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Food Plot Beginner #7478377 04/05/19 06:18 AM
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PoppaG22 Offline OP
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I've never planted a food plot before. I would like to this year plant about a half acre. We bow hunt so something that can potentially last through October and November would be great. I have basic gardening equipment for the time being. What do yall suggest? I can rent equipment for up to $200 a day. But I'm pretty low budget right now.

Really looking for step by step instructions, including when, how, and what to plant if yall could help that'd be great!


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478381 04/05/19 06:45 AM
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Originally Posted by PoppaG22
I've never planted a food plot before. I would like to this year plant about a half acre. We bow hunt so something that can potentially last through October and November would be great. I have basic gardening equipment for the time being. What do yall suggest? I can rent equipment for up to $200 a day. But I'm pretty low budget right now.

Really looking for step by step instructions, including when, how, and what to plant if yall could help that'd be great!


County? We had it all planned out and rain killed us. Didn't get it done. About to head out and turned around with trailer loaded. Ready to try this year. Heard army worms nailed everyone around who planted too early so blessing in disguise I guess. Few guys have it figured out here though who will chime in. I would plant as late as possible if it were me. Only takes that one magical day... Worked for me with nothing planted.

Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: Txduckman] #7478386 04/05/19 08:18 AM
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PoppaG22 Offline OP
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I'm in Jacksboro an hour west of Ft Worth


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478450 04/05/19 12:12 PM
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Other than praying for rain as needed...

Step 1 - Get a soil test several months prior to planting to determine pH and if lime should be added and how much per acre. Apply lime as recommended in the soil test. Soil test bags can be found at your County Extension Office.

Step 2 - Mow about a month of so prior to planting.

Step 3 - Spray the area with grass and weed killer about two weeks prior to planting to kill all vegetation, which will give time for a good die off and decay.

Step 4 - Disk the area with a tractor and disk when the soil has enough moisture for the disk to do it's job and for the seeds to begin geminating after planting. Compacted soil that has never been broken may need to be plowed before disking.

Step 5 - Seed the area with an ATV and pull-behind spreader. Use a tractor and three-point spreader for much larger food plots.

Step 6 - Drag the area with a harrow or whatever you can make (old chain link fence or similar) to cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil.

Step 6 - Fertilize the plot once the seeds are up and well established.


Last edited by Texas Dan; 04/05/19 12:14 PM.

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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478576 04/05/19 01:59 PM
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I have planted many plots...you can get as sophisticated as you like or can afford. I started making a plot by making a homemade harrow. I took a pallet and put about 10 bolts in it using washers and nuts. I dragged this around with my ridding lawn mower or you can use your truck or car. You need to start by mowing the plot very low...then when their is a little moisture in the ground you can begin. When I have enough dirt showing after pulling around the harrow .. then it is ready. I threw out a 50 lb s of oats from the feed store. then threw out some corn with pinto beans...about 20 lb.s each. Then I pulled around the pallet upside down a few times until all the plot is covered. By the way if the ground is too hard I also used a cinder block to help weight it down. You can fertilize it and would be best however I didn't and it worked great...cheap and it works. Later I built a pen a 60ft. by 80ft., put two feeders in it, fed year around with NO hogs. Best thing I ever did. If ya want more info on how to build the pen let me know...mine is hog prof and cattle prof.
Bottom line... you can spend as much as you want. The pen can be very elaborate and expensive or it can be cheap with a little knowledge and know how. I had a lot of fun making my first one (almost 30 years ago)...fun to watch it grow and most of all see deer eat the corn stalks and the beans will come up and in about a month the deer will devour them over night...lol. However the corn and oats will last almost a year. Be sure to buy the whole oats and not feed oats. Plant one and you won't be sorry.
Yes for best results you can have your soil tested and use fertilizer. I also put in a water trough...the deer love this when it gets dry and hot. The convenience of water a few steps away is great. People will criticize this process but when you use it you will be the real judge.

Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478579 04/05/19 02:03 PM
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I forgot to tell ya what time to plant....I always plant the second week in April as the rains come in and about the third week in April, or shortly after.

Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478582 04/05/19 02:04 PM
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Now is a great time to start working the dirt. First thing you need to do is decide what you want to plant when Summer comes to an end. Once you decide on the plant, or plants, then you can send a soil sample in to have them tell you what your soil needs added to it for that plant to grow the best. This is super easy, you just get a box from the AG Extension and fill it with soil from the area that you want to use. Mail it to the listed address with your check, and wait for them to mail you back the results. This will give you an amount in tons per acre of what you need to add to your soil. What's important about doing this now is that it will take six months to actually do something to the soil. Ideally, you should send off a soil sample every year for three years to get it right. This is also a great time to start breaking up the soil and getting rid of whatever is growing there now. Spray roundup, wait 3 weeks so everything is dead down to the roots, then disk it all up. Spread your fertilizer, lime and whatever else you need on your soil and let it sit until Summer ends.

Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478615 04/05/19 02:36 PM
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A lot of good information above. Here is my 2 cents worth:
I always plant 100lbs of oats and 50lbs of peas per acre with 100lbs of 13-13-13. Be sure to mix in peas. The deer can't leave them alone long enough for them to mature. But that is why I plant them, they are like ice cream to the deer.
Here is my wife standing in a 4 acre plot I did two years ago with that mixture.
For 1/2 acres the cost will be: $13 oats, $35 peas, $20 fertilizer. So, $68 to plant 1/2 acres with my mixture. However, some of the cost had to be on one acre because I use one bag of peas per acre and so I put in the price of one whole bag
even though you will only use 1/2 bag. If you are spreading the seed, it will not hurt to over seed at all. So use all of it.
I mow, wait a week and spray, wait two weeks and plow and plant on same day. Then pray for rain.
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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7478808 04/05/19 05:44 PM
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I've never had much success with spring and summer plots. Never been able to control all the grass and weeds that are taking off at that time of year.


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7480188 04/07/19 01:52 AM
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Your success will depend on several things. One is if there are livestock on the land, if so then you will need to fence any plot. Second is going to be the amount of deer hitting your plot. At 1/2 acre and if you have 15 deer using it, then it will be eaten to the ground in a few days after it comes out of the ground. If I were going to do 1/2 then I would do a fall hunting/kill plot. Plant either small grains and/or small legumes in the same plot. Small grains take a little better grazing pressure. The last thing is timely rainfall. In much of Texas May and September are our 2 highest rainfall months. A September plot will take advantage of that rain and also cooler temps with the shorter days.


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7480311 04/07/19 03:50 AM
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Oats are your best friend if you don’t have any implements. You can kill off all the grass and weeds, dig and cut up the soil with a shovel and a hard tine rake. Though if you break up enough soil you can add other things like wheat, peas, soybeans and others. Either drag something over it with a four wheeler or walk around kicking dirt to cover. I’ve done it many of times and it works. Add soybeans for summer and peas for winter.

Also, take a soil sample and send it in. You can learn a lot about what you need to fertilize with.

Last edited by rickym; 04/07/19 03:52 AM. Reason: Fertilizer


Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7480399 04/07/19 11:19 AM
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Due to too many hogs, I haven't planted one in years. This year I was going to but waited a little too long. Glad I did. Army worms got every bit of grass around me.


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7480906 04/07/19 10:18 PM
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When we were not leasing out our pasture to a rancher for his cattle, we hired the son of a local farmer to plow and plant food plots. The rancher now does this for us, it is in our lease agreement with him. Easy way to get it done.


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7481714 04/08/19 07:54 PM
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I've never been lucky enough to get spring plots to ever take and the few times the rains hit right to get them to grow, the summer heat / dry took their tole by early summer. I now only do fall plots. I usually shred (mow) as low as possible in mid-late August, and plow to turn that into compost ... then start watching for a good wet cool front starting in mid Sept out thru mid/late Oct. Once I see a front coming, I will go out and plant a few days before the rains should hit and then cross my fingers. I typically do a blend of various seeds that my local feed store mixes up that has oats, rye, wheat, peas, turnip, chicory, and several different types of clover and then add an additional amount of oats and either field or black eyed peas. Each of these seeds germinate and come up at different rates, so these plots usually will last into the spring. If there is enough moisture within a few days and then again in a few weeks, this method works great. I have a disc harrow that I plow with, spread the seeds then I go back over the plot with the disc harrow just enough to cover up the seeds to prevent birds from eating them.

also, I used to collect all the pumpkin seeds from any jack-o-lantern carving that my kids, Sunday school class, etc. had ... toss all the seeds out and the next year these come up volunteer ... the deer love the blooms during mid summer.

I haven't ever done a soil sample but think I need too for our place NE of Fairfield as we rarely ever get a good growth there in that sandy soil. I suspect I need fertilizer but not sure about lime or iron ...


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Re: Food Plot Beginner [Re: PoppaG22] #7487066 04/14/19 04:43 PM
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Spring and summer food plots are tough in Texas. Heat, lack of moisture takes it's toll. Milo is cheap so that's usually what we plant. Last year we tried alfalfa in a small 1/2 acre plot. Unbelievable how the deer were tearing it up. The half acre has irrigation because it's only 300 yards behind the house. It was a task keeping it watered though.


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