mr.mc54

Does it help if the weeds are bad, to mow it? will that let the clover catch up? A guy told me thats what he does. I kinda don't believe him though.

Hawgnman

Hit with Roundup and plant a couple of weeks later. If you get a good season it will work fine. But I prefer planting clover in early September in the south.

Mojotex

Here's some advice from 40+ years of establishing and maintaining food plots in SE Al.

It is too late to plant clover. But it is ideal time to prepare your fall food plot. Figure out where you are going to plant. Get a soil test done. You can get test kit at the county extension office. Just follow the directions. The test results will be mailed to you about 2 weeks after you send the sample in. Now is the time to start correcting the pH and about enough time to pull the pH into the proper range. I suspect that your fields like most in Alabama will be acidic.

Get rid of the weeds starting now. This is a big deal as far as having great plots come fall. Best way I know of is to bush-hog the plot. (don't have too but works better than spraying down existing mature weed crop). Wait about 2 weeks or so for the new growth, then hit it with generic Round Up.

Tractor Supply carries "Big & Tuff" which is 41% "Round-Up". Rate that will hammer the weeds is 3 oz./gallon at about 12-15 gallons per acre. If you don't have a boom sprayer, you can manage with a back pack sprayer but it'll take a heck of an effort if your fields are large. Do this again around late August.

Don't get anxious to plant the fall plot early. Mid to late September is plenty of time for the plots to get going by early archery season. I have planted as late as the first week of October. Lots of folks plant about Labor Day, but over the years that has proven way too early for me, subjecting the plots to long spells of September-October hot dry weather we can get here in Alabama resulting in having to replant.

A great mix and relatively inexpensive is "Big Buck Blend". It is about $17/50#. takes about 50#-75# per acre. You can get this at any of the Quality Co-Ops and most independent seed/feed stores around the state. We have used this blend or one nearly identical to it for over 35 years. We add about 1#/acre of purple-top turnip and about 2.5#/acre of Crimson clover. This results in a great multi-crop (turnip, clover, oats, wheat, grain rye) field that the deer and turkey will use well into late April. You can add any of the Alabama suitable perrenial clovers to the fall mix. It should establish itself in a year or two. Probably 5# per acre would work well. Be aware that perrenial clover to do well will require year round maintenance and weed control.

If you want a summer crop, you can still try iron clay peas. They will jump as long as there is enough rainfall. But as you know we are about to enter our usual blazing hot, dry July-August time frame. If I were you, I'd pass of summer plots this year and concentrate on getting the fields ready for fall.

Deepsouthdeerjunky

I hear ya Mojo... Its about to get hot down this way. We have always done a good job on our fall plots, I honestly have never hunted on a piece with prettier, more lush plots come December. Like I said, may main consern is the summer months. I have been putting out mineral stations for the last few years now and the deer HAMMER them, but thats not enough. A herds biggest need this time of year is protein for muscle building in older deer and Especially important for late gestational does who are about to give birth to fawns. Clover seems to be the most cost efficient way to get them that protein around here. Soy beans dont seem to like our soil to terrily much.
What time would be ideal to get clover in the ground for next summer? Some have suggested getting it in when we plant our fall plots with a cover crop. I kindof like this idea but like i said in the original post, I am a newby when it comes to feeding the deer in the hot months.

Mojotex

Plant it this fall. If you are trying to plant several acres of food plots and have no one set up to do it for you I know a great guy that lives in Lafayette that does a super job of planting food plots. Usually charges about $125/acre, you furnish the seeds. Does the fioelds with a big, one-pass type tiller machine. Tills deeply, drills the seed to a set depth and cultipacts in one pass.

See if you can find some info on which varieties of clover grow well in your area and soil type. Auburn and the USDA Ag. Extension agent should have some good info. I am not much fan of pre-mixes, but a good friend of mine has clover fields in the Jasper area. He did his with Imperial Clover.

Establish the clover plot in the field(s) that are most likely to hold moisture the best. Avoid hill top ridge field, extemely sandy fields, etc. that dry out rather quickly.

May take 2 years or so for the clover to get going well, but if conditions are good, it will take hold. Down our way we simply planted Ladino and Uchee. First year was fair. Second year was really good. Looks superb this year.

If you want to get set up for spraying and have an ATV, a 15 gallon boom sprayer works pretty good. You can do about 1 acre a load. If you have something like a Ranger, Rhino, Mule, etc. you can easily go to a 25 gallon with a 10'-15' boom. Carry and extra 5 gallons of water/herbicide mix and you can get through 2 acres before having to fill up again.

If your proposed food plot has briars, woody vines or saplings in it, I suggest that you add 2 oz/.gallon of something like 245T or 24D to the generic Round-Up mix. This herbicide needs to stay on for serveral days to do any good.

Deepsouthdeerjunky

thanks for the info. We hunt in the Jasper area as well. The plots are well established, just a little brushy from not having anything done to them for a few months. All relatively small as well ( only one over a full acre in size). I am going to try to talk everyone into shelling out the extra couple of bucks to do some clover in some of the fields that would be better suited for clovers.

North22

It's interesting to hear you guys talk about the summer as your stress period. Here, in Wisconsin, it is the exact opposite. Deer are living large on greens in fields, high ground, and swamps in the summer. Winter is the stress period. It really makes for some different planting strategies. For example, where rape, turnips, and rye can be very valuable here, I would imagine they are not real useful in the south... North or south, clover is a great food plot staple though!

Deepsouthdeerjunky

I dont suppose you can really call it a "stress" period down here. Its not so much that there is NO food around for the deer to eat as much as it is there isnt a lot of quality food. In places such as Ohio and other midwest states agriculture is abundant and the the tender young soybeans and what not provide AWESOME nutrition for the deer up there. Although there is some areas that have ag. most of the area down here is woods. Where I hunt specifically there is a lot of pine plantation and cutover area... This time of year most of the natural browse consists of a lot of greenbriar, honeysuckle, and poke weed. Although there is tons of it to be consumed its just not all that nutritious.

Okefenokee Knives

I live in South Georgia and one of the best Summer and Fall food plot seeds I have planted was LAB LAB. It comes from Texas and you plant it like a pea seed. I planted half my food plot in Soybean and the other half in Lab Lab. The deer ignored the Soybeans and feasted on the LAB LAB. My plot is in Planted Pines and I dont know the PH levels, but I do lime and fertilize every time I plant.

JGeBaide

Here in Florida I have been successful with a mix called Rack Master, its 58 percent Hutchinson Soy Beans, Sorghum, Cow Peas and Sun Flowers. The only big problem is keeping enough soy beans until the rest comes up as a cover.

I have been looking hard at perennial peanuts for a couple of small plots next spring, does anyone have experience with them? I don’t have the equipment to sprig them so it will be done by hand and they are on the upper limit on cost but I understand plots have lasted 10 years with minimal maintenance.