Food plot and a little work today

[unclefish]

U gonna till the oats?

I'll let them go a while longer and then spray them. The deer are still on them good.

I'll probably till them right before I plant soybeans. I try to till as little as possible to preserve moisture and not disturb the native seed bank.

[Sippy]

Your clover and oats are looking good!

[kenfa03]

Looks good.

[unclefish]

We fished at L. Somerville today and swung by my place to pick up a trailer.

We got an inch of rain last night and like everyone else.....we really needed it. Things are greening up and I seem to be getting less TC pics of them on the plots. The clover looks great.



The oats are still being hit.....but they are tillering pretty good and will soon become tough and not attractive for the deer.


The deer are still hitting the plot...but the activity has dropped off alot.




I'm about to buy seed and start planting spring/summer plots...I checked soil temps today and they are almost 65 degrees already.

[jshouse]

looks good, i am waiting on the spring seeds to show up as well, and then pray for rain!

[Preacher Man]

Outstanding thread! Thanks for sharing. Gave me a bunch of ideas.

[unclefish]

I fixed fence today because I had some stray cattle from the neighbors rummaging through my plot. They won't be getting in anytime soon! I freaking hate cattle with a passion.

I decided not to plant today. There's not enough moisture in the ground and no rain forecast for least a week. Plus I want to let my oats grow a little taller before I nuke them (more organic matter).

I did put down 1000 pounds of lime today. When I started this plot a pH was 4.9. After lots of hard work with a push spreader for several years... the pH is in the low 6 range now.


I can't get a big lime truck back to this spot. So it's all gotta be done by hand.

The Durana clover is blooming out and kicking the other clover's butt!


I still haven't found any shed antlers yet. There was mostly cattle on my trail cam pictures so I won't bore you with pictures of my sworn enemy.

There was a dead mama cow with a dead new born calf hanging out of her. Its the neighbors cattle and they don't take care of them. Sad deal.

Tapachat

[Daniel75]

Uncle fish, I'm obsessed lately with planting an orchard on my place in east texas of apples, pears and persimmons. It'll take 3-5 years to drop fruit but once it starts dropping fruit, it'll continue to drop it for up to 50 years with each tree yielding 250 lbs of fruit per year. You can mix early fruit dropping trees (Aug/Sept) with later dropping trees (Nov/Dec) and have your orchard drop fruit all during bow and rifle season. It's high energy food and helps the deer digest its food better.

My question is, have you thought about an orchard? I'm going to copy your plot and concentrate my efforts on what was successful for you and then plant the orchard, I just need to pick the location for both.

[unclefish]

Uncle fish, I'm obsessed lately with planting an orchard on my place in east texas of apples, pears and persimmons. It'll take 3-5 years to drop fruit but once it starts dropping fruit, it'll continue to drop it for up to 50 years with each tree yielding 250 lbs of fruit per year. You can mix early fruit dropping trees (Aug/Sept) with later dropping trees (Nov/Dec) and have your orchard drop fruit all during bow and rifle season. It's high energy food and helps the deer digest its food better.

My question is, have you thought about an orchard? I'm going to copy your plot and concentrate my efforts on what was successful for you and then plant the orchard, I just need to pick the location for both.

Long term absolutely I would love to have an orchard full of pears and persimmons. I decided to go with nuts (chestnuts, sawtooths, chinkapins) instead of fruits this year. I like starting trees myself and I only have so much space here at home that my wife is willing to let me take up.

Nursery trees either have bad root systems or they are too expensive (usually both). I tried last year to plant some sawtooths and several different hybrid oaks in the spring. Total failure. The summer ate their lunch. I planted some more several weeks ago but in the future all my trees will be plant in the fall. Much better chance of making it!

[jshouse]

u looking to sell any of those chestnuts this fall?

[Outback77]

Everything looks great. I'd love to actually own some land that I could improve

[unclefish]

Yep I might have some extras jshouse.....remind me again in Sept.

Thanks Outback. My place is small but it sure keeps me busy and the hunting is good. I hope you get your wish and can buy a place someday.

[jshouse]

Yep I might have some extras jshouse.....remind me again in Sept.

Thanks Outback. My place is small but it sure keeps me busy and the hunting is good. I hope you get your wish and can buy a place someday.

will do sir, thanks

[huntmaster]

wow, what a good foodplot thread. do you plow the plot under and let the organic matter help with ph and nutrients?

[unclefish]

wow, what a good foodplot thread. do you plow the plot under and let the organic matter help with ph and nutrients?

No I'm not gonna till at all. I'm gonna let the oats get a little taller and then broadcast seeds into it. Then nuke it with round up and then roll it with my cultipacker.

You need to use more seed than when drilling but germination is not quite as good but its a heck of a lot easier.

Tapachat