food plot question

[Native]

All the talk here and in the magazines I read has got me to attempt my first food plot this year on a property my buddies and I hunt. Actually tomorrow I am taking the day off to apply roundup and lime to the 1/2 arce plot. I will seed and fertilize about a week later. Is it safe to apply fertilizer at the same time you seed? I know with grass seed you must apply a mild starter fertilizer. What types of fertilizer do you recommend from your past experiences. I am planting biologic clover.

[hunTer06]

hmmm...there are a few food plot "experts" on here but I'm not one of them. However, I do know that when helping a friend plant his plots we fertilized when we seeded.

[Hoss5355]

A general fertilizer like 12-12-12 would work well. Depending on the ground, we also use 6-24-24 and have never had any issues. I would say if you aren't going to do soil tests, neither would kill the seeds you are planting, so it should be beneficial to a point.

[OhioHunter88]

like mentioned above12-12-12 would be good for your clover plot, it is good that you wait atleast a week before you plant so that the roundup will already be out of the ground, it will be about 6 months tho before your lime actually "works" depending on what you using, Granilized, or pelletized.






Kaleb

[deerhunt45]

all of the above is good advice. you didn't mention how you were going to incorporate the lime / till before planting and fertilizing. i would suggest after waiting at least a week/ten days after roundup and lime to till the top 3 to 4 inches, then plant and fertilize. an "aerator would be ideal or a disc/harrow setup would be good too. i would also highly recommend soil testing. fifty dollars or so for the basic tests if you collect the samples + shipping. good luck with your farming.

[Cap't Ernie]

I wouldn't plant and fertilize at the same time! Yikes!

And last time I checked, Roundup is not a fertilizer, its a herbicide.

Do you have a tiller?

12-12-12 is pretty low in my opinion, but it is very popular. I'm a fan of the Trip 19's.

Captain Ernie

[Hoss5355]

I wouldn't plant and fertilize at the same time! Yikes!

I'm not sure I'm following you....why wouldn't you do it both at the same time. I've done it many different ways, but that definitely doesn't hurt anything to put fertilizer down with the seed. Have you ever seen a corn planter....what goes down next to the seed....fertilizer.

We normally spray and/or plow, wait atleast a week, sometimes more, till, spread fertilizer, till again, then plant seed, cultipac. That way has worked great for us. The only waiting we do is between the plowing and the tilling. Then after a couple mowings in the summer of the clover plots, we spread some more fertilizer, or depending on the plot, straight nitrogen for the corn in mid/late summer.


the fertilizer, tillings, and plantings are all done the same day. The only other thing, if you are broadcasting your seed and fertilizer, do it before rain showers, and it will get into the soil better. If not, the nitrogen will just lay on top of the ground and evaporate, not going into the soil. Notice I said rain showers and not a huge storm. You don't want to get too much rain that it washes your seed and fertilizer to the neighbors property.

[Hoss5355]

oh, and last but not least, if you are planting a clover plot in the spring, pray for rain in the summer months. I've had horrible luck planting new clover fields in the spring. Now, I start clover plots in late August/Sept. and then frost seed a little more clover in March. It makes for some really nice plots. I don't have any pics of the spring biologic plots I have planted, but both times I have tried it, they didn't grow as good as the fall ones. Just my .02. This is a plot that would be exactly 1 year old. I planted in fall with winter rye and clover, frost seeded a little more clover in spring, mowed twice in the summer, and this is what you have to hunt a year later. This is a clover field close up. You can still see some of the rye that I had let seed, and then mowed so it would re seed. This plot is going to be replanted this year, which is 5 years old now.

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/photopost/data/500/205cloverclose.jpg

[Cap't Ernie]

Hoss, good point on the corn, very true.

Sorry, but I generally think of manure as fertilizer, which I'm not sure I'd put down manure at the same time as seed.

Captain Ernie

[Hoss5355]

No problem Cap't, just was wondering if I was missing something...I know everything I do isn't right, but thats half the fun of experimenting with the food plots. Coming from a farming background has both helped and hurt in some aspects of making plots.

Good, I know how to make things grow, and have the equipment and knowledge to use it.

Bad, I like seeing a perfect field, with no weeds, that belongs on the cover of a magazine. You don't need that with food plots...yes it looks good, but really, they are just deer. They don't care if there are a few weeds, they eat around it. Before we were planting plots they were eating leaves and weeds also, so its not that big of a deal to get them all out.

Good luck with the plots,


Kevin

[Native]

Food plots make me tired. I need more equipment. I spread 1000 pounds of lime on our 1/2 acre "test plot" yesterday with a Scotts push spreader. Never mind the plot is in SE Ohio partially on a hill. I did have the soil tested and they gave me a lime recommendation. I will have to add the rest of the lime some other time later in the year.
I will wait now about 10 days for the roundup to kick in before I disk the top few inches of soil and then plant the seed and add fertilizer per your above recommendations.
Thanks for the advice.
Hoss, I can only hope to someday grow a clover plot like your pictures. Nice.

[deerhunt45]

giter done:mischeif:

good luck.

[Hoss5355]

Keep working on it, and you will have your plots. Those hand spreaders are tough man, trust me, I've tried it to spread seed, but I got you beat. I think I'll start another thread on that one...Check it out...Lack of food plot equipment, so we tried this...

Kevin

[10Gauge]

If you have access to a 400cc or bigger 4WD ATV, or 20 HP Tractor with 3 pt hitch rent a PLOTMASTER from Buckeye Outdoors to disc your plots!

If you have room to turn a pick up or Jeep around on your plot and a 2" ball hitch on the vehicle you can also use this to work the ground with a PLOTMASTER.