Food Plots

[Tee_Whet]

This year I am going to really try to get a great food plot going. Right now it just looks like a patch of grass in the middle of the woods.

So as soon as it warms up (the ground unfreezes) I am going to go out and till it and put nutrients in it. Then plant something. What do you guys plant in your plots and when do you start?

[So. Ohio Outfitters]

I like antler king.....trophy clover mix.....its on the front page of the website....www.antlerking.com.... it has about 4 different clovers...and chicory and rape...awesome stuff. Any plot that I have that isn't beans, corn, or alfalfa...will be this stuff. I will be planting a new property in about 6 to 7 acres in this stuff. I'll have to post pics of what it looked like before, and after....that property already has corn on it...but this stuff will really make the difference. It also has the recommendations of what they do as far as lime and fertilizer. You can plant it in early march....I wouldn't wait to much longer than mid to late april however...

[Hairtrigger]

I have seen great results with Nutriplot products

[countyroad]

This year I am going to really try to get a great food plot going. Right now it just looks like a patch of grass in the middle of the woods.

So as soon as it warms up (the ground unfreezes) I am going to go out and till it and put nutrients in it. Then plant something. What do you guys plant in your plots and when do you start?



That is wayyyyy too much work. :whistle:



(Note some sarcasm)

[Milo]

When are you wanting to kill something in the plot? Early , late , rut ?

[Francis]

I have the same question I have little deer on my prop so I don't hunt it to often but I can mabey build like a half acer food plot. Would that be good enough? I could probably do a 1 acer. My prop. well my dads is only 15 acres.

[bowhunter1023]

Fishing and Hunting Ohio - OhioSportsman.com > OhioHunter.com > Ohio Whitetail Deer Hunting > Whitetail Deer Habitat

:mischeif:

[Patriot1]

qdma forums is a good place to ask this. They specialize in foodplots and such

[So. Ohio Outfitters]

When are you wanting to kill something in the plot? Early , late , rut ?

The antlerking product I was describing is good for all year round....and is rated number 1 when it comes over all plot success.....I'm not sponsored by these guys, I just really like their product...that's why it has 4 different clovers, chicory and rape...

[hunter166]

Having been the Chairamn of our Food Plot Program for the past 5 Years of a large Hunting Club (opprox 10,000 Acres) in Northwester Pennsylvania, I have had the opportunity to work with and try many, many, many of the different products that are availabe for Food Plots. We planted and managed over 22 Food Plots strategically placed over our lease that ranged in size from 1/4 Acre to 3 Acres in size.

The BIGGEST factor in any Food Plot that you are going to plant is SOIL PREPARATION...........period. This includes providing the best soil for your product (in other words Soil Testing), and limiting competition with what ever you decide to grow (in other words WEED CONTROL).

I have always used the folks at Mossy Oak Labs for all of my Soil Testing needs. You can find them at www.mossyoak.com (http://www.mossyoak.com) . You send them a small soil sample (and they have the form and instructions you can download for free from their site). There is a $7.50 charge for doing the testing, but you get a wonderful report back from them that tells you EXACTLY what you soil needs in so far as lime, nutrients, additives, etc.

Ad far as weed control....................we ALWAYS did a complete "kill-off" with Round-Up Max before we put in any NEW Food Plot. This need to be done in 2 applocations (1-2 weeks apart) at least 2 weeks prior to planting any seed product. Once that is done, the groung should be tilled/plowed and then the lime, fertilizer, etc can be put into the soil, followed by your seed.

Have had GREAT success with:

Biologic Clover Plus (mixture of clovers and chicory perennial)............a stand once planted and maintained/fertilized proprerly on an annual basis will last for 3-5 years. Is a great Spring & Summer Food Plot. Plant in early spring. best growth and maturity does not occur until years 2, 3, & 4.......so don't be discourage the 1st year! It needs a well developed root system to flourish.

Biologic Maximum (mixture of various brassicas and "turnip type" annual plants that a very high in protein) Must be replanted every year. Is a great Fall Food Plot. Plant it from mid-July to early August.

Biologic Full Draw; (mixture of the above 2 products). Good all-around Food Plot for Spring, Summer, and into Fall.

Buck Forage Oats; (specialty oats forage prodcut for deer); this stuff is a MAGNET for deer as soon as it pops out of the ground. Good Fall and even into Winter Food Plot. Stays green until temps hit below zero.

Once your Food Plot is establsihed...........if you are interested, can provide you with more information on maintaining and upkeep.

Hope this helps !!

[bowhunter1023]

I have always used the folks at Mossy Oak Labs for all of my Soil Testing needs. You can find them at www.mossyoak.com (http://www.mossyoak.com) . You send them a small soil sample (and they have the form and instructions you can download for free from their site). There is a $7.50 charge for doing the testing, but you get a wonderful report back from them that tells you EXACTLY what you soil needs in so far as lime, nutrients, additives, etc.
!!

Wait until they lose your soil sample and fail to notify you of the fact. Then when you contact them, they give you a lame excuse that "they process thousands of samples and this sometimes happens. Let me get back with you about what we can do for you." It has been 9 months and I am still waiting. They took my $7.50 and lost my sample. But they don't care because I'm not a Big Boy pimping their product all over the world.

Tecomate and The Whitetail Institute treated me right. I will never plant another Biologic product. With customer service like that, they can kiss my big, white, hairy :yikes:

[Bawana]

I've been using Biologic for 5-6 years for my soil testing never had a problem yet. I really like their analysis, it makes it almost foolproof on what you need to add. As far as the seed to plant, clover has to be the best all around mix. I use a mix from my local Agland store, I basically just asked them what their best selling Red, Alsyke, and Ladino clover was and added a little trefoil to it.

[hippiehunter]

Being from WV i've sent soil samples to WVU and they will test for free. they also send ya a detailed report of exactly whats needed. If ya tell them what ya wanna grow they'll give ya specifics for tonnage per acre etc. Problem is they will not test Ohio soil, for free anyway. does anyone know if osu will do this for ohio soil????? Also wanted to mention that i had bought a seclusion blend of seed from cabela's, this stuff grows like mad. I never saw one deer touch that stuff though i even threw some corn right in the middle of it :mischeif: and the deer only trampled it to get to the corn.:banghead3: I'll never buy again!! :rant:

[BuckEyeCam]

You might contact Josh Legg at josh@buckeyewildlife.com he does soil testing, food plot management, sells seeds, trees, etc.

[Milo]

You might contact Josh Legg at josh@buckeyewildlife.com he does soil testing, food plot management, sells seeds, trees, etc.
Plus you will be supporting a local ohio business...thats a win win for eveyone...keep our money in our state ....Plus you don't have to pay outrageous shipping charges because its located here.....

[TheCream]

This is just my own personal opinion, but I don't know that I will ever try to plant something overly "pricey" or that needs high amounts of rainfall in SE Ohio in the spring any more. I tried and tried to get my friend to agree to plant our plots in the spring last year. He talked me out of it, and it probably saved us over $1000 in seed and fertilizer. The summers here for the last several years have just been too dry. We planted last fall, instead, and with more predictable precipitation, everything came in beautifully. We are going to put in some buckwheat this spring in an area that is going to planted later this fall, but that is about it for us. We do our soil tests through an office in Athens, and I think it might be the Soil and Water Conservancy District, but don't quote me on that. We can tell them what we will be planting when we have the test done, and they will tell us precisely what type of fertilizer and how much we will need to optimize growth, so it is a great service. We are expecting our tests back this week sometime.

Best of luck!

[Milo]

This is just my own personal opinion, but I don't know that I will ever try to plant something overly "pricey" or that needs high amounts of rainfall in SE Ohio in the spring any more. I tried and tried to get my friend to agree to plant our plots in the spring last year. He talked me out of it, and it probably saved us over $1000 in seed and fertilizer. The summers here for the last several years have just been too dry. We planted last fall, instead, and with more predictable precipitation, everything came in beautifully. We are going to put in some buckwheat this spring in an area that is going to planted later this fall, but that is about it for us. We do our soil tests through an office in Athens, and I think it might be the Soil and Water Conservancy District, but don't quote me on that. We can tell them what we will be planting when we have the test done, and they will tell us precisely what type of fertilizer and how much we will need to optimize growth, so it is a great service. We are expecting our tests back this week sometime.



Best of luck!

i disagree but whats new right?!:D we have had great success planting in the spring..The key is the upkeep..You can ask Jesse cause he has been all round our place and been the benefactor of a lot of mistakes..were on cruise control now.

[bowhunter1023]

Cream, I haven't seen your place, nor have I seen that of others on here. But I can tell you that I believe Milo to be the foremost authority on food plots on this site. I have seen his place and picked his brain. He was doing this when you were still growing hair if you catch my drift...

Their place is unreal when it comes to food. You just have to tough it out. I haven't planted in the spring because I know I'm not prepared for the upkeep. But I certainly will when I get to that point. There is nothing but browse this time of year. If I can start providing food 24/7/365, you can bet your butt I will do that.

[TheCream]

i disagree but whats new right?!:D we have had great success planting in the spring..The key is the upkeep..You can ask Jesse cause he has been all round our place and been the benefactor of a lot of mistakes..were on cruise control now.

Do you irrigate? In summers like last year that would have been about the only saving grace where we hunt! Did we even have 12" of rain between May and August last summer? We actually considered buying a water pump and using a nearby spring-fed pond to run a simple irrigation system, but chose not to do so.

[TheCream]

Cream, I haven't seen your place, nor have I seen that of others on here. But I can tell you that I believe Milo to be the foremost authority on food plots on this site. I have seen his place and picked his brain. He was doing this when you were still growing hair if you catch my drift...

Their place is unreal when it comes to food. You just have to tough it out. I haven't planted in the spring because I know I'm not prepared for the upkeep. But I certainly will when I get to that point. There is nothing but browse this time of year. If I can start providing food 24/7/365, you can bet your butt I will do that.

I'm not saying don't maintain anything in the spring, just that I wouldn't plant perrenials in the spring. We put in almost 3 acres of perennials late last August, so yes, there is spring upkeep, but that is part of the game. Planting the perrenials in the fall gave them a great start and got them established, so this spring they are growing fast and furiously. 2 weeks ago our chicory was already over 4" high! Had we planted in the spring last year, with the lack of rain, our perrenials would have likely failed and we would have been out a lot of cash.

[Milo]

Do you irrigate? In summers like last year that would have been about the only saving grace where we hunt! Did we even have 12" of rain between May and August last summer? We actually considered buying a water pump and using a nearby spring-fed pond to run a simple irrigation system, but chose not to do so.Nope, just ran with an upkeep program that eliminates weeds which compete for available water. Purty simple really. We had a STELLAR year especially the beans... Told dad we should pay someone to come in and harvest them they were so good. Yes last year was bleak but we succeeded...we do some late season planting but very little in the overall scheme....

[Milo]

I'm not saying don't maintain anything in the spring, just that I wouldn't plant perrenials in the spring. We put in almost 3 acres of perennials late last August, so yes, there is spring upkeep, but that is part of the game. Planting the perrenials in the fall gave them a great start and got them established, so this spring they are growing fast and furiously. 2 weeks ago our chicory was already over 4" high! Had we planted in the spring last year, with the lack of rain, our perrenials would have likely failed and we would have been out a lot of cash.We planted "extreme" in mid june. kept it mowed and the extreme took a while but it caught up and put 90% of the weeds on strangle hold.

[TheCream]

Great info, just sent you a PM!

[Milo]

Great info, just sent you a PM!back at ya:biggrin:

[Tufelhundin]

What the....?????:irked: Food plots????


I got advice from Milo as well and he helped me , plow, cultivate, till, everything...now I have 16 acres of Osage trees....:nono:

He did mention when we finished he would be happier with the outcome more than I...:(