Shopped for food plot seed and wasn't too impressed with the ridiculous prices on the White-tailed Institute's product. I had good luck with their Chick Magnet chicory but decided $100 for my two plots was a little rich for my liking. I've now learned that winter wheat is one of the best "bang for your buck" items to plant. The deer at my place absolutely pound it in Sept-October, then the bonus is that it gives early forage the following spring, acts as a cover crop all summer to reduce weed competition, then a big bonus for the bears and the turkeys in July when it heads out with seed. Best part is that it's only $18 for a 50 pound bag of feed grade wheat seed. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY SEED GRADE WHEAT SEED. You'll pay more if you do, and you'll kill all your turkeys and songbirds if you broadcast apply it and the coated pink seeds are available for the birds to eat. The cheap feed grade is not coated and I still find it has at least 90% + germination rate, whether it is drilled or broadcast. Pick Seed/ Maple Seed had a mixed brassica/turnip/oat blend available at the Agrico, but you're paying 30 bucks for a 2.5kg bag that is 70% cheap feed oats by weight. Not a great deal imo.
This year I bought Cabelas sugar beet and daikon radish seed. Looks good. $39 for a 5 lb bag. Certified inspected seed with a posted production date. Certified analysis on content. I didn't have to pay shipping charges on it and it arrived in six days.
July 14 - hooked up the Woods rototiller to my Kubota tractor. Set till depth at 3 inches max so I don't pull up more stones from the sub-soil. I sent a soil sample to Guelph four years ago so I know the fertilizer requirements for the lousy stony Otonabee clay loam that's on my property. I tilled up last year's chicory and winter wheat stubble. Decided not to apply glyphosate (Round Up) this year as I don't like using herbicide chemicals and the wheat had done a good job of keeping the plots essentially weed-free.
Jul 26 - Bought a bag of 19-19-19 fert for about $50 and put half a bag down on each plot, broadcasting by hand. Did a light rototill with the tractor again to spank any weeds that had germinated. Each plot I have is about 0.7 of an acre
Plot 1 - used a 90 year old steel wheel International Harvester seed drill that I got of Kijji for $170 to drill winter wheat seed to one inch depth. Then hooked up a homemade light harrow to my 4 wheeler. Made out of six feet of chain link fence from a dog kennel. This covered the seed nicely and levelled the seed bed. I then hand broadcast half a bag of Cabelas daikon radish and half a bag of the sugar beet seed. I then did one light pass with the light fence harrow again. Final pass was with my atv again , dragging a six foot lawn roller filled with water. Supposed to weight 600lbs. Then it was left to Momma Nature
Plot 2 - couldn't get the old drill back there so hand broadcast everything. On this plot I also sowed 1/2 of a 50 lb bag of cheap feed oats so this plot will have a 50:50 mix of wheat and oats.
The pics below were taken at 3 weeks after planting. Things are looking good! A slightly better wheat germination rate on the drilled plot, as can be expected. The Cabelas mixes germinated in less than 4 days! Deer are already nailing the wheat and oats at three weeks. I post an update with pics in another month but so far I'm very pleased with this $39 Cabelas seed.1.jpg2.jpg
Last edited by Fenelon; September 3rd, 2023 at 07:30 AM.
Trial with Cabelas brand food plot seeds!
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