Food plots, lime and drag harrow?

[natehunter]

Us folks up Bancroft area had a storm last may. Long story short loggers came in and I have some acre size landings I would like to turn into food plots. Does anyone have any sources for lime in the area? I think I would need about a ton. Also thinking about finding a chain harrow, and any advice planting plots in old hardwood bush.

[werner.reiche]

Us folks up Bancroft area had a storm last may. Long story short loggers came in and I have some acre size landings I would like to turn into food plots. Does anyone have any sources for lime in the area? I think I would need about a ton. Also thinking about finding a chain harrow, and any advice planting plots in old hardwood bush.

Feed stores should carry lime, or they will know where to get it. Where the bush has been torn up, I just hand seed white clover.

[hunter06]

Some terrible damage, I work in tree removal and we were still doing storm clean up in September. I only hope that some good will come out of it in the way of habitat for small game and fresh browse for deer.

[Bo D]

X 2 on the white clover...

[Gilroy]

Us folks up Bancroft area had a storm last may. Long story short loggers came in and I have some acre size landings I would like to turn into food plots. Does anyone have any sources for lime in the area? I think I would need about a ton. Also thinking about finding a chain harrow, and any advice planting plots in old hardwood bush.

I am sure you have plenty of forest slash lying around, so if you have the time to pile and burn you will produce ash which as you know will make that soil base less acid. If you have some depth to the soil then clover, turnip, parsnip, should all come up. I would probably invest in a few bags of peat moss its pretty cheap and will help retain moisture in that patch over the hot summer months. Then if its just for deer buy the cheap high nitrogen fertilizer to mix in.

[longpointer]

We use to use an old mattress with the material burned off to expose the springs and bolt it to some boards with concrete blocks on top for weight and drag it behind the ATV to smooth off an area.

[johnjyb]

You can also use a chunk of chain link fence weighed with rocks or blocks as a drag.
John

[C.F.]

If you spend the money and get some soil samples done , that information can then tell you how much lime you should be putting down to adjust your PH and also fertilizer recommendations. Otherwise you may be wasting money or time on fertilizer. Also a straight Clover plot doesn’t need nitrogen fertilizer.
If you have access to glyphosate you can spray your plots a few weeks before your planting date to kill weed competition.
Small foodplot seeds like turnip , radish , clover , etc respond to being run over with a heavy lawn roller or a cultipacker to promote proper seed to soil compact.

[natehunter]

I plan on getting the soil tested when the ground thaws. I can access glyphosate but I wanted to try without it, but realize I will likely need it. I will do some clover plots on other landings but my main plot I want to do brassicas. I was thinking of starting with buckwheat in the spring then broadcasting brassica seed and cultipacking. I’ve looked into wood ash but the amount I would need would be staggering. Thanks for all the ideas. Keep them coming!

[C.F.]

I’ve had great success doing the buckwheat/brassicas method. Last year I believe I messed up my planting dates and my buckwheat died early on. Still ended up with mostly bare dirt because of the spraying I did before that. I managed to plant and pack the seeds down and the plot turned out great.
Brassicas do extremely well with 100lbs/acre of UREA (46-0-0) after they have sprouted up and are like 6 inches tall ( this must be done when the leaves are dry and there is rain in the forecast within 3 days of application).
I found a custom “mix” a guy recommended that helps feed the deer during the parts of the year when food is more scare, and also helps keep the does healthy and the fawns when they drop. I did it last year and the deer consistently hammered the plot. I had a LOT of bacholer buck groups through most of October. It does cost more than a normal blended seed bag.
50# winter rye grain,
50# oats forage ,
25# Australian peas,
15# medium red clover,
10# white clover ,
5# tillage radish (daikon) ,
2# chikory