you used and are you happy with the results? Is there a brand or a certain type you like better? I will be planting about a half acre plot. I will be planting this right next to the woods so most of it will be in full son but part of it will be partially shaded.
     

    bocefus78

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    39   0   0
    Apr 9, 2014
    2,023
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    Hamilton Co.
    Lots more to it than tossing some seed.
    What are your goals for this plot? Annual or perennial? Do you want to provide winter food or summer and fall? How much maintenence are you willing to do?

    First you need a soil test. Add lime and fert as the tests says.

    This fall I planted a mix of winter wheat, oats, red and white clovers, and some turnips. The wheat oats and turnips are food for winter and the clover should fill in nicely next year.
     

    ghitch75

    livin' in the sticks
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    Dec 21, 2009
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    Greene County
    i cleared about 2 acres with my dozer and thrown out some no till and some 12 12 12 this fall and it is about a 1ft tall....oats turnips radish's and chicory....so yes you can just toss some see....
     

    bocefus78

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    Apr 9, 2014
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    Hamilton Co.
    i cleared about 2 acres with my dozer and thrown out some no till and some 12 12 12 this fall and it is about a 1ft tall....oats turnips radish's and chicory....so yes you can just toss some see....

    And that will be all weeds next spring. Not to mention without a soil test and proper lime, lots of that fert ended up in the water supply. Did you know that dirt with a ph of 6.0 can only process half of any fert you apply? Will it grow stuff? Sure. Imagine what it'd look like if it were 7.0 and could actually benefit from all of your fertilizer.
     

    ghitch75

    livin' in the sticks
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    Dec 21, 2009
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    Greene County
    it's in the woods!!!...8 quarter acre plots...the weeds will take it over anyway if i don't replant it....only way i know how to kill weeds is strip and roundup it....i just stripped it....


    i get visitor's.....

    iznbk8.jpg
     
    Last edited:

    AGarbers

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    Feb 4, 2009
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    Martinsville
    According to the clover sellers' websites, you really need something like 0-0-60 otherwise you will be fertilizing the weeds as well. Clover makes its own nitrogen. Like Bocefus78 said, you need to add ag lime as well to get the most out of your plot. Ag lime is cheap but it takes a lot to sweeten the soil. It is best to have a test done.
    Morgan County Feed in Martinsville sells a blend just for this area. It seemed to do well but my first food plot was sacrificed for a septic field, so I had to start over again. You have to control the weeds before they go to seed. Many folks do that by bush hogging the patch twice during the heavy growing season. The clover comes back. But, by this time of year the clover isn't doing so well. I think brassica is a better winter crop. That being said, I have watched deer walk right past my expensive food plot and chow down on raspberry leaves in the thickets surrounding the plot.

    Here's more info: Whitetail Institute: Fertilizer: What You Need to Know
     
    Last edited:

    17 squirrel

    Shooter
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    May 15, 2013
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    I do about 10+- acres for the winter salad bar. I do one acre plots of rape seperated by one acre plots of clover mix that I get from a ex BIL. He grows organic hay.
    I don't spend huge money doing this, I plow, disk, broadcast, and frugally fertilize.
    I redo them each year. All I'm looking for is a better salad bar than my neighbors. I don't buy any of the commercially packaged and sold deer plot seeds.
    And I don't care about weeds, I would rather put in larger plots each year with the Round-up money. Plus it gives my kid something to complain about when he's here and hunting. It warms my heart to have him be the frustrated one and not meeeeeeeeeee.
     

    Vamptepes

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    Jul 20, 2013
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    Eagledale
    We mainly just do turnips and red clover. We do all the old bush hog paths in the woods. And about 1acre along fields split up into multiple plots. All in all covering around 175 acres or land here and there.
     

    ghitch75

    livin' in the sticks
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    Dec 21, 2009
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    Greene County
    As a side note, I added about 1,000 pounds of lime to my first plot. It looked like snow. The next spring yellow morels popped up like mad. :rockwoot:

    i have found roomy's right next to my lower plot......i'll have to go to the crusher and get a couple ton....roomy's are a +:thumbsup:
     

    bobjones223

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    Mar 3, 2011
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    Noblesville, IN
    I have found that the deer don't seen to like the "Over the counter plantings" and prefer just straight soy beans....the secret is to plant it in July and/or August...this way when all the fields turn brown you still have a nice green crop of what they have been eating for the last three months!!!
     

    66chevelle

    Sharpshooter
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    25   0   0
    Jun 16, 2008
    741
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    greenfield
    Lots more to it than tossing some seed.
    What are your goals for this plot? Annual or perennial? Do you want to provide winter food or summer and fall? How much maintenence are you willing to do?

    First you need a soil test. Add lime and fert as the tests says.

    This fall I planted a mix of winter wheat, oats, red and white clovers, and some turnips. The wheat oats and turnips are food for winter and the clover should fill in nicely next year.

    I am wanting something that will draw them in all year long. But of course definitely during deer season. I would like something with minimal maintenance but I figured the first few years it would take more maintenance. I have already talked to the CO-OP and they are going to do a soil test for me.
     

    66chevelle

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    25   0   0
    Jun 16, 2008
    741
    43
    greenfield
    I have found that the deer don't seen to like the "Over the counter plantings" and prefer just straight soy beans....the secret is to plant it in July and/or August...this way when all the fields turn brown you still have a nice green crop of what they have been eating for the last three months!!!

    I have not thought about this. I have 10 acres of beans or corn that butt up against the east of my woods.
     

    bocefus78

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    Apr 9, 2014
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    Hamilton Co.
    Get yourself a sprayer of some type cuz roundup will be your next step. This spring, whatever you plant this spring, plan on killing it off again before fall.
    Buckwheat works good for this. It grows qyick, and helps to suppress the weeds.

    About july, get it mowed down and sprayed. Wait 2 or 3 weeks for it to turn dead, then do your discing or tilling if you aren't doing no till method. Incorporate more fert or lime as needed (another soil test)

    Spray again 2 weeks after any dirt work.
    Then do a mixture such as I did. That way you get fall and winter green fresh food for deer season, and the clover fills in next year if things go right.
    Once you get the clover established, bush hog it down to about 8 to 12 inches if weeds get growing. Mow before the weeds can go to seed. Then next fall, overseed some winter wheat and radish in the clover. As the clover goes dormant, the wheat and radish will feed your bambis all winter. Clover especially white, is slow to establish. Year 2 should give you a great stand of clover.

    That's about as low maintenence as plots get. Fwiw, I'm loving durana clover. Once established, it's great, but it's slooooooow to get growing.

    Also, some sort of a screen around it if it's in the wide open. Tall grass, etc....something to make them more comfortable walking in a wide open field.

    Member broom_jm is a plot wizard. Hopefully he will chime in.

    Also, check out qdma forums. It's all about plotting, deer, and deer habitat.
     
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    HamsterStyle

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    33   0   0
    Jul 27, 2010
    2,387
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    Carthage
    Quick question.

    Where does this fall as baiting? Do you have to clear all this out before hunting season? It seems like you are talking about keeping food available year round. I'm just confused on the laws I think.
     

    17 squirrel

    Shooter
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    May 15, 2013
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    :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

    Well. Where I come from a pile of corn or a feeder near your tree stand is quite legal. What's going to stop it in Maryland is chronic waste disease.
    But very seldom has my son or I harvested a deer over eating in a food plot or any bait left for them. It's always been with them entering or leaving the area we are hunting. Most deer I have seen in my life tend to eat in the dusk or dark. Not always but more than not.
    I've never seen or heard of a salad bar being a problem with DNR and baiting. But I do know of tickets written for small piles of corn left from combining in a field and hunting rights lost for a few years.
    I can't imagine any problems having food plots and baiting,
    It is funny that in most states and County's you can use deer lure in a bottle, deer cocaine, deer pee in a vapor spray can and so on. But you can't pile corn up in your shooting lane. It does smell hypocritical.. To say the least.
    I would suggest reading dnr's yearly book of Indiana's hunting laws.
     
    Last edited:

    bocefus78

    Master
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    39   0   0
    Apr 9, 2014
    2,023
    63
    Hamilton Co.
    Quick question.

    Where does this fall as baiting? Do you have to clear all this out before hunting season? It seems like you are talking about keeping food available year round. I'm just confused on the laws I think.

    Food plots are 100% legal in Indiana. Hunting over them is legal. You do not need to clear anything prior to season. Fruit trees are also legal.

    The ag farmer who leaves some corn (or other crop) standing for deer is legal. The ag farmer who "accidentally" spills a big ol pile of corn while harvesting it in front of his blind, is not legal. IIRC, bush hogging standing corn down is not legal but that I am not 100% sure on.

    Things that are illegal in season:

    Salt blocks
    Mineral blocks
    Corn, apples, etc thrown manually in a location other than where nature and gravity puts it.

    All those things need to be cleared out of your hunting location prior to season. "Your location" falls under officer discretion btw, so don't go moving it a little ways and think its ok. Get rid of it all together.
     
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