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No Till Food Plots - So Easy

at1010

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Time of year to be pulling soil samples folks!

A Few tips
1. try to take the same time of year, every year.
2. try to take the same depth of each sample - each time. I mark my soil probe
3. to start I like to take random grid samples, However - as I look to fine-tune my process on a specific soil over the years - I start to narrow down my sampling locations to further eliminate variables and fine-tune my baseline metric for movement.

I hope this is useful!
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
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When founding Vitalize Seed, we set out with the goal of simplifying a complex topic (building soil). Our goal was to do this through transparency and digestible educational information, with the best partners to leverage their expertise in their respective categories, resulting in the BEST product and buying experience for our customers.

Vitalize Seed Co. is honored and excited to partner with Ward Labs for all your soil testing needs!

Soil testing is of critical importance, and Ward is one of the best in the country! Wared Lab's staff is made up of a Ph.D. Agronomists to Biologists and Vitalize Seed Co. looks forward to working with these men and women to further help educate all on the importance of soil conservation and the most up-to-date science-backed research.

See the Link for the Vitalize Seed Offering: https://vitalizeseed.com/shop/

Vitalize Seed Co. will be offering our S4 soil testing – which is an all-encompassing conventional soil test that includes Macros, Micros, Base Saturations, OM, etc.

Vitalize Seed Co. will also be offering the Ward Labs Soil Health Assessment - which measures everything from CO2 respiration to Total Organic Nitrogen.
 

Hedgelj

Senior Member
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Mohicanish
Just for the Ohio guys, who might be interested, I do have a dealer (a great friend of mine in SE Ohio). Everything else is free shipping, including the soil tests.


It is a great time of year to run soil tests boys!! Wont be long now!
What soil temps do you recommend?
What type of sun requirements does your mixes require? Full, partial?
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Well done! I hadn't clicked on this in a while. Congratulations and good luck with the seeds! Wife was just talking about going wildflower crazy around the yard edge and pond.
 
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at1010

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What soil temps do you recommend?
What type of sun requirements does your mixes require? Full, partial?

so that somewhat depends on what you want to get out of the mix. Ideal is full sunlight, soil temps above 55. If you have a perfect window to plant 60 degree soil temps will be great.

this mix has some very large (forage bean) seeds and some very small - clover seeds - in it.

I did this for a reason
1. I needed to balance the carbon and nitrogen loads with high quality forages for wildlife and pollinators.
2. By having diversity in not only the blend but the seed size within the blend - it just about Guarantees the success or some success of any planting methodology.

lots of great companies and mixes out there guys. Really mines focused on soil and nutrient cycling and deer browse-ability.

but I am not on TOO just to promote my mixes - I’ll help give advice to anyone on here for any mixes. I really enjoy it and want y’all to be successful.

AT
 
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at1010

*Supporting Member*
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A recent blog I wrote on the soil. IF you like to food plot or Garden - you might enjoy!

 

Hedgelj

Senior Member
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Mohicanish

here is website bud. PM me anytime.
I ordered some, gonna try it near one of the blinds we have. I really like the idea of how thick and tall you say the fall planting stuff will get. If it does well for me i could be interested in being a dealer for my area.
 
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at1010

*Supporting Member*
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I ordered some, gonna try it near one of the blinds we have. I really like the idea of how thick and tall you say the fall planting stuff will get. If it does well for me i could be interested in being a dealer for my area.
You are the man! let me know if you have any questions or need anything at all! I am available anytime to chat.
 
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Hedgelj

Senior Member
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Mohicanish
Screenshot_20220413-191321_onX Hunt.jpg

You are the man! let me know if you have any questions or need anything at all! I am available anytime to chat.
I'm putting it near the purple salt block icon. The blind is the black icon behind the orange salt block one. I'm seeding part of the corner of the pasture on the right in front of the blind with buckwheat in a few weeks and then in a fall turnip and brassica heavy blend (merit bison) this summer.

The blind is easy for my dad and kids to get to. Trying to set them up for success.
 
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at1010

*Supporting Member*
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159
View attachment 150115

I'm putting it near the purple salt block icon. The blind is the black icon behind the orange salt block one. I'm seeding part of the corner of the pasture on the right in front of the blind with buckwheat in a few weeks and then in a fall turnip and brassica heavy blend (merit bison) this summer.

The blind is easy for my dad and kids to get to. Trying to set them up for success.

add a clover to that buckwheat seeding at a minimum. The bison mix is grains and brassicas. It needs N!! Buckwheat also likes N. It’ll scavenge some I am sure and release when it’s killed but not enough to support the following crop. A legume with buckwheat is best. Imo.
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
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I recently reviewed my notes from a Dr. Christine Jones - webinar. With the prices of fert being so high - I thought this would be super helpful to all interested.

It’s not about what the plants look like folks - it’s what is in the plant. If we can increase natural amino acid uptake through symbiotic relationships in plant species and fungal networks - we increase forage quality. Brix readings, root examination for rhizosheats, diverse mixes, and tissue analysis are all a great start to and for this!
Notes below:
•Nitrogen - highly mobile in soil10-40% is taken up by plants
•60-90% goes elsewhere
•Nitrogen rapidly transformed does not accumulate, like phosphorus – volatilizes
•78% of the atmosphere is N2
•70million lbs per acre in N2 available
•N2 is inert
•Legumes don’t fix nitrogen - they symbiotically work with bacteria to fix nitrogen.
•Nitrogen fixation occurred insides rhizosheaths and water-stable aggregates – need to have functioning soil to make nitrogen available.
•Synthetic fertilizers - inhibit rhizosheaths and water-stable aggregates.
•A little bit can be stimulatory. Over 50lb per acre is too much (urea for example).
•Clean white roots - no rhizosheaths happening no natural nitrogen fixation occurs.
•Every green living plant has some possibility to access free-living nitrogen through microbial intermediaries, through the fungal network.
•Fungi are the conduits transport of organic nitrogen to plant roots, as amino acids. Once inside the plant, the plant can assemble the amino acids into proteins. This is important, some synthetics might get taken up by the plant but are not converted to proteins, therefore are consumed as nitrates.
•Huge metabolic cost to plant to convert synthetic nitrogen to usable protein. So it at times doesn’t convert, again leaving the amount a N in the plant vs. a protein, which is not helping the nutrient density of the plant for consumption.
•80-90% of plant nutrient acquisition is microbially mediated.
•Dissimilar microbiomes - growing together- function symbiotically vs. competitively.
•High analysis fertilizers are just substituting for plant diversity.
•800lbs of urea per acre - cannot produce the same biomass as 4+ groups of complimentary plants working together.
•Wean off N if needed - 20%,30%,50% - use an organic form of N fertilizer vs. urea, as an example.
•Can use 5lb per acre of synthetic N - without detrimental impacts. Not sure why this occurs but it does act as a jump start or stimulant for the microbiomes.
•Use plant leaf tests and apply as foliar - only if needed.
•Funny protein - is if a plant has N in the plant but the protein was never converted, yet the lab tests can be inconsistent. Labs test for N in the plant and then multiply it by a fixed number variable. This test is inconsistent as it assumes all N is converted to a protein. However, this is not the case as many synthetics are never converted and stay as N.
•4 functional groups without a legume will fix as much N - as with a legume. Too many legumes can be detrimental, like synthetics.
•More than half the N in manure is inorganic
•Avoid inorganic N all together
•If you put nitrogen fertilizer on a legume - the bacteria that fix nitrogen will stop.
•Synthetics make plants look good but they are weak below. Not nutrient-dense.
•4 plant functional groups - incredibly healthy microbiome.
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
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Mycorrhizae Fungi is critical to soil building, nutrient solubility, nitrogen fixation, nutrient cycling, and even higher nutrient densities in the plant which leads to higher pest resistance.

Mycorrhizae to plant-root growth is a symbiotic relationship and we cannot maintain the relationship between the two without a root exudating (feeding the soil). This means, that if we plant mono-cultures or have long fallowed periods, we reduce our ability to feed our fungal networks, therefore reducing our soil's efficiency.

To combat this, we can increase our cover crop mixes’ photosynthetic periods and capture throughout the Spring and Fall (checkout VitalizeSeed.com for our mixes). By doing this we can ensure constant feeding for our beneficial fungi, which results in healthier soil, plants, and wildlife!

Mycorrhizae will be damaged by deep tillage. Keep this in mind as you are planning your planting. I understand not everyone has a no-till drill and some enjoy tillage – so my recommendation is always to try to meet in the middle. If you feel tillage is the best way for you and your property, try practicing conservation tillage where we reduce the below-ground disturbance and leave as much thatch on the surface as possible. This will result in less disturbance to the fungal networks.

Remember, as we increase our cover crop diversity, we increase our feeding of fungal networks, which in turn increases our microbial populations in the soil. We can reduce our needs for synthetic fertilizers and overall input costs while increasing the nutrient densities of our crops being grown.

Feed the soil, balance the Carbon/Nitrogen of your mixes, control browse pressure and let nature do its thing!

We can greatly enhance our efficiencies from a crop growth and nutrient cycling perspective.

Sources:
 
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