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My First Food Plot--- So Far, So Good!

AIRASSAULT

AIRASSAULT

PMA Member
I decided to have about 2-3 acres of sod broken up this year for my first food plot. The soil hadn't been disrupted for at least 50 years. I exchanged a free deer mount to a friend if he would bring his equipment in and till it up and plant the seed.
To start, I bought a little ATV/Garden Tractor pull behind sprayer and killed everything with RoundUp in Mid-May. My friend came in a couple weeks later with his big tractor and disc'd it up. He said the sod was so thick it nearly stopped the tractor in its tracks. He went over it about 10 times to break it up good and then went over it all again with a rotary tiller. I had him plant RoundUp Ready Corn along the north fence line about 5 yards wide and about 150-200 yds long. I then had him plant Pheasants Forever's Longtail Milo and the Covey Rise Sorghum in about 5 yard increments until he reached the south edge. I then had him plant a strip of Biologic's New Zealand Clover Mix in a 5 yd strip all the way to the south east corner where he put in about a 1/8 acre of the Clover mix. He did all this while I was on a fishing trip in Canada on May 31st. When I got home, I put 13-13-13 fertilizer on the hole food plot with a shoulder strap broadcast spreader. After everything started to emerge, I sprayed over the Corn, Milo, and other Sorghum with Atrazine at 2 lbs per acre and sprayed over the Clover mix with Select II.. I don't remember how much Select I used, but, I think I should have used more because there are a lot of different kinds of weeds in the Clover. The plot is coming in great. I did have a giant walnut tree fall across the Clover and had to cut that up. Today, I fertilized and planted a clover/rye grass/brassica mix over a strip that was missed during the original planting and then drove over it a bunch of times with my pickup to compact it. I also put out a mineral lick and a trail cam. My main goal was to help the pheasants out, but, I have been seeing quite a few deer tracks in the plot also and some clipped clover.. Maybe I'll be able to take a deer off the plot this year too!

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I love this pic.. It's my Bat Dog Vizsla, Benelli
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This is the strip that was missed during planting that I planted today
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Did you get the logs off that walnut tree?!?! :)
Great stuff, that's a lot of work, it'll pay off, very nice!
*For the SELECT- that's one herbicide that is pretty tricky. (unlike say round-up where you know stuff is gonna be toast!!). Taller the grass, the better- need lots of height on grass for it to absorb chemical. Make sure you added enough crop oil. Did you go heavy enough on select? Select seems like it takes longer to kill than round-up. I might think about going over it again (bit heavier on range of label- crop oil & Select) if it still looks like not dead. Other weeds - you should be able to kill broadleafs later with mowing. Select will nail the grass if you keep at it. Good luck!
 
Sligh1 said:
Did you get the logs off that walnut tree?!?! :)
Great stuff, that's a lot of work, it'll pay off, very nice!
*For the SELECT- that's one herbicide that is pretty tricky. (unlike say round-up where you know stuff is gonna be toast!!). Taller the grass, the better- need lots of height on grass for it to absorb chemical. Make sure you added enough crop oil. Did you go heavy enough on select? Select seems like it takes longer to kill than round-up. I might think about going over it again (bit heavier on range of label- crop oil & Select) if it still looks like not dead. Other weeds - you should be able to kill broadleafs later with mowing. Select will nail the grass if you keep at it. Good luck!
Click to expand...

We cut the walnut tree up just enough to get it off of the plot and threw the wood off to the side. I'll probably pick it up after deer season. I guess there really isn't that much grass growing in the clover, just some button weeds, milk weeds, and a couple other plants that I dont know what they are. Part of the mix is Chicory, so, I don't know if I should mow it or not. If I mow it, should I just mow it to the height of the Chicory?
 
I should say thanks to Dbltree too.. We exchanged PM's a few times and he gave me quite a few tips on spraying and fertilizing. Thanks! :way:
 
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