Hello Eveyone.
I normaly post on the Hunting& Religion forum. We have a thread there where folks tell about themselves " A Face to go with that name". You can take a gander at it to see who I am.

I live in central Arkansas. I own 40 acres, 30 acres mostly pine plantation with a few hardwoods mixed in and 10 acres mostly hardwood with a few pines mixed in.

The pine plantation is about 18 years old. I had them thinned for the first time. I did that 2 years ago. When I had the pines thinned I had them make the logging set a little larger than we normaly find in this part of the woods.
The logging set was made about 40 yards wide on one end and about 60 yards wide on the other, the set was made about 80 yards long.
Down here when they cut young timber like mine they use equipment that strips the smaller limbs from the trunk and then the trunk is cut to length, this process leaves a top.
The tops and limbs are piled. The pile when they were done wound up about 40 yards long and about 20 yards wide. I have spent this summer burning the tops.
I have burned them and Iam in the process of spreading the ashes on the set.
I have tilled up about 2/3s of the set to a depth of about 5 inchs. The remaining 1/3 has to many stumps to till. I will give them one more year to rot then I will till it as well next year.
My property is hilly, rolling hills. My house is at about elevlation 400 and the bottom of the hills is about 320 or so.
At about 2/3s down the hill from where I built my house is where my driveway turns. I have left most of the trees on the property so most of it is shady. In the curve of the drivewayI have planted centipede<sp>, I also planted it around the clearing for the house.
I am regulary seeing8 deer in the curve of the driveway grazing on the centipede grass, two 8 points(both nice ones), one 6 point, one forked horn, two spikes and a doe and button buck.
I am making a food plot out of the logging set. I want the food plot to service turkeys as well as deer.
I will post Tuesday night concerning the PH of the soil.
I am looking for some help and advice on what to plant and what fertilizer to use.

The folks down here that I talk to that do food plots have had the best results with feed oats, I am intending to plant them. The snow peas are not of much intrest to the deer till after December mostly. The turnip greens do some good, but not the turnips themselves. Mustard greens also work well but not until very late in the season.
Right now my intentions are to plant mainly feed oats, but I am very un-decided as to what to plant with them.
I have been advised to be ready to put 100 to 150 pounds of lime on the plot, I think this is a good idea.

If I have left out any important information please let me know.

Any ideas about what I should plant?
How much liming?
What kind and how much fertilizer?

Thanks for any helpfull advice.

Mr-Pirk

might want to think about planting some of those late winter crops to help the deer get through the hard parts of winter.which helps them be healthier for next year as well.... then this spring plant them something for teh hard parts of summer to help their nutrition and antler growth too.....

could plant the Buck forage oats or plotspike forage oats along with a perrenial clover.......... the oats will cover the clover adn let the clover come on strong in the spring

I don't know about planting oats solely as a fall plot. Especially one to help them thru the winter, because oats usually give out and turn brown after a couple of good frosts. However wheat stays green and palatable to deer throughout winter.

Rye would be a good choice, try planting some soybeans, they will come up and offer a forage, not many beans , but a good green crop for deer , try some rape for winter feedtoo.

How bout planting Buck Forage Oats mixed with wheat. After planting them overseed with a good white clover. A soil test will probably be helpful. After two years you might be able to run a big offset disc through the area and get most of those stumps up. Probably loblolly trees aren't they?

Thanks for the replys and advice. It has been preplexing trying to decide what to plant and how to plant it.
I had been wondering about mixing winter wheat and rye grass and winter peasin with the oats and greens.
Would you mix it all together or would you plant the different seed in different areas?
Would you use annual rye grass?
The folks down here that I have spoke with haven't had much results with the Austrailian<sp> snow peas. What kind of peas would you plant?
I am wanting to plant clover as well, would white clover be best choice or should I mix in other varities?
I have been wondering if you mix the clover seed with the rest of the seedas you seed it or do you plant it seperate in a seperate area so that it doesn't get shaded out next spring by what may come back?
Are there different fertilizer requirements for the different kinds of seed suggested?
Would you fertilize at the time of seeding or after it starts to sprout?
Timber Cruiser I am not sure of the type of pine stumps, they were planted as pine plantation in the 1980's, the good news is they aren't field\bull pines. They are two years old right now and a good number of them I am able to tip up out of the ground with the front-end loader on my tractor.

I am using my tractor a 42hp Kubota with a front-end loader and a 5 foot tiller on the back to prepare the ground. I have access to a PTO driven broad-caster to scatter the seed and lime and such.
I have spent 3 months of working weekends getting the food plot ready. I don't want to waste all that work by not doing something right in the planting of it.
I intend to start planting and such this next weekend, am I starting to soon or to late for a fall food plot?
It is still dry down here and I am worried about planting to soon and the heatkilling it, I am also worried about waiting any longer and the food plot not having time to be a good fall food plot.

Thanks
Mr-Pirk

Dont plant annual ryegrass, the first hard frost will kill it, whatever you plant will be good for the deer if they dont have much else to choose from, try the oats, I would plant it in strips and see which works best for them ,the you will know for future ref..

i think you mean rye grain as opposed to rye grass. it's very similar to winter wheat. you plant it in the fall, it looks like green grass over the winter, and in the spring/summer you'll have mature plants.

i planted rye last fall. saw plenty of hoof tracks in the plots, and saw plenty of evidence of grazing. the tops of the blades were usually flat, like they were bitten off.

it's pretty easy to plant too.

An up-date.

I planted the food plot yesterday.

I put out
600lbs of pelitized lime
300lbs of 13-13-13
50lbs of winter wheat
50lbs of feed oats
100lbs of rye grain
1/2 pound of mustard greens
1/2 pound of turnip greens
1 pound of purple hull peas

I decided to wait till the spring to plant the clover. I was going to plant some soy beans as well but the local feed\seed stores didn't have any.

I tried to plant the different seed in seperate locations in the plot with the borders over-lapping to a degree. I have worked all the seed to just below the surface of the ground.

I worried about planting to soon while the weather is still so hot and dry, but I am hoping to get some rain when the hurricane comes ashore.
Right now they are forcasting rain for the eastern half of Arkansas. I am hoping enough spills over in my area, central Arkansas.

I will try to post some pictures soon.

Thanks for the advice and insights.

Mr-Pirk