Keystone Krops

[Mennoniteman]

The oldtimer farmers saying about corn is that you want it to be "knee high by 4th of July". With all the rain we've had it might be shoulder high by then. It's up to my hips on June 12.

 

[George]

Pretty, that's a big food plot.

G

 

[Mennoniteman]

Pretty, that's a big food plot.

G

But in food plots, size doesn't matter, it's all about quality. And you have way better quality food up in that saddle than I do in my cornfield. My problem is that I grew up on a farm and I have growing corn in my blood. You can take a boy out of the Amish but you can't take the Amish out of the boy type of thing

 

[Mennoniteman]

Recently my friend gave me a tour of his hunting farm. Our PA food plots are firing on all cylinders so far this summer, and good management practices like using the correct herbicides and fertilizer brings big results.
Here in this pic of one area of his operation you can see bare dirt in the foreground, ready for fall brassicas. Behind that is a strip of switchgrass for beddingcover, with a strip of oats behind that backing up to the hunting blind. On the left is freshly mowed ladino clover, and to the right out of the picture is several acres of corn. This will be a prime spot on the first day of hunting season.

 

[yukon]

Amazing. What’s the distance to blind?

 

[Mennoniteman]

Amazing. What’s the distance to blind?

It's a 10 acre field, 165 yards x 300 yards, they put deadly dozen in front of the blind for archery draw, however, most of their archery hunting is sitting along funnels in the woods.
For rifle hunting there's no shot going to be more than 165 yards from that blind.
What struck me as the interesting thing about this 10 acre field layout is the switchgrass in the center. By the first of December when PA rifle opens bucks will be feeling hunting pressure in the woods and bed in the switch where they won't ever be disturbed and feel safe there, allowing them to control their deer herd with finesse, selectively shooting a few does in the woods while preserving the antlered deer in the switch except for the shooters.
I think this property has somewhere around 15 acres in switchgrass in 4 different plots on a farm that is only 100 acres, potentially allowing them to draw antled deer from their neighbors, This much switchgrass is something that is very unusual in PA.
The Midwest people often discuss switchgrass for bedding cover, but In the mid-atlantic region if we let sunshine hit the ground anywhere an instant jungle grows up for thick bedding cover, so planting something strictly for bedding cover isn't usually in our MO, and I wonder if we may be overlooking a powerful management tool.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Last September 1st we planted a ladino clover and cereal rye combo, now on July 11th I'm mowing the rye to release the clover. The rye ate up the excess nitrogen and converted it into carbon food for the Ladino in the form of straw that will break down and feed the clover. This clover is looking great, there's a thick layer of clover under the rye, although I probably will spray it with clethodim and Butyrac200 in several days to clean up the random weeds in the mix, then I'll interseed radishes and a small grain in mid-August and mow it after seeding to give the seeds some sunlight to germinate.

 

[birdog]

The great thing about rye is what it does below ground. Rye has deep roots that bring nutrients up through its roots to where our shallow root food plot plants are. When rye is terminated the root system decays and feeds the clover and whatever else we plant.

I plant rye every fall into all of my plots.

 

[birdog]

The oldtimer farmers saying about corn is that you want it to be "knee high by 4th of July". With all the rain we've had it might be shoulder high by then. It's up to my hips on June 12.
View attachment 29829

Here in Illinois for the last 20 or so years the saying is head high by the 4th of July.

 

[Mennoniteman]

When growing food plots the deck is usually stacked against you, but sometimes you do get a bit of good fortune going your way.
I don't like spraying food plots around the end of July because usually it's too hot and dry, and a lot of plants are in a partially dormant stage and not actively growing, leading to poor herbicide performance.
But I wanted to do a round of clethodim before I start planting fall plots in August, and get after some cattails before they reseed, so I decided to be bull headed and do what you're not supposed to.
This summer has been wetter than average, although it was getting dry when I sprayed on Friday morning right after daylight to take advantage of the morning dew and cooler temps, but the stroke of luck was when it rained a fair bit the next day, and now I have high hopes for this poorly timed effort.
The only thing that beats a nice stand of clover is soybeans, and with no soybeans in the neighborhood, this 4 acre ladino field is the best food in town, and averages 15 deer in it every morning and evening.