game plot

[Josef]

I intend to put in a game plot. all I have is a single row plow
and a 6 foot box blade. Is this enough or would I need to get a disc etc??
We are talking about 1/4 acre.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I guess it all depends on how well you want to prepare your seed bed. I suppose it could be done with just those tools, but it would take a while. I would think you might want to at lease drag the herl out of it with some fence and try do bust up the clods that a plow will produce. Just being a 1/4 acre you could probably use a few hand tools also if you couldn't get your hands on a disc or even a small garden tiller. What are you planting?

 

[Creature Meadow]

I suggest keeping plow in top 6 to 10 inches of the soil and turn it over. Let it dry out if moist or do it when dry then as Cousin Eddie says drag over it with a piece of fence or something similar. I use a 4 foot 6x6 with v notches in the bottom with a piece of conveyor belt that has holes in it made from stainless steel. It levels and breaks up soil clumps nicely. I'll try and upload a picture of it when I get home tonight.

If planting wheat or oats they are not picky, i sow and drag over with the above mentioned drag. Clovers don't like to be covered much.

What you plant has a lot to do with how much prep you need to do.

Good luck.
Jay

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Chain link with some weight on it works good , but can get hung up on roots and will cause you some cussin'. I use a piece of "Ice Bridge". Its a galvanized piece of walkway or cover that is used in the tower construction industry to protect the equipment and people at the bottom of the tower from falling ice. Works really good, its heavy and has sharp points on one side that helps to grind up clods better than chain link. If all you got is the plow, you might try plowing one way and then hit again going the perpendicular to the direction you just went, if you got room. Do that several times gradually raising the plow and you could probably make it work. Let us know how it works. I am ate up bad with food plots right now and cant think about much else. Its worse than hunting! Enjoy.

 

[Josef]

The bag recommends soil testing and adding lime and the proper fertilizers which is probably a little more work than I want my 1st year.

Imperial Ambush is an outstanding, highly palatable, fall annual planting for whitetail deer. We have combined some of our most attractive early and late season forages with sweet lupines and Sugar Beets to keep deer in your plots from germination time, until the end of hunting season. Ambush is cold tolerant, easy to plant and our field testing shows this could quickly become one of our best-selling annual forages.

 

[bambam31]

I have been successfully experimenting with a no till approach called "throw and mow." Spray the plot with herbicide, wait two weeks for a good kill, broadcast your seed and fertilizer then mow the grass down over the seed. That's it. Some folks I know use a drag instead of a bush hog to lay the thatch down over the seed. The thatch helps retain moisture. In your case you could pull a log behind your tractor. This method took a third of the time when compared to disking and several deer were killed in the plots. I have found that it takes a little longer for the plot to get establish but I've never had one fail. Obviously, if you don't have thick grass in your plot then you'll have nothing to cover your seed. Good luck.

 

[bucktail]

To get a good seedbed, you need to break up the dirt clods, and somewhat level the ground. With a light (sandy) soil, you don't get much for clods, so a few passes with a harrow, log, or small I beam will break up and level as needed. Judging by you post hold digger fiasco, you have heavy clay soil. In that case, you'd probably be best served by a disk. Second best would be a cultivator with a harrow behind it.

I'm not sure I'd bother with a 1/4 acre plot. My experience with plots that small is that they get hammered in short order, and we just have deer and coons, no hogs.

 

[Creature Meadow]

A rule of thumb I use is 1 ton of lime per acre if not taking soil samples and keep in mind it will take months for the lime to change the PH. Lime in the fall will take until spring roughly to change PH. When using lime you are looking at future results not when applied.

Good luck.

Jay

 

[procraftmike]

In the soft soils on our hunting land, my main tool for small seed planting is a drag harrow. Spray to kill the vegetation. Wait a few weeks, fertilize, broadcast seed, drag it with the harrow a few times, then cultipack. Make sure you seed before you knock the vegetation over. This will get you better seed to soil contact

If I use bigger seeds, I normally try to disc those in.

I was very successful this year with my fall plots, with just spraying the 3' tall weeds and grasses, spreading fertilizer and seeds, then dragging with either the harrow or a cultipacker to knock the grasses and weeds down. The vegetation acted as mulch, helping hold in moisture. The seeds just pushed right through it.

It is a simple, yet very effective method for me.

 

[bambam31]

In the soft soils on our hunting land, my main tool for small seed planting is a drag harrow. Spray to kill the vegetation. Wait a few weeks, fertilize, drag it with the harrow a few times, broadcast seeds, then cultipack.

If I use bigger seeds, I normally try to disc those in.

I was very successful this year with my fall plots, with just spraying the 3' tall weeds and grasses, spreading fertilizer and seeds, then dragging with either the harrow or a cultipacker to knock the grasses and weeds down. The vegetation acted as mulch, helping hold in moisture. The seeds just pushed right through it.

It is a simple, yet very effective method for me.

A cultipacker is on my list. Does it compress the dead grass to the ground?

 

[procraftmike]

A cultipacker is on my list. Does it compress the dead grass to the ground?

Yes, it does pretty good job of knocking down the vegetation, plus it helps with the seed to soil contact with the new seed. I ended up making one out of a 4' piece of black corrugated culvert. Just filled with concrete, with a 1" bar for the axle.

 

[nickelplated5s]

Post a pic of it if it's not too much trouble. What diameter pipe? Plastic? How did you pour and keep the axle centered?

 

[Dalroo]

Josef, thanks for starting this thread. I'm kind of in same boat, trying to do some things with limited equipment. Over time I will be adding implements, but for now trying to make do with shredder and disc harrow.

Late this spring (early June), I wanted to plant sunflowers in some areas, and then okra and peas in some smaller areas. First I mowed down existing vegetation, then used the disc to prep about 3 acres for sunflowers, heavily broadcast the seed, and then lightly ran back over with the disc to bed the seeds. I don't have a sprayer - yet - but thought I might get by. Even though sunflowers grow wild in the rest of the world, I did no get a SINGLE sunflower.

I was doing this on the cheap, so no soil test, fertilizer, weed control, etc., but since sunflowers are growing wild around my fence lines, I thought I should get some. NONE! WTH?

Some of the peas did come up, but they were patchy and the deer mowed them to nubs within a few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try again, slightly modifying the process for oats. In the same fields, I disced heavily and deeper, going over them multiple times in different directions. Since I was broadcast the oat seeds, I doubled the amount I spread, then went back over with the disc lifted to just cover the seed. It rained 1.3" over the next two days, and we've gotten several additional showers since.

This past weekend I checked and did not have any oats poking up, but I dug down an inch or so and had some sprouts which I hope are the oats. Fingers crossed.

If this is unsuccessful, I guess the next purchase is a sprayer, and will be getting soil tested. Just not sure why I can't grow a sunflower with 3oo pounds of seed, when they grow wild in the ditches

 

[bucktail]

Josef, thanks for starting this thread. I'm kind of in same boat, trying to do some things with limited equipment. Over time I will be adding implements, but for now trying to make do with shredder and disc harrow.

Late this spring (early June), I wanted to plant sunflowers in some areas, and then okra and peas in some smaller areas. First I mowed down existing vegetation, then used the disc to prep about 3 acres for sunflowers, heavily broadcast the seed, and then lightly ran back over with the disc to bed the seeds. I don't have a sprayer - yet - but thought I might get by. Even though sunflowers grow wild in the rest of the world, I did no get a SINGLE sunflower.

I was doing this on the cheap, so no soil test, fertilizer, weed control, etc., but since sunflowers are growing wild around my fence lines, I thought I should get some. NONE! WTH?

Some of the peas did come up, but they were patchy and the deer mowed them to nubs within a few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try again, slightly modifying the process for oats. In the same fields, I disced heavily and deeper, going over them multiple times in different directions. Since I was broadcast the oat seeds, I doubled the amount I spread, then went back over with the disc lifted to just cover the seed. It rained 1.3" over the next two days, and we've gotten several additional showers since.

This past weekend I checked and did not have any oats poking up, but I dug down an inch or so and had some sprouts which I hope are the oats. Fingers crossed.

If this is unsuccessful, I guess the next purchase is a sprayer, and will be getting soil tested. Just not sure why I can't grow a sunflower with 3oo pounds of seed, when they grow wild in the ditches

Sounds like you're getting the seeds too deep. What I've seen some folks do is make tracks with their ATV to make impressions for the seeds to go into when it's broadcast, then cover with a harrow, chunk of chain link with weights on it, box spring with weights on it, etc.

 

[procraftmike]

Post a pic of it if it's not too much trouble. What diameter pipe? Plastic? How did you pour and keep the axle centered?

Sorry for the delay in my response. Very busy traveling last week.

I believe I used 12" diameter culvert material, approx. 48" long. The end caps are 3/4" treated plywood. The axles is 1" steel rod. I cut a 1" hole in the center of both end caps, then installed the one end cap with screws. I cut the culvert, so the end cap would sit on one of the ribs, then fastened with screws through the rib. Then I installed the 1" shaft, set it on cinder blocks in a corner of the garage, so the shaft stuck down the right amount below and between the cinder blocks. I strapped the culvert tight to the inside garage corner to keep it nice and straight. Then I mixed my concrete and filled the culvert. When the culvert was filled, I slid the shaft through the top end cap and installed the end cap. I let the concrete set for a few days, then unstrapped it and laid it down flat. You might need top get some help laying it down, as it will be heavy.

I believe I also welded a cross bolt near the center of the axle, just to make sure it would not shift inside the concrete. It probably wasn't needed, but I wanted to make sure. The bearings are pillow block design. I think I used 3" tubing for the framework. I have used the cultipacker for 3 or 4 years now and it has worked and held up well. I estimate it to be around 500 lbs.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Josef]

I borrowed a disc from a neighbor who stated he hadn't
used it in 4 years. disked up around 3 acres total which
was in about 8 different locations. planted 100 lbs of
oats\rye mix and the original 15 lb bag of a special deer
mix. I shredded everything first and then disked. I had
received 2.5" of rain about a week ago and the soil in this
particular part of my property was sandy loam, I have my
fingers crossed and will let you know how it comes out.

 

[Spurlucky]

I have the same tractor as you and have purchased nearly every implement to help with making food plots (told the wife they were for her flower beds). I have been using Frigid Forage products the past 2 years and the deer hammer it. Like people have said, get the soil tested. That way there is more science & less prayer involved in producing a crop.

 

[DThrash]

I borrowed a disc from a neighbor who stated he hadn't
used it in 4 years. disked up around 3 acres total which
was in about 8 different locations. planted 100 lbs of
oats\rye mix and the original 15 lb bag of a special deer
mix. I shredded everything first and then disked. I had
received 2.5" of rain about a week ago and the soil in this
particular part of my property was sandy loam, I have my
fingers crossed and will let you know how it comes out.

I guess I plant to much, but I like it thick, I do about 150 lbs of wheat per acre. If I had to plant without a disc, I would use something like gulf rye, it will grow in the back of your truck.

 

[Mike Bolin]

I put in a new 1/4 plot last month. I cleared several small poplar and sycamore trees from the area using the front bucket. If not for the roots in the plot, I would have used a walk behind tiller to work up the plot, but it still had some small root and was pretty uneven/rough. So I then went over the area with my grader box with the teeth dropped to get it loosened up and leveled out. I have a 52" Brush Hog brand disc that I broke the clods up with. I spread pelletized lime and fertilizer with my front mounted spreader on my ATV while dragging a 5' spike tooth harrow. I planted winter rye and then hit the area with a lawn roller filled with 25 gal. of water. Then I spread a mix of white dutch and ladino clover, filled the roller (approx. 50 gal.) and roller the clover in. Came up real well and is being utilized by deer and turkeys. I did another plot the same way last fall and mowed the winter rye off at approx. 8" high in mid June. The rye works great as a nurse crop for the clover and that clover plot is still thick and lush this fall.
50 yards from the plot on the entrance trail, there is a low spot that holds run off water for a fairly long time after a decent rain. I dug that area out a bucket wide, 2' deep and 8' long and used that dirt to level out the plot where I lost some dirt removing stumps. I have a nice waterhole now that is being hit regularly by the local whitetails. Once I finished with the roller, I dump the water into my new waterhole.
I have done a few plots in a similar fashion over the last few years and if the ground is hard packed, dropping the teeth on the grader box is a good way to loosen the ground. You really don't want to go too deep and this works well for me. Check out the local farm auctions and you can find a section of spike tooth harrow fairly cheap. Depending on the type of soil you are dealing with you may be able to follow up after the grader box with the harrow and not need a disc. If you aren't dealing with trees, but have ground cover to deal with, killing off the weeds/grass is first is IMO the most important step to creating a good plot. No roots or rocks to deal with, just use a walk behind tiller (rent or borrow if you don't have one). Good luck!

 

[Josef]

Received a 2" rain a couple of weeks ago. Our games
plots are doing very well after the rain and the deer
are already feeding on them. So far it seems to be
mostly Rye grass but my son claims to be able to see
lots more than Rye.
Thanks much for the help.