I live in northern iowa and plain on trying my hand at planting some this yr does anyone have some do's & dont's on this? Everyone up here has corn and soy beans around the 7 acres that I want to plant on. we have a large amount of deer and turkey in the area.Iam thinking of useing, red zone,antler king or some type of bio logic.
planting a new food plot ??
- Thread starter dewcrew8
- Start date
mrgoodwrench76
New member
Do you plan to use these plants for target practice? Maybe deer or turkey lure? I'm confused.
silvrjeepr
New member
Clover. Disc a little, then broadcast it. They love the stuff.
mrgoodwrench76
New member
Gotcha!! I thought TFL opened a new gardening section. Dosn't baiting them take the challenge out of hunting? I'm not knocking your methods, just trying to get a better understanding.
food plots serve not only as bait....the wildlife association i belong to (and we do hunt) has food plots all over the 1600+ acres of land we hunt. but we DON'T hunt over them.
those plots give food to deer who might otherwise be moving on to other locations yes, but it also is a BETTER food that builds bigger racks and stronger deer.
+1 to clover, but also look into something like acorn rage if you are only wanting to bait. there are literally HUNDREDS of different mixed seed bags for food plots. we use alfalfa and sweet clover , though the alfalfa will have to be replanted after a couple years as it starts to weed out fairly quickly.
mrgoodwrench76
New member
So your just trying to keep them around and fatten em up a little bit. Makes sense I guess. I never had that problem as where I grew up and hunt, the corn and soybean fields do a pretty good job of that. Nothin taste like a cornfed whitetail.
Around here there's not much since in planting summerfood plots. With the acres of corn,soybean, alfalfa planted by the farmers and the abundance of natural food plots(various nut tree's, berries, foilage etc), in the summer and early fall food is abundant.
I've got a 4.5 acre food plot in the middle of the woods thats currently in Ladina Clover. I'm going to plant something in about two of those acres for late fall, winter feeding. Thinking of either turnips or something like Biologics 'Winter Greens'. Something that gives needed nutrition after the farmers crops are off the fields and the snows on.
Whatever you plant, MAKE SURE YOUR SOIL CONTENT IS RIGHT. Don't know how the soil ph is in your area but most likely your ground will require lime(among other nutrients) to get the most out of your planting. Remembering that natural lime dust doesn't really do anything for the soil the first year you put it down but will the thereafter. Building up your soil takes time but if you take that time you will be pleased with your results. There are lime pellets you can buy that will react when you put them down but the bad side to them is they only work for one year and they are pricey.
Before you start on your food plot:
Go to your nearest feed mill, they will have soil sample kits. Follow kits directions, get your soil sample, take it to the mill and they will probably send it out for you. The samples analyzed at the lab,results sent back to mill and they'll tell you what your soil lacks for what you want to plant.
While waiting on soil test results to get back, you need to make your mind up how big your plot will be and get clearing it. You can either burn off existing foilage,spray weed killer or just plow. I used two different sprays, Erase and Crossbow. Exactly following the sprays directions, the result were great. A total foilage kill which was my goal since my plot was full of Sumac
.
Next plow and de-rock your plot,then disc and drag. A home-made drag made of 4x4's and an old 'bed' boxsprings works well. Not only levels ground but gets old roots,weed clumps out.
Then get your soil sample results and start applying your soil needed nutrients(lime,phosphate,fertilizers etc), lightly discing them in. Most all can be applied together but check with your guy at the mill to see if your choice of seed can be sewn with your nutrients. One word of caution, if you do sew your seed with the nutrients be careful when discing everything in that you don't disc your seed in to deep. For this reason I prefer to disc the nutrients in then apply my seed and use my drag to very lightly cover the seed. I don't have a drill for seeding
.
One more thing, after you find out how low your soil is on lime, talk to your guy at the mill cause you should only add so many ton of lime per acre a year. Can't remember amount off hand, he'll know.
Bottom line, getting your acidic soil back in shape is something usually done over a period of a few yrs. and keeping it in shape is an ongoing thing. Clover helps to keep the soil acidity down but unwanted grass/weeds will take over a clover field quickly. Mowing and spraying keeps unwanted foilage from smoothering out the clover and should get you 4-5yrs out of the stand of clover before replanting if you do your part.
Most important:
Get your soil in the best shape you can from the onset, maintain it and you'll save yourself alot of work down the road.
I've got a 4.5 acre food plot in the middle of the woods thats currently in Ladina Clover. I'm going to plant something in about two of those acres for late fall, winter feeding. Thinking of either turnips or something like Biologics 'Winter Greens'. Something that gives needed nutrition after the farmers crops are off the fields and the snows on.
Whatever you plant, MAKE SURE YOUR SOIL CONTENT IS RIGHT. Don't know how the soil ph is in your area but most likely your ground will require lime(among other nutrients) to get the most out of your planting. Remembering that natural lime dust doesn't really do anything for the soil the first year you put it down but will the thereafter. Building up your soil takes time but if you take that time you will be pleased with your results. There are lime pellets you can buy that will react when you put them down but the bad side to them is they only work for one year and they are pricey.
Before you start on your food plot:
Go to your nearest feed mill, they will have soil sample kits. Follow kits directions, get your soil sample, take it to the mill and they will probably send it out for you. The samples analyzed at the lab,results sent back to mill and they'll tell you what your soil lacks for what you want to plant.
While waiting on soil test results to get back, you need to make your mind up how big your plot will be and get clearing it. You can either burn off existing foilage,spray weed killer or just plow. I used two different sprays, Erase and Crossbow. Exactly following the sprays directions, the result were great. A total foilage kill which was my goal since my plot was full of Sumac
.Next plow and de-rock your plot,then disc and drag. A home-made drag made of 4x4's and an old 'bed' boxsprings works well. Not only levels ground but gets old roots,weed clumps out.
Then get your soil sample results and start applying your soil needed nutrients(lime,phosphate,fertilizers etc), lightly discing them in. Most all can be applied together but check with your guy at the mill to see if your choice of seed can be sewn with your nutrients. One word of caution, if you do sew your seed with the nutrients be careful when discing everything in that you don't disc your seed in to deep. For this reason I prefer to disc the nutrients in then apply my seed and use my drag to very lightly cover the seed. I don't have a drill for seeding
.One more thing, after you find out how low your soil is on lime, talk to your guy at the mill cause you should only add so many ton of lime per acre a year. Can't remember amount off hand, he'll know.
Bottom line, getting your acidic soil back in shape is something usually done over a period of a few yrs. and keeping it in shape is an ongoing thing. Clover helps to keep the soil acidity down but unwanted grass/weeds will take over a clover field quickly. Mowing and spraying keeps unwanted foilage from smoothering out the clover and should get you 4-5yrs out of the stand of clover before replanting if you do your part.
Most important:
Get your soil in the best shape you can from the onset, maintain it and you'll save yourself alot of work down the road.
Poodleshooter
New member
MrGoodwrench76:
Around here, when you only have a paltry few acres to hunt, food plots are essential. Otherwise the deer focus on the large farms and orchards where the nutrient density lies. If your land sucks for cover,food and water, making a food plot is the only way to ever even see deer on your land.
If all hunters were lucky enough to be farmers, or have farming relatives and friends, or have the money to pay for hunting land, hunting with food plots wouldn't be necessary.
Around here, when you only have a paltry few acres to hunt, food plots are essential. Otherwise the deer focus on the large farms and orchards where the nutrient density lies. If your land sucks for cover,food and water, making a food plot is the only way to ever even see deer on your land.
If all hunters were lucky enough to be farmers, or have farming relatives and friends, or have the money to pay for hunting land, hunting with food plots wouldn't be necessary.
spclPatrolGroup
New member
We plant red clover the deer will eat it down to the dirt, by the time deer season rolls around its all pretty much gone, maybe a stem here or there. Food plots are a great way to get deer to step out in front of a camera.
+1spcPatrolGroup.
I've taken pics. and seen bachelor groups of bucks in my clover field during mid summer that were just incredible. One group that sticks out in my mind was of seven bucks with the smallest being a very heavy nine point and the largest being a 17 point. There was one I could never get a count on but he was at least a 15.
Research and you'll find that there's usually a big difference in a food plot versus hunting plot.
Hunting a 5-10 acre 'food plot' during bow season is not easy cause deer can come into that big of an area from any direction. I don't hunt my food plot any different then I would a natural food plot stand of hickorys,beechs or oaks. Or hunting a farmers 20-200acre corn or soybean field.
A hunting plot is usually much,much smaller in which you can cover the whole plot with choosen weapon.
DNR around these parts encourage food plots for the wildlife. Planting especially those food sources high in protein during the hard winter months.
dewcrew8,
If you've got corn and soybean totally surrounding your seven acres and the terrain is mostly flat with very little thick deer bedding areas, you may want to think along the lines of planting switch grass or something deer will come to your property to bed in. Just a thought.
All that switch grass will do is provide bedding cover if none exists now. Since you likely have lots of cropland around, you might look at providing some green in your fall food plots. Our wheat plots work really well because they're the last greenery in the area. Check out some of the food plot seed mixes for northern zones. Another tricky addition is turnips, although I've had trouble growing them. Wheat will be the cheapest option and the easiest to establish but you need to get it in the ground in mid-August in northern Ia. I'm in north MO and food plot wheat needs to be seeded by Sept 1 to be well established before first frost. BTW It's also good for turkeys both fall and spring.