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Best LATE Season Feed Small Plot...

bowhuntr311

bowhuntr311

IowaWhitetail Addict
Hey all,

I've been racking my brain for a while on this. Reading old threads, articals, ect... And Im at a dead end.
Situation: Im in North Central MN. My food plotting is limited due to a lack of space and equipment issues. Small grains/Clover/Turnips are what I've delt with.

Over the next 2-3 years I have several "ideas" to fix the space issue. Unfortuantly all of my ideas are still only an acre maybe MABYE 2 at best.

I've got 1 spot in "talks" that I still need to look over but the land owner tells me is better that an acre less than 2. Im looking for a late LATE season feed source. If things go according to plans Im looking for a good stand for MN Blackpowder over a good feed source, which is from Thanksgiving for 3weeks. Its cold (> 30) and usually looking at some sort of snow cover by then. Im looking to plant this spot, which is over a 2miles from the closest farm crop, to something that will produce the a good feed source that late in the year. If this drew deer clear into shed season it wouldnt hurt my feeling.

Ideas/thoughts that have popped into my head:

#- I need alot of pure tonnage per acre to make it from first couple hard frost till ML season.

#- I need something they wont want till after it freezes.

#- I havent gotten alot of rain in the summer from Mid June to Mid August for several years so Im planning on that again.

#- Soil is poor at best, mostly sandier soil with big rocks. Hopefully I really pour the correct fertilizer to whatever crop I plant to get max yield.

I dont know for sure what the deer population is in the area, so I dont know if its possible to plant anything that will supply enough tonnage but I will learn on the fly I guess.

Let me know what you think will fit into my situtation the best.

Thanks for the input.

(Karre, what works late year where your at?)
 
Food plots are unheard of here, nobody plants anything for deer to eat.

That said, I monkeyed a bit this yr with a small plot in the back of our 20 acre yard site.I planted a mix from W.I that contained brassicas amongst other stuff. They didn't do great as they got choked out by the ryegrass but some flourished. I alsoplanted some wintergreens in my garden in late August to see how they'd grow before frost finished them. They only got about 10" tall before they were done but the 500 sg. ft or so of them have been totally demolished. They're now pawing through the new snowfall to get what's left.

I noticed some activity on my plot a week or so ago so i hung a camera on a trail leading to it. I checked the card today and had 5 different bucks coming to the plot in the broad daylight. I also snooped around the plot and noticed they have been looking hard for any remaining brasicas and wiping them out.

I don't know if I'm any great help, b/c foodplotting for deer here just doesn't happen. Next yr I'll make sure to try and have the soil bed perfect by Mid July and the same plot will be entirely wintergreens.

Based on what I've seen in my yard,I can't imagine how good an acre or 2 of them could be on the right piece of property here once the snow flies. I shudder to think about it..and it almost makes me blue...the "what could be".

I know this...if my boys were old enough I'm pretty sure I could have one of them lay a decent buckdown just 150 yards from the house as long as there is a bit of wintergreen left for them to seek out.
 
I agree with Kaare, certainly brassicas would be a big hit late in the season. They may or may not turn up their noses early on but when the snow and bitter cold hits they won't be so choosey!

I would plant a brassica mix that includes rape and turnips so they can have roots even after tops are gone.

Use plenty of nitrogen, perhaps 75#'s per acre and plant mid July so they have time to achieve maximum forage potential.

Winter rye is the only other thing that will do very well on sandy soil (NOT ryegrass as Kaare found out /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif ) You might try seperate plots (divide it) to compare usage.

They will dig through snow to get to rye and it is the most cold hardy of any cereal grains.

Small plots are limited to possibles and even a little more limited up north but no reason you can't have a successful late season draw in your area. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
From my expierences here, the purple top turnips mixed with the winter rye has been a great mix. I put a plot this year into some very sandy soil, all I did for prep work was spray it with roundup, because the plot was complete foxtail. 2 weeks later, just before a rain, I went in and overseeded with the turnips and rye. Now the deer are hammering the rye and just starting to hit the turnips after all the frost. The turnips, where not seeded to heavily are the size of softballs. Where to heavily seeded are the size of golfballs. I'm chomping at the bit for late season muzzleloader!! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> plant mid July so they have time to achieve maximum forage potential</div></div>

How about a recommendation for myself as far as planitng time, would beginning of July be sufficient in a place where August frosts are common?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Saskguy</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> plant mid July so they have time to achieve maximum forage potential</div></div>

How about a recommendation for myself as far as planitng time, would beginning of July be sufficient in a place where August frosts are common? </div></div>

They need 60-90 days of growing time so even a little earlier might be better in the extreme north.

Too early here and they will mature and start to rot.

As Shrek1 noted ...be careful not to seed to thick if you want large turnips for the late season.

You can also plant kale and swedes in the spring and perhaps get even more forage, then over seed with rye in late August in northern areas.

I seeded short season brassicas August 1st and it didn't freeze until late October here and they did great.

Oct25brassicas.jpg


We had temps drop to about 20 degrees the other morning and that wilted them pretty hard but that just makes them tasty! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Dbltree, Have they hammered them since you got the hard freeze? You guys have already got me planning for next year......
 
I planted sugar beets and whitetail institutes wintergreens up in NE Iowa this year and the food plots look great! The deer have been hitting them pretty hard in the last 2 weeks.Should be good till end of shotgun season.The deer dont seem to like them till after the 1st frost when they turn to sugar.The sugar beets I bought at scheels in West Des Moines and they were incapsulated with herbicide.It helped keep the weeds down.We did have quite a bit of rain up there this year and the soil is fertile.The sugar beets did well on the hill where it could get good sunlight.I will tell you I was amazed how big they got in 6+ weeks.I know that where I hunt is not that far from you.I think with the ph level in the soil this mix would work well for you too.Good luck.
 
Dbltree,

Got any tips as far as planting regarding the most tonnage per acre. Your plot pic looks FULL, and thats what I want. Im just wondering if seeding more than I should would hurt me or help me. Fewer/Bigger or More/Smaller plants is my question.

Im thinking less is more?
 
After thoughts.

Dbltree, your first post you said a mix of Rape and turnips.

What poundage of each would you mix for an acre. I dont think Im going to want to try to split the planting I would mix both seeds at planting time.

What about pre-fertilizing. I was thinking I would mow/spray and respray a few times through out the early part of the summer. Would it be any benifit to try to fertilize a month before planting?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bowhuntr311</div><div class="ubbcode-body">After thoughts.

Dbltree, your first post you said a mix of Rape and turnips.

What poundage of each would you mix for an acre. I dont think Im going to want to try to split the planting I would mix both seeds at planting time.

What about pre-fertilizing. I was thinking I would mow/spray and respray a few times through out the early part of the summer. Would it be any benifit to try to fertilize a month before planting? </div></div>

Mixing rape and turnips is fine but mixing with rye or oats doesn't work well because of timing of planting.

3-6#s of a rape/turnip mix of which I usually mix 50-50.

They love nitrogen so till in 150-200#'s of 46% urea at planting time. Fertilizing a month ahead wouldn't help where N is concerned P&K can be put on anytime.

Use Select herbicide for grasses after the brassicas are up.

Check out the brassica thread for more details and I'll be posting late season pics of mine there soon. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
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