NE Texas Sandy Soil Recom.

[BCBHunter712]

I currently own 37 acres of land in northeast Texas (Cass) county and I am currently in the process of setting up a 2 to 3 acre area of the property for a food plot. The soil is mostly a sandy hilltop. I've had the soil test done and the lime is ordered and being applied according to the recommendations. Fertilizer will be right behind it but I first need help on what to plant. What recommendations do yall have for well drained sandy soils for spring and then winter plots??

All help is greatly appreciated.

[lovemylegacy]

Nothing beats Soybeans for a Spring plot. Deer take to them like nothing else.


Winter plot, you may have to experiment a little. Winter Wheat, brassicas and maybe some clover, you may be far enough North for Alfalfa.

[BCBHunter712]

Thank you

[Low Fence]

Iron & clay peas

Out produce soy beans and will handle browsing pressure much better. Soy beans are great! But once they bite it, it’s done vs I&C peas they bite it, it forks and sprouts again

In good conditions your can grow 6 tons per acre


Winter:
Oats, wheat, more I&c peas, few winter peas FEW and very few purple top turnips

[BCBHunter712]

Maybe a combo of soybeans and iron and clay peas

[Wellborn Papa]

Used to plant oats and winter wheat on a 2-3 acre fall plot outside Queen City. Killed lots of deer off that plot.

[TreeDaddy]

agree with above re:cowpeas for spring

rye,arrowleaf clover,crimson clover will act as reseeding annuals for fall plots

Perennials dont fare well here in Van Zandt Co due to heat/drought

bill

ps 23 more posts and i can access classifieds.......

[Low Fence]

Maybe a combo of soybeans and iron and clay peas

Some do!

I personally never seen the use, the i&c out produce.... and production is going to be your biggest issue

You will be floored at consumption! They will live in the plots

[lovemylegacy]

Maybe a combo of soybeans and iron and clay peas

You can buy Forage soybeans, however, I do not. I buy the production soybeans and seen them do the same thing as ICP, the key is if the deer eat them when they pop out of the ground, they pull the whole plant.


I have used both and they seemed to prefer the Soybeans. We have planted ICP and they don't seem to eat them to much until they blossom, then they eat them a lot better...like to the stem. Im assuming when they blossom, there is a raised sugar content.


Forage Soybeans are the big producers, but you better bring your wallet.

[lovemylegacy]

Couple of pics of soybeans on our lease. Understand our soil varies so much from sandy loam to red clay. Bottom pic is a small plot and they hit it hard and I do not spray, I fertilize the soybeans along with the natural browse.

[lovemylegacy]

Here is a pic of Soybeans and the deer had been hitting them hard and you can see them nipped off, as long as there is a leaf or leaf bud they should keep growing. These Soybeans made it into the Summer even with the deer hitting them hard as they were.

[Drycreek3189]

Whether you can have a long standing crop of either beans or peas will depend on your deer density. Low deer density, plant either one, although IC peas will be less in cost and IMO, just as good. If you plant beans, you could possibly have bean pods going into winter. If you don't have too many hogs, you can broadcast wheat into the standing beans and double crop. That said, RR soybeans will allow for complete weed control and companies like Eagle and Real World have different varieties of RR beans to tailor your crop to your wants. I would shy away from no-name feed store beans if it were me. That's how I got the worst pig weed infestation that I've ever seen. It took three years of planting RR beans to whip the pig weed. If you have a high deer density you can e-fence the plot until they get a jump on the deer. Wheat/oats/rye grain in the fall is hard to beat. Plant some medium red clover (with the grain) in part of it, and it will fire up the next spring and you may not have to plant as many beans/peas. Good luck !

[Low Fence]

Mid July this year in drought. I planted them in a 1.5” rain. That was about lol they ever got. We had a good dawn crop on this place

[Low Fence]

Mid July on average rain fall year. Best group of buck I’ve ever seen...and all my neighbors got nice bucks that year🙄

[BCBHunter712]

I greatly appreciate everyone's response