Starting a Fall Food Plot - Need Help

[bgleaton]

So if we decide to purchase a disk to do the disk and broadcast method, is there a certain disk we should look at purchasing (i.e. 3pt, weight, etc.)?

[bloodtrailer28]

Lots of good info on here and we will be doing our first plots on our new place this year as well. Did you just bag a soil sample and mail it in?

[bgleaton]

Yes, I went on the Texas AgriLife website and printed out the form and sent it in.

[bloodtrailer28]

Yes, I went on the Texas AgriLife website and printed out the form and sent it in.

thanks for the info.

[EastTexun]

So if we decide to purchase a disk to do the disk and broadcast method, is there a certain disk we should look at purchasing (i.e. 3pt, weight, etc.)?

You have a lot of options for disks between 3 pt, pull type, and width as well as construction. Do you think you will be doing anything other than planting food plots with this disk such as firebreaks, fallow disking in spring?

Price becomes a major limiting factor the bigger and more complex you go. To start with, a used disk or borrowing one may be the best plan. I have been planting with a 6ft 3 pt disk for a long time, but I am moving up to a pull type 9ft this year. Lots of reasons to own one or the other, but for me, I got it at a good price and I need all the time savings I can get.

[bgleaton]

Thanks for all of the information.

I have a question about planting clovers. There is a neat article from the NRCS that talks about planting food plots in West Texas:

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_002428.pdf

It says to use a mixture of oats, wheat and yellow/white sweetclovers for West Texas. I always thought that all of the other clovers (durana white clover, red clovers) needed a lot of moisture and good soils. Will these clovers really grow in West Texas? As it stands now, I think we are going to try to do the following:
1. Mow grass very low (look at spraying if grass is very thick)
2. Spread fertilizer
3. Find a used disk or rent a disk to disk up soil
4. Broadcast wheat and oats
5. Drag or disk the wheat and oats into soil around 1/4in to 1/2in
6. Broadcast clovers, turnips, and other smaller seeds
7. Use a drag to provide a good seed to soil contact

Are there any other seeds that will help provide great nutrition into the Spring and are also drought resistant?

[unclefish]

Thanks for all of the information.

I have a question about planting clovers. There is a neat article from the NRCS that talks about planting food plots in West Texas:

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_002428.pdf

It says to use a mixture of oats, wheat and yellow/white sweetclovers for West Texas. I always thought that all of the other clovers (durana white clover, red clovers) needed a lot of moisture and good soils. Will these clovers really grow in West Texas? As it stands now, I think we are going to try to do the following:
1. Mow grass very low (look at spraying if grass is very thick)
2. Spread fertilizer
3. Find a used disk or rent a disk to disk up soil
4. Broadcast wheat and oats
5. Drag or disk the wheat and oats into soil around 1/4in to 1/2in
6. Broadcast clovers, turnips, and other smaller seeds
7. Use a drag to provide a good seed to soil contact

Are there any other seeds that will help provide great nutrition into the Spring and are also drought resistant?

Sweet clover is not a true clover like Crimson, Berseem, Durana, etc...its a melilotus. It is a legume however and will fix Nitrogen and build good soils. Its not known as a great deer food but I'm sure they would eat it somewhat. It grows really tall (5-6 feet) and is native to the southern plains and midwest.

The consensus is the deer won't eat it like a true clover but in a mix it has its place for other purposes. That being said I would still give Durana a try. Its got some drought tolerance and under normal fall/winter hill country rainfall it should do fine. You just want it to get to a seedhead in the spring so it can lay down more seeds for the next batch in the fall.


Unfortunately drought and great nutrition don't go together. Alfalfa is probably the best example because of its deep roots but its hard to grow.

[EastTexun]

Thanks for all of the information.

I have a question about planting clovers. There is a neat article from the NRCS that talks about planting food plots in West Texas:

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_002428.pdf

It says to use a mixture of oats, wheat and yellow/white sweetclovers for West Texas. I always thought that all of the other clovers (durana white clover, red clovers) needed a lot of moisture and good soils. Will these clovers really grow in West Texas? As it stands now, I think we are going to try to do the following:
1. Mow grass very low (look at spraying if grass is very thick)
2. Spread fertilizer
3. Find a used disk or rent a disk to disk up soil
4. Broadcast wheat and oats
5. Drag or disk the wheat and oats into soil around 1/4in to 1/2in
6. Broadcast clovers, turnips, and other smaller seeds
7. Use a drag to provide a good seed to soil contact

Are there any other seeds that will help provide great nutrition into the Spring and are also drought resistant?

That is a pretty useful article, but it doesn't touch on soil type, which can be a defining factor. We haven't really talked much about your soil type other than it being sandy. My place has sandy spots that are almost beach sand, and they grow crimson, arrowleaf and will grow white clover well. Rainfall is important, but generally speaking the clovers don't start drying out until the late spring and summer. This may be a perfect example of trial and error to see what grows best on your soils. I test out different varieties each year, and some make the cut and others are never planted again. If you don't have a good feed store near you, generally you can order small quantities of clovers and other cultivars online, such as Hancock Seeds or on Ebay. A bag of 50lbs of Crimson runs about $100 bucks and will cover your 5 acres, but that is a lot of money to burn if it doesn't do well. Instead, plant a few lbs of different varieties, take notes, and see how well each does. Also, make sure to use an exclusion cage for each variety so you can see the real growth, not what the deer leave for you.

[jkelbe]

I would spray a week in advance, then when you get there mow, then go to step 2.

You might think that the grass is sparse, but wait till you fertilize it.

[deer farmer]

After seeing the picture, I would spray the grass around the first of sept. Grass can overtake a food plot, and since this is the first food plot here, I would want to get rid of all the grass. A good food plot will carry through the winter and into the spring and I don't want grass coming up, especially where I might want to do a follow up spring and summer food plot. And like the others here, I would want some white clover in the mix. It will feed the deer in the spring.

[bgleaton]

Thanks for all of your input so far.

[courtatlawjudge]

I would leave the wheat out. I have planted them side by side and the deer will eat oats to the ground and leave the wheat. I have seen der eat wheat, but not when they had the choice. Also, that free oat seed may or may not be so good. A broad leafed oat like Dallas or Harrison are much more desirable. That is what the buck forage guys have done is bread a broader leaf. Last year all I could get was a variety called Bob and the deer definitely did not like that as much. After years of doing this, I just plant oats. WHen I go to get my fertilizer I carry enough crimson clover seed to amount to 5 lbs to the acre and have it mixed with the fertilizer. I then broadcast the fertilizer/clover mix over the top. It's by far my best. I always mow before planting. Some years I roundup, then mow then disk. Other years just mow and run the no-till. Haven't seen a lot of difference. A few cow peas mixed in isn't bad, but 100 lbs oats per acre is what I plant and it works just fine. The avatar deer in my photo was killed in one of those fields post rut. That's when they hit it the hardest

[Palmetto]

This is what I do....

Spray and wait 2 weeks

1st week of October on a good day:
1. Disc
2. Plant big seeds
3. Drag
4. Plant small seeds
5. Roll

2-3 weeks later when sprouts get some height I fertilize.

[bgleaton]

Looking for a Disk

After hearing everyone's thoughts, we are thinking of buying an 8ft disk. Does anyone have any thoughts on the following Frontier DH1296 disk (8ft):

We are looking at purchasing a disk, but I wanted to make sure that we are going to get a disk that will last and one that you would recommend. Please let me know your thoughts on the kind of disk we should use on our 65hp tractor.

[Sergio_III]

Haven't heard anything bad about the Frontier Implements. We have a 50hp Mahindra and we went with a 6' Woods discs.