I think so too....

CNC,

Following up on my poor soil food plot from above. In certain areas, i'm guessing my brother who top-sowed the clover right before a rain, put it on a little thick in areas and now it looks like this in a few places:



Most places are real think on rye, but have some clover, and look like this:



About 1/4 of the 2.25 acre field looks bad and has neither like this:



I put out some 34-0-0 about three weeks ago. I can do it again in a couple of weeks, but am asking for suggestions. Should I put out something for the clover? Should I hold off on the nitrogen?

Finally, what do you suggest I do after the season to build up biomass? Plant something? I am going to lime again in March.

Thanks.

Not CNC but i suggest 0-20-20 after the last freeze of the year , that coupled with the lime should be really good for the clover and soil . Clover thrives off lime also , maybe middle of May spray the field to kill the competitive grasses . Keep it cut during the late spring early summer but don't scalp it keep it 5 or 6 inches high .

It’s so cold now that any soil function is likely grinding to a halt. We’re about at the point where you just got what you got. I’d wait until spring to add any more fert. Sometimes in mid-March the soil is gonna start warming back up and the soil cycle will begin turning a little faster once again. That’s when I’d look to start adding any more fert. It would probably be a good idea in your situation to go ahead and add a little N,P, K (all three) sometimes around late March-early April.

Should I plant something come May or June?

Something like millet would be good to throw out around June to fill in any vegetation gaps.

Cool looking young buck. It would be interesting to see what he'd look like in 4-5 years........

Hey y'all, been following this thread a little while and have not said anything yet. Y'all guys seem to have yalls ducks in a row when it comes to the food plot game so y'all seem as good a group as any to ask.
Taking on a new endeavor this year and going to try spring/summer plots.
What is yalls go to methods? Timing, seed blend, Any advice would be taken.
The only locations I have are the fields we plant in the fall as well so Im looking into some annuals. Peas/ sun hemp / lab lab are what I've spent the most time looking at. What says y'all?

Maybe some of the other guys will give opinions on this one. I’m a big fan of just adding clovers to my fall blend and letting it ride.

@ CNC
Are you just top seeding that? What type of clover? I really like that for the nitrogen fixation aspect as well. Thats one of the main reasons im wanting to do some summer plots.

Yes, just top seeding in the fall once conditions are right. I have crimson, yuchi arrowleaf, and durana growing. There’s other clover options too. I eventually want to try and mix in one called Medium Red …..it appears to grow late into the summer.

What can I get in the ground for them this spring? We are going to be putting in some new plots next fall but right now the plots we have are all in WMS Triticale and Oats. Once they die off the deer will have very little in the way of food on our place.

It depends on how big your plots are in relation to the deer population. Most of us just don’t have enough acreage to be able to produce enough summer food to keep up with browsing pressure. We for sure don’t have enough acreage to produce summer deer food and have enough left over to add OM back to the soil. In that situation, a fertilized field of natural vegetation will still be very attractive.

We are definitely on the low end of acreage. We have 9 plots on 1000 acres right now equaling right at 9 acres total. A couple of he small ones ( less than 1/2 acre ) have been eatin down to the point of no return. Our first year on the place, severely underestimated deer numbers. We do have a few fields that are well over an 1 1/2. I thought those might be big enough to sustain some browse pressure with some supplemental clover in the smaller plots.
Can we " frost seed " clover down here? particularly in those plots that have been eaten down to nothing. I feel like the seed to soil contact would be pretty good in those fields presently.

I’ve never tried frost seeding so not sure on that one…….With plots that size though, I’d definitely use my $$$ on lime, N, P, & K during the summer and just focus on creating good soil conditions that will produce some kind of lush vegetation. The deer will pick and choose what they like and the rest will be your OM that gets recycled back the soil.

go ahead and plant them even if you concentrate on getting soil right. I've learned that I have more deer that will take up residence and stay on my place throughout the season if I plant summer plots. I specifically notice the difference in buck sightings, ( i believe that to be because I'm holding more does). the reason I say this is I haven't gotten around to planting IC peas the last two summers and my big deer and borderline deer sightings on cameras and in person are way down than the previous year

I would plant them in sohgrum and I/C peas maybe mix in some other seeds I wanted to try out. I only have 1 1/4 acres at the house but still summer plant for the deer. I do put out stuff to keep the deer off the plots long enough for them to establish though. If the I/C peas are allowed to establish then get mowed down you can hit them with another round of milorganite which will allow them to rebound. I would say my 40 acres has about 15 deer on average visit it almost daily in the summer.

I saw some guys talking about the milogranite in another thread. It is a slow release nitrogen fertilizer but apparently it repels deer for a time as well??? I had never heard of it.

Yes. I don’t even use it in terms of a fertizer, but can keep deer off a plot for a few weeks.

It's organic humus or better known as granular shucks.