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Food plot advice

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tommyls1313

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Ok guys I need advice on what to plant for summer plots. I've been swamped at work and haven't had any time to go out to any of my hunting spots and plant anything. My questions is what are my best options to get planted for summer plots before it's to late. I haven't done any mowing or spraying for prep work. I was hoping to get beans and clovers planted but I'm not sure if it's to late or not. Any advice is greatly apprciated.

Thanks
 
At this point beans would be ok

Establishing a clover plot at this point would be tough though... do able yes, but you may have some weed issues. I'd say your best bet is to get some berseem clover/oats mix planted. Berseem clover is an annual clover and will be great throughout the summer. Then in August go ahead and till this mix under and plant a white clover/rye/oat mix. This is a good way to establish clover if that is what you're wanting to do.
 
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You are fine with Beans, still have time to get them in. Actually none of the guys that I know that do bean plots have put them in yet. Clover should be ok if you get it in soon. If you have some bare spots come August, early Sept. then go back over and hand seed some white clover to fill in. You will need to give yourself atleast 2 days for soil prep and weed killing and then you should be good. Your other option is to wait until August and plant some buck forage oats or brassicas. With all the rain we have had it has been hard to get in the fields so I think even the farmers beans may be in a bit late. Have fun.
 
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Could always wait until mid summer and plant some turnips, I have never done it, but I left an area open for them this year. Everyone I hear of that plants them says they are dynomite!
 
I'll be planting a mixture from Welter's that I'm mixing together myself. I've read about darn near the entire thing that dbltree has put on there about turnips and forage rape. I'll go in about the second week of july and put in a mixture of Dwarf Essex Rape, Ground Hog radishes, and Purple top turnips. According to his "test plots" they hit the Dwarf essex EARLY, which is good for archery, and mid season they were still pounding the essex and ground hog, and come muzzy season and late rifle doe through the spring they will eat those purple tops to the ground.

Something for you to think about. OH and the beans, we still haven't got our 4 acres of plot beans in yet, stupid weather and tractor problems have slowed us up. I read that a lot of guys that do plot beans won't plant till last possible moment for them to stay green and draw through the early bow season, as soon as they go yellow, the deer wont touch them until they are hitting just the pods, and by putting them in late to keep them around for early season, you wont get the pod production that you would if you got them in early. Hince why I'll be putting in the other mixture next to the beans, kind of a transition plot per say.
 
Very true on the beans Bearcat... if you want to hunt them while they are green during early bowseason then plant the beans later, but you won't have the pod production for late season VS. planting beans early, then you get max pod production which makes for great late season hunting but the beans will be turning yellow during early bow and deer won't touch them.
 
My favorite season is the sept. youth season with the kids so I do late beans to keep them on the summer pattern longer. My oldest son turned 16 so he is bummed, no more youth seasons. My 9 year old is pumped, the whole season to himself. Between the deep snow we have had the last few years and the 400+ turkeys I rely more on alot of standing corn for late season. Beans either get wiped out by turkeys or buried in snow by December here.
 
I planted a couple acres of forage beans, they are supposed to stay green longer. I hope they do. I will post pictures when they get up. I am anxious to see how they do.
 
Thanks guys keep them coming. Looks like it's gonna be next weekend or the next before I can get anything done. I'm definitely gonna try to get some beans in. LoessHillsArcher I really like the sound of the clover mix idea
 
tommyls1313 said:
LoessHillsArcher I really like the sound of the clover mix idea
Click to expand...

It is what dbltree recommended to us and it worked very well. Only thing is we had to till up the plot twice (spring and fall) but that wasn't a big deal. Once you get white clover established it is pretty easy to maintain.

One thing with the beans. Once you get them planted and growing you can keep an eye on them and in late August/September if the leaves are going to turn yellow then and let sun light in you can broadcast some rye and/or ground hog forage radishes into the beans to give you some additional food. I can't remember how many pounds per acre dbltree said to broadcast... I'd have to look it up... But that's what we're going to try this year with our beans.
 
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