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Follow along as we grow a new food plot  in 2004

October 5 , 2003 April 17 , 2004

Before we go into our 2004 planting, let's evaluate our Long Term History of the Bowsite.com Food Plot

Year Overall Result Commentary
1998 Good New planting of Imperial Whitetail, did fairly well despite heavy grazing in summer and fall. No noticeable weed or grass intrusion.
1999 Excellent Unbelievable second year results. The plot was as good as it could ever get. Deer really browsed it down in fall but held up well.
2000 Fair-Poor Weed and grass growth took over plot. Imperial Clover all but gone.
2001 Poor Had to plow under, installed Imperial whitetail again, but the weeds and grass took over quickly. Had to plow under in late summer and installed buck forage oats. Had marginal success with growth.
2002 No Plot We decided to spend the entire spring/summer spraying roundup and killing existing vegetation. We planted peas in the fall but the deer over-browsed and killed it.
2003 Poor We planted Imperial No-Plow. The Rape came up in abundance, but the deer never touched it during archery season. Our plot was a failure despite a successful growth of rape.
2004 ?  

 

 

After last year's successful growth of Imperial No-Plow, and the complete lack of utilization by deer during the archery season, we decided to switch to a new food plot seed company and start over fresh.

May 1st Planting - new installation

This is what our plot looked like on April 17, 2004. In this photo you can see some red clover, white clover, and rape which is sprouting up from last year's annual planting.

We used our Ford 9N tractor and a double-bottom plow to turn over the soil and kill the sparse vegetation just starting to emerge.

After we had turned over the soil, we used a small disker to loosen the soil and loosen the soil.
We used 1000 lbs of pelletized lime, and 200 lbs of 5-20-20 fertilizer.

For our 2004 Plot we purchased Tecomate Seed Company's Monster Mix which is a combination of several types of clovers plus Chicory.
Once the seed was broadcast, we simply drove our tractor over the plot to press the seed into the ground and provide for a firm seedbed.

 

We'd like to hear from you - Discuss our conclusions, 2004 choices, and perhaps other recommendations?




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