Gonna try out a small food plot this year.

I've started working on cleaning up this little spot, around 20 x 20 yds, maybe a little bigger. It's about the only open spot on my 16 acres of woods. The soil is pretty sketchy, lots of stones, boulders and pretty acid from all the oak leaves over the years. Here's the plot after I started clearing the dead fall timber and bramble that was there before.

I think I'll keep it rough like this until the end of Turkey season, May 31st. Then, I'm thinking of raking off the debris down to soil and then throwing some no-till pre-mixed food plot seeds and some lime pellets and then raking them down into into the surface If it works, fine, if not that's fine too. I'll keep you all posted.

 

I gotta ask 'cause I've never had the opportunity to clear an area for a food plot.
Have you ever built a ground blind from the get-go? Build something so it looks like it was always there? Just curious.

 

No. Good idea though.

 

Food plots are fun. I had a couple small ones I kept for a few years. Dang deer wouldn't hardly give it a chance to get established. Musta been tasty stuff. I have not planted anything for about 5 years now.

 

RCBS Thanks for the feedback. That's kind of what I was thinking would happen with such a small plot and why I haven't bothered before. I cleared this spot because it's right in the middle of a skidding/walking path to about 2 dozen dead-standing oaks that I'm clearing. That's another good reason to wait a little longer until I plant. On the other hand, if I don't plant it, it will revert to a nasty thicket of raspberry and mile-a-minute vine in a heartbeat. Of course the deer love that for browse and bedding, too. Kind of a can't miss situation

 

You need a spot that in getting direct sun at least 8 hrs for vegetables. I cut an area out of the woods. I had it stumped and then had the ground worked up. Then I had the soil tested by the extension service. Needed a lot of supplements. But that paid off. The animals will eat everything you plant unless you take precautions. You can get a battery powered electric fence at TSC.

 

Sounds good. We already have a very nice, fenced in vegetable garden. This would be just to attract wildlife (we already have plenty) and to keep down the invasives like the mile-a-minute. We'll see how it works.

 

Actually, once I'm done skidding logs, I might replant and put up a small electric fence to let it get established??? Oh, I can see a thousand+ ways to entertain myself... better pump the breaks.

 

It can be easy to get carried away with stuff like this for me. Kind of why I stopped doing it. Costs started to add up. I was spending a good bit of money between the food plots and outright feeding them deer. I did enjoy it and never used the food plot or feeders as bait. I thought of them as an enhancement to make my woods more attractive and to better the health of my local herds.

Get the soil sample done so you don't waste your money on seed. My soil was only slightly acidic so a little lime was all it took.

 

I have been planting an acre in a brassica blend for the past few years. I don't know if has helped the deer hunting, the deer sure have ate it! It is an expensive hobby, but it gives me a chance to play with equipment, and it is fun to watch stuff grow. Must be the hidden farmer in me!

 

I am being funny but deer love roses, tulips and snowdrops. Trust me I know.

 

Add Hostas to that list.

 

And my fruit trees! I mean I leave all the drops for them but leave the new buds on

 

If you have a lot of deer fence that bad boy off till ready for them, they will eat it down in three days when it sprouts. Also put an exclusion cage out to see how much they eat.

 

I never did the cage, but should have.

 

You know there eating it. But I always think to myself...soil nutrients not right not enough water. Then you put a cage out and the thing is shin high inside yet the rest looks like golf course fairway/first rough!

 

I finally got around to planting it. Here it is. It will be fun to see what pops up.

 

Hope yalls weather is better than ours. IF I was in the foot plot planting mindset here in the short term I would talk myself out of it.

We're bumping 100F again today and have had rain basically 2 days in june!

 

We've actually had a nice mix of sun and rain so far this summer. The soil was still pretty moist from rain on Friday. 50-60% chance of rain for the next couple of days, so I'm thinking I'm in good shape. The woods also holds a lot of moisture in the soil vs. the valleys. We generally get plenty of rain here. Farmers don't need to irrigate at all most summers.

 

Yea I thought you dirt looked fairly moist. But yea regional difference. Heck wasent WV all those folks died in a flood.....we could of used half that rain and they kept half and we would of all been ok.

We're usually fine as well. My area should get 54" of rain a year. Farmers shouldn't have to irrigate either. But I'm not really in row crop country...more cattle and hay here. Have to go down into the sandy-ier loamy soil before you see more corn or veggies. It's grown around here but our soils aren't as fertile as other areas of the state. We mostly grow wood in this area.