foodplots in texas?

[the kidd]

anyone tried or has one?i am goin to try to plant one this fall but i dont know what to plant ..and where to plant it ..i have an area fenced off already and i wanted to put another one in a woodsy area for bowhunting...i just bought a mantis tiller that will work well for my little food plots...any body plant something that does well?i hunt in uvalde,texas.......between sabinal and concan,texas

[Boomerang]

Oats will be the easiest to plant with good germination. Some variety of winter peas are slow to produce in the fall when you are actually hunting the food plots. Triticale may not get the rust as oats will. If there are not any food plots around you, just about anything will work. Oats will probably be the most economical.

[the kidd]

well i went yesterday and i cut the grass and weeds and next week im gonna throw some weed killer out and then the tilling starts.....and lime but the seed and fert will wait till fall...

[Russ79]

I have very good luck in east Texas with Buck Forage oats..it is more cold tolerant than regular oats and with fertilizer it grows really well. I have plated it the last two years with good success.

[the kidd]

but what would oats do if i am making a small foodplot....what about clovers or a product by whitetail institute like extreme......

[Boomerang]

You may want to check your pH before you lime? The limestone in the Ulvade region probably already has a basic pH in the soil, whereas you would lime in regions with more acidic conditions. If you have a high pH you may want to put out some sulfur.

The clovers will probably reseed themselves. Not familiar with the varieties the Whitetail Institute has but I presume they are not sweet clovers as those can have coumarin which limits blood clotting. Coumarin a somewhat bitter taste but the animals become used to it.

Planting a yearly crop if you want will give you fresh soil and less competition from other grasses/weeds so you may have better results tilling each year? Since you are not trying to make a crop and just forage, I would just concentrate on a high nitrogen fertilizer.

[the kidd]

well yeah i am goin to order the soil sample soon....and i tried it last year and it grew it just didnt catch on because i dint know you were supposed to fertilize after growth and we had to hard of a rain....about 4 inche s in 30 min and all the seeds washed away....the clovers dont reseed they keep there roots and come back when its time theres more plants included but i dont know off the top of my head....thanks for the info boomerang ..has anyone heard of the topik of tilling as deep as you can in drought areas like south texas..to get better foodplots and so that the plants will get moisture easier?

[Boomerang]

If you have had cattle on the food plots, your soil is probably packed. So the deeper you plow or run a chisel, root plow or whatever you have the better. Most of the roots are within a few inches of the soil but moisture will migrate and if you plant dicots, then they will be able to run deeper in the soil for moisture (all plants vary).

You can fertilize at any time. Fertilizing before planting would be good as in South Texas what you are fighting is the heat in September and the rushing of season opening soon. Too hot and dry to plant in August for your fall crops, running the risk of too much heat in September, then here it is October already. So I would fertilize before you plant so your growth is off and running for your season. Your target is forage, not seed production, so you want growth as soon as possible.

[Problem Child]

Hey Boom, sound like oyu know a little about this, what should I do for a high PH? The place I have in Fredericksburg has a PH of 9. I can't get anything but native groth to grow there.

[Boomerang]

You can have EVERY essential element needed in your soil to grow anything, but if the pH is too high or too low it effectively locks it up where the plants can't use it. So with a high pH like 9 off the scale you need to get some acid in your soil.

One option is to flare a gas well with H2SO4 and you can get some acid rain!

The other thing is get some sulfur, that will lower it. In the big scheme of things, this will be like pouring fresh water in the ocean, a temp solution but eventually you will get back to your high pH. At least it will be good for your growing season.

May want to do a little test area first like 21 feet x 21 feet. That is about 1% of an acre. Much easier to weigh your applications there and figure your lbs / acre you will need if you get any results. So if that works, just figure your application rate. If you have a handheld GPS, quite a few will do area calculation and are amazingly accurate, so you will know how much to purchase for your food plots.

[Q3inTx]

Anybody got a small tractor or ATV with disk I could rent in the Austin area?
Or I will pay you to do it. I am talking about very small plot areas in the 40 acres that I bowhunt on. Total plot area estimated at 1/2 acre.
I have limited access and don't want any disks over 5' - 6' wide.
Thanks