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fencing plots

arm

arm

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I have a small acreage in southeast (appanoose) and want to do my first food plot, ever. I'm thinking 2 acres of beans and want to do clover in the trails throughout the timber. I did a survey of the surrounding 2 sq miles and about 22-30% is ag fields where the remaining is pasture and timber. I would say the deer population is medium to med-high in this area.

I'm questioning the need to electric fence the beans for this first year. Today it is just open grass next to a pond where I really don't notice too much dear activity compared to the timber. I'm thinking that the first year won't need fenced since it might take that time for the deer to find the new food anyways? And if I don't fence it and they get stomped, will I have a chance to replant and get a good yield (assume I can plant the first round beginning of June)?
 
If there is much of a population you will need to fence it. They will destroy it and then if you replant they will destroy if again.
 
Fence it or don't plant beans. I tried It and mine never got above 6". Ended up with no food for late saeson
 
ARM, I am joining your post because I am trying to get a plot going this year for the first time too. My situation is similar, currently there is about a 20 acre piece of agland in front of my stand. I am talking with the landowner this week. Next year he is r not planting corn or beans and is going to plant alfalfa. What would you all recommend me planting. I'm trying to get 1 acre. Does this sound like it's enough area? I am thinking of having them plant beans again this year or corn and leave it throughout the season.
 
Side note to remember- beans in sod killed in fall do "pretty good". Beans killed in sod killed in spring do "pretty poor", on average, maybe ok for some deer food but a lot less for yield imo from my experiences (I've farmed a lot where I plant beans into corn stubble and expand field by continuing to plant into the dead grass next to it. New areas have almost always done worse and you can see the line of growth between 2 areas). Especially if it needs fertilizer and you didn't apply P&K the fall before so it can break down over winter.
If you haven't killed it off, few options... one is apply P&K now (soil sample be best but whatever) so it breaks down. Mow and kill in spring. You may have to repeat spray several times to get kill. Or, after dead, disc it up and pack it down and then seed it. Seed on heavy side. If you go with fence, you'll at least have some decent beans. If you don't go with fence, see what happens, if it's eaten badly or bad yield, put down the mix of brassicas on one side and rye mix on other (dbltree mix). I'd get fertilizer down now in any case so next summer it can be utilized. Good luck.
 
Sligh1 said:
Side note to remember- beans in sod killed in fall do "pretty good". Beans killed in sod killed in spring do "pretty poor", on average, maybe ok for some deer food but a lot less for yield imo from my experiences (I've farmed a lot where I plant beans into corn stubble and expand field by continuing to plant into the dead grass next to it. New areas have almost always done worse and you can see the line of growth between 2 areas). Especially if it needs fertilizer and you didn't apply P&K the fall before so it can break down over winter. If you haven't killed it off, few options... one is apply P&K now (soil sample be best but whatever) so it breaks down. Mow and kill in spring. You may have to repeat spray several times to get kill. Or, after dead, disc it up and pack it down and then seed it. Seed on heavy side. If you go with fence, you'll at least have some decent beans. If you don't go with fence, see what happens, if it's eaten badly or bad yield, put down the mix of brassicas on one side and rye mix on other (dbltree mix). I'd get fertilizer down now in any case so next summer it can be utilized. Good luck.
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Sligh, how do you get lime/fertilizer into the sod area this time of year? Disk now then start the spray regimen when growth starts?
 
You could apply it right now if u want. I do my fertilizing generally in the fall after harvest. But ya, go getter done now if you're able. Potash is actually a rock you're putting down, breaking down with freeze, snow, ice, etc is beneficial and takes a good bit of time before it's broke down and plants can utilize. You will likely have some in the soil but most soils will be deficient of P&K and your plants will utilize some each year. You can start to build up your P&K and it's a great long term & short term investment to get your soils right (soil sample of course can tell you accurately).
 
I think the need to fence will definitely be dictated by your location. If there are ample other row crop fields in the vicinity, the deer may well not destroy yours, at least until the others are harvested. I have a couple of food plots in areas that are surrounded by other crop ground in Central and SW IA that do very nicely without fencing. Only trouble I've had was in 2013, my neighbor at home didn't get his beans planted until early July so the deer had pretty well kept my 2 acres of beans mowed. I was pretty worried because that 2 acre plot is where my wife hunts and "if Momma ain't happy; nobody's happy"!!! :( Well, he finally got his beans planted and they left mine alone enough that they eventually did well enough to set pods and was a drawing card when surrounding crops were harvested and the weather turned nasty. Wife had her choice of a few decent bucks and all turned out well. ;) I'm sure in some areas with larger blocks of timber, less surrounding crop ground and a higher resident population, that a fence may be needed, but not everywhere. You could try it without a fence once & if it looks like beans won't make a crop, do a late August planting of Dbltree's Rye, Oats & Forage peas to hunt over.
 
HD is right there. Another nice thing with beans, if you have flexibility... Watch when your neighbors plant. I've had it where I planted my beans "too early" and the pressure got bad on them, well, 4 weeks later (1st of July), I just drove through the beans with my planter and added to em. Filled it nice. Sure, I ran over a few beans but I seeded more in that matured at different times but for deer it did produce plenty of pods. I've got away with 1 acre of beans when next to wide vast areas and had a "nice stand" and I've also LITERALLY HAD 10 ACRES ATE TO THE GROUND on a farm I had where it was a center field completely surrounded by timber with a trail leading to it to plant.... Deer density was very thick, i did not have one bean pod come season. Thankfully, I saw this happening in late July/August and put down the Dbltree mix and no big deal other than more work. Had 10 acres of dbltree groceries they loved. Even my best plots of grain, I usually take the edges that got pounded and plant to dbltree mix. This is after I usually plant edges at double the rate too so it takes pressure away from main area I hope matures into pods.
I'm gonna guess that 2 acres for you MIGHT do it, maybe. If it was fertile, prepared area ready for seed and weed control excellent, you likely would do ok. Killed sod, it's just gonna be easier to have deer kill it as is will not grow as robust. Good luck though, have a long list of back up plans after you do it right to begin with and you'll be fine. *Fences are not that expensive BTW & if you did go that route, you could make one to keep "most deer out" and be ok with a limited # getting in. Just thinking creatively here.
 
I was going to burn everything off this spring. Its all waist high right now. I'm going to have to look into seeing if i can't get this burned out now and fertilize like you suggest.

<O:p</O:pI really don't think i can get away with any fencing due to my cheap a$$; well, how about economical, not cheap. I'd spend 100 bucks maybe and build my own dual-perimeter fence but i doubt that will do much good without some heat to it. <O:p</O:p
 
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Is it flat enough you could work it up, disc, etc? If I was doing a new plot into sod, you got 1 year of tougher conditions getting that soil in good growing shape. Any help this 1st year you can do will help you. You gotta pummel that grass/sod.
 
Its flat enough to disc. I was planning on getting a small disc to pull behind an ATV, was the reason I need to burn out first. Thanks for you feedback, I understand what you're talking about with needing to bust up that sod...I guess my wife and her spade won't cut it!

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Oh, and I M taking bids from someone with equipment...lowest number of Busch Lights gets it

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Fencing is nice but it's expensive. What do you guys typically pay per acre to fence off your beans? Seems to me, it would cost about $600+ to do an acre. I'd like to do it if I could afford it, any low price fences available?
 
Keef said:
Fencing is nice but it's expensive. What do you guys typically pay per acre to fence off your beans? Seems to me, it would cost about $600+ to do an acre. I'd like to do it if I could afford it, any low price fences available?
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Do it yourself it's way cheaper

Just did a quick pricing for a two row fence with three wires, 112 fence posts with insulators, and solar fence charger. Would be around $405 including tax
 
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I would fence it if no other crops are close. My dad never has a problem with his plots however he has 100s of acres of regular crops all around so they disperse into those fields. I have seen others plant 2-3 acre plots in areas with no other food around in the immediate area and they were absolutely destroyed.
 
A couple of other thoughts based on having done similar plots the past couple of years. First, if you can burn it and disc it both, that'd be better. I think a reasonable alternative to fencing is to spend a few extra $$ and plant forage beans. They grow through a certain amount of browse pressure and will stay green deeper into the fall. Sligh is right when he says spring killed sod is not going to produce like fall killed...your beans are going to be relatively short. Finally, plan to seed PT turnips in August in the bare spots or parts of the plot that don't look as good as you'd like them to. The turnips do extremely well in this type of soil and will give you a bit of diversity in your plot. Good luck!

NWBuck
 
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