New Food Plot-HELP

ZachI131

New Member
I have been reading about food plots for almost a year and tried last year to plant clover with little success. I believe that was mostly due to not doing a PH test on the soil, too many trees and an extended drought. Take a look at the current equipment I have to use and critique my plan. Location is in Stuart, VA which is the southernmost part of Virginia.


Equipment

  • Kubota SVL 95
  • Root Rake Grapple
  • Tooth bucket
  • Honda Foreman
  • Weed sprayer
  • Seed broadcaster


I can rent other attachments for the skid steer as needed. I previously owned a tractor but due to the varying terrain it did poorly.

March
  • Complete digging up stumps (60)

April
  • Complete fine grading and root removal
  • Do soil test and apply lime as necessary

May

  • Rent Harley rake to smooth soil and remove roots/rocks
  • Broadcast buckwheat/fertilizer and compact with skid steer tracks

June
  • Address any bare spots
July
  • TBD
  • Mow/Spray round up


August

  • Mow/Spray round up
  • Till with Harley rake and plant clover with fertilizer


Should I concentrate on keeping a stand of annuals for one year to strengthen the soil or am I okay to switch to perennials after a couple months.
 
You've got great equipment and a decently good plan. If you could get something planted in April it'd be better than May, even if the soil isn't perfect. August may not be the best time to start clover alone, as August can be pretty hot and dry some years. Clover starts slow, and starts much better with a nurse crop, I'd mix oats and brassicas with the clover in August, that way you have something to hunt over this fall, and a nice stand of clover by next spring.
Varying terrain will give a washout with bare dirt and all your nutrients will go down the hill. If you have bare dirt from clearing land it's imperative to plant something asap and keep something growing at all times, so you have something to hold onto the topsoil. After clearing I would not do tillage again, throw n mow or notill works well on slopes.
 
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I'm big on doing a mixture of seed for soil building and erosion prevention. That way if one component fizzles the others are likely to do well. I'd mix oats, buckwheat, and red clover. (maybe even throw in a handful of sorghum or pearl millet, but not too much, it'll give more residue than you can handle with your equipment) Red clover establishes much quicker than ladino, but doesn't have the lasting power or the deer food value of ladino. So, start with red, switch to ladino in the fall. The oats and buckwheat will die out on their own and make a stand of straw ready to do a throw and mow with a mix of brassica and ladino in August. The red clover will eventually die out and give way to the ladino. I wouldn't spray unless absolutely necessary. On a new plot you want something growing asap, even if it's weeds, anything, to avoid losing nutrients. You can deal with the weeds later. Bare dirt loses nutrients at a alarming rate.
Here's what a soil builder mix looks like in June.
47d4121883439b285ec0250d559faad1.jpg
 
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With an SVL90 and a competent operator you don't need anything else to prepare a seed bed. Just lay the bucket flat and keep running back and forth until it's ready to plant. I'd clear as much as I can in one weekend and plant that the same weekend, then the next weekend do it all over again. Tracking the seed in with the tracks is the best idea that you've had in your post. This is a plot I made in the woods a month ago. I frost seeded ladino clover without lime or fertilizer and it's up already. Late winter seeding was the key here. I'll amend the soil later in the spring once the clover is well established. But this would never work in late April or May.
279cccabf4fe66b2b00ea53f1abe49bb.jpg


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I don't buy any BOB mixes, too much chance of stale seed and higher prices.
I buy 100 lb feed bags from my local feed mill, what is commonly called "bin run" oats, barley, wheat, and rye, $10 to $15 per bag. Note that this is not cleaned seed, but is combined grain sold as feed. It may have little bits of straw and some weed seeds in it. The weed seed has never been a problem for me, that's deer food too, and I eventually rotate to a crop that is alleopathic, like oats or rye, or I spray and kill off the undesirables. Buckwheat I also buy at the feed mill, but it's certified seed at $36 per 50lb.
I purchase soybeans, corn, rape, turnips, radishes and some other mixes at a local seed company that supplies Ag farmers, they have guaranteed fresh seed every season because they sell in much larger quantities, and that's what farmers demand. The place I use is called King's Agriseeds, and I think they have a dealer in Greensboro. Someone said their shipping rates are high if you can't drive to a dealer like I do.
 
I might jack them stumps out and then get going with a cool season / high carbon (oats/wheat/barley) plot before the warm season weeds switch on. Throw in some annual clover and flax to help it along. The longer the maturity of those grains, the better. I'd maybe rent a mower for that skid steer when the grains are cashed out and throw and mow your fall plot into it and mow it down. I wouldn't get too worried about being perfectly smooth or clean. That stuff will break down over a few years.

If you didn't want to rent the mower, just lay that bucket flat and back drag it to press your straw down on top of your seed.
 
I'm big on doing a mixture of seed for soil building and erosion prevention. That way if one component fizzles the others are likely to do well. I'd mix oats, buckwheat, and red clover. (maybe even throw in a handful of sorghum or pearl millet, but not too much, it'll give more residue than you can handle with your equipment) Red clover establishes much quicker than ladino, but doesn't have the lasting power or the deer food value of ladino. So, start with red, switch to ladino in the fall. The oats and buckwheat will die out on their own and make a stand of straw ready to do a throw and mow with a mix of brassica and ladino in August. The red clover will eventually die out and give way to the ladino. I wouldn't spray unless absolutely necessary. On a new plot you want something growing asap, even if it's weeds, anything, to avoid losing nutrients. You can deal with the weeds later. Bare dirt loses nutrients at a alarming rate.
Here's what a soil builder mix looks like in June.
47d4121883439b285ec0250d559faad1.jpg
Interesting...If I broadcast a handful of sorghum at this time of year into mostly bare dirt, do you think it would germinate and help with erosion? I have a bag that I planned on planting in the general area anyway, but if I could broadcast at this time and help get something on the ground, I'd be ahead of the game!
 
Being on a hillside would you recommend putting in a few rows of silt fence to limit erosion until it’s established?
 
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