Frank's 2017 food plots projects

[MK111]

7-8
Went down and bush hogged the weeds down in the fall plot area. One ac of nice new clover almost knee high in the 2016 fall plot area. Be a shame to till under for a fall planting. I'll wait couple weeks and make a decision.
7-9
Went down today and mowed the 1.5 ac clover plot at keep the weeds from seeding out. Most of it is looking good.

 

[MK111]

7-19
Ordered my fall seed today.
WTI forage oats. http://www.whitetailinstitute.com/whitetail-oats-plus-annual/
Grandparayoutdoors.com frosty delight. https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/805c8f_ba46f7d01fad4c74bd7e6ee0bd91bd0f.pdf

I pay a couple extra dollars and get what I want and need for my plantings. I've tried other seeds for 2 years and never was satisfied with the results. At 73 I won't waste a year on half ass plantings by saving couple dollars. I've done that and never again.

 

[MK111]

7-30
I went down and bush hogged the clover plots for the 3rd time. Added 1/4 ac of clover from last year's fall plot as it was almost 100% clover coverage. Just knocked the weed tops off before the weeds went to seed. The thistle problem I hope I have under better control that came in some seed as I've left none of it go to seed this year. We'll see next spring then I will get after it.
Then I bush hogged the future fall plot down short. I will wait couple days to let the green tops dry up some then I'll till it.
Decided to let small strips on each end of the plot go to clover since the tree roots prevents my planting not to develope anyway. The clover is doing well there. Can't have too much good clover.

 

[MK111]

8-14
Went down and roto tilled 50% of my fall plot. Didn't get started till late.
Clover plots look real good.

 

[hickslawns]

Good stuff

 

[MK111]

8-15
Tilled the other 50%. Then switched tractors and mounted the fertilizer spreader and spread 450 lbs of 19-19-19 fertilizer. Damn it's hot and dusty out there.
Tomorrow I will go down and pick up the new rocks, cultipack the small seed 1 ac plot then re-cultipack to pack the small seed down. Then sow the .5 ac forage oats and drag it down. Two years ago I tried running the cultipacker across the oats but the damn turkeys moved in and eat every seed of 90 lbs. Never got 1 oats plant.
I got a new electric Moultie seeder that I'll try out as it does look good.
Thunder showers forecasted for Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Hope I get lucky with a good rain.

 

[Spencie]

"Go and prepare your fields for rain"

 

[MK111]

8-16
1- Went down with the UTV and picked up 5 gl of rocks.
2- Took tractor down and ran the cultipacker across the radish-turnip plot.
3- Bolted my new Moultrie electric seed spreader to the UTV bed. Will do a excellent product report later.
4- Used the Moultrie electric seed spreader and sowed the daikon radish- forage turnip- winfred brassica-rudabaga-kale. I get this seed from grandparayoutdoors.com
4- Took tractor down and re-ran the cultipacker across the radish-turnip mix.

Didn't get the oats plot planted. Need to build a good drag. If we get the heavy rain forecasted I'll just run the disk across it to get it ready.

Praying for rain.

 

[MK111]

8-17
Got lucky as the skies opened up and it poured rain hard for a good while. Should be good on the new planting.

 

[MK111]

8-22
Heavy steady rain today. This surely is helping the planting I did on 8-16.

Right at dark last night the son came down and seen 2 nice big bucks feeding in the clover plots. The one he said was big bodied and 18" plus tall horns.

Plant the good stuff and the deer will come to it.

 

[Boarhead]

No pictures it never happened Frank1.
[emoji23] [emoji23]

 

[Bigslam51]

Got any pics of these big bucks?

 

[giles]

18" horns he says...sure he wasn't looking at cattle?

 

[giles]

No pictures it never happened Frank1.
[emoji23] [emoji23]

 

[OO2]

View attachment 56134

Came in on a rope.

 

[hickslawns]

Hope you get a shot at him Frank.

 

[MK111]

8-31
1- took one of the commercial shelving mesh and made a 4x8' drag to cover my oats planting.
2- disk up the tilled plot I tilled 2 weeks ago.
3- spead the WTI forge oats seed with my UTV and the electric Moutrie seeder. Damn that thing works great.
4. dragged the oats seed down with new drag to cover the seed. I seen almost zero seeds on top the ground after dragging it.

Heavy rain in the forecast for Fri-Sat.

The radish-turnip planting from 2 weeks ago is looking better.

 

[MK111]

Light rain started about 10 AM lasting all day and at least I beat the turkeys this year. Two years ago I planted 90 lbs of oats and didn't drag it down as we were to get 2-3" the next day. We didn't get a drop and the turkeys eat every kernel. Never got a plant. But the drag this year did a excellent job and seen almost no kernels on top the ground.
The radish-turnips looking good. I will check it in a week after this rain and if not thick enough after laying there for 16 days I will top dress with more seeds.

Come Jan-Feb I will frost seed my clover plots. Then come 2018 spring I will be chasing broadleaf weeds and grass in the plots. The 1/4 ac of new clover I left in from the 2016 fall planting looks thick and almost weedless.

One thing I did notice on the new tilled ground from 16 days ago I seen zero new weeds. I think it was due to lack of rain.

 

[MK111]

9-5
Went down and checked the new plots. The turnip-radish looks spotty from my overlook but up close there is a lot of 1/2" plants coming up. I'll wait a week and resow the light spots with new seed.
The forage oats I planted 6 days ago is coming up. WTI forage oats has always been a good deer draw for me the last 4-5 yrs.
The clover plots are looking good and I may mow for the 4th time to cut the weed tops off.
With the heavy down pour of rain last night can only help as we was bone dry 1 week ago.

 

[MK111]

9-10
Went down and checked the new food plot to see if I needed to replant the thin spots before the rain on Tues-Wed. Up close there is a lot of 1/2" plants still coming up so I think I'm OK. Oats looks good crop.
Probably go down and bush hog the clover plots for the 4th time to knock the weed tops off.
Looked at my one clover plot that is 4 yrs old and it's mainly grass. So come early spring I'm going to kill it off and replant with a clover-alfalfa mix.