anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Anyone putting in food plots this year, more specifically any central NYers? My family is going to put in food plots for the first time this year so i was wondering if you guys had any tips or recommendations. think we are going to put in one larger feeding plot and a handful of smaller "hunting plots"

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

I plowed an old plot under Saturday and got another two acres roto tilled. My winter wheat was slow coming back but its looking better.:)

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Turned over a new plot in a sunny spot in te woods and limed it two weeks ago. That'll be a fall planting. Gonna roundup a plot this week and plant that in ladino clover in a few weeks.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Although i do nothunt over my plots, i plant them every year. Last year i planted corn and soybeans. You can't beat these for cold weather food. Plant clover for early season.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

bawanajim - what are you putting in the two acres you roto-tilled? since its two acres I'm assuming you used some kind of pull behind roto-tiller right?

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

How big of a spot did you clear in the woods? I have my heart set on this one little clearing i have back in the woods I'd love to plant. I was thinking about using some type of no-till seed because i don't have any equipment I could get back there. What are you planning on planting? how much lime did you put down, i heard as a general rule soil in the woods is more acidic because of the trees. haha sorry for all the questions but I'm a total novice when it comes to this stuff

mlo - that's an awesome picture! how big of a field is that? I've read that if you plant corn and soybeans it has to be fairly big or they will eat it down to nothing before it is able to mature. Do you plant a special food plot mix or do you just use regular agricultural seed? haha again sorry for all the questions, I really appreciate it

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

I am going to plant corn in one area and the other area is my garden.
I have a five foot tiller on the back of a 27 hp kabota tractor.

I only plow if necessary, after a couple back surgery's I don't like the rough ride of big dead furrows.[:@]

So basically I'll have corn , wheat, clover and my garden in a six acre plot.:)

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

First off, I'm no expert at this but I've been dabbling a bit and learning as I go.


I probably have 1/3 of an acre in the woods that I'm planting between a gasline, a skid trail and a small clearing. Also got another 1/3 acre corner of a field. The woods stuffall has been leaf covered for awhile so I put down 800 lbs of ag lime. Messy stuff but way cheaper than the pelletized. Checked ph with a cheapo meter but not sure I trust it. It said around 6.5. A buddy says the 800 lbs I put down will be a big help.

I'll put clover and chicory on the more moist areas this springand wheat, turnips,winter oatsout in the early fall. Pretty new at this myself and still learning by trial anderror. Also getting bits and pieces from friends that havve learned the same way and are a year or two ahead of me.

Our lease in Illinois will be donewith a bit moreknowledge.The farmer has graciously provided time and equipment and we provide the seed and spray.We're putting in 24 acres in alfalfa in one big field. About8-10 acres of soybeans in 4 small plotsand winter wheat, winter oats and turnips along the field edges here and there.

We have one 1/2 acre plot we did last year in ladino clover in the woods that worked out well and have three more spots scoped out for this spring. Clover can do OK with 3-4 hours of sun per day

We're going to try Imperial Whitetail secret spot, chicmagnet and no plow mixes for our small plots this year.

If you dont have equipment, stay with the no till or no plow mixes that have coatings on the seeds to help with ph and germination. You can get by with a rake and some elbow grease with those.

Sportsmans guide, www.sportsmensguide.com has several good Imperial whitetail seed mixes on sale right now. I figured it might be last years seed but some of the stufff I bought had to be back ordered and was brand new from the factory when I got it.

Got another idea I'm gonna try in the woods. I've learned froma deer control hunting program in suburbia that deer love hostas and that hosta does well in shade. They eat em right down to the ground in the fall on this one place I hunt.
I have access to a bunch of free hosta plants (mom) and am going to try starting a few patches in the woods.

The limited success I've had with small plots in the woods is that it helps steer the deer closer as they pass through but it's not likely to draw a lot in if they arent traveling through anyway. Smallclearing plots in staging areas are VERY effective for evening bowhunts so long as you dont pressure them too much.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

bawanajim - that 27 HP tractor pull that tiller pretty easy? My girlfriend's father has a compact ford tractor that is like 22 HP and I know someone with a tiller but I wasn't sure if it would be too much on it. do you use a drill or corn planter when you seed the fields or do you broadcast? I know corn has to be seeded a lot deeper than clover. I think it would be nice to put in a strip of corn but I don't think i'll have access to a planter, I was wondering if I could just broadcast it and then disc it in or something

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

6 - 1 acre plots with 4 - 200lb feeders,12 protein blocks and 120 lbs of molasses buckets

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Sounds awesome BTB, and thanks again for the input. The woods plot I have in mind is about fifty yards in the woods from an overgrown hay field. Its located near the corner of the field and the deer travel up and down both sides of the field just inside the woods, and the trails intersect right there. Its fairly close to a property line that gets pretty decent hunting pressure so that pushes them towards this area too. Its fairly open in there now because it got logged last summer but i'm sure it will be getting thick over the spring and summer. The stand is located WAAAYYYY up this old hemlock tree and overlooks a little natural clearing, maybe a 1/5 of an acre. With a chainsaw i figure i can knock down a few of the smaller trees there to open it up a little more to make the plot bigger and let more light in. I thought with those trees gone I would just rake away any leaves and score the groung up with the rake, lime, fertilize, and then use a no plow seed mix. Since the soil condition i'm sure is going to be pretty mediocre I'm not planning on amazing growth, but i figure if I can give them another reason to walk through there it will be worth it. You said you used agricultural lime on your plot, why was it more messy then pelletized lime? I thought it was all basically the same stuff? How much does lime generally cost if you don't mind me asking?

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

I just tilled under an older plot last week .
I have a New Holland TC-30 with a 5 foot tiller .
I made 2 seporate plots the run parralell to each other , Abought 1 1/2 acers .
Bigger plot I used the new Whitetail Instatute Chic magnant ,
Its a chicory mix . I also thru in a bunch of turnip seeds .
2nd plot is an experament I used a Blue boy ? company sead witch contains a variaty of clover , brassia etc, I also thru in some pumpkins , turnips and carrotts .
I also have a couple bags of buck forage oats to plant witch will be abought another acre ,but I,ll plant it in the late summer ...[:-]

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Lime around here is 35 dollars per ton.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

I used ag lime which is basically pwdered limestone. I bought it by the 50 lb bag locally for 1.49/bag. You either need one of those lawn spreaders or you just sling it around.

Pelletized lime will spread a lot easier with a boadcast spreader (i have one on my plot mule) but costs more like 5 bucks for a 40 lb bag I have read the pelletized lime is about 40% more effective per pound than ag lime though. As Jim said, ag lime is even cheaper when you can buy it in bulk

Do you have an ATV or a garden tractor? Before I got the plot mule I had decent results with a tow behind thatcher that I picked up at a yard sale for 15 bucks. I've also heard of guys dragging an old bedspring around to scratch up the earth a little. (sure beats rakin!) Even the no plow stuff works much better if you get the top of the dirt a little scratched up.


From the sounds of your plot location, the best thing would be to clear and lime it now, spray roundup in 2-4 weeks before planting and plant for a fall plotbased on the planting time shown on the seed package. I'd try secret spot, pure attaction or no plow. If you will be hunting this spot well past the first frost, make sure you use a mix with brassicas (turnip family) which sweetens after a frost.

We found that it took a seasonfor the deertocatch on to the turnips where they hadnt seen them before but once they started on em they positively mauled em!

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Sounds good TRACKER, why pumpkins though? Do deer like them or did you just plant them for yourself?

35 bucks a ton is pretty cheap! I was expecting it to be way more then that, that's a pleasant surprise haha. For the in the woods and a couple of the other smaller plots I'll prob see if I can find bagged lime just because it would be more convenient. We have a couple wheelers, Honda Fourtrax Ranchers so that will make things a little easier. I figured i'd just pick up a push behind spreader for the lime and seed. Def going to make sure there are some type of brassicas in there because we have a frost damn near every morning of deer season haha. Thanks again for the input guys, i'm sure i'll have more questions later haha.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

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mlo - that's an awesome picture! how big of a field is that? I've read that if you plant corn and soybeans it has to be fairly big or they will eat it down to nothing before it is able to mature. Do you plant a special food plot mix or do you just use regular agricultural seed? haha again sorry for all the questions, I really appreciate it

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gmil6184,
I plant between 3 and 4 acres of corn and about 2 acres of soybeans.
This year I used RR - Pioneer 39D80 BT-X 80 day corn, which turned out great. Of course it was a good corn year. The BT is for Corn Borer and the X is for Root Worm. This is a must if you plant corn in the same spot for more than three years. I use 15-15-15 fertilizer at between 275-300 lbs per acre.

The deer ate alot of leaves off the soybeans during the summer but i still had a great soybean crop.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Soybeans during summer.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Soybeans in the fall with winter rye planted between the rows. I broadcast the rye seed when the soybean leaves turned yellow.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

My soybeans are Round up Ready also. This is what they looked like before i sprayed them. Weed controll is very important for a good crop.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Just starting to make a cob. By spring the cornis conpletly gone.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Turkeys and deer.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Nice looking stuff MLO. Very impressive

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

Wow those are great pictures mlo - I just checked out the links in your signature and those pictures are awesome too! Are they all taken in Millers Mills? I think I've told you before in another thread but I grew up in West Winfield. My sister dates Ryan Collins (I forget his parents name, his dad does some taxidermy) over in Millers Mills.

Anyways, a few more questions haha. What time of year do you have all your food plots planted, most of the seeds I've seen give a pretty large range of time they recommend you get them planted by but i was wondering if you had a general rule of thumb you followed. I also was wondering if you could recommend a place to get bulk lime in the area?

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

I have known Ryans family for many years. Great ppl. I plant everything the last week of may or by the last weekend of may. I am not sure about the lime. I hav'nt ever used or needed it. I'll see if i can find a place to buy.

RE: anyone putting in food plots this year?
 

That's cool you know them...small world. That's impressive you've got such good results with your plots without having to lime, must have some good soil over in your neck of the woods. I'm finishing up with final exams this coming week and then i'm going to be back in town for turkey season. Since we can only hunt until noon i'm going to spend the afternoons working on getting the plots ready. It is going to be so nice to be out of offices and classrooms and back in the woods.