RE: food plot questions?
 

[blockquote]quote:

ORIGINAL: farm hunter

Red clover growing naturally is generally a good sign that the soil has some merit already. Probably Ph at least close to 6.0. Red clover will grow a little more easily than most white clovers on soils 5.5 - 6.0 ph.

Sometimes you can tell by the plants growing, what parts of a field might be better suited for plots. Use existing weed vegetation as soil indicators.

Acidic loving plants include: Queen Anne Lace, Daiseys,Paintbrushes, plantain .

On "less acidic soils" - you will see more: Milkweed, lambsquarters, chickory, clovers.

I like clovers above all else for "pasture type" plots.Use lime to "up" your Ph.
I like White clover mixes best since they grow lower to the ground - and my deer seem to prefer white clovers. Once established - I mow 2-3 times per year and leave the clippings lay.

FH


[/blockquote]
is burning the field before i plant where i will be planting a good idea????
do you think lime in really nessecary if red clover is growing there already? or even a ph test? can i plant a mixture of red and white clover and chicory or is it not a good idea to plant these 3 together????

how do i plant these 3 if they will work together?do those 3 plants require different planting methods?

one more thing (sorry about all these questions) can i mow the chicory if a plant, red clover, white clover, and chicory? also can i just mow the stuff with a bush how or should i use a riding mower with a chute????

RE: food plot questions?
 

The book will help you no doubt - Also - sometimes experience is the best teacher - and as long as you learn as you go -you'll make out all right - you need to keep an open mind and note POSITIVES and NEGATIVES as you go.

Just the fact that Red clover is growing only tells you the spot has potential. White clovers might fail miserably - and a pure stand of Red clover might not fare a well as a few plants here and there. The only way (cheapest way) to know - is a soil test.

Burning can help some - no doubt. - but if pH is lacking - buring alone will not help much -its sometimes a short term boost for residual seeds to really get going. Again a soil test will tell you if you need lime ( you probably do ) - and how much to get to 6.0-6.5 pH.


Personally - I don't like mixing Red & White clovers on purpose. Red clovers are more like Alfafa - in that they grow fast and tall. There is a lot of stalk, and is more suited to cattle thandeer in my opinion. They also tend to shade out white clovers in the mix - which rarely get over 12" tall. If some red clovers chow up in my white clover plots - I'm OK with that however - I mow them along with the weeds. In my expereince - if you have red & white clovers combined (or alsike & Whites) the deer will eat the White Clovers.

Chicory is a good mix with white clovers, I can attest to this mix - I don't know about with red clover. Keep them mowed - and any mower that evenly spreads the clippings is fine (you don't want a windrow left).

FH

RE: food plot questions?
 

Yeah, you will still make some mistakes. Don't worry you won't be the first or last. One thing to remember is you reap what you sow. So be willing to do the work up front.

Mow them with your bush hog. You don't want to cut it lower than 6". And try to mow them right before it rain will help to.

You can plant all this together. Just work the ground and spread and cultipack. The only thing to no about the differences in the clovers is the whites are true perrenials, and the reds and yellow are normally bi-enials. Though they will reseed.

RE: food plot questions?
 

could i get by by doing this in order?
1. mowing down where i am going to plant
2. test ph levels.
3 possibly add lime or ferilizer.
4. burn fields where im gonna plant
.5 rake away any branches etc.
6. put red clover,white clover and maybe alfalfa in fertilizer spreader and spread (will these three plants plant well together with same ph levels and same preperation?) pikecofoodplotter what does this mean? "Just work the ground and spread and cultipack"
.6 when it gets high enough bush hog
is this all i need to do to have a good food plot?

RE: food plot questions?
 

anybody?

RE: food plot questions?
 

Disc it. Turn you sod into a seed bed.

Though clover will come up if you spread on the hard soil you are not going to get the best germination rate. Cultivate the ground with a disc (or rototiller), spread your seed with a spreader, and pack the seed bed back down with a roller or cultipacker. This will allow maximum seed to soil contact and your germination rate will be high.

Man if you got it in your head that clover plots cheap and easy, just wait. Some years it would be just as cheap to plant an annual. If this is going to be your first attempt at food plotting try to plant an annual. The bigger seeds makes it easier to get a first stand and will not be as frustrating.

RE: food plot questions?
 

what you reccommend then if not clover? i gotta get dirt for aph test as soon as all this snow melts.......we got over a foot of snow in the past few days. im planting 2 plots all easily accessible. i have a tractor with bushhog, scraper blade, and auger. i have a rototiller but i imagine its a lot easier with a disk........i could probably get my hands on a disk and a roller

RE: food plot questions?
 

do i need to plow the land before i disk it?

RE: food plot questions?
 

It typically makes a better seed bed if you can but not required.

RE: food plot questions?
 

all right we have a plow but no disk. does it matter at all what kind of plow i use or how far down the plow goes into the ground? also what seed would you reccommend?