Spring food plot thread

[unclefish]

What a great rain.....sure needed it! Will boost the heck out of the winter plots and they should explode in the coming weeks.

[Dushon]

What a great rain.....sure needed it! Will boost the heck out of the winter plots and they should explode in the coming weeks.

We got 3.25 over in our neck of the woods. You're right, it was gettin dry

[BrandonA]

What a great rain.....sure needed it! Will boost the heck out of the winter plots and they should explode in the coming weeks.

We only got 1" but its much appreciated. I hope it gives our oat/wheat field a big boost. Would love to get another month or two out of it.

[Sergio_III]

.06" at our place.

[dphillips62]

Never planted anything but oats in fall. Is their summer crop that does not need to be fenced off? Looking for something very simple and I can irrigate easily and don't have any livestock on the property. Soil is very rich black gumbo and I have access to other soil types to mix in.

[Dushon]

Never planted anything but oats in fall. Is their summer crop that does not need to be fenced off? Looking for something very simple and I can irrigate easily and don't have any livestock on the property. Soil is very rich black gumbo and I have access to other soil types to mix in.

What do you mean "doesn't need to be fenced off"?

[Big pig]

I have spent a lot of effort and money on various summer crops. With my soil, lack of equipment and large number of deer, it hasn't been a great return.
I will say that in my hog proof plot letting the fall plot head out has been a deer magnet when it is mature. Gonna skip my summer plot and buy a little protein instead this year. And try to poison the grass/weeds and shred/thatch my grain seeds in next fall.
But I ain't no farmer.

[dphillips62]

i have read that plots need to be fenced off the first few weeks to keep deer out until they get established

[Dushon]

i have read that plots need to be fenced off the first few weeks to keep deer out until they get established

I don't, some do. Depends on the size of your plots. If it's small enough where it won't break the bank, I think that's a great idea. Now me fencing off my spring time food plots would take a pile of money and time. It's just not an option to me. I have read about some stuff you can spray on the plots to keep the deer off for a while. That would be awesome. Price dependent.

[yanta61]

Just plant hay grazer...you can find it at any feed store. Last year my aunt planted hay grazer on her 75 ac. Deer were everywhere when it was up and growing. Counted over 75 deer in that field one night while coyote hunting. When they cut it for hay the deer would disappear. They wouldn't even come to the feeder. Once it started growing again the deer came back. This was in Karnes county with low deer population.

[BrandonA]

i have read that plots need to be fenced off the first few weeks to keep deer out until they get established

Depends upon size and deer density.

[dphillips62]

My plan is 3 small plots no larger than an acre each I'm limited on space. The property is mostly water It's an old gravel pit 45acres with a 12 + acre lake in the center and Guadalupe river surrounding it on 3 sides. Don't have a large deer population maybe 25 to 30 max including transient deer. large hog population though and no livestock. They wont touch protein even mixed with corn or even blocks at this place. The deer do love my oats patches in fall.
The plots will be planted about 75 yds from the lake and I have a large water pump so irrigating is not a problem.

I've got 2 young bucks that show very good potential and 1 definite shooter that looks to be 5.5 yr. old so i would like to give them as much help as possible.

No one hunts any where close to this place at all and much of the properties are open field cattle ranches, hay pastures or farm land. so this place is like a sanctuary for the wildlife.

Sorry to be so long winded but I thought if I described it some of you could give me a little advise on what needs to be done.

[Ironman]

Ok guys, I'm wanting to do a couple of food plots this year. My question is about sunflower and millet. This particular plot is more for attracting dove. If I till, with a rototiller, should I broadcast the sunflower seeds before I cultipack it? Then broadcast the millet and cultipack again. I know the sunflower should be buried deeper than the millet, so wondering if this would be the way to accomplish that.

[elgato]

I would broadcast the sunflowers before cultipacking then broadcast the millet as you've suggested. How much acreage are you planting? If there are any deer in your area you may get away with sunflowers the first year. They can wipe out a big field in no time once they understand them. The millet should be fine.

The deer ate every plant on a 13 acre field last year even though I planted at 15-20 lbs sunflowers acre . I do not have an excess deer population. I also had brown top millet which did fine.

[Ironman]

I've only got 50ac. The dove plot will only be 2-3 acres, but I only have like 5 resident deer. Not necessarily living on my property alone, but see the same 5 almost daily. I am close to public land, and actually would hope I could draw more deer to my property. I plan on doing another 2-3 acres of I/C peas mixed with other seeds. Not sure yet what other seeds. Need to go back and re-read your thread. BTW, I believe your thread is one of the best ever on TBH. I check this sub forum often, just to see if you've posted more. Keep on posting Rusty! You are a wealth of information, and your experimenting with plots is very interesting.