no till food plot

anybody have any luck with anytype of notill foodplots..ive watched youtube videos..and looks pretty simple..i have no way to get equipment to have a plowed plot..so im just gonna buy some throw and grow..have a couple of plain handtools..chainsaw,rakes..bought couple of bags of fertilizer that was on closeout..i have a 1/4 acre fenced in area to keep cows out..i have a total of 15 dollars invested..any positive tips or advice..

I have had my best luck with it doing it right before it rains also if you can get the ground completlely bare it works better.

thanks,man!

No problem

I'm on my third year of no-till with three small plots of 1/4 acre, 1/3 acre and 4/10 acre. I use spray and mow on two of them and spray and roll on the other. All three have were successful in their first two years.

No-till results improve over time because you are killing off the native grass and weeds each year before it goes to seed, and not bringing up undesirable seed in the seed bank by tilling and disturbing the soil.

After years of hassle with an old tractor the club owns and needing to coordinate my food plot activities with a group, I'm now free to manage my plots when I want and how I want. I get along quite well with my Honda ATV, a sprayer, a home made roller-crimper, and a home made mower.

I use to run a Tye NoTill and planted over 100 acres of plots with it... I would still mow, disc then run that through anything that didnt get used for hay... all the hay fields i would just run the notill through with oats right after the last cutting of hay in September. IF you get a good one they are great products... the way you can customize your seed depth and spacing is huge... we would have oats outgrowing a 6deer/acre herd

Guy that cut my hay used a NT drill to plant oats in my hayfield, worked great when the fall hay was cut around 5", cows liked it and so did the deer.

Years ago, a friend and I bow hunted corp land, couldn't use tractors there, so we where limited to what we could do with hand equipment, small plots but basically did throw and grow type planting and it works fine if you can get the seed in good contact with dirt. We used plain oats though and they germ easy enough.

great info thanks guys..i just did an experiment with the no till..a very small foodplot inside a low fenced area..about a 25 yard X25 yard space..just to see..used a bag of 10 10 10 fertilyzer and a 5 lb bag of notill seed...i raked it really good..we had a nice luttle shower the night before and the ground was soft..but it dries out really quick in coke county..there were lots of weeds and grass..i just thought that i was getting a latestart and didnt want to spray and have to wait anothe 2 weeks to plant..all i need is a good rain..which forcast doesnt call for..but the showers we had saturday night was called for either.just a summer shower that popped up..thanks man for the valuable info

Mow, I have a couple small plots I am going to work this year and at the request of someone on here added a couple more no till throw plots to my mix. I had previously mowed down the three plots I am gonna till and then went out this weekend and sprayed them all with a simple pull behind sprayer. My goal is to use a drag harrow to pull up all the dead grass and weed from the no till plots and then try to get the dirt a little scratched up with the drag harrow. I will then broadcast some fertilizer and then some seed and call it a day. See what comes up.

I have one of the throw plots right next to a till plot, so we will see almost exactly which one does a better job. The seed composition is going to be a little different as the throw plot will have oats/wheat/turnip/rape/peas/clover (should get some growth out of some of those for sure) where the till plot will be oats nurse seeded into a plot of a lot of Forbs (whitetail imperial extreme blend). So it will be interesting to see which plot did better there.

My other no till plot is going to be in another location away from other plots and will be a more true atv/utv and hand tool type plot. Again, didn't now first, just sprayed it this weekend, will drag it to get rid of the grass and weed and throw. Same throw mix as before. Again, expect something to come up, just don't know how much. Once I go out to till and drag I will start a new thread in the deer hunting section and add pics. Will update as the season goes along.

If you're using Glyphosate there's no need to wait. You can throw your seed and spray immediately, or spray then throw your seed immediately. Glyphosate does not affect the seed. It works by being absorbed by actively growing plants and has no residual effect in the soil.

biologic hot spot

you guys give me some drop dead dates..right now for bow season..mid september for all gun season?i know it gives seaons on the back for regions..i just raked a small food plot and threfertilizer and a 5lb of notill seed ..well see..really dont expect nothing..but just an expweriment..cost is 10 bucks for seed..and 2.50 for fertilizer..ill be prepared next year with a plow on my 4 wheelew i just got and a sprayer..thanks guys for yalls help..appreciate it

mow, depends on the seed and rain. Since it looks to be pretty dry for the next two weeks, you run a chance of having some of that seed stolen by birds.

However, timed with rain, oats and wheat will come up pretty quick. Same with rye, which is a main component of a lot of throw and go seed mixes. if you got some mix with turnips or brassicas or clover, then those will take longer to develop into something to eat. I have had deer eating in a wheat field within 2 weeks of it germinating. I have heard reports of deer hitting plots as early as a couple days after germination in oats and rye. All depends on the rain.

With my weather forecast, I would have held on putting the seed out for at least 2 more weeks, maybe longer. If the forecast changes, I may put some seed out in another week, but only if the chances of rain are significant.

I always watch the weather ... have areas prepped and waiting on a cool wet front to push in. Mid Sept thru mid Dec over the past 20 plus years, it varies a lot around central Texas. One year there was a forecasted wet front late Sept, I planted but that petered out before it made it, no rain until mid Dec. and by mid Jan we had beautiful food plots (right after season). My dad would plant in the dust and pray for rain ... or take a 5 gallon bucket filled with seeds and fill the bucket up with water overnight to get the seeds to swell, then plant in the dust about a week or so before a wet front was coming in as a self boost to get the seeds rolling.

I went out yesterday and shredded all my plots on one place and will keep a close eye on the weather for the next several weeks before planting.

thanks guys

I have used it the last 2-3 years with varied success. Used Evolved Habitat's Throw n Gro Brasccia/Rye/Clover things greened but with marginal rain, did not have much lasting effect. Using it again with better rain another year and some basic tilling and raking over was better more lasting. I have had much better effect with it when using the combination of beans/radish/oats/clover blend from them and of course better rains. Last year I had a plot of this combination, 1-2 ac which held a 1'-1.5' green through the season. Each year I planted around mid-late September in Young County. The deer really hit last year's plot regularly.

What makes throw and grow different from any other seed? or is it just marketing?

Would it be better to buy the same mix of seeds from the feed store for half the price?

pretty much marketing. The throw and grow are largely rye seed, which takes off anywhere given enough water, so they are using something you could buy at home depot or lowes.

Probably better to find some seed at the local seed store and see what they have and it should be cheaper.

my local feed store mixes up their own blend ... oats, wheat, triticale, peas, clover, turnip, hairy vetch, barvetch, chicory and milo ... to have different growing start & duration ... I usually add 80-100# of feed oats per acre along with the above mix. If rains come right, looks great (unless the dang hogs root it up like the last 2 years).

I think the so called throw and grow are seeds better suited to areas where any type of tillage would be difficult and high percentage of rye which will grow just about anywhere if it gets water.

PMK, who is your local feed store selling that mix?

I put together a little video on what I did last year. It worked well.

https://youtu.be/MgUm7NOiexM

The Feed Store in Georgetown TX ... (512) 863-5420 ... Clint Hawes

Cool video. I used the same seed mix and did pretty much what you did this weekend. Hoping for the best.

How long does it take for the birds to eat up an acre plot? Seeded on Saturday and was expecting some rain and that didn't happen. Thinking I may need to go back out this Sunday where chances are looking much better and re seed.

FWIW, you can get 5# bag for $7.62 (reg $19.99) for pickup @ YOUR local walmart -
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Evolved-Harvest-Throw-Gro-No-Till-Forage/6323941

I wouldn't use that stuff even if it were free. It's 85% Tetraploid Annual Ryegrass.

Sweet!