I am planting my own plots this year. I have never planted before and need some advice and help. I will be tilling the land. I think I will use Whitetail Institutes Chicory and turnips. Do you have any other suggestions on what to use instead? When would be the best time to plot so I could have a good plot by oct 1st?

I hunt near baton rouge, La.

any advice is helpful

Before you plant ANYTHING, get a soil test done to see how much lime is needed for your area. I planted my first ffod plot last year & learned a lot from every web site I could find concerning food plots. 99% of the post you'll read will tell you this.

Soil testing is a MUST. If you don't do it, you'll retrace your wasted steps a few years down the road and wish you had done it from the beginning.

i will be doing that.what aboutas far as what to plant?

get a soil test.

a soil test is wise but if you want the easiest stuff , use shot plot. you can put it down right on the ground with no need for packing and it will just come up even in poor soil areas. we used it all over the farm last year in areas that we didnt want to do too much work with and it was awesome. it comes up fast and thick and stays around all season

What to plant?I asked the same question last year myself. Theres so many varibles to consider. Are you looking to just attract deer for hunting only or are you comitted to providing year round forage for the deer, not only to attract but retain as well. I also took into consideration what my neighbors and local farmers were planting. Most local farmers plant corn where my property is located and I know of onefarmer who also has4 acres of Alfafa. So I decided to have what is called a Deer Deli which offer all types of forge since Deer are browsers and I wanted to not only attract Deer/Turkey to my property, but try and retain some of them as well (as best as I can within my 92 acres).

I went with 1 acre Biologic Biomaxx (Corn & Soybeans), 4 acres Biologic PremiumPerennial (Clover, Chicory, Brassica Blend), 2 acres WTI Powerplant (Sunflower, Soybeans, Cow-Peas, Lab-Lab and Sorghum), 1.5 acre of my own mixture of Brassica and Chicory (I alternated rows, 1 row of Brassica, then Chicory, then Brassica, then Chicory, you get the idea)

So what to plant? Depends on the soil and what you are trying to do, Attract or Retain or Both, Summerplots, Fall & Winter Plots, Spring Plots?

I suggest buying and reading two Books which have been EXTREMLY helpful to me, Grow'em Right by Neil Doughtery and Wildlife and Woodlot Management by Monte Burch. And of course, reading this forum as well as QDMA.com

Good Luck and keep as posted on what you do.