Year 2 food plot question
 

Hey guys,

I had an awesome food plot last year thanks to stuff I read on this site!

In the summer last year I sprayed roundup and mowed down to bare dirt to prep the plot. I sent my soil off to get tested, and then after a hunt club member dished my small woods clearing (a pine plantation log loading deck) , I added the recommended rates of fertilizer and lime, and then seeded 2 Lbs Durana Clover seed and 10 lbs Winter Rye (wintergrazer 70) seed in the last week of September before 3 days of heavy rains. It attracted deer/bear/rabbits/bobcats/yotes/turkey all season long starting with Muzzleloader 5 weeks later and I killed my first two deer ever over it.

Now the clover is doing great!

Here is my question - Can I add another 10 lbs Winter Rye to it again? Or should I let it be pure clover this year?

Also:

Last year the VA Tech Coop Extension told me the following recommendations:

Tested @ VT in August:
Soil pH 5.0
Recommendations:
3.5 Tons Lime / AC
40 LB N, 170 LB P, 160 LB K per Acre


I applied as recommended.

Should I follow that same recommendation this year to maintain the plot? Or should i soil test again? I understand that Clover fixes nitrogen into the soil, so maybe I shouldn't just apply the same fertilizers again?

yes you can ad it if you like, but I honestly wouldn't, I'd rather just clover, far too many guy struggle to get JUST clover, but its your plot addd what you like

YOU might want to so another soil test, as lime and fertilizer is not a one time thing, you need to keep spoil at a happy use able rate for things to continue to grow, thus many times need to add more lime or??

you can also try adding a little turnip or rape seed(brassicia) very cheap at a agway type store and sold by the lb, I'd suggest getting some that produces a bulb, and lightly broadcasting in a part of your plot, it will grow and last longer into winter for you, making plot more desirable to your deer later in, will also make a bulb, which if any make it to next spring will help add some food for your clover, as it breaks down, like in a compost pile LOL

food plotting is a thing, with NO end of options, have fun and enjoy

I will second what Mr BB said with the exception I would do a soil sample first before adding anything else. Could save you some money not adding something in either the amount you think it will need or if it doesn't actually need it. I am all about saving a buck here and there to put to use in another area.

You can tell a lot by how your plot looks. It is a learning process, being able to spot, identify disease and nutrient problems. I have a book with good color pictures of typical diseases and nutrient deficiencies.

I usually mix my plots, if one plant doesn't do well I have a backup. I mix by sections, the good sections usually take over eventually. I call it my shotgun approach.

I've never been able to keep a Clover plot going for more than few years. I eventually have to plow and reseed. Either it dies off or something undesirable takes over. Likely the varieties I get here.

Most of my plots need extra iron (and fixer) eventually. Not something you'd normally be able to spot without a little research.

I have been lazy about my approach. Read books on how to do it right. Finally got it to grow when I opened up the area, and made lots of firewood.

My clover and chicory came back up this year, so I throw some down on barespots. My goal is year round attractio, help them out a bit. Plus don't have to have bait out constantly. Plus something that comes back every year.


I tried a couple major brands. Probably didn't have enough light. Fleet Farms is what is working for me. It is just seed. They are all getting it somewhere.

If it keeps growing, I'll be lazy about it. If it struggles will need to look at testing soil, lime, and fertilizer. But the clover seems to grow easy. But at somepoint will probably want something else.

Hopefully I can post this pic. Just showing you what I have (approx 3000 sq ft) so you see what I am talking about. It isn't exactly a lush clover forest.

Guess I will not be able to post the photo until I have 10 posts.

Thanks for the comments so far. I also found that the VA coop has an option on the form for "Maintenance" of a crop in addition to just Establishment, so I will dig some dirt up on Saturday and mail it in.

Here is part of the plot last year a couple weeks before the muzzleloader open with Winter Rye and clover.

I have 3000 sq ft (1/20th of an acre) planted.



Here is what my clover looks like now:

I'd start with a soil test there, it also looks like your pretty darn dry there, you can see the clover is doing best in the shades area,m that I gather is holding moisture better?

if soil PH isn;t right seeding will just be a waste of time and money
a soil test cost 10 bucks(biologic)

been planting food plots since 1988 , and been part time farming even longer!

cannot make anything grow if soil isn;t right, next will be weather, and from there, you at the mercy of sunlight(shade) and browsing from wildlife or the likes, too much browsing and your going to stress a plant out and it will die on you!

as for looking at plants and guessing what they need, its like looking at the sky and guessing what time it is
I don't mean to sound like an ass here saying this
but a plant can have all the right soil PH and look BAD off or?? from over browsing, too much or too little sun, being mowed too often or NOT at all, be an OLD crop(clover has a time life when its good to going south)
weather can again stress it, like can browsing
the SAME sign's you see from many things, so guessing, is all your doing
that 10 bucks on a soil test rules out ONE thing, NO guessing there, after that, its again back to guessing, but a much more educated guess when you can rule some things out, or things you can control, like mowing, seeing how much rain or not, or sunlight or not, and so on
to make the guess more accurate!

a small plot like your's can get over browsed real fast, and unless you fence it off and save it for hunting season, might not be much you can do to keep it at a prime, you can for sure give it the best chance again by giving it what you can
but its hard to hold small plots like that, due to things eating it all the time, things just get stressed out and not enough there to give plants a break from being eaten all the time

so that will be a problem for you I think?

Thanks I will do another soil test. It's actually free for me, at Virginia Tech Coop Extension.

I did it last year and it worked great. I found out today they have an option called "Maintenance" as opposed to establishment so that's what I will pick for the new test.

This plot has a 130 yard long , 3 yard wide path to it in a straight line, that i will be planting with winter rye and clover as well, effectively doubling my food plot size and making it 6 times as long. My stand is at the far end in the trees, 140 yards from this photo location, in the dark spot at the end of the path right in the middle of the photo.

In my previous post you can see where I used to have my ground blind in the background top middle of the first photo.


upload image to url

I understand it might get over browsed, but last year I saw deer on the plot all 12 days I hunted it, and they have still visited it almost daily from January up to my last camera check two weeks ago. If nothing else, I have a "community" location. This is a kill plot, not a grow big antlers plot.

I may not be accurate but I thought its suggested that kill plots usually be blocked off from browsing until season is there. Letting deer feed on it year round will diminish the plants when season starts negating their effectiveness while blocking them off and then opening it lures them in with fresh highly accessible browse.

I will agree, a KILL plot works best when its a PRIME food source saved for hunting season, also, NOT sure again where your at, but clover, is NOT the best KILL plot in MOST places, as to be honest clover is not very favored by deer come fall, its not very tender and a few frosts it puckers up
there are many other things that work better in MOST places for hunting over

NOW Clover is more of a BIG buck tool, as it greens up fast after winter and make a LOT of tonnage of food, which many SO called KILL plots don';t do, there job is basically to LURE deer in at hunting times and be the best food for that time of yr!

not that a clover plot is bad in any way, its not, its a great source of food and drawing and holding deer, as you can see
BUT if you have a CORN feeder, for an example, deer will come to it even long after the corn has gone away, out of habit and HOPE there is more corn again?

same will happen on a poor food plot that was once prime food, out of habit deer will visit, all the more so if there isn;'t better food near by
a poor clover plot is better than poor browse,
as is a poor food plot of about anything, over NO food plot

when you get into food plotting on a more serious side, you start to see the options out there, to make hunting time as prime as it can be over just ANY plot like deal

NOT bashing here, again, just offering some advice/info
and again, a lot has to do with where your at, here in NE PA< about mid OCT, clover is about done here, and that's before out rut even starts, other things draw and hold deer a LOT better!

next after food, or type is again, what food a are in your area to compete with you !
if your the ONLY good food source in your area, you win this
I draw deer from very far, due to only good food in the fall, my deer numbers come Jan, will triple or go higher, due to I have the ONLY crops standing
and a 1/2 mile from me, folks cry there are NO deer at all?? cannot find a deer track in the snow there>
deer need to eat GOOD 24/7/365, the better the food is, the farther they will travel and or move to get prime food!

Sounds like I may wish to keep it as an annual Winter Rye plot only! I had many bucks and bears chomping down on it all muzzleloader and Much of rifle season (November through about mid December) last year!

I am in southern Virginia near the North Carolina border on a pine plantation. There is natural browse wherever they recently cut pines but no crops within a half mile in any direction.

I am at a natural funnel in the woods as well. Deer paths like highways leading into my food plot. Both bucks I killed last year had Winter Rye sticking out of their mouth when I dragged them out.

I am starting to think I will disc the whole area (clover should regrow) and just pile on the winter rye like last year.

The more I read, the more I think I want to focus on Winter Rye only in my plot. Think the deer just love those fresh shoots coming up and the clover seems like it will take up ground surface area which I need along with a heavy rain for just broadcasting seed like I did last year.

I would also give a shout out to at least the one show I find to be pretty informative and that would be Growing Deer TV. They have a ton of videos on you tube you can look into and spend alot of time explaining things that you may find helpful.

An informative post that definitely helped me out. What kind of things do you plant if you don't mind me asking?

I'm on the KY/WV border with mild winters for the most part. We do get the occasional true winter by your standards, but pretty rare.

Do you have a lot of hardwood mountains around, or are you surrounded by ag fields that have been plowed to a big giant dead zone for the winter?

I will second this. I added their channel on my Roku and binge watch it all the time lol.

I’m on the NC /Va border with similar winters. My property is primarily oaks, hickory, and a few other types of trees like poplar etc. I have around 12 acres in deer crops on 6 different fields w woods and ridges around. My base crop is clover, alfalfa and chicory, and they eat that all year. Come fall I turn one field under and plant oats...supposedly they are higher in sugar than wheat but I’m not a scientist so I’m going on what I’ve heard. I use my disk w the blades straight on the other fields in August and often drag as well to expose dirt between the clover etc.. I scatter beets, radishes and turnips and pray for rain. They grow between the clover etc and provide a food source in those fields into the winter as they get sweeter with the frosts/cold. The clover etc isn’t as much of an attraction once the cold sets in...but the beets, radishes and turnips are irrisitable. I joke that they are to die for...and there isn’t one left come late January. As for planting now, I’m not sure u have many choices this late in the year. The Whitetail Institute Oats I plant should be in the ground by now, but maybe a winter wheat could work.

Oh I'm not planting anything at this point. Just curious on what to start in the Spring. I just sold my 90 acres last Spring, but looking at a good piece of land with 119 acres right now. All overgrown fields and mature hard woods. I want to do it right if we get the place.