fertilizer for no-till food plots

[ansayre]

I will be putting down 1 acre (radish/rape/sunn hemp/millet/sunflower/soybean/sorghum/cowpeas) - ph 6.0 and 1 acre (buckwheat/peas/oats) ph 6.5.

Any suggestions on followup fertilizer?

Thanks!

 

[cutman]

That’s an odd mix. Rape and radish are typically fall plants. The rest are summer plants. 2 acres is such a small area that I’d probably just throw out 200 lbs of 10-10-10 per acre. Your legumes won’t need the nitrogen, but everything else will appreciate it.

Have you done a soil test?

 

[yoderjac]

If you are doing no-till, my recommendation is none. It took me quite a few years of no-till, but I have not used fertilizer in the last 6 years. Farmers use fertilizer to replace the nutrients they remove by harvesting. With a good mix of complementary crops and a no-till approach, you build OM and can take advantage of natural nutrient cycling. The only nutrients removed from a no-till food plot are what is eaten by deer. They defecate back most of those. With a good mix of crops, the legumes fix N from the air to service the N-seeking crops.

I have very poor soil and still have good food plots with no commercial fertilizer. We can think of food plots much more like grazing cattle, where if you keep the number of cows in balance with the amount of land, you don't need to fertilize the pasture. We are even in better shape than grazing in that our plots are a tiny fraction of a deer's diet. Cattle are restricted to the pasture, where deer eat mostly native foods.

I'm sure you will get other perspectives from other folks. This approach has lots of benefits. Cost is a big one. You save significant money that can be used for other habitat projects.

 

[ansayre]

Thanks. The soil test for the poorer plot is:




My understanding is that rape can be sown in late spring. The daikon radish was added to increase porosity. I have added lime, gypsum, 3x19 since the soil test in 11/2022.

 

[ansayre]

This is the rotation I am planning on implementing:

No-Till Food Plot Rotation w/ DRILL

Winter Pea/Winter Rye Year
April 8th - soil test; (winter rye ~ 12") - 2 qts gly/ 1 qt 24d (wait at least 30 days after 24d)
May 8th - 2 qts gly
June 1st - broadcast 60# buckwheat
August 1st - spray 2qts gly (to kill buckwheat) ;
August 6th - mow & drill - 50# winter peas/50# forage oats/8# white clover/8# daikon/8# crimson clover;
September 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye
October 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye (if bare soil)

Brassica Year
April 8th - (winter rye ~ 12"); 2 qts gly/ 1 qt 24d (wait at least 30 days after 24d)
May 8th - drill - 35# 4010 Forage Peas; 50# oats; 10# LabLab; 50# Red Ripper Cowpea; 5# peredovik sunflower; 15# Wilder Grain Sorghum
June 8th - broadcast 60# buckwheat (if bare soil)
August 1st - spray 2qts gly (to kill buckwheat) ;
August 6th - MOW
August 7th - weed eat all day
August 8th - broadcast 8# brassica mix/8# daikon/50# winter rye (to help spread)
September 7th – broadcast 100# urea; 100# winter rye
October 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye (if bare soil)

Clover section
March 1st – frost seed
May 1st – spray cleth
June 1st - mow
August 6th - mow
September 1st - mow

 

[cutman]

Thanks. The soil test for the poorer plot is:

View attachment 25393


My understanding is that rape can be sown in late spring. The daikon radish was added to increase porosity. I have added lime, gypsum, 3x19 since the soil test in 11/2022.

How much 19-19-19 did you add?

 

[ansayre]

I think 300# of 19-19-19.

 

[RGrizzzz]

Your soil test calls for the following.
N - 40
P - 60
K - 50

You added the following with the 19-19-19.
N - 57
P - 57
K - 57

Per the soil test, you don't need a lot more fertilizer. 7.5% OM is a really good number. How much lime and gypsum did you add? Your S is pretty low.

 

[ansayre]

800# lime and 300# gypsum.

I'm new to this so forgive stupid questions. I had 1 acre forestry mulched fall 2021 and the other 2 acres spring 2022. The first winter rye came in real good and very little weeds. The second exploded with weeds last summer, caught me off guard. How does the schedule look this is adapted from a couple internet reads (Sturgis and others)

Thanks for all your input!

 

[MarkDarvin]

800# lime and 300# gypsum.

I'm new to this so forgive stupid questions. I had 1 acre forestry mulched fall 2021 and the other 2 acres spring 2022. The first winter rye came in real good and very little weeds. The second exploded with weeds last summer, caught me off guard. How does the schedule look this is adapted from a couple internet reads (Sturgis and others)

Thanks for all your input!

What weeds came up?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[swat1018]

You had rye in the summer? It is a fall/winter/early spring plant. If left, it's going to get weedy in the summer, unless you roll it down as a mat of mulch.

 

[ansayre]

I had rye in the fall of 2021 and in the spring of 2022 on the first food plot. I had rye on both food plots last fall and nice stands this spring which I terminated with gly last week. Didn't have much luck with brassicas. I broadcast winter peas and the turkeys ate it all.

The second food plot had a lot of Japanese stilt grass. Plus other weeds.

 

[LetThemGrow]

This is the rotation I am planning on implementing:

No-Till Food Plot Rotation w/ DRILL

Winter Pea/Winter Rye Year
April 8th - soil test; (winter rye ~ 12") - 2 qts gly/ 1 qt 24d (wait at least 30 days after 24d)
May 8th - 2 qts gly
June 1st - broadcast 60# buckwheat
August 1st - spray 2qts gly (to kill buckwheat) ;
August 6th - mow & drill - 50# winter peas/50# forage oats/8# white clover/8# daikon/8# crimson clover;
September 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye
October 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye (if bare soil)

Brassica Year
April 8th - (winter rye ~ 12"); 2 qts gly/ 1 qt 24d (wait at least 30 days after 24d)
May 8th - drill - 35# 4010 Forage Peas; 50# oats; 10# LabLab; 50# Red Ripper Cowpea; 5# peredovik sunflower; 15# Wilder Grain Sorghum
June 8th - broadcast 60# buckwheat (if bare soil)
August 1st - spray 2qts gly (to kill buckwheat) ;
August 6th - MOW
August 7th - weed eat all day
August 8th - broadcast 8# brassica mix/8# daikon/50# winter rye (to help spread)
September 7th – broadcast 100# urea; 100# winter rye
October 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye (if bare soil)

Clover section
March 1st – frost seed
May 1st – spray cleth
June 1st - mow
August 6th - mow
September 1st - mow

Why do you spray buckwheat and then mow it also?

 

[yoderjac]

Why do you spray buckwheat and then mow it also?

Buckwheat has 60-90 days of food value for deer. You can let it stand longer for cover and turkey love the seed. It dies on its own and does not need to be sprayed to kill it. It desiccates quickly when mowed and releases the nutrients it scavenged for the next crop. Whether you spry or not is mostly governed by your weeds. If you have issues with cool season weeds, it may make sense to spray. If not, you can save the cost on the herbicide.

Also, I've found a better way that increases germination rates is to cultipack rather than mow. The objective is to get the buckwheat horizontal. This gives it contact with the soil and helps hold in moisture. Both mowing and cultipacking do that. The advantage of cultipacking is that it presses your seed into the soil and helps create an irregular surface to help rain soak in better.

 

[ansayre]

Thanks for the feedback! The idea was to kill weeds, I had an explosion of stilitgrass last year.

Turns out that it isn't possible to get a seed drill into the plot. So the plan got thrown out of the window. I'm going to go with clover and overseed buckwheat (spring) and winter rye (fall)

So I'm planning to streamline and do the following until soil quality gets better. Last year broadcast peas only fed the turkeys which is why I was wanting to drill.

April 8th - 2 qts gly/ 1 qt 24d (wait at least 30 days after 24d)
May 15th - broadcast 60# buckwheat
August 1st - cultipack
August 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye
September 1st - soil test (every other year)
October 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye (if bare soil)
February - frost seed clover

 

[ansayre]

That isn't right. Once I convert to clover there won't be a spring gly burn:

April 8th - mow ryw at ~ 12"
May 1st - clethodim for grasses
May 15th - broadcast 60# buckwheat (overseed into clover)
August 1st - cultipack
August 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye
September 1st - soil test (every other year)
October 15th - broadcast 100# winter rye (if bare soil) (overseed into clover)
February - frost seed clover

 

[ansayre]

I still need to bring up pH on my clover plots. Once the drought breaks can I add pelletized lime? If so how much at a time?

 

[yoderjac]

6-6.5 is not bad for your crops. You can surface broadcast pelletized lime at any time. I'd apply it all at once if that is convenient for you. Timing for planting will depend on your location. While buckwheat will germinate with soil temps as low as 40 degrees, I find that I get lethargic crops planting in cool soil. The optimal soil temp for Buckwheat is 80 degrees. I won't plant it with soil temps below 65 degrees. If you are going to plant perennial clover, I would not frost seed, I would plant it with you WR in the fall. Fall planted clover gets a much better jump on weeds than frost seeded clover.

 

[ansayre]

I didn't establish the price for drilling my two acres of food plots. I was sent an invoice for $650/Acre. This seems high for SE Ohio (Meig's county, OH). I paid since I didn't agree on a rate but I this is why I will convert to clover plot next year. What would you consider a standard rate?

 

[yoderjac]

I can't speak to your area, but there are often significant costs involved. There is the cost of transport for the drill and tractor. High these days with the cost of diesel, but it depends where the equipment is coming from. You have the cost of seed and fuel for the tractor. There is wear and tear on the equipment that has to be covered. Then you have labor cost plus profit.

Cost per acre is generally much higher for small jobs like food plots than large acreage.