SWThomas

Alright fellas, I need some help. I keep getting conflicting advice on what to do and when to do it.

I'm establishing a food plot on a new site. I've already gotten a soil sample, purchased my lime, purchased some herbicide, and purchased the seed I'm going to plant. My questions are these...

1. At what point(s) should I spray the herbicide?

2. When should I fertilize? Before I plant, when I plant, or after I plant?

3. When and how many times should I till the soil?

Thanks!

M.Magis

Disclaimer: I’m no expert

You’re probably getting conflicting advice because there’s no one answer. But, I’ll give it a shot…
1. At lease three weeks before turning soil is my preference. This ensures that not only does the vegetation look dead, but the roots are completely dead as well. It just makes things easier. It’s particularly important if using a tiller.
2. All three are feasible, depending on different factors, but you may as well incorporate it into the soil when you work it.
3. That depends on how your soil works. If it’s soil that’s never been turned over before, I would figure a minimum of two, possibly more. But, your weeds/grass may not be as thick as they are around here.

Snook384

Well howdy here is another conflicting report.

Lime now and DO NOT spray herbicide. Let the lime sit for a few months. Then spray and wait one more month. Then till it up and put in the fertilzer right along with the seed. the reason for that is you THINK all the weeds are dead. Nope, they got seeds in their buddy. By incorporating the fertilzer along with the planting the chicory, peas, or whatever will get the benifit of a slow bleed fertlizer for the first two or three weeks. They will explode.

You just have to take everyones word on the lime. I went to my food plot this weekend and had 11 deer and a BEAR eating on it. Pretty damn cool if I say so myself.

Do bears eat chicory?

SWThomas

Okay, so I'll fertilize when I plant. I have been told that before and I have also been told to fertilize once the plants start to grow out of the ground. I guess either one would work just fine.

SWThomas

I read somewhere that phosphorus absorbs into the soil slowly and should be applied well before planting. Should I just put the phosphorus down when I do the lime? And then apply the potassium after the plants start growing?

If so, is SuperPhosphate any good? That seems to be all my feed/seed store can get. I'm pretty sure it's 0-18-0 and comes in 4 pound bags.

What would be a good potassium fertilizer to use?



Edit: Maybe this will help. My soil analysis says to apply 100lbs of P (Phosphorus)and 100lbs of K(Potassium)per acre. I'm planting about 1/4 acre. What would be my best fertilizer strategy?

gregrn43

If you ask 10 different people you will probably get 10 different answers, but here is how I do it. Spray my herbicide to kill the weeds and junk out of it. Wait about 2 weeks thenspread my lime and work it into the soil. Wait a couple more weeks or so and if I need to spray herbicide I do it again. In the fall I plant some type of cereal grain with clover and rape, so I put out about 200lbs per acre of triple 13 at the time of planting. Later once I get a good stand going I spread about 150lbs of urea on it. This works really well for me in the soil where I plant my plots. My plots are always lush and green by mid oct if we get the rainfall here.

SWThomas

Thanks for the info! But urea isn't needed for what I'm doing. First, I'm planting legumes and second, my soil test didn't recommend any kind of nitrogen application. All I'm concerned with offering the plot for fertilizer is P and K. I just don't know what the best way to apply it is and when.

1sagittarius

P & K should always be mixed into the soil prior to planting when ever possible ... per soil test, in ammounts recommended forintended crop/plot ... per soil test.

Super phospate, or 0-42-0, 0-46-0, will work fine. 0-0-60 potassium/potash will be fine too. If you can only get 4 lb bags, go somewhere else. What herbicide do you want to use, and what type of seed are you planting, and when? For best results you want the plot weed/grass free weeks/months before you till or plant.

SWThomas

Thanks for the reply. Super Phosphate is all the feed store near me can get. I'm not sure if they can get it in larger bags but he is researching to see what he can get. I'm planning to spread the P shortly after I do the lime because I read on Clemson University's website that Phosphorus should be introduced early as it absorbs slowly. Sometime it's recommended to be layed down with the lime. They also said that the K should be introduced shortly after the plants begin to grow. I guess I'll follow those instructions.

I'm going to use Hi-Yield Herbicide. I already sprayed the entire plot with Ultra-Kill and it did an okay job. I tilled half of it the other day before it got too hot to work anymore. I'm going to till the rest of it today and also lay the lime down. I'm using 520lbs of pelletized Lawn Lime. I plan to spray the Hi-Yield on it about 2-3 weeks before I plant. Then I'm planning to till it all again right before I plant.

I'm planting one 40 pound bag of Tecomate LabLab Plus. My plot is only about a 1/4 acre and I should be fine with that. But I'm always open to suggestions. I'm putting the lime down today so I'm planning to plant around the middle of September.

psandhu

Someone will end up richer and someone else will end up wiser if you buy the P in 4 pound bags.

You need 25 lbs of actual P for your 1/4 acre plot. There is about 3/4's of a pound of P in the 4 pound bag of SuperPhosphate. That means you'll need 33 bags of the stuff. How much is it per bag, a couple of bucks? Multiply a couple of bucks by 33.

Buy your P from a grain elevator/fertilizer dealer. You should be able to get a 5 gallon bucket of DAP for less than $15. A 5 gallon bucket of DAP will have over 25 pounds of actual P in it.

Tip: You'll have to supply your own bucket when you buy the DAP.