From long-time BIG DEER blogger and food-plot specialist Matt “Flatlander” Cheever:
Hey Mike: It’s that time of year to start getting our hands dirty in the deer woods with habitat projects. Food plot planting is kicking off in the South and close by to the North.
Passing along a tip to the BIG DEER readers: It’s a common mistake to till, disk or dig too deep. The bigger the equipment you use the easier it is to over-till, which brings up dormant weed seeds. On the other hand, if you don’t till enough you won’t get good seed-to-soil contact.
A good rule of thumb is to plant twice as deep as the seed is in size. For clovers, brassicas and the like that means applying the seeds to the top of tilled soil and then lightly compressing. Beans, corn and such need to be turned under or drilled in.
If you have a lot of compost or debris in your soil, raise the seed rate to take in to account some seed that won’t germinate. Hopefully all this will help to save a little time and money and boost success in the quest for BIG DEER. God bless, Flatlander
also always good to put beans in about two weeks after the last farmer, let them get their beans up and available to deer to feed on thus giving your beans time to gain some ground so to speak. but keep in mind any effort is better than no effort
and Yes Dean, impossible to not get weeds….. but deer eat some weeds like ragweed, so don’t kill off something deer will eat just so you have a pretty plot, but if choking out your plot may have to address the weed problem. Good luck getting them in this spring and hope you all get some good rainfall, been a hard few years!!
Just went to a friend’s property yesterday to go over his Soil Test Info. and to have a look at his land. We’re going to put in a small plot of Chicory Plus by Whitetail Institute.
Great post by Flatlander. Truth is, weeds are most def. going to be an issue in food plotting. Dandelions are a huge issue this spring. Many of them are now going to seed and we know what that means…more seeds for later this year, or early next spring. We’ve had a cool spring thus far and the farmers have been going gangbusters with corn planting the last several days as the soil warms up.
Soon, the soybeans will be put down, but not until the soil temps are consistently 60 degrees, or higher both day and night. Remember that if you’re going to be planting any type of soybeans, wether ag. beans, or forage type beans.