Keystone Krops

[Mennoniteman]

I do a lot of experimenting with different food plots at my hunting lodge in zone 6b, Huntingdon County Pa, and I am going to start recording of some of my failures here. I often find myself running in circles as I plant food plots, not having a clue, doing things that later turn out to be the totally wrong thing, just like the Keystone Kops. This is our lodge.


This is a 2 acre RR soybean field that I'm experimenting with, I've broadcaast brassica into it in late June. 5lb GHR, 3lb PTT, & 2lb DER is up nicely. Our deer population is medium density but the back end of this field is under heavy grazing pressure. I've never mixed beans and brassica before, can't wait to see see how this turns out.

 

[j-bird]

Look forward to seeing how things go. Are the beans ag type or forage type beans? I tend to wait until the beans start to yellow to reduce the competition and so the beans produce grain as well as possible. To me the brassica is just a bonus. Doing this means my brassica never get real big because of the reduced growing window. My deer also don't seem real keen on brassica either so I don;t worry about it too much, but I do it in case we do need some sort of emergency food. Brassica and cereal grains are great emergency foods because they are easy to grow and cheap!

 

[ng270]

Awesome looking place to spend time, MM. Looking forward to following along!

 

[Native Hunter]

Wow, that is one heck of an awesome hunting lodge. Will be watching your thread.

 

[dogghr]

This should be good. Like the little shack you have.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Look forward to seeing how things go. Are the beans ag type or forage type beans? I tend to wait until the beans start to yellow to reduce the competition and so the beans produce grain as well as possible. To me the brassica is just a bonus. Doing this means my brassica never get real big because of the reduced growing window. My deer also don't seem real keen on brassica either so I don;t worry about it too much, but I do it in case we do need some sort of emergency food. Brassica and cereal grains are great emergency foods because they are easy to grow and cheap!

Ag beans. I always have good success with ag beans but this year the deer are really serious about wiping em out. That's why I planted early brassica, to try to take pressure off the beans. I usually do the same as you, seed into them when they turn yellow. I'm really curious if this will work.

 

[j-bird]

Ag beans. I always have good success with ag beans but this year the deer are really serious about wiping em out. That's why I planted early brassica, to try to take pressure off the beans. I usually do the same as you, seed into them when they turn yellow. I'm really curious if this will work.

My only fear would be that the brassica crowd the beans too much and reduce the grain production. I plant my beans specifically for the grain production so I try not to risk it. I have enough beans around for forage that I can plant small plots and they survive just fine. Beans tend to cope with competition far better than most other ag crops from what I have seen so hopefully they still do well for you.

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

Experiments will make for an interesting thread. If I had more plantable ground I’d like to do my own experiments. Very curious to see how this works, because if it’s successful I could see myself doing the same


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[Mennoniteman]

Experiments will make for an interesting thread. If I had more plantable ground I’d like to do my own experiments. Very curious to see how this works, because if it’s successful I could see myself doing the same


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I'll be posting the end results.

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

Do you currently have ideas of what you plan to try in future experiments?


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[Bowhunter]

Boy, you guys are really roughing it down there in Huntingdon County by the looks of that lodge.

Beautiful setup! I look forward to seeing the end results of your experiments.

 

[Mennoniteman]

My spraying rig with 13' collapsible boom for my twenty acres of deer plots. Corn and beans need a lot of spraying. Some fields such as we established clover don't need much spraying. Small grains and brassicas don't get any spraying. 25 gallons does 1 acre at 4 mph doing several feet overlap. 2 acres at 7 mph and doing very little overlap.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Some of the chemicals that I use. Glyphosate is a lot more potent with AMS and crop oil.

 

[Mennoniteman]

My favorite 1-2-3 punch for clover.

 

[T-Max]

View attachment 13165
My favorite 1-2-3 punch for clover.

Do you tank mix all of this?

 

[Mennoniteman]

Do you tank mix all of this?

Yes, the three products. The herbicides will be more effective with the foliar fertilizer additive, so I reduce the mix by about 20% from normal rates to avoid burning my clover. I recently sprayed two acres with this mix and a month later there was nothing left but a nice stand of clover and ragweed, since the ragweed only germinated right after I sprayed. So I mowed the ragweed, which is about as effective as spraying. Mowing should always be a major part of weed management, especially since most herbicides are only recommended for 2-4" weeds. Usually I like to mow clover first, then spray the new weed growth several weeks later. But, like most food plot guys, I travel a distance to some of my plots, and ideal timing isn't always possible. And sometimes it seems like I can make it rain just by spraying a field, after driving 2 hours to get there.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Three other spray chemicals that I use sometimes;
Permethrin kills about any insects and is a good choice to spray exterior wood siding or structural rafters and ceilings to repel carpenter bees. It will also eliminate deer ticks along walking trails, or japanese beetles and other pests on trees. Note: It is not labeled for fruit for human consumption.
Triclopyr is a good for basal bark applications to eliminate undesirable trees. Also great for stump and hack-and-squirt tree bark applications. It's supposed to work best on trees smaller than 4" diameter, but I'm still doing some testing on this. $63.50 a gallon at Daniels Farm Store 717-656-6982
Butyrac 200 (24DB) is a cheaper broadleaf alternative to Pursuit and Raptor in clover and alfalfa. I'm still deciding how I like this stuff to the Pursuit/Thunder that I normally use. Butyrac is $59.38 for 2.5 gallons at Daniels Farm Store 717-656-6982.

 

[T-Max]

View attachment 13165
My favorite 1-2-3 punch for clover.

I have Butyrac and Cleth. Have you ever mixed those (replacing the Thunder with the Butyrac) and the foliar fertilizer? Thunder is expensive...

 

[Mennoniteman]

I have Butyrac and Cleth. Have you ever mixed those (replacing the Thunder with the Butyrac) and the foliar fertilizer? Thunder is expensive...

Yes, I have mixed Butyrac and Cleth. It works ok, but not as effective as Thunder (Slay, Pursuit), and when you consider that the application rate for Thunder is 4oz per acre it's not as expensive as you think. Also remember, mowing is about as effective as spraying for broadleaf weeds. Clethodim for grass is the most important herbicide by far for food plots for deer. Don't worry too much about broadleaf weeds, deer eat most of them anyway, it's after you eliminate grass you can have a nice maintenance free clover patch.

Herbicides for Wheat, Oats, Rye, Barley. For on tougher broadleaf weeds like horseweed (marestail) in small grains, 2,4-d herbicide is very potent stuff, basically kills everything except grasses. Spray small graings with 2,4-d only in the 4" to 8" stage, earlier or later will damage the grain plant. 2,4-d is commonly available in WEEDONE LV4 which is more expensive, good for mixing tank mixes, or 2,4-D AMINE which is cheaper but doesn't mix as well with other chemicals, I usually buy the cheaper AMINE and spray it alone, 1/2 to 2 pints per the acre for Wheat, Rye, Barley, 1/2 pint per the acre for Spring Oats, 3/4 to 1 1/2 pints per acre for Fall Oats. 2,4-d herbicide is the only cheap and easy way to get rid of horseweed (marestail) in no-till soybeans, a late fall application should be made because most horseweed (marestail) germinates in the fall and overwinters, then a spring application should be made right before planting the soybeans.

 

[Mennoniteman]

This 1/2 acre gem of a food plot in the middle of big woods is what Thunder and Clethodim herbicide is all about. After I got Regal Graze clover established and cleaned up the weeds with the aforementioned herbicides this maintenance free plot is what deer hunters dream about. These boys are working a $7 mineral block from tractor supply.