wesleykey

I want to get a food plot going to hunt over this fall. It is in north Alabama, in a forest with mature trees, very little direct sunlight. By hunting season when the leaves are gone it will get a lot more sun, though. I want o scatter seed with no plowing, etc. What do you recommend?

Wooddust

You opened a can of worms probably but Ill wade in a bit...

Your goal is an attractant...a way to attract animals and hunt over your food plot. You see this a lot on TV and I know some find that appropriate and others wont ever hunt over a food plot.

In my humble opinion, the idea odff a food plotould be far broader. It should serve as a food source at all times of the year and should be permanat.

It is safe to say that if the floor of the timber does not support native forbs, then it wont support stuff you plant and yes it is likely a sunlight issue.

I think that without more effort to clear and open up and do something to get seed/soil contact, you are not going to have much luck.

wesleykey

Looking for opinions, not pessimists....

Anyone else??

adams

Do you own the property and are you able to do some cutting? Without sufficient light it will be difficult to grow anything. You could try a product like secret sopt by the Whitetail Institute. The product description indicate it needs little ground prep and is ideal for woods roads. This may be worth a try but may also be a waste of $10.00.

http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/products/secretspot/

***Note, this product requires at least 4 hours of sunlught a day***

timbercruiser

Wooddust is exactly right. The reason nothing else is growing is because there is no sunlight. The only thing you might be able to sow and attract deer with and do no work is shelled corn, just watch out for the possum police.

wihunter402

Sorry wesleykey but I have to agree with everyone else. No light = no plants. If you can open up the canopy then you could try secret spot or something like it. I tried secret spot last year and it did not do well where there was no light. Where there was some light it did ok but never really took off. Good Luck.

farm hunter

I'm not a pessimist - maybe a bit more like a realist -

You can scatter seeds if you want, usually it does little more than attract birds and mice.

Spend a couple minutes reading what others do, and have done - You'll likely find its not that hard, and you can attract and hold a few deer on the property.

good luck

Wooddust

Wes, dont confuse realist with pessimist. If mother nature isnt getting weeds or grass to grow under the trees....do you think you can?

A realist sees the reality...a pessimist would say I think ill go plant these high dollar seeds but I know it wont work..the realist doesnt plant them when the odds are poor.

Also, the idea of a no plow or no tillage planting is pretty hard to see being very successful compared to a seed bed thats prepared. Clover does well as does lespedeza in the north where we can do a frost seeding. But Canola/Rape/Oats/wheat...all pretty big seeds that need to be placed in the soil and have soil seed contact to grow.

Russ otten

With this rain coming in, you might scatter Oats. Whole Oats, not crimped, from a local feed store. (the germ is killed in the crimped oats.) You might have a 50-50 chance to get something to grow.

Russ

horntagger

Here is my suggestion but, will take a sunny day and all day to do it.

In the morning take some spray paint and not the shade and full sun areas.

Same a mid day.

Same in the afternoon.

The areas that get the most shade and are might get the most moisture with ladino clover. The full sun area use red top clover.

You will have to take a leave rake and remove the leaves you can hand seed the clover. But sure you use inoculent(sp) I mix my with a can a coke the day before. It is a little late in the year for clover. But should come up later in the season.

You can take a hand sower to sow it and also take a small tree top and draw it over the area to cover the see a little.

Milo is a hardy plant that might work also. Sunflower take the heat well might try some of them.

But if all else falls short. Try to plant turnips in August typically you have to have loose ground. But the see is cheep and does not take much.