Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
08-25-2007, 08:13 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: cazenovia, NY USA
Posts: 2,973
Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
I've posted a few pictures on my other post - but thought you guys might like to see the progression of my "Kill Plot".
The plot is an expandedlowland "roadway" around the head of an active Beaver pond. I selected this spot because the deer have to funnel around the pond - and bed in the thicket at its head. Its also Moist- but not swampy -and I thought clover could do well here. I took the brush-hog and thrashed the red osier dogwood, willows & alders and other small bushes last spring (2006)- and then disked & overseeded it with Shotplot last July. The turnip mix never really did great last year - and goldenrod came back before the end of the year last year.
The plot is a North-South winding "S", it has 6-7 apple trees on its edge - and is about 300 ft x 60 ft (just over 1/3 acre). It should be noted - this is not a hardwoods area. I've always said that if the area gets enough light to grow goldenrod - you can grow clover too.
So..........this spring - I let it grow - and in Early June - I hand SPRAYED it all heavily with roundup. Then a couple weeks later (7-1)- Disked, limed - planted a clover mix, -fertilized & rolled it flat. I tried mixing in some soybeans too (about 20 lbs) but they were very quickly devoured - I don't think any made it. Some Turnips from last year survived the spraying, and discing (amazing) - and are coming in sporadically. The Goldenrod never did come back I'm happy to say. I plan to continue to expand the plot a little each year, until its at least 1/2 acre - hopefully a little more.
To Follow are some pictures. Of course - I had to get a stand up once I realized how well it was coming in!
Sprayed on 6-10-07
`
Planted on 7-1-07
8-10-07 - progress!
8-25-07
My 12ft box Stand - on the North End (prevailing winds are from SW)
Next - I'll put the camera on the plot. They are browsing it pretty good - I suspect that the new stand might make the somewhat nervous - so I haven't spent much time around the plot.
FH
The plot is an expandedlowland "roadway" around the head of an active Beaver pond. I selected this spot because the deer have to funnel around the pond - and bed in the thicket at its head. Its also Moist- but not swampy -and I thought clover could do well here. I took the brush-hog and thrashed the red osier dogwood, willows & alders and other small bushes last spring (2006)- and then disked & overseeded it with Shotplot last July. The turnip mix never really did great last year - and goldenrod came back before the end of the year last year.
The plot is a North-South winding "S", it has 6-7 apple trees on its edge - and is about 300 ft x 60 ft (just over 1/3 acre). It should be noted - this is not a hardwoods area. I've always said that if the area gets enough light to grow goldenrod - you can grow clover too.
So..........this spring - I let it grow - and in Early June - I hand SPRAYED it all heavily with roundup. Then a couple weeks later (7-1)- Disked, limed - planted a clover mix, -fertilized & rolled it flat. I tried mixing in some soybeans too (about 20 lbs) but they were very quickly devoured - I don't think any made it. Some Turnips from last year survived the spraying, and discing (amazing) - and are coming in sporadically. The Goldenrod never did come back I'm happy to say. I plan to continue to expand the plot a little each year, until its at least 1/2 acre - hopefully a little more.
To Follow are some pictures. Of course - I had to get a stand up once I realized how well it was coming in!
Sprayed on 6-10-07
`
Planted on 7-1-07
8-10-07 - progress!
8-25-07
My 12ft box Stand - on the North End (prevailing winds are from SW)
Next - I'll put the camera on the plot. They are browsing it pretty good - I suspect that the new stand might make the somewhat nervous - so I haven't spent much time around the plot.
FH
09-03-2007, 02:26 PM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin/Michigan
Posts: 9,679
RE: Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
Great plot! All my summer plots took off great for 2 weeks then the Deer and Elk hammered them, especially the Soybeans! Then came the drought...... I'm hoping the clover comes back after all the rain we got last week! It was brown and dead looking. Well see next week! Once again great looking plot!
09-03-2007, 07:11 PM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: cazenovia, NY USA
Posts: 2,973
RE: Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
Thanks guys - I was suprised how well the plot did. The deer are eating on it often, we'll see how long it stays 6"+. I don't usually put my camera on the plots - but this one is small enough to get decent pictures.
I've had it out One day/night so far. The First night I got a bunch of does, and the next morning a decent 8-point walking through:
Hope to have more to share in a week or so,
FH
I've had it out One day/night so far. The First night I got a bunch of does, and the next morning a decent 8-point walking through:
Hope to have more to share in a week or so,
FH
09-16-2007, 07:03 AM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 255
RE: Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
I really like what you have done with this "mini plot"...this is exactly what I want to do on parts of our property next year. I am a 100% newbie- would you mind describing your setup...ATV? attachments?what are those other bags in the pic besides clover? Did you do a soil sample first? Thanks for the tips
09-17-2007, 04:26 PM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 2,059
RE: Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
Nice plot FH. Your stand is very similar to the one I have. What are going to do to breakup your siluette when you hunt from it? I tried camo mesh and it worked on calm days but it blew around too much in the windy November weather.
Dan O.
Dan O.
09-20-2007, 08:45 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: cazenovia, NY USA
Posts: 2,973
RE: Miniplot from planting to Late Summer
Sorry I didn't post back sooner - for some reason I was unable to post.
saltflyz -
The plot was put in without much forethought. Definitely no soil test (don't try this at home) - I was relatively sure clovers would do OK here because of the goldenrod growing here and the soil type. ( I do soil tests on the Main Field plots). I was more worried about it being too wet.
If you don't have a good idea of your soils - a soil test is definitely a good idea.
Still........ because I wasn't sure.........The mix I planted contained White clovers, Alsike clover(in case my Ph was closer to 5.0 than 6.0) and Birdsfot trefoil. I planted the clovers Heavy - 4 lbs on 1/4 acre or a little less.
I put down 200 lbs of lime - and 100 lbs of 15-15-15 fertilizer - all for good measure. Thats the othre bags. I also put some soybeans on top - but the turkeys cleaned them alll out before they grew!
All seedwas rolled in woth a clutipacker.
Dan O. - I plan to use camo mesh on the inside for each window. I sat in it the other night to scout and felt like I was RIGHT ON TOP of the deer I saw - I felt like they MUST see me. We'll see how it goes - its my RAINY/SNOWY Day stand.
FH
saltflyz -
The plot was put in without much forethought. Definitely no soil test (don't try this at home) - I was relatively sure clovers would do OK here because of the goldenrod growing here and the soil type. ( I do soil tests on the Main Field plots). I was more worried about it being too wet.
If you don't have a good idea of your soils - a soil test is definitely a good idea.
Still........ because I wasn't sure.........The mix I planted contained White clovers, Alsike clover(in case my Ph was closer to 5.0 than 6.0) and Birdsfot trefoil. I planted the clovers Heavy - 4 lbs on 1/4 acre or a little less.
I put down 200 lbs of lime - and 100 lbs of 15-15-15 fertilizer - all for good measure. Thats the othre bags. I also put some soybeans on top - but the turkeys cleaned them alll out before they grew!
All seedwas rolled in woth a clutipacker.
Dan O. - I plan to use camo mesh on the inside for each window. I sat in it the other night to scout and felt like I was RIGHT ON TOP of the deer I saw - I felt like they MUST see me. We'll see how it goes - its my RAINY/SNOWY Day stand.
FH