I am wanting to make a small food plot for bow and early gun season.I have a small pipeline that runs East to West. I want to mow and spray it this weekend. Then turn it and add lime in 10 days or so.Shortly after, I am going to put down chicory,oats,rye,white clover and fertilizer of course. The pipeline is about 20 feet wide and I was going to make it roughly 80 yards long, with me sitting in the middle on the north side. Thoughts about timing and food choices welcome. I am in east Polk county if that helps. I know rain is always the wild card here, but I have to try.Looking for opinions.

If it was me. I would put down two things. One bag of oats (50lb) and one bag of Austrian winter peas (50lb) plus . Oats take about 9 days to start coming up after a rain. Pea's a close to that. So I would plant around September 7 and hope for rain, if you want something coming up at the start of Bow season.

I have same question for lake Whitney type terrain

Do the oats and peas keep growing after the animals eat the tops off?

Is there a quality mix that doesn't break the bank? How much does a bag of oat cost? Peas?

I'm going to take a lot of heat here, but in my opinion don't buy any mix. Buy seed oats, about $12 per 50lb bag and plant 100lbs per acre, and Austrian winter peas at $50 per 50lb bag and plant one bag per acre plus 150lbs per acre of 13-13-13. for gun season plant in the middle of September until October 1st if possible. I had a small property a few miles from the lake Whitney Dam. I got very good results with deer in the food plot plus a bonus of turkey nesting in it in the spring. Oats will grow all season, then appear to die off and then green back up in the spring. The deer love the pea's. Here is a photo of my 4 acre food plot near Whitney that was planted using the formula that I gave you.

Mr T where did you get oats for $12 per 50lb?

I got it at B&S feed store in China Springs. http://bsfarmranch.com/. If I remember correctly that had two types of oats. Feed oats and seed oats. And I think one was $12 a bag and the other $17 a bag. They did not carry the peas, I got those at a feed store in Whitney on hwy 22. That's also where I got my corn.

That a good seed mix if the rye is rye grain and not rye grass. Avoid rye grass like the plague.

It's too early to plant. Shoot for mid-September. Go ahead and spray this weekend. Then spray again in September a week or two before you disc and plant.

If you can plow/disc it now in this dry heat, you probably wont need any weed killer. Also, if you get on it quick, you can get a soil sample done, so you know exactly what fertilizer ratio you need. (if you haven't already) Don't count on the lime making much difference until next Spring. I have used "seed oats" and "feed whole oats" and have never seen a huge difference other than cost.

There are many types of clover and almost as many that don't do well in much of Texas, some are OK re-seeders, some arent. Arrowleaf clover is usually a good bet, your local AG agent will be a wealth of info in that regard for your area and FREE, educated advice.

A good mix would probably be Oats,wheat and cow/clay peas. Just remember various seed sizes need plated at different depths to germinate and that is where most plots fail, to shallow, or too deep. I'd plant the large seed first and get it under, then top dress small seed like rape, clover and lightly drag it to get it barely cover, a cultipacker would even be better to just press the small seed into the surface and pack the soil a bit.

If you now now and don't have rain in the forecast for awhile most of your weeds will die out. I wouldn't waste time and money spraying right now. Wait till a couple weeks before you plow and plant to spray. Now would be a good time to do a soil sample. Your soil may not need lime so I recommend always doing a sample before applying any type of amendments. I use a place called Logan Labs I think it's $30 for a sample. You can email them and ask for a sample kit and they will mail you one. I can give you recommendations on how to do the sampling if you have questions.

As far as seed choice it depends on what you want to get out of it. Are you trying to impact growth/health or just have a "kill" / attractant plot? I have seed to fit any need or budget and can ship it to you anywhere you need it to go. What you choose will depend on what you want to accomplish, what type of soil you have, and what type of equipment you have access to. If you have specific questions feel free to email me anytime. Always happy to help THF members!

Like Elbon Rye

agree with Western, I never spray, merely shred the area (did that mid July) and plow in late August. The cuttings will form a natural compost in the soil and start breaking down from dew and any showers that pass. I then watch for the first cool front that shows good chance of rain, spread seeds and lightly plow or drag in a few days before the front pushes thru. If there is enough moisture, you will see things starting to sprout in about 10 days. I have done this in mid Sept to mid Oct and not gotten enough rain until mid Dec. and by the end of deer season, had a great food plot for the hardest part of winter into spring.

I have tried both Feed oats and Seed oats, not enough difference to justify the cost of Seed oats to me. I normally buy several pounds of field or cattle peas to plant along with the oats. I have also tossed in chicory, clover, turnip, milo, wheat, etc. One year I couldn't find any type of peas in bulk but one feed store told me to just get a large bag of black eyed peas at HEB and those came up just fine in a pinch. I have also tossed out pumpkin seeds left over from a Halloween pumpkin carving contest, they came up volunteer the following spring and the deer went bonkers over the blooms but not so much on the pumpkins that eventually formed.