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Spring food plots 2017
Food Plots
Messages posted to thread:
drycreek 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
MK111 24-May-17
bdfrd24v 24-May-17
Skippy 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
t-roy 24-May-17
Kdog 24-May-17
drycreek 24-May-17
drycreek 27-May-17
Habitat for Wildlife 27-May-17
drycreek 29-May-17
drycreek 29-May-17
drycreek 04-Jun-17
drycreek 04-Jun-17
Habitat for Wildlife 04-Jun-17
drycreek 12-Jun-17
drycreek 12-Jun-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17
Habitat for Wildlife 16-Jul-17
drycreek 16-Jul-17


Date:24-May-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

I started back in March, discing last year's wheat under, waiting until I had some weed/grass growth, then spraying with gly. My spray rig is a sixty gallon boomless sprayer with three point hitch. In some cases I use a 25 gallon boom sprayer in my Ranger. Three different properties were planted with iron clay peas. The soils have been tested ( last year for two, three years ago for one ) and amended. The plots were planted using a disc, broadcast seeder, and a homemade tire drag. I started planting April 25th and finished the last plots on May 12th. The first one is 20 minutes from me, the second, an hour, and the third, a little over two hours. We got some timely rains last week ( several inches ), so I expect them to do well. Thanks for looking.

This is how I disc to broadcast large seeds, the disc is barely angled and cuts enough groove for the seed to fall in when dragged.

Date:24-May-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

Peas after a week and a half on one of the first plots.

Date:24-May-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

My second set of plots on property I own. That's WINA clover in the middle. These plots are a little behind due to lack of moisture, but they will come on quickly now with three inches of rain last weekend.

Date:24-May-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

Large plot in the creek bottom.

Date:24-May-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

Another angle at same plot as above. That's clover in the lane between the timber.

Date:24-May-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

One more from my place. I don't have any pics yet from the last property that I plant. I'm going down Friday and will add to this thread.

By: MK111
Date:24-May-17

Looking good. Too much rain in SW Ohio to get on my plots. And raining again today.

Date:24-May-17

Looks like you will be doing good with some rain and warm weather.

I just got my beans in the ground. Been very wet here in SW PA as well. If weather ever clears I'll check my new clover plots as well.

By: Skippy
Date:24-May-17

How do you keep the hogs out of your plots?

Date:24-May-17

Skippy, last year I planted peas in the plot at the very top of this thread. Had hog tracks all over it, but still got a good crop. That plot is just a nutrition plot, I don't hunt it as it's next to a dirt road and the wrong wind direction mostly. However, I have a 3/4 acre plot at the far end of the pic, in the timber, where I planted a bean blend from GRO and the hogs ate it up as soon as I planted it. This year I planted both plots in I/C peas and no hogs. I set up on my hunting plot until one or two am both nights after I planted with an AR w/night vision. No hogs showed, which suited the hell out of me. My buddy however, sat up the same and killed three Friday night. We cheated though, and corned the roads AWAY from my plots in an effort to keep the suckers off my peas. I think it worked !

I do have a few hog rootings in my plots after the crops come up, but not many. My buddy is pretty tough on the hogs on my place. He goes down almost every Friday night and hunts with night vision. He averages a hog about every two weeks, which isn't many, but it keeps them moving on to somewhere they're not being shot at. My neighbors mostly deer hunt I guess, because I hear very few shots except during deer season. Got some really thick, nasty stuff to my east, and as far as I know, no hunters there. That's where lots of the hogs stay, but sometimes, if they linger on me, they stay permanently !

By: t-roy
Date:24-May-17

Looking good so far drycreek! I've got the majority of my corn & soybeans planted and they are all out of the ground, but they're kind of at a standstill right now. Cool, rainy weather here for the past week. Have you ever tried electric fencing your plots to keep the hogs out? I'm wondering if they would deter pigs.?

By: Kdog
Date:24-May-17

Looks great!

Date:24-May-17

I don't know t, but as many plots as I have it would get expensive and labor intensive. The main damage hogs do to me is rooting in my creek bottoms where I mow. Got to get down in first gear and it's still a kidney buster ! One of the places I hunt, I've hardly ever seen a hog and they don't root very much. In other places, they keep the deer nervous and flighty. I can't tell you how many times I've been watching deer right at dark feeding in a plot only to have them throw their head up and haul outa there. Sure enough, the next thing you see will be a hog.........

Date:27-May-17

drycreek's embedded Photo

I put out 750 lb. of milorganite on the nearly three acres of peas in Trinity Co. that I planted on May 12th. I think the cool weather is hurting my growth. I've always depended on the warm weather to get my peas up and growing beyond the two leaf stage before the deer wipe them out. It's turning warm now though, so maybe they will catch up ! This is the same plot pictured at the very top of the thread, but from the opposite end.

Date:27-May-17

Very nice looking! Keep us posted please.

Date:29-May-17

drycreek's embedded Photo

My buddy sent me this pic today from our lease. This is the same plot as the second pic from the top only from the opposite end. These peas are off and running !

Date:29-May-17

drycreek's embedded Photo

Looks like a couple decent bucks are hitting the minerals too.

Date:04-Jun-17

drycreek's embedded Photo

Looks like my peas are past the deer-can-demolish-them stage ! Sorry for the poor quality pic, my phone camera lens was dirty.

Date:04-Jun-17

drycreek's embedded Photo

Another plot on the same property.

Date:04-Jun-17

You should have some fat deer come hunting season;)

Looks great!

Date:12-Jun-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

This is the plot planted April 25th. Little 400 some acres in East Texas.

Date:12-Jun-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

Iron clay peas grow well in sandy soil !

Date:16-Jul-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

Ok guys, I'm bringing this back to the top for info and input. The very first picture at the top of the thread shows a plot about to be planted in Trinity Co. Texas. As you can see, there is almost no green vegetation there. I planted IC peas just as I did last year ( which gave me a crop that lasted until the middle of September ) using the same methods that I've used for years. Limed in early spring, disced in the lime and the existing weeds, grass, etc. I came back and sprayed gly about two weeks before planting. We had a cooler June than normal, so the peas didn't grow as quickly as I thought they should, but I did get good germination. I broadcast 100 lb. of peas on the two acres, which is probably a little light, and fertilized according to last year's soil sample. This next pic is a few days later as I broadcast about 600 lb. of milorganite ( as I did last year ) to hopefully keep the deer at bay until establishment of the crop.

Remember, the peas were planted May 12.

Date:16-Jul-17

drycreek's MOBILE embedded Photo

This pic shows that I had good germination and there are still no weeds to speak of. I walked through the plot, and there were very few tracks, and very little indication of browsing.

Date:16-Jul-17

So....here is my dilemma. I visited this property again last Friday and I was stunned. Weeds and grass is about all I have in these two plots. My question is: What the hell happened ?

Did the deer eat the peas before they canopied ? If so, why didn't they do the same last year ? Two things are different than last year's planting. I planted a month earlier, and I didn't disc it in early spring. Last year I burned it down with gly about two weeks before I planted and it was full of weeds and grass. This year, I disced it when putting down lime and there weren't many weeds, but I sprayed what were there. I'm at a loss here, give me your thoughts please. Thanks.

Date:16-Jul-17

Pat, thanks for your insight. That's what I'm coming to believe too. Last year was the first time for anything to be planted there. I suspect that the deer " discovered " them last year too late to hurt the growth, plus, they were planted late in wet ground vs planted earlier this year in drier conditions. The deer were ready this year, since they already knew what and where the peas were. The .75 acre plot I will plant again next year with the addition of a hot fence, but I may go with RW beans.

Any suggestions as to what I can plant for spring/summer in the two acres ? I don't want to fence it if I can help it.

Date:16-Jul-17

drycreek's embedded Photo

For reference:

White outlines the two acre spring/summer plot. Red is the kill plot.

Date:16-Jul-17

Never tried alfalfa Pat. I've always thought of it as a northern crop, but I might be wrong about that. I've heard it was fairly labor intensive and this place is more than two hours from me. I really don't want a perennial in the white outlined plot because that's where my scent usually winds up when I hunt.

I'm thinking RR beans with a fence in the kill plot, then broadcast wheat/rye into the plot as the leaves yellow. Never tried that, but I see it talked about a lot. That would also save turning up weed seeds twice a year.

I was thinking buckwheat or sunnhemp in the two acres for a spring/summer plot or a combination of the two. I've never planted either, so I really don't know what to expect. I would mow it down around the middle of September if it were still feeding deer to keep them from staying on my downwind side.

Date:16-Jul-17

Similar experience with peas myself. No experience in your area. Do you have a NRCS office for your area? They could make recommendations. Good luck!

Date:16-Jul-17

Not my land Pat, I wish it were. It's part of an 18,000 acre place that I hunt on by invitation. It's cut up into various sized leases by the landowner and I'm good friends with a guy that leases 2,500 acres of it. Pine is king here, so no tree cutting. The fence on the west side of the white outline is a high fence. Some of the leases are high fenced, some are not. Ours is not, but my reasons for choosing this spot were :

Nobody else was closer than a half mile. All are rifle hunters only except me, I hunt with bow and gun. The deer are used to pickup and four wheeler traffic on the road, thus they just pick their heads up and go back to browsing when someone passes. They can't see the road, only hear the vehicles. My back is to a high fence and a road, so most deer won't go behind me. The plot is perfectly placed to take advantage of the prevailing winds during hunting season and the opening was already there. Any kind of grain is out because we have so many hogs. They will destroy any grain upon maturity or eat the seed out of the ground. That's the biggest downfall of the place, most of these guys won't kill hogs during deer season. I never let a hog or a coyote pass, but I'm just one guy among many. I may be fighting a losing battle on the two acres unless I fence it also. One of the long sides is fenced already so it isn't completely out of the question. I've got until next spring to think about it I guess. Thanks for the input.


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