Planting in NY
05-08-2003, 01:44 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 2
Planting in NY
I am totally new here, thanks for having me. I want to ask a question about planting food plots. My club has roughly 3000 acres of property in Sullivan County NY. Problem is, it is mostly hardwood, ridges, and a couple of swamps. There is not much in the way of flat land which I guess would be best for food plots. We have tons of acorns, plenty of pines, but would like to put in small food plots around the property. Reason is, surrounding properties are suspected to be doing a lot of supplamental feeding and we would like to draw the animals back into our property, by natural means. Can anyone lend some experienced advice? Thanks in advance.
05-08-2003, 08:13 PM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lexington NC USA
Posts: 459
RE: Planting in NY
Well, I' m not even close to NY but here in NC I' ve had really good luck with clover in the thin sections of the hardwoods. I cleared the small saplings out, removed the leaves and disced it up. My thinking is that with our hot, dry summers the shade really helped the clover. The areas I chose were the lower lying areas. The ground holds more moisture there. The main problem I have is in the fall. What I do is about the time the leaves start falling I mow it to around 4" tall. Then I use the leaf blower a few times until the leaves have all dropped. I' m not sure how well this would work up your way but it might be worth a shot. Good luck!!!
05-08-2003, 09:42 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: cazenovia, NY USA
Posts: 2,973
RE: Planting in NY
Welcome Bob - I haven' t posted alot lately - too busy planting and the kids soccer. Sullivan County is a Great area, and sooooo pretty in the fall.
With all the oaks and mature/semi-mature hardwoods - food plots will require a little work - but can be done. If you have old field sites - I' d start there. If you are confined to the woods themselves, some thinning is likely in order - especially for crops like clover and such. Clover needs at least 4 hours of DIRECT sunlight to do just OK. I doubt the hard wood ridges offer this unless recently logged. Thinning or clearcutting is the best option, but you may not be able to.
Since you plan is currently to attract deer in the fall, other options (cheaper too) might be considered first. First, in the hardwoods around my area (Madison County) - the soil is thin, acidic, and very little undergrowth occurs if the trees are 30yrs+. BUT it is easy to rake up the leaves and expose the soil. In the fall, just after the first heavy leaf drop, you can rake out the leaves in sections 1/4 acre- 1acre - and liberally apply CEREAL RYE seed to the soil (100-130 lbs/acre) - cover it a little if you can, and it will grow due to increased light levels due to leaf drop. Rye is winter hardy, and will sprout within 1 week of planting - and continue to grow until it goes dormant as snow starts to accumulate. The Real trick is timing the planting of the rye AFTER the first major leaf drop - sometimes this occurs in the middle of BOW season in NY. Too early - and the leaf drop smothers the seed, too late and growth is dormant, before it ever really gets going. The best browsing the deer will have is the 1st 4 weeks of growth. Its a great attractant - but does not do alot to benefit a herd in the long run.
You may find that to really benefit your herd, and increase the Population in your area, the woods needs to be thinned out, to provide more security cover, maybe like in our case this year, the couple ice storms did this for you this year.
Good luck
With all the oaks and mature/semi-mature hardwoods - food plots will require a little work - but can be done. If you have old field sites - I' d start there. If you are confined to the woods themselves, some thinning is likely in order - especially for crops like clover and such. Clover needs at least 4 hours of DIRECT sunlight to do just OK. I doubt the hard wood ridges offer this unless recently logged. Thinning or clearcutting is the best option, but you may not be able to.
Since you plan is currently to attract deer in the fall, other options (cheaper too) might be considered first. First, in the hardwoods around my area (Madison County) - the soil is thin, acidic, and very little undergrowth occurs if the trees are 30yrs+. BUT it is easy to rake up the leaves and expose the soil. In the fall, just after the first heavy leaf drop, you can rake out the leaves in sections 1/4 acre- 1acre - and liberally apply CEREAL RYE seed to the soil (100-130 lbs/acre) - cover it a little if you can, and it will grow due to increased light levels due to leaf drop. Rye is winter hardy, and will sprout within 1 week of planting - and continue to grow until it goes dormant as snow starts to accumulate. The Real trick is timing the planting of the rye AFTER the first major leaf drop - sometimes this occurs in the middle of BOW season in NY. Too early - and the leaf drop smothers the seed, too late and growth is dormant, before it ever really gets going. The best browsing the deer will have is the 1st 4 weeks of growth. Its a great attractant - but does not do alot to benefit a herd in the long run.
You may find that to really benefit your herd, and increase the Population in your area, the woods needs to be thinned out, to provide more security cover, maybe like in our case this year, the couple ice storms did this for you this year.
Good luck
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