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First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... #7276311 09/04/18 03:51 PM
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So I finally picked out the spot at my 11 acres to do a small plot for bow season. (lots of deer traffic, but no monsters) Trying to pull our some bigger deer I have randomly seen on camera. Took about 3 hours to clear with a hand rake and shovel (lots of mulched dead trees from previous owners (not hunters), and dead small cedars. Got it cleared then yesterday's rain made the ground a lot softer, so after the storm broke I had about an hour left of light to get it disced , planted and disced again.

Did not have the soil tested but bought all purpose veggie plant food (on the expensive side) and spread that our evenly at the end. Planted a mix of clover, winter peas and oats. (mostly winter peas). Also I bought 600 feet of hose to run after this week so it will have daily water.

Here is a quick 1 min video on the process....

Thoughts?



Last edited by jtprocaddie; 09/04/18 04:12 PM.

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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276326 09/04/18 04:06 PM
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To early for my liking.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: stxranchman] #7276336 09/04/18 04:13 PM
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..

Last edited by jtprocaddie; 09/04/18 04:13 PM.

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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: stxranchman] #7276338 09/04/18 04:13 PM
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Originally Posted By: stxranchman
To early for my liking.


3 weeks away from bow season.. Why too early? Serious question.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276341 09/04/18 04:14 PM
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With all the rain in the forecast, it might be a good one. Only suggestion is from now on, forget the plant food and just use 13-13-13. 100lbs per acre.
Good luck with it.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276343 09/04/18 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted By: jtprocaddie
Originally Posted By: stxranchman
To early for my liking.


3 weeks away from bow season.. Why too early? Serious question.

Heat. Army Worms.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: stxranchman] #7276347 09/04/18 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Originally Posted By: jtprocaddie
Originally Posted By: stxranchman
To early for my liking.


3 weeks away from bow season.. Why too early? Serious question.

Heat. Army Worms.


I actually saw a few while cultivating, so guessing that is a good sign. Nothing crazy though.

I will have w daily water source as well.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: Mr. T.] #7276349 09/04/18 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
With all the rain in the forecast, it might be a good one. Only suggestion is from now on, forget the plant food and just use 13-13-13. 100lbs per acre.
Good luck with it.


will look into the 13-13-13 Thanks!


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: Mr. T.] #7276352 09/04/18 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
With all the rain in the forecast, it might be a good one. Only suggestion is from now on, forget the plant food and just use 13-13-13. 100lbs per acre.
Good luck with it.


Do you think if I add the 13-13-13 now that would be a mistake since I already used the veggie plant food?


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276363 09/04/18 04:26 PM
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JT the army worms will eat up any plants that sprout, that's why it is better to wait until later when they are gone. If you start seeing germination watch closely for the worms as you may need to do some spraying to kill them, otherwise they will eat up that small plot in a day.

How did you plant the different seeds? Those different seeds have different planting requirements. Peas need to be in the soil but clover can be top seeded. If you just broadcast all at once, don't expect much from the peas. If you broadcast then disc'd it in, don't expect much from the clover.

Second the triple 13 or triple 17 recommendation. probably be tough to find triple 17 bagged, and for such a small plot you could buy a couple bags of triple 13 and broadcast that pretty easily.

Where you planting? If around Austin, I agree is it probably too early, even with supplemental watering. Heat will burn those peas up pretty quick during the day. That far south it is probably better to wait until late September to early October to make sure the 90-100 degree days are far behind you. But, will be interested to see how it does for you.

Bow hunting on 11 acres is another issue altogether, hope you know your neighbors well and they are cool with you tracking deer on their side of the fence.

Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276364 09/04/18 04:27 PM
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Originally Posted By: jtprocaddie
Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
With all the rain in the forecast, it might be a good one. Only suggestion is from now on, forget the plant food and just use 13-13-13. 100lbs per acre.
Good luck with it.


Do you think if I add the 13-13-13 now that would be a mistake since I already used the veggie plant food?


If you have too much fertilizer it can burn up the plot, so just leave it as is and don't worry about it at this point. Would hate for you to burn your whole plot by adding more fertilizer.

Just for reference, do you know what the components of the veggie food are?

Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276365 09/04/18 04:27 PM
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Originally Posted By: jtprocaddie
Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Originally Posted By: jtprocaddie
Originally Posted By: stxranchman
To early for my liking.


3 weeks away from bow season.. Why too early? Serious question.

Heat. Army Worms.


I actually saw a few while cultivating, so guessing that is a good sign. Nothing crazy though.

I will have w daily water source as well.

Army Worms if you have them are going to love eating your tender young small grains and clover to the ground. I think they will be bad this year with the lack of rains till just this past few days.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276378 09/04/18 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted By: jtprocaddie
Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
With all the rain in the forecast, it might be a good one. Only suggestion is from now on, forget the plant food and just use 13-13-13. 100lbs per acre.
Good luck with it.


Do you think if I add the 13-13-13 now that would be a mistake since I already used the veggie plant food?


I would not add any this year as I don't know what is in your plant food. Or, add just a little, 25lbs per acre as a top dressing once your crop comes up about 4-6 inches.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276386 09/04/18 04:43 PM
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^^^what Mr T suggested as a top dressing is not a bad idea, once the crop gets started. apply only to dry plants and just a small dose but I would recommend around 25-50 lbs per half rather than full acre.

But again, without knowing what's in the veggie food you put down initially, you may not need to do anything more.

Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: Texas buckeye] #7276433 09/04/18 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted By: Texas buckeye
^^^what Mr T suggested as a top dressing is not a bad idea, once the crop gets started. apply only to dry plants and just a small dose but I would recommend around 25-50 lbs per half rather than full acre.

But again, without knowing what's in the veggie food you put down initially, you may not need to do anything more.


I am in Lampasas Texas

Actually I did not select the one with teh clover mixed in sorry I looked at about 15 of them before I picked up the Evolved Harvest Winter PZ - and put the clover mix back.. Just checked the bag.. Was winter peas and oats mix.

That is a great idea for the top dressing down the road.

Below is the content of the plant food.. I did 8 lbs total and used a hand turn thrower to spread it out on top of the soil after I re disced and re covered the seeds

Nitrogen (N) Content (Percentage) 12
Phosphorus (P) Content (Percentage) 4
Potassium (K) Content (Percentage) 8


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276443 09/04/18 05:36 PM
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OK, so 8 lbs was probably nothing in the grand scheme of things for fertilizer. I use whitetail institute products and for non-soil tested plantings they recommend about 3-400 lbs per acre of triple 17. So you are at 16-32lbs per acre of 12-4-8...you could stand to add some triple 13, probably around 50lbs to 100lbs and you will be ok.

How much of the seed did you put out and how did you do that? Hand toss vs thrower vs ?? And then did you disc it in or just let it sit out on the soil? (nevermind this question I just reread and saw you said you disc'd the seed under...in the future just put the seed and the fertilizer out at the same time and then disc it all in together)

The oats will come up (if the birds didn't get to it) but not sure about the peas. They usually need to be down in the soil a little.

One rule of thumb is the seeding rate advertised (lbs seed/acre) should be at least doubled for broadcast seed. Use the advertised seeding rate for seeders or seed drills (no-till, air, etc) only. When you broadcast you expect a decent amount of loss due to birds and lack of good soil contact which prevents germination.

Last edited by Texas buckeye; 09/04/18 05:38 PM.
Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276445 09/04/18 05:39 PM
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Maybe I missed it, but what is your best guess on the size of this plot?


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: Texas buckeye] #7276449 09/04/18 05:44 PM
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Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
Maybe I missed it, but what is your best guess on the size of this plot?


About 1/3 to 1/2 I would say closer to the the 1/3 size

Originally Posted By: Texas buckeye
How much of the seed did you put out and how did you do that? Hand toss vs thrower vs ?? And then did you disc it in or just let it sit out on the soil? (nevermind this question I just reread and saw you said you disc'd the seed under...in the future just put the seed and the fertilizer out at the same time and then disc it all in together)


I used 2 of the 1/2 acre bags.. I figures with my disc not getting down past 3-4 inches there is a good chance of some not taking or getting eaten. I also used the manual thrower (the one you hold on your hand and crank)


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276450 09/04/18 05:45 PM
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PS thanks for the info guys This is the first food plot I have actually attempted and will be happy if anything comes up for the first year.. Can only listen and learn. Thanks!


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276461 09/04/18 05:55 PM
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If you only put down 8lbs of that plant food, you can easily put down another 20lbs of 13-13-13 as a top dressing when the stuff comes up. You can have 25lbs per 1/4 acre and be fine. As Texas buckeye said, double the seeding rate if broadcasting. You will not hurt anything to go out there tomorrow and just broadcast some more oats. use a rake and scratch a little ground over the seed.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276468 09/04/18 06:03 PM
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From what I can see, Evolved harvest winter pz comes in 1/4 acre bags of 10 lbs, recommending 60lbs of triple 13 for a total of 40 lbs per acre of seed and 240 lbs of triple 13 per acre.

I would recommend doubling the seeding rate to 80 lbs per acre but keeping the fertilizer at 250lbs acre. Sounds like you did the ground prep correct but it does recommend planting depth of 1/4 inch deep, but oats and peas should be fine a little deeper but the clover and triticale might not come up if too deep. I couldn't find a ingredient listing to see if there was any rye or other grass in there to make a plot look pretty but not really palatable for deer. Some of the low maintenance plot mixes will have large ryegrass components to make them green up but the deer wont eat it, they want the rye grain.

Anyway, the cost (24.99 for 10 lbs) seems steep for something you could get cheaper almost anywhere else. I would recommend getting some oats and wheat mix from your local feed store, and just broadcast that right before a rain. Don't worry about disc'ing it in or anything, just broadcast and let it rain. That will come up and give the deer something to eat. I would wait to see what comes up form the first planting (hopefully it comes up well but I have a feeling it will be sparse and patchy) and then come later in the month or beginning of next month and put out the oats and wheat. You can broadcast some triple 13 at anytime, but would likely do around 100-150 lbs as that 8lbs of veggie feed was a waste of money and any watering you do will continue to leach the soil of its nutrients.

You will probably find watering a patch of dirt that is a third to half acre is going to be a bear. Sprinklers will help, but you will have to run them for hours a night just to get some decent water on the ground, and the water bill will be high, unless you have a water source you are tapping from. My thought is let mother nature do its job and plan around that.

Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276480 09/04/18 06:21 PM
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Thanks for the info! I will have 3 sprinklers with the 92 foot radius and will have them overlap a bit. I will put them on a timer for every 8 hours fro 20 mins a pop.

I will also go get an oats mix from a feed store and overseed when the other starts to come up, and same goes fro teh triple 13.

Thanks for the info guys I will keep you posted with pictures and video.


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276484 09/04/18 06:28 PM
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20 minutes won't do much for that dirt patch. Make the surface damp at best. I would recommend doing them for longer but longer in between. You don't want to sog the place down, but you want deep moisture the plants can tap into. Don't know what the right answer here is, but it seems 20 minutes on a 92 foot radius means each degree (around the circle) of dirt will probably get around 5 seconds of actual sprinkler time. not enough

Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: Texas buckeye] #7276487 09/04/18 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted By: Texas buckeye
20 minutes won't do much for that dirt patch. Make the surface damp at best. I would recommend doing them for longer but longer in between. You don't want to sog the place down, but you want deep moisture the plants can tap into. Don't know what the right answer here is, but it seems 20 minutes on a 92 foot radius means each degree (around the circle) of dirt will probably get around 5 seconds of actual sprinkler time. not enough


Thanks! I with the times to make sure I get the right timing down.. Maybe evening and morning for an hour each


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Re: First food plot! about 1/3-1/2 acre... [Re: TXGH] #7276492 09/04/18 06:39 PM
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Here's some math you won't like.
1 inch of rain on one acre is a little over 27,000 gallons.
So, to get one inch of rain once a week on your 1/4 acre you need 6,700 gallons
Average home water hose is 3 gallons a minute.
So, you need to run the hose for 37.5 hours a week to equal one inch a week.
At my place that would be to costly to even attempt.


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