First time food plot

[deerhunter93]

Hey everyone, I've got a few questions about a first time food plot.

I got permission to a small 10 acre chunk today with a home on it but it has about a 4 acre field. The area is currently overgrown with grass and some small shrubs but one spot is more open and I probably could get a 1/2 acre plot in tops.

Does anyone in the Des Moines area have a backpack sprayer I could borrow for a night this Monday or Tuesday?

How much roundup do I need and where can I buy enough - I know Walmart has 1/2 gallon jugs - would that be enough?

Also, what should I plant? I am thinking half of rye and half of some brassica type bag mix - any thoughts?

Just making sure I have the steps down right:

Round up
Wait 7-10 days
Burn
Rake
Possibly till with garden tiller
Plant
Try to pack it somehow

Do I need to mow at any point?

Thanks for all of the help!

 

[loneranger]

If you can mow the area or weed whip it down,,would be good,,then spray with roudup. You can buy 2 gal jugs from ag-coops. I get it down south from Golden Furrow type places. They have changed their name,,but that is a side note,,anyway you use 6 oz to gal at least I do,, and burns weeds pretty good. I use a rotto tiller on my small plots, once they look good and dead, usually a week. I use a garden sprayer for the roundup. I used to broadcast seed by hand, now have a little crank seeder. A bit late for Brassica,,but rye, , around Sept first is always goodor even later,,cause it will germinate in cool soils. After getting the seed out on the soil I just rake it in. I have some nice stands of Brassica now growing done this way, and rye takes ahold anywhere very easily,,if you get it down before some kind of rain, but from now on,,rain may not be so regular.

 

[Sligh1]

Above got ya covered.
So many ways to skin a cat as long as you avoid major mistakes (which is easy to do and common if you skip steps or make a lot of common mistakes!!!).... Here's a few to watch out for....
with your situation - gonna be hard to kill that stuff, really hard. mow, give week, torch it with round-up. you could try now without mowing, doubtful. If you do.... 3-4 quarts to the acre of round-up. I'd also hit again in about a week to nail it again and hit spots you missed and get weeds that come in if any do. So, a lot of ways to do this BUT, just make sure everything ends up dying someway, somehow. (another example... Nuke it, light on fire later, nuke again after some weed & green up that will happen and winter rye is about only option that late in game).
Fertilize if able, treated urea so doesn't evaporate or till in Urea.
When seed, if you stick with winter rye, clover, radishes or something along those lines, will not be as critical to pack. rye and clover you can seed extremely heavy and I probably would. Not radish though, no more than 5-8 lbs per acre max. But, later in game, rye is gonna be your go-to if too much time passes. Bottom line, kill the heck outta stuff, get your seed to the soil at the right times & rates. Lot more to it than that but do what you can, good luck

 

[arm]

And pray for rain when you need it and hope it doesn't when you dont

 

[lovetohunt]

I don't know exactly were you are located, but I can probably bring my atv trail mower over and mow it for you in the next week or so. I am just SE of Norwalk.

 

[deerhunter93]

I'm north of Des Moines and have spent the last two nights weed whipping and raking the area. I know I didn't rounup it but I'm running out of time so I wanted to get something done.

Thanks for the help guys! Hopefully I have a little plot this fall, definitely a learning experience for me.

 

[Sligh1]

Nothing wrong with that!!! Let it start to grow back and NUKE IT! Round up at high rates. U'll be good if get it toasted

 

[deerhunter93]

Nothing wrong with that!!! Let it start to grow back and NUKE IT! Round up at high rates. U'll be good if get it toasted

So is it in my best interest to round up tomorrow and plant late next week and hope for rain?

Any suggestions on how to break up the ground some to help get the seed in soil? I have clover and oats if that makes any difference on how deep they need to be.