the kidd

well i just recently bought me a mantis tiller and now i want to put it to use and try to make some nice small foodplots with it.....well first of all what brand would yall go with?mossy aok, whitetail,evolved habitats,and so forth........and which one is a good place to order a soil sample from?i headr that it is good to till real deep down here in texas because of droughts and low rain fall is this true?and the next step would be what type of seed ?anything else yall would like to add?most bands say to plant in fall so i think im just goin to till my spots deep now and then do some light tilling when its closer to fall....also whats a good spot to put these plots i was thinkin of just putting some extras on our senderos like in the middle of the road so the trucks wont damage the plants....but any info will be wanted...

the kidd

i have ben researching a bit and seem to motice these to the most which is lablab and texas draw by bio logic i havent looked at the other brands yet i headr tecomate was good also...any help?

the kidd

well can someone atleast tell me of a website that will help me find out this info cus its just not working here[:@]

timbercruiser

If you have a lack of dependable rainfall I would pour out the corn and forget trying to grow anything.

the kidd

well white tail institute has one called extreme and it only needs about 20 inches of rainfall and if anything im sure that we can water it our selves at times...and corn on just 20 acres isnt enoough .......

North Texan

Don't run a tiller across it. Nothing will make your ground as hard as a tiller, unless you are in very sandy soil. I have heard all these people build up lablab, but our hunters tried it for a while and it didn't do much. I've had decent luck with black-eyed peas, and will be planting some this Sunday while the sign is right. But I'm doing them for harvest, not a food plot. I'm hoping this will work because this year is an el nino year, and our rainfall is usually heavier. On non-el nino years, I'm only successful about 50% of the time. Those success rates in a food plot probably do as much or more harm than good.

Really, your best option is sound range management. Native plants have been used to the conditions for thousands of years, and they are equipped to handle them. I've been working on range improvement on our land for about the last three years. So far, I've got about 900 acres done. And the results are very visible. The pastures look better, and the trial cams have been showing healthy deer even in January and February, which are probably the hardest months on them here.

the kidd

i find it odd that yall encourage me not to put a foodplot....why si that ?i know people that hunt by me that have huge foodplots...and they get some good growth and lots of deer...now and yall are telling me the opposite but i will still make a foodplot...and ill, be sure to post the results..

TexasOaks

LOL

TexasOaks

Our wheat/oat fields are growing like weeds.

Texas Hog Hunter

I don't think anyone is telling you not to plant a food plot. It just seems like you are pissing in the wind trying to prepare food plots with a Mantis tiller. We work with a wildlife biologist and he recommends planting a minimum or 1% of our land in food plots for wildlife management. We are planting roughly 10% of our place though, because the deer wiped out the small 1/2 acre plots we used to plant. If you don't have enough they'll eat the plant down to the root and it won't grow back.

My .02 cents.