SE Virginia food plot question
 

I live in Yorktown,VA and im about to plant a late summer, early fall food plot but was wondering what would be the best seed to use? Ive never done this before so this is all new to me. I was looking at bass pro's website and they have a bag of throw & grow that a few friends of mine have tried and they said it works ok but not the best. Another person mentioned a bag called "Hot Spot" is also a good mixture for the price. Any info. on what would be my best bet in my area and this time of the year would be great.

A little background on the soil pH, fertility, or at least the site conditions and field history would be useful.

Hours of sunlight, acreage of the plot (if overgrazing is an issue) and time frame when peak attraction is desired is also good. Also what equipment do you have to work with?

"Soybeans edge out tobacco for the number two position, providing about 5% of the state's total agricultural receipts. Tobacco generates around 4% of total receipts. Other field crops grown in Virginia are hay, cotton, wheat, peanuts, and barley.

Tomatoes and corn for grain are other major crops grown in Virginia.

Other important vegetable crops grown in the state are potatoes, snap beans, cucumbers, and sweet corn.

Leading fruits grown in Virginia include apples and grapes."

found this...
from it i would do peanuts...
deer love em here, and they survive the cold and can be eatin in winter.
soy being number 1 leaves alot of soy fields they can pick at all winter...
yours would just be another...
if ya have the candy, what ever the deer yurn for.....ben and jerrys hafbaked for me..., then ya get some real bruisers, cause they will fight to keep the little guys out of their stash.
hard to figure out whats few and far between that the deer want real bad.
i never talked to a deer before.......ok i have, but they never answer....so i really dont know.

sorry guys i guess i should of said that this isnt gonna be a huge food plot in a filed or anything like that. im actually just trying to make a small food plot where i bow and still hunt. its mainly gonna be used for my 7yr.old so he can try to take his first deer this year and be able to see some deer action. i have about 3/4 of a acre that im gonna till up and make a food plot. i havent taken any samples but i actually had a small garden in a portion of this spot im gonna use and in the garden i had cucumbers, tomatoes and a few rows of corn. so i would imagine i shouldnt have any problem growing something in there. and yes if you are wondering it is in my back yard, thats why i was wondering about the thrown and grow and the secret spot.

hoss- the spot i plan on using butts up to the edge of the hardwoods and is in sunlight about half the day or so, and i can get my hands on any peice of equipment i would ever need, all my family is into farming and i got a friend that works for carter cat and they do rentals there and he can use any equipment he needs.. but with what im doing my buddy has a kubota tractor with all the attachments we need and is actually coming over tomorrow to start on the grading for me

If you have the stuff to do it right, skip the throw and grow mixes. Buy a bag of oats, and mix in 10-15 lbs of crimson clover (from local feed store or order online). After tilling broadcast the oats and pack. Then broadcast the clover and pack. I like a soil test, but a ton of line on a new plot that size is probably a safe bet. Also, probably needs 300 lbs if 10-20-20 fertilizer.

If you want to make it a perennial plot, just add 5lbs of durana clover. It is a slow starter. You will not see it this year, but it will be there by next fall.

For early bow season try some LAB LAB. I planted some at a spot behind my house the Deer prefered it over Soybeans or Cow peas. If you can afford it the peanuts would be awesome if its not too late in the season for them.

people were tellin us that too...we just got the soil test, and low and behold, we didnt need anything but a lil trip 13 fer grins. the soil was fine and our plot took off, where it was getting watered anyways.

thanks for the info guys, im gonna check out a few things and see what i can do.. might try 2 things and see how they both work. might be a stupid question, but where or how do i do a soil test? is there a kit or do you have to take a sample and send it off?

That's why we do em halfbaked. Not only does it make sure your plants get what they need, it can save you some money doing it.

VA soil test here... http://www.soiltest.vt.edu/soiltest.html

Will cost you $10 but it will either save you that much trouble or money guaranteed.

thanks for the info. hoss, there is a VCE office not even 3 miles from my house, might as well go ahead and get a sample and see what happens

at that close they might have it on file already...or ask the farmers they know already

Soil changes over time, and sandy soil changes rapidly. Last years test would be wrong on amended soil. PH drops to the original level, nitrogen and potash is leached out of sandy soil, only phosphorus tends to stick around, and even that is not guaranteed. I laid out a woods plot near jarratt (lil' north of emporia) this spring that came back at a pH of 4.2 (terrible) and needed 260 lbs (A LOT) of phosphorus/acre. That's the closest I've ever been to SE VA for food plots. The test will tell you what you need to know.

there is no farms near my house,(google seaford, va 23696, thats where im located) i actually live almost at the chesapeake bay and im only about 250yds from a creek that goes into the bay, so i have a lot of saltwater around me.. but my house is surrounded by about 630acres of woods and thats why i want a food plot in my yard, try to draw the deer into the woods that i am allowed to hunt in.

also, like i said ive never done this before and i have many many questions, but one that i was just wondering is, when i do plant the seeds, do i spread it just like grass seed? and then spread the fertilizer and lime right on top or will that burn it up? and i think im gonna try out oats and some kind of a clover mix, the weather forecast has a lot of rain in it and chances so im gonna try to get something on the ground by saturday evening or sunday if i can.

Best to till in lime and fertilizer. Broadcast the seed like grass seed, then pack or drag to cover clover seeds no more than 1/4" deep if you can. On top is better than too deep. Oats do better deeper, around 1" deep, but covered should OK if that's what you got.

Broadcast the oats on fluffy soil then pack. That puts them deeper. Then broadcast the clover and pack again. The clover seed will not go nearly as deep since it has already been packed one time.

yea im gonna till fertilizer and lime in this evening and try to get some seed tomorrow or saturday and seed this weekend, hopefully by time the rain moves in. hope i will be doing it right, not sure really how to plant the seeds without equipment. not even sure what seeds im gonna go with but im gonna check out a local feed & seed store asap.

dont plant in hopes of rain. mother nature made a fool of us 1 year lol..just because the sky is blacker than a coal diggers hands and there is lightning and thunder, doesnt mean its gonna rain anytime soon.
I am not sure the conditions there, but i would wait until it rains, cause the birds will reap havoc on your seed.
we rented a water pump..$16 day er sumthin...used the whole 3 day weekend, pumped out of a stream, watered as often as possible..it was greenin before we left(a lil, but it was)
didnt ya say it was by the house, cant ya run water hoses?

yea i got water hose's, just as easy to wait on a nice rain storm, that way it will give me a few days to get everything done and i dont want to plant anything to early. i might just get the lime and fertilizer and get that tilled into the ground and find out exactly what i want to plant and just wait til the right time to plant it

right on, check the germination temps of what ever you are putting down..cross reference that with what the weather man thinks (lil boyz who lie grow up to be the weather man)..
you are gonna need more than a rain day to get it going, it needs to be wet and warm fer it to germinate.

yea i can get water to it in the evenings to keep the ground damp, but i just measured the area and its 22yds x 29yds.. i know i should get a test but everyone is saying i need to get it tilled and planted asap, is this true or do i have some time before i need the oats spread and the crimson clover?
hoss- on a plot this small, about how much oats and clover would i actually need to fill that area in pretty well? obviously i have to get a 50lb bag of oats but the clover is sold in 1lb bags at my local feed & seed store and i was thinking probably about 5lbs. what do you think? and roughly how much fertilizer and lime would i need? i was thinking 80lbs of lime and 120lbs of 10-10-10?

oh yea when i called the feed & seed store the guy said that more people around our area have better luck with wheat.. yall ever tried that? what would it hurt to try a few things all mixed together or even in sections of my area i have? some oats, clover, then wheat? or that just to stupid and i be best off doing 1 thing or something?
i know im typing alot but like i said its all new to me and just trying to see what my options are and everything

I've used wheat with good results. It also does better planted shallow, unlike oats. That's a fine mix. Adjust your rate down, say 30 lbs of oats and wheat vs 50lbs of one.

mix it up, put a bunch of stuff in there.
if ya separate it into areas, next year you'll know what they like.
water in the morning instead of at night.
dont get in a rush, if ya plant a bunch of stuff and the soil is crap, you waste a bunch of time and money puttin in stuff that aint gonna grow.
get a soil test...could of been 3 days away from results if ya got it a few days ago. gl

yea im gonna do a soil test and see what i got that way i know what i need to spend my money on. im gonna send my samples out monday and see what i need to do, soon as i get my results i will post them here and let you guys see what i got and maybe get some input.. thanks for yalls help so far and the advise.
when i did my garden i would water heavy in the mornings and light in the evenings, that sound good also or just the mornings? and if i dont have to spend a ton on fertilizer and lime then i may just put a few different plants in the plot.

what would yall plant if it was in your back yard?
there is no farms or food plots around my house, and its about 630acres of woods behind my house and all the deer have is the food in the woods to feed on, and maybe some peoples flower beds in the neighbor hoods on the other side of the block of woods.