Micro plots and Groundhog max

[Birdman7]

After doing a lot of looking around on how to do food plots I finally decided to pull the trigger and do some. Not having a lot of equipment or good access to the sites I decided my best option was to use a drop feeder and pelletized lime and my rzr and Groundhog max to do the discing. I plan on going back in a couple of weeks to discing again, seed, and then drag (need to figure out if I want to build a cheap drag or buy one). I plan on planting WI's power plant

Plot 1:
Before

After


Plot 2:
Before

After


Plot 3:
Before

After

[Bumpy]

Looks good don't forget your fertilizer.

[Birdman7]

When do you normally fertilize when you seed or a couple of weeks after?

[mdnabors]

Fert at time of seed....and maybe again 4-5 weeks after once it's established. Plots look great and I bet the PP still has plenty of food into Fall. I've been wanting to do same thing. Keep us posted as you proceed. Good luck

[Drycreek3189]

IMO, which is worth what you paid for it, the Power Plant will be eaten in a short time in those small plots. It's mainly sobeans and lab lab, and is a good crop, but you need more area unless your deer density is way low. I've planted it in the past, but I planted three acres of it on a 217 acre place. At the same time, I had clover plots going also to help take the pressure off the PP. Good luck with your plots !

[TheWidowMaker]

I made a drag by cutting a hog panel in half and attaching one section to the back of the other with a 4x4 post on the front. Works great and had all of it sitting around

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[Birdman7]

IMO, which is worth what you paid for it, the Power Plant will be eaten in a short time in those small plots. It's mainly sobeans and lab lab, and is a good crop, but you need more area unless your deer density is way low. I've planted it in the past, but I planted three acres of it on a 217 acre place. At the same time, I had clover plots going also to help take the pressure off the PP. Good luck with your plots !

I'm not to worried about it because the lease we're on is around 300 acres and about 150 of it is used for farming and they're planning on planting soybean this year. I did a little throw and grow clover plot last fall that's doing well plus I plan on doing a couple more little plots and my buddy plans on doing a couple. They should have enough food even without us doing the plots but we want something to be able to hold the deer on our property and hunt during early season when they field is in between crops.

If this doesn't sound like a good plan feel free to let me know and give me suggestions on other routes to take, because this is the first time I've ever done anything like this. Also, my buddy wasn't going to do power plant and wanted to try something different see what the deer prefer. Any suggestions on what he should try?

[Drycreek3189]

Seeing as how you have some ag going on there, I would plant something different than beans. Nothing beats clover IMO for a small plot. It will keep up with browsing pressure in small plots as well as anything I've ever grown. It Texas, to grow perennial clover, you have to plant in the fall. It spends most of the first year establishing roots, but next spring you should have a lush crop. I have limited experience with micro-plots, but the few I've planted in WINA clover did really well. Clover likes a soil that holds moisture though, so well drained soil in the full sun is not so good. It is shade tolerant if everthing else is good. Make sure you get a soil test, use the correct amount of lime, the correct amount and type of fertilizer, make sure yor seeds don't get covered too deeply, ( and your drag should work well ), and you should be good to go. You can plant some annual clovers in the spring, and you might look into sunn hemp. I've never planted it, but I read that it's fast growing and browse tolerant. QDMA's website will have some options. Go there and search spring/summer plots. Good luck and let us know how your plots do. Always interested !

After re-looking at your pics, I should say that I would have sprayed those plots with gly, and wait about a week to ten days before discing and planting. Those seeds have a hard time competing with an established root system. Best to kill everything and start fresh. In micro plots, a backpack spray rig will work well, or a small tank sprayer that you can carry in your utv.

[Birdman7]

Seeing as how you have some ag going on there, I would plant something different than beans. Nothing beats clover IMO for a small plot. It will keep up with browsing pressure in small plots as well as anything I've ever grown. It Texas, to grow perennial clover, you have to plant in the fall. It spends most of the first year establishing roots, but next spring you should have a lush crop. I have limited experience with micro-plots, but the few I've planted in WINA clover did really well. Clover likes a soil that holds moisture though, so well drained soil in the full sun is not so good. It is shade tolerant if everthing else is good. Make sure you get a soil test, use the correct amount of lime, the correct amount and type of fertilizer, make sure yor seeds don't get covered too deeply, ( and your drag should work well ), and you should be good to go. You can plant some annual clovers in the spring, and you might look into sunn hemp. I've never planted it, but I read that it's fast growing and browse tolerant. QDMA's website will have some options. Go there and search spring/summer plots. Good luck and let us know how your plots do. Always interested !

After re-looking at your pics, I should say that I would have sprayed those plots with gly, and wait about a week to ten days before discing and planting. Those seeds have a hard time competing with an established root system. Best to kill everything and start fresh. In micro plots, a backpack spray rig will work well, or a small tank sprayer that you can carry in your utv.

I was wanting to spray the areas before but with having a baby in early February I wasn't able to get out there as much as I needed to. I'm hoping doing a 2nd discing and then spraying them with the Arrest max grass herbicide several weeks after planting the seed will keep some of the weeds and grass down.

I already bought the power plant so I'm already committed to that, but I will try the sunn hemp/annual clover you suggested for some of the other plots. I'll probably save a couple of clearings to do some small clover perennial plots also.

Looking ahead to fall plots, what method would you suggest for doing a plot after the power plant has died off? Will I need to mow and then run the drag harrow over it, have completely disc it again, or just go through and broadcast the seed?