norsemen

guys I called up the john deere dealership today, and tomorow will take a ride over and look see what they can order, thank you all very much for the input,
not going to spend a bunch of money though, I' m trying to save up for a compact
either deere, or kobto with a loader, something I can do alot more work with,
and try to stop thinking about whitetail all the time,[] NOT

timbercruiser

Instead of using concrete blocks, see if you can locate a short piece of railroad track. Take a torch and cut some additional holed in the base to make mounting easier, but don' t overload your implement or you will damage the drive train of your atv or tear up your implement.

norsemen

timber, now thats a good idea, because the weight I had on there almost worked
but somthing longer and heavy, dragging behind,, hum,, might have somthing there

Uncle Al

We diced up our field yesterday. Bought a Agri-Fab disc from the local " Fleet Farm" store. Looks just like Ballistictips. Spent $90.00 for the unit and $20.00 for some steel bar stock and bolts to extend the hitch for our ATV. Worked okay with 4 cinder blocks and a person riding it. Cut in about 2" deep. It' s getting some rework this week, change the disc angle and add aome steel for weight. They also sold a " King Kutter" unit, 2 rows of 8, 16" discs looked very heavy duty for $325.00. Wish I would have bought that one. But I also have trouble spending that much for a few hours work once a year.

Next week the lime.

Hey, Ballisictip, How big is the field photoed on your web site?

Ours at this time is a 1/4 acre. If this works next year we increase.

Ballistictip

Al, That plot is roughly 1/4 acre. I went down yesterday expecting to mow it and didn' t need to. The deer have mowed it for me. Last time I mowed it from roughly 12 inches tall down to about 6 inches tall. Yesterday it was between 3 to 4 inches tall with deer tracks all through it. I plan on expanding that plot either this fall or next spring along with a large plot on the tract of land that will be burned and planted in pines this month. I can already tell that a need more food plots. Hopefully by next spring I will have at least 4 acres planted.

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NorthJeff

Norseman,

Forget the disk and plows, and buy a nice 25 gallons sprayer and Roundup. Kill it all first, then use a light, cheap drag, just to break up any clumps of dead grass, debri, and then get a 30 gallon lawn roller to cultipack, or just broadcast before a good rain.

You can get Ed Spinnazzolas book, Food Plots 1-2-3, from the QDMA association, and there is a good bit of info in it concerning no-till plantings.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan

Uncle Al

If you try the garden tractor approch, stay away from the disposable tractors. Stick with Cub, John Deer, or Simplicity type not a MTD or green and yellow yuckman. They will breakdown before getting to the field!!!

NorthJeff,
I have read the book. Have you tryed this approach? Any success?
Is there something better than Roundup at killing woody plants? I' d like to kill that stuff before cutting with a weedwacker.

Hi-wall

You guy' s might want to look in the yellow pages for equipment rental. We have one here and can rent garden discs $45/day, spray rigs 30/day, spring tooth plows(which are better for breaking new plots, acts like a lite sub-soiler), 40/day and garden culti-packer 35/day. I am fortunate to have a 35hp Mahindra tractor and pick-up disc but I drag plant and pack with the rented atv equip. They also have a motorized field and brush mower that will cut down 2" stuff.

NorthJeff

Uncle Al,

I have a Kubota 48hp 4X4, FEL, Tiller, Boxscraper, Broadcaster, etc., and have put around 80 hours a year on it the last 3 years creating and maintaining food plots, but my best plot, that lasted the longest weed free, was a plot I made in 2000.

I sprayed that plot in May, June, and July, after liming to recommendation, and then planted in late July/early August with a clover/oats/wheat mix. The oats/wheat did great for the fall, and I was left with a great stand of clover for 2001, 2002, and this spring. I just hit it again with Round-up, and will plant a fall plot with another clover base to get a start for next year. Basically, I got almost 3 years out of that plot, with just a few cuttings and fertalizer. I didn' t really need to hit it with round-up right now, but wanted a fall draw in that spot instead of the clover, and I was able to eliminate some potential weed problems.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan