innkeeper

Hello,

I'm a newbie so be nice - I just bought 150 acres and have some open strip mine areas that are grassy. Previous owner tried working the ground with a chisel plow and brought up many rocks in one section, cant safely mow it now because of all the rocks.
My question is this - Do I rip the group up and deal with the rocks? Do I spray and over seed? I am open to buying equipment. I have a 45hp tractor, a 5ft harrow, a 55 gal sprayer and a pto seeder.
Please help!
Central PA area Clinton County - Mountain ground 10 miles from electric and town.

mrbb

first off, welcome to the site
I have 30 + yrs of building food plots as experience, and am also in PA!

so??
this is a hard question to answer , as the best answer would be very costly
your options
spraying and burning down the top vegetation, then seeding, will work to a point, BUT since you said you have a lot of Large rocks sticking up, preventing mower(and possibly spraying if a tow behind sprayer)
its going to be very hard to keep any food plot weed free and attractive.
SO< the best option here to get the best take will be to remove rocks
this can be a long hard job, or costly or both
if you have access to equipment that can turn the soil over well and pull up rocks, you can TRY and find a local farmer with a rock picker and get help that way
or maybe rent a rock bucket for a front end loader or a skid steer
and do your best tot get as many rocks out of the plot site as possible
just keep in mind as freeze/thaws actions happen, MORE rocks will keep coming up over time, its amazing how many rocks can be in a area too
in my one 6 acre site(also in PA) over the past 20 yrs I managed it, I pulled about 100 tri axle loads of rocks out of it, and there was a LOT left ,

some so big a d 6 dozer wouldn't even make them twitch!

those I learned to mow around

so, as I said, this is a sort of hard question to answer, as
without moving the rocks your going to have a issue turning soil over to plant that way, and , also, have issue's trying to maintain a plot by not being able to mow/spray to control weeds

its also a lot harder to correct soil PH, as lime will most likely be needed and a LOT of it, guessing re claimed coal mine lands and they tend to be VERY low in PH, might need a ton or more of lime per acre and limes needs either to be worked into the soil or a LOT of time to leach into soil to change its PH
soil tests will be your friend here
as will BULK lime spreading if you can get it, HUGE difference in price of liming a site, and easier to get limed

innkeeper

Thanks for the response - I agree a soil test is key. Question for you - 2 acres was already plowed and grass is growing, this is the area i messed up 2 blades mowing because of the rocks. I propably loaded the bucket of my tractor 20 times and hand picked all the rocks.
The other 10 acres I mowed and didnt hit any rocks. Do I rip up the 10 acres? and risk bringing up lots of rocks or would you spray everything and try broad cast seeding?
Would a rotary pto tiller work for this application? not going very deep but working the surface?
i would mind buying a rock bucket for my tractor or a pto tiller - i just dont want to buy the wrong equipment and have it sitting around

Bocajnala

There IS a reason that there are very few farms in that area of PA.

We have fields that my great grandfather spent his childhood pulling rocks out of. And we're still pulling trailers full of rocks out every year. Those fields grow rocks i swear.

-Jake

mrbb

ok first off IMO a tiller will be useless, and all you will do is break sear pins and waste a LOT of time and get frustrated!
I am NOT a fan of tillers period for food plots unless you have very nice soil and have deep pockets! and time to kill!

the name of the game will be what you been doing, loading rocks by hand/into bucket, a rock bucket will help some as you can scoop up rocks shake bucket and dirt will pass thru and back down to ground , leaving rocks in the bucket , buckets will fill fast and only a few time scan you scoop before it is back to loading more in my hand

again, if any farmers in your area HAVE a rock picker, they can be worth every penny to hire to help remove a lot of rocks the fastest way I know of,
as plants don't grow where rocks are, so pending HOW many rocks there are, makes a huge difference in what a plot yields

the type of rocks matter too,a s soil under and near some rocks will be less that great for growing , based on the mineral of the rock itself!

the crap they throw and grow on mine reclamation projects is poor critter food at best, but it will grow about anywhere, and thus why they use it!, its good for soil erosion too!


now as for spraying the 2 acres you been mowing or turning it over some how
this can be a loaded question,
as I would NOT try a tiller in it, , if I wanted to just scrap the surface I would use a disk, and very lightly set it to just work the top soil!

BUT this is where the ??? comes into play as even on a low setting there are most likely rocks that will get pulled up in doing so!

BUT if this site needs a LOT of lime, and odds are it will,
I would start with the soil test to know
if it says it needs a ton of lime per acre(and don't be surprised if it needs even more)
I would spray down site
lime, if it called for a ton of lime per acre, I would add 1.25-1.5 per acre, as lime works slow and you will NEVER fix the PH in the first application, meaning you will need to lime again and again till corrected!
and once the site is growing , maybe you don't want to run the truck back over and turn soil over again to mix, and well, after discing the soil the first time you might pull up even poorer soil, so going heavier would eb my suggestion here than what any test shows!, use the test to KNOW< but add extra! in bulk lime, its cheap, and the easiest part of building a food plot there is,
make phone call, order lime(about 50 bucks a ton spread) they show up drive back and forth a few times and GONE and lime is down!

I would then do a light disk(cheap TOW behind disc can be had if you look for like 200-500 bucks and work great for this stuff)
pick thru and remove as many more rocks as I could
re disc
pick rocks again(if again you have a farmer that has a rock picker, disc deeper, and let him come over when your done to clean out all he can)

this gets the lime worked into the best again

I would THEN wait a week or so, and SPRAY again to kill new things you turned up or started growing
seed with what ever you plan to, add fertilizer
broadcast your seeds, and roll the site with a cultipacker, or a home drag of some sorts!
and then pray for light easy going rains and sun in between

from there, its about weed control, as if your surrounded all over by other reclaimed lands, seed will ALWAYS be blowing into your plots, making a endless weed invasion LOL
and the game begins

mrbb

I'll add this, just in case you care
best deer hunter food plot tools IMO
and these are for guys that are doing 1+ acres of food plots
if your doing over 10 acres, the list can change, but don't think most DEER hunters are doing over 10 acres or few are)

#1 a tractor
#2 a sprayer
#3 a disk
#4 a fertilizer spreader
#5 a cultipacker
# 6 a chain saw
#7 mower
other things I will say are good to have will be patience, and a basic understanding of how things grow
remember its better to do one small plot RIGHT< than to to do a big one half azz'd
don't skip the soil test, its the best money you can spend in the food plot world, or at least when starting a NEW plot in a new site!
its real easy to get caught up in things and end up doing something the hard way, due to wearing blinders and missing easier ways

its NOT rocket science to make a food plot either, but there are better ways and harder ways too!
being CHEAP, seldom gets the results one wants too! a so so take can quickly get over run with weeds and be a lot of time and money down the drain!
as if conditions are not right for your desired seed to thrive, other lesser unwanted things will take over!
so again, some times doing ONE Plot right, is way better way to spend $$ than trying to do more cheaply!

another thing is having the know how to search your area for HELP, be it in finding bulk spread lime, having a local farmer maybe bring in equipment you DON"T have, or want to spend the money on, due to how seldom you will use it!, so knowing WHEN to ask/look for help can save you a LOT of money and frustration and TIME!