Food Plot - Gonna give it a try

[jkelbe]

Perfect for legumes. They will fix Nitrogen to your soil and help you out. I would add some Potash and maybe some Starter fertilizer when you throw seed. Give it a Nitro boost in it's first weeks.

[Nailhead]

And this is where I get lost again. I know squat about fertilizer and how much is needed and what to use. I know my grandfather all he ever did with his gardens back in the day was use lime and 13-13-13. But I don't know how much and all that jazz. I know the 3 numbers are the components in percentages. I guess it's all math from there. Just not sure of the rate in which it needs to be spread.

[unclefish]

It looks like its lacking pretty bad in N so a good 21-0-0 (or urea 46-0-0) along with a triple 13 would do you some good.

Definitely plant legumes if you haven't already (clover, peas, beans) and inoculate them so they will fix N into the soil. It takes a while for them to fix it into the nodules of the roots and also alot of N will come from the decaying plant/leaves.

So if you plant fall legumes like clover you won't really see any noticeable increase in N until the next late spring/early summer after the clover is toast.

That pH is awesome!!!!! Jealous!!!!

Next time if you feel like it you could get a more in depth test that measures the organic matter in the soil. That will tell you alot too.

Good luck!

[Smokecity13]

Good luck man, Hope it works out for you. Hoping to try food plots myself one day

[Nailhead]

I planted the following across about an acre:
5 lb Rackmaster Durana Clover
3 lb Tecatome Chicory
5 lb Siberian Kale

I wasn't able to get the Elbon Rye, so I have just decided to let what I did throw ride out the winter and see what happens. The kill on the grass wasn't spectacular either, but I was running out of time so I decided to go ahead and plant. I went ahead and ran the disc over it to turn it up and help finish off some of the grass. I wasn't going to disc at all but the family was going to throw a hissy if I didn't get out there and disc it first. The grass wasn't high enough to mow for a good thatch, so I figured to disc was my better option. I just broadcast the seed over the disc ground and left it. We haven't gotten any rain since so it hasn't started coming up yet. Hopefully get some rain this week and next like they are forecasting.

I'll have to do my homework and visit the feed stores I guess to see about fertilizer and what's available.

Thanks guys and keep the suggestions coming. Next year I am going to plan further ahead and try to get this right. Throwing it together at the last minute isn't exactly panning out like I had hoped, lol.

[Backwoods101]

Congrats on the PH

[Nailhead]

Well I haven't been back up to the property for a couple weeks. The folks went up this past weekend and the rain gauge showed we had gotten 2.75" over the past week. Hopefully that will start things off in the plot and it will get enough good sunshine to pop the seeds and get them good and rooted before too harsh of cool weather sets in.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[unclefish]

Good deal. Your kale and clover should be fine. Got a hard freeze coming Thursday night.

[gingib]

any pics?

[Nailhead]

any pics?

Nothing popping up yet, so unfortunately no. It's not real pretty. I didn't get as good of a kill as I wanted on the grass and such so there is some grass still in it. I may make a trip up there this weekend and if anything is trying to pop up I will take some pics and post them up.

[Nailhead]

Finally made it back up to the ranch this weekend. I was hoping for a little more progress, but I guess with the lack of rain until a few weeks after I planted, the cooler weather, and getting a late start, it just isn't going to go as quickly as I would hope.

However, there is some good news. I do have some green coming up. I wasn't sure what it was coming up until I looked up some pictures on the net, but apparently my Kale is making an appearance. A pretty good amount of it seems to be making its way up throughout the plot. I didn't check it all, but covered a majority of it and these little guys are all over. I didn't see any signs of chicory or clover coming up yet. I remember from reading that the clover may not really make an appearance until spring. There is already clover out in the rest of the pasture so I am not real concerned about that, although I don't know what kind it it. Never noticed it until the weekend now that the pasture is starting to turn.

[unclefish]

Yessir those are young kale sprouts! Did you put some fert on it?

The kale at my farm is not very tall cause the deer keep it mowed down...but the kale in my garden is almost 3 feet tall. Nitrogen really gives it a boost!

Good luck!

[Nailhead]

No fertilizer yet. Forgot to pick some up before I went up there this time. It was a last minute decision to run up there. The little sprouts that are coming up in some of the thatch laying on top seems to be greener, nothing quite as big coming out of there yet, but definitely seem to be a brighter green color. I guess I need to find some 21-0-0 to get some more nitrogen into the ground and figure out how much I actually need to put down. Once I figure that out I could run up there one day during the weekend or a Friday and put it out. No real plans to go back up there and stay over night until after Christmas right now.

[jkelbe]

The Kale will grow quickly, you will be impressed. The clover should sprout, but not get much bigger than your Kale spouts at right now. (until spring).

Hope it gets up. You will notice a bigger difference next year after the deer eat the clover in the spring/summer and you plant earlier in the season. Maybe late Sept. or Early Oct.

[Nailhead]

Well, made it back up to the ranch this weekend and got to check out my plot. It's definitely starting to come along. Freaking deer tracks everywhere throughout the plot, so I think they are at least checking it out.

The kale is starting to come along nicely. Something is eating it, but not for sure what. Leaves nipped off, but some laying on the ground around it. Also looks like bugs to me, but don't know of many that cut the stems off and leave the rest laying. Don't see any rabbit tracks either. You can see how much the Kale is starting to come up in the pictures. Almost all of the light green in the pictures is Kale. The dark green near the edges is native weed of some kind that didn't get killed off when I hit the plot with RoundUp.

Also the chicory is starting to make an appearance as well, so I'm excited about that. Lots of clover, but I don't know if it is what I planted or native. We never noticed until now how much native clover is in that pasture. Now that we have kept the grass and hay mowed the greenery from underneath is starting to show through. Lots and lots of baby clover around the barn and in the plot.

I think I am going to leave this plot alone until next fall. Going to plant a Spring plot on the other side of the pasture. All that you see here is without throwing any fertilizer. I want to get out there sometime next month and put down some 13-13-13 to help push it into the spring. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.