Let's talk tiny DIY Food plots

[casts_by_fly]

Hi gents,

Watching various hunting videos we can see these 1 acre beautiful food plots that have been nicely tilled and sprayed to the point they look like a food crop for humans. We're not talking about that here. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have the land, equipment, or time to pull that off. However, what I do have is a 1/10th acre strip on the north side of a hill that's technically a power line but that I can put a little plot on. Half is sunny most of the day and half is shaded by trees most of the day and year. I also have a couple spots in amongst trees that I can rake up and drop some seed (full shade and nothing I can do about it).

I have a backpack sprayer from my lawn but otherwise we're talking full manual here. No irrigation or supplemental water. Last year on one of the strips I put down some white dutch clover seed which germinated and kinda grew a little but the trees shortly cut off sunlight so it stopped. It will pick up again in the spring until the leaves come in and we'll see how much growth I can get.

We don't have any agricultural fields around (all ag is high fenced here) so a small food plot like this is going to pull a bunch of deer. I want it for that (as a kill plot) and to survey what deer are around earlier in the year than I do now.

Anyone done something like this? What kind of crop/seed/plant would grow?

thanks,
rick

 

[kubes14060]

I'd recommend a perennial clover since its one of the few that can be pressured heavily and continue to grow back. All other annuals will likely be consumed quickly and then deer wouldn't revisit.
Lots of clover blends out there so do a little research. If you can find a local seed supplier, they can help you with blends that grow well in your area.
Also, a soil test would give you a good idea on what the soil needs (lime to increase pH, N or P for fertilizer). Most local Co-ops offer inexpensive soil testing.

 

[Jtaylor]

Just a thought but it may be more beneficial to you to enhance what browse is potentially already there by removing undesirable species, fertilizing, etc.
I say this just because I think a super small food plot would just turn into a dirt hole in short order unless you had a way to keep them out until you were ready to hunt it.

 

[Dmathews87]

ive used domain outdoors with some success. Their No BS blend is supposed to be more shade tolerant and their Hot Chic is supposed to be PH and drought tolerant. I used the green machine on my new lease. I used a hand tiller and got a small plot ready and then spread out the seed and then used a rake to go across the grain per say that the tiller made to cover the seeds. plant the day before a rain and cross your fingers basically. The deer hit it pretty hard as soon as it started coming up so i feel like i had limited growth...

 

[raisins]

I would also create a mineral lick in the same area.

Some licks don't produce once they stop eating summer greens, but I had a few where does would lick the frozen ground in February to get the salt.

 

[NATHAN]

Oats and cereal rye. Or just cereal rye.

 

[BTaylor]

Oats and cereal rye. Or just cereal rye.

I would most likely lean towards rye and a clover blend like mentioned and plant together this fall. For this spring and summer, I might just do a couple rounds of buckwheat. Once a round is grazed off, replant with the next rain. It's fast growing, a good draw and any left when it is time to plant in the fall could be easily mowed with a weedeater.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

Go over to the Habitat Talk forum and search
Throw n Mow Method.
It's the easiest and cheapest way to plant a plot.
But get a soil test 1st.
And depending on your herd density, be prepared to have a field of dirt as mentioned above.
1/10 acre is gonna be pounded.
If you still insist on having a plot, cereal rye (NOT rye GRASS) is bomb proof as it gets. Mix in some jumbo ladino clover with it. Plant around September 1st in the north.
The perennial clover won't grow much that 1st fall because it's mainly putting growth towards root development. The clover will take off in the spring.
One more thing...spring planted perennial plots are prone to weed development. Plant in September.

 

[Exhumis]

I’ve had success with what I call kill plots - just small little 20’x20’ patches that’ll get a deer to stop for a snack and hold still long enough for me to take a poke at it. I usually try and find a slightly elevated spot so the rain won’t wash things out. May have to drop some limbs or a tree or two to make sure sunlight makes it to the ground, then I’ll go in with a pump sprayer and spray a little salt and weed killer and let the rain wash that away for a month or so make sure all the weeds are dead, then I’ll go in with a rake or portable till and get the ground tore up and broadcast some no plow or similar product. Not trying to make anything perfect if it grows it grows, just an afternoons worth of sweat equity and enough to justify having a cold snack later.

 

[Hillbillyfab]

Just a thought but it may be more beneficial to you to enhance what browse is potentially already there by removing undesirable species, fertilizing, etc.
I say this just because I think a super small food plot would just turn into a dirt hole in short order unless you had a way to keep them out until you were ready to hunt it.

This right here. I’ve had good luck in a few spots by just throwing a little fertilizer or lime down, sometimes both. I didn’t plant anything, I just pulled some samples of soil. We figured out what was needed from the soil tests. We adjusted from there.

 

[casts_by_fly]

Just a thought but it may be more beneficial to you to enhance what browse is potentially already there by removing undesirable species, fertilizing, etc.
I say this just because I think a super small food plot would just turn into a dirt hole in short order unless you had a way to keep them out until you were ready to hunt it.

That's what I've been doing the past couple years. There was a lot of fern which the deer wouldn't touch. I killed a lot of that off, though it always comes back. I've knocked down as much tree cover as I can to get some light in. Since its a powerline, there isn't much else I can do. Then the bushes and saplings start to grow too much, the power company comes through and razes it all to the ground. I can't cut much more on either side of the ROW either.

I would also create a mineral lick in the same area.

Some licks don't produce once they stop eating summer greens, but I had a few where does would lick the frozen ground in February to get the salt.

I did put a lick in already in this area. They hit it a little in the fall, but not as much as I'd have thought. I think the main issue is food. 400 yards in three different directions there is good bedding cover. But we don't have much else in the way of food up here this time of year.

Go over to the Habitat Talk forum and search
Throw n Mow Method.
It's the easiest and cheapest way to plant a plot.
But get a soil test 1st.
And depending on your herd density, be prepared to have a field of dirt as mentioned above.
1/10 acre is gonna be pounded.
If you still insist on having a plot, cereal rye (NOT rye GRASS) is bomb proof as it gets. Mix in some jumbo ladino clover with it. Plant around September 1st in the north.
The perennial clover won't grow much that 1st fall because it's mainly putting growth towards root development. The clover will take off in the spring.
One more thing...spring planted perennial plots are prone to weed development. Plant in September.

Thanks. I'll have a look there. I have a soil test here already, just never got to sending it in. Herd density isn't too bad here, though I suspect that's because of the spread out browse. Once there is a good food source I'm sure it will draw them in from a half mile radius.

I'm actually quite familar with weeds and spring plantings because I'm pretty into lawncare. Spring lawn renovations are tricky. You can control weeds a bit with selective pre-emergents but tenacity isn't cheap. And I am pretty sure it would stop the food plot seeds from developing just like it would weeds. Cereal Rye was a consideration for me (clover and radishes were two other thoughts) so good to hear I'm not that far off.

I’ve had success with what I call kill plots - just small little 20’x20’ patches that’ll get a deer to stop for a snack and hold still long enough for me to take a poke at it. I usually try and find a slightly elevated spot so the rain won’t wash things out. May have to drop some limbs or a tree or two to make sure sunlight makes it to the ground, then I’ll go in with a pump sprayer and spray a little salt and weed killer and let the rain wash that away for a month or so make sure all the weeds are dead, then I’ll go in with a rake or portable till and get the ground tore up and broadcast some no plow or similar product. Not trying to make anything perfect if it grows it grows, just an afternoons worth of sweat equity and enough to justify having a cold snack later.

That's kinda what I'm looking for as part of this. A couple places where I can rake up a 50'x50' patch, drop some seed, and what grows is great. Its enough to have the deer stop on their way past for a bite and to influence the paths they take a little so they pass by there more often.

 

[raisins]

That's what I've been doing the past couple years. There was a lot of fern which the deer wouldn't touch. I killed a lot of that off, though it always comes back. I've knocked down as much tree cover as I can to get some light in. Since its a powerline, there isn't much else I can do. Then the bushes and saplings start to grow too much, the power company comes through and razes it all to the ground. I can't cut much more on either side of the ROW either.



I did put a lick in already in this area. They hit it a little in the fall, but not as much as I'd have thought. I think the main issue is food. 400 yards in three different directions there is good bedding cover. But we don't have much else in the way of food up here this time of year.



Thanks. I'll have a look there. I have a soil test here already, just never got to sending it in. Herd density isn't too bad here, though I suspect that's because of the spread out browse. Once there is a good food source I'm sure it will draw them in from a half mile radius.

I'm actually quite familar with weeds and spring plantings because I'm pretty into lawncare. Spring lawn renovations are tricky. You can control weeds a bit with selective pre-emergents but tenacity isn't cheap. And I am pretty sure it would stop the food plot seeds from developing just like it would weeds. Cereal Rye was a consideration for me (clover and radishes were two other thoughts) so good to hear I'm not that far off.



That's kinda what I'm looking for as part of this. A couple places where I can rake up a 50'x50' patch, drop some seed, and what grows is great. Its enough to have the deer stop on their way past for a bite and to influence the paths they take a little so they pass by there more often.

Huh....when it's hot out, the deer visit the mineral licks I made in the past everyday and kick a mud hole in the ground to get more.

I make them where the rain won't wash it all down hill (little bowl in a flat area) and put at least 25 lbs down at a time, starting in the middle and feathering it out a bit (that way they'll find some dirt that is the proper salt level for them.....creating a gradient)

But every area and deer herd is a little different.

 

[casts_by_fly]

Huh....when it's hot out, the deer visit the mineral licks I made in the past everyday and kick a mud hole in the ground to get more.

I make them where the rain won't wash it all down hill (little bowl in a flat area) and put at least 25 lbs down at a time, starting in the middle and feathering it out a bit (that way they'll find some dirt that is the proper salt level for them.....creating a gradient)

But every area and deer herd is a little different.

I think I probably put down 10 lb and its a smaller area. Maybe just not their thing here.

 

[casts_by_fly]

On a related topic, what's the easiest way to clear briars and the likes from this land (where I'm able)? Brush hog? Access with any type of equipment is limited. A weed wacker with a blade is a real possibility.

My thinking is I can spray it all with the backpack sprayer but that's going to leave a lot of taller dead stuff (chest high). I could rake to the edges as one option. A smaller brush hog might be another?

 

[sweats]

On a related topic, what's the easiest way to clear briars and the likes from this land (where I'm able)? Brush hog? Access with any type of equipment is limited. A weed wacker with a blade is a real possibility.

My thinking is I can spray it all with the backpack sprayer but that's going to leave a lot of taller dead stuff (chest high). I could rake to the edges as one option. A smaller brush hog might be another?

A brush cutter followed by herbicide spray worked reasonably well in my experience. I have been in a similar situation and that was the best solution I came up with.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Allegheny Tom]

On a related topic, what's the easiest way to clear briars and the likes from this land (where I'm able)? Brush hog? Access with any type of equipment is limited. A weed wacker with a blade is a real possibility.

My thinking is I can spray it all with the backpack sprayer but that's going to leave a lot of taller dead stuff (chest high). I could rake to the edges as one option. A smaller brush hog might be another?

Exactly what species of "briars" etc are we talking about? Are you sure it isn't something deer are already using, and it's free from mother nature.
Take multiflora rose for example. Most land managers despise the stuff and I will admit that I'm not always in love with it. But EVERYWHERE I've hunted that has mfr, the deer pound it. It's a highly preferred browse where I live.

 

[casts_by_fly]

The ‘briars’ I’m talking about aren’t the usual mfr or green briar. Mostly not briar really it’s a mix of ragweeds, some wineberries, grassy weeds, and the various weeds that have grippy and sticky seed pods. There’s a bit of saplings, though not that much right now. Some ferns. Some grasses that looks like elephant grass. It’s a random wild mix and the deer don’t much care about it. They will browse some of it, but mostly not.

also, I miscalculated. The bigger spot I have is nearly 1 acre, not 1/10th acre. It’s 40 yards by about 100 yards.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

The ‘briars’ I’m talking about aren’t the usual mfr or green briar. Mostly not briar really it’s a mix of ragweeds, some wineberries, grassy weeds, and the various weeds that have grippy and sticky seed pods. There’s a bit of saplings, though not that much right now. Some ferns. Some grasses that looks like elephant grass. It’s a random wild mix and the deer don’t much care about it. They will browse some of it, but mostly not.

also, I miscalculated. The bigger spot I have is nearly 1 acre, not 1/10th acre. It’s 40 yards by about 100 yards.

Ferns usually means acidic soil. Sorry if I missed it but did you mention what your pH is? How will you lime it? Ag lime is the best economically, and it lasts longer in the soil but it's not easy to spread by hand. It takes a little longer to actually adjust the pH.
Pellet lime spreads easily and works faster than ag lime but pellet is more expensive. Doing only an acre won't be crazy expensive with pellet but it will cost more.

Here's a ragweed anecdote...
Several years ago I wanted to grow a soybean plot but I was pretty sure the high deer density would destroy the beans before they'd barely emerge. So I put up an E fence to protect it until maturity. But ragweed also invaded the plot. I'd estimate that the plot was 70/30 beans to ragweed. I wasn't too disappointed because I knew my deer liked ragweed and I figured they would eventually eat it after the beans were gone. When I took down the fence, just the opposite happened. The deer completely ignored the beans and the concentrated on the ragweed until it was all but gone. At that point they finally ate the beans.

Btw, is there any pokeweed in that field? That's another "weed" that my deer go crazy for.

 

[casts_by_fly]

I haven’t done a soil test yet so can’t say on the ph. We are the top of a rocky old Appalachian mountain hilltop. The soil is quite rocky so working it is going to be a challenge anywhich way.

anything spread will be hand spread. I’ve got lawn level equipment and if I can brush hog it all to the ground then I can walk a lawn spreader and pellets If needed. 40# bags of lime pellets are $6 at tractor supply. If I need a ton, that’s $300. That’s a lot of walking to get 50 bags from the truck to the ground and then spread it, but doable if needed.

no pokeweed here that I’ve seen.

 

[Still Kicking]

I thought food plots indicated deep thinking about what you were taking with you to eat in the stand.