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09-04-2002, 05:38 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 2,059
RE: Need help on my first food plot
It all depends on how much lime, how much fertilizer, and what type of seed. Can you add all the lime in one addition? Is the fertilizer N, P, K or just a Nitrogen preplant fertilizer? Are you planting corn or clover? Did you innoculate?
Usually lime, (depending on amount of lime - cultivate), fertilize, cultivate, plant (with planting fertilizer, cover.
Dan O.
Usually lime, (depending on amount of lime - cultivate), fertilize, cultivate, plant (with planting fertilizer, cover.
Dan O.
09-04-2002, 09:27 PM
#5
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ponce de Leon Florida USA
Posts: 10,079
RE: Need help on my first food plot
Before you apply anything get a soil sample. Don't know how big your plot is, but 160# of pelleted lime ain't much. Most land needs 2+ tons per acre. Also it will take a few months for the lime to work.
09-05-2002, 08:29 AM
#6
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pound WI USA
Posts: 429
RE: Need help on my first food plot
Your first post sounded pretty excited. Your next post sounded a little disappointed. Pretty easy for the experts to burst a bubble....
I agree that you should have a soil test done before you do any tilling. Get it and send it in. Then I would apply the lime and till it in. Spread your seed and fertilizer and then drag it to cover the seed. If it grows, great. If not, live and learn.
This is not going to be a popular reply....but say the test says that you need 3 ton/acre. How are you going to get 9,000 lbs of lime to your plot? Is an airplane going to drop it like forest fire retardant? 50 lbs at a time in a backpack?
I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I'd get in there and plant it.
-ost
Edited by - ostdc on 09/05/2002 09:33:09
I agree that you should have a soil test done before you do any tilling. Get it and send it in. Then I would apply the lime and till it in. Spread your seed and fertilizer and then drag it to cover the seed. If it grows, great. If not, live and learn.
This is not going to be a popular reply....but say the test says that you need 3 ton/acre. How are you going to get 9,000 lbs of lime to your plot? Is an airplane going to drop it like forest fire retardant? 50 lbs at a time in a backpack?
I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I'd get in there and plant it.
-ost
Edited by - ostdc on 09/05/2002 09:33:09
09-05-2002, 08:12 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: cazenovia, NY USA
Posts: 2,973
RE: Need help on my first food plot
BGIDD2280,
Do not let your bubble burst. Even a mediocre plot will be better than none at all. All of us have tried things "not by the book" and smometimes they pay off, other times they fail, more often they are "mediocre". You just need to be able to accept that things may not go well, without a soil test or adequate land prep or sunlight. Regardless of what you plant, as long as you get moisture and enough sunlight, you will likely get germination. How good the soil is, will dictate how well the plot continues to grow.
The only suggestion I would make, is to maybe add some cereal grain to your mix. The clovers, and chicory demand pretty good soil conditions, the peas will likely do well, but cannot stand up to foraging and may get plucked off your plot before they really get a hold by the deer. A cereal grain will stand up better to browsing, and can grow in most soils, and will continue to grow even after the leaves have fallen. A little in your mix might make a difference should the clovers not take hold, and take a little pressure off the peas.
As far as the manure spread in the field above the woods, it would be great if some "runs off" to where your plot is, its not too likely that it has however. Forest soils are often high in K, and sometimes even P,depending on leaf fall and organic decomposition. But this type of soil is usually low in N. Generally they tend to be acidic due to leaf fall, and uptake of Calcium from surrounding trees.
Do not let your bubble burst. Even a mediocre plot will be better than none at all. All of us have tried things "not by the book" and smometimes they pay off, other times they fail, more often they are "mediocre". You just need to be able to accept that things may not go well, without a soil test or adequate land prep or sunlight. Regardless of what you plant, as long as you get moisture and enough sunlight, you will likely get germination. How good the soil is, will dictate how well the plot continues to grow.
The only suggestion I would make, is to maybe add some cereal grain to your mix. The clovers, and chicory demand pretty good soil conditions, the peas will likely do well, but cannot stand up to foraging and may get plucked off your plot before they really get a hold by the deer. A cereal grain will stand up better to browsing, and can grow in most soils, and will continue to grow even after the leaves have fallen. A little in your mix might make a difference should the clovers not take hold, and take a little pressure off the peas.
As far as the manure spread in the field above the woods, it would be great if some "runs off" to where your plot is, its not too likely that it has however. Forest soils are often high in K, and sometimes even P,depending on leaf fall and organic decomposition. But this type of soil is usually low in N. Generally they tend to be acidic due to leaf fall, and uptake of Calcium from surrounding trees.
09-05-2002, 08:24 PM
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Pound WI USA
Posts: 429
RE: Need help on my first food plot
I think you should call the extension agent for that county. He would be able to give you more specific answers. I'm sure he will recommend a soil test. He will also be able to interpret it for you when you get it back. But it will probably take two weeks.<img src=icon_smile_blackeye.gif border=0 align=middle> You don't really have time. Next year....
Ask him about the chicken/pig manure. Something rings a bell about them being high in nitrogen. The things you want to plant fix their own nitrogen from the air(be sure to inoculate with the right inoculant!). Add in the 13-13-13, and I think you might have too much. It would at least run off into the local stream, and may burn your plants. The manure on your plot is already runoff from the areas above. The existing levels will be on the soil test...
The soil test will tell you much more than pH, which you will have a lot of trouble changing if necessary. But it will give you a better idea of what will effectively grow there. That may be clover/chickory/peas!
I'd still get in there and plant it.
Another idea would be to plant wheat or rye there for this fall, till it under in the spring(when you have the soil test results), and then give the clover a full growing season to establish.
Good luck, and remember that the local farmers know an aweful lot, too.
-ost
Ask him about the chicken/pig manure. Something rings a bell about them being high in nitrogen. The things you want to plant fix their own nitrogen from the air(be sure to inoculate with the right inoculant!). Add in the 13-13-13, and I think you might have too much. It would at least run off into the local stream, and may burn your plants. The manure on your plot is already runoff from the areas above. The existing levels will be on the soil test...
The soil test will tell you much more than pH, which you will have a lot of trouble changing if necessary. But it will give you a better idea of what will effectively grow there. That may be clover/chickory/peas!
I'd still get in there and plant it.
Another idea would be to plant wheat or rye there for this fall, till it under in the spring(when you have the soil test results), and then give the clover a full growing season to establish.
Good luck, and remember that the local farmers know an aweful lot, too.
-ost
09-05-2002, 08:47 PM
#10
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Livonia Mi USA
Posts: 551
RE: Need help on my first food plot
Don't be in a hurry to fail. Better do a soil sample... What state are you in? It takes at least 2-3 tons of lime to raise the soil pH of one acre 1 point. 150 lbs of fertilizer is usually about enough to do one acre. Although, you might be one of the lucky ones and have the right type of soil to plant anything... If you are stretched for time, do the planting with what you have and take a soil sample while your there planting. You can continue to add lime and fertilizer. You might get lucky.
Romans 10:9 Psalms 42
Romans 10:9 Psalms 42