Food Plots: No Equipment? No Problem...
Establishing Food Plots With Limited Resources
Sometimes all you need are some hand tools and effort!
Don't ever let a lack of equipment or money prevent you from partaking in The Process!
Food plots have become a favorite tool in the land managers arsenal. The excitement of getting seed in the ground and watching it grow into something that will attract wildlife and provide nutrition is a great thing. So if you love getting food plots established as much as the TPO team does but do not have the luxury of owning large AG equipment don't worry! The desire to improve the land you hunt is the first step, from there all it takes is a little sweat and ingenuity!
The first decisions to be made are the what, where and why in regards to the plots. While laying out the design of your plots you will need to decide what you are planting, where it will be placed on your land and why are you planting it? I know we all watch T.V. shows where someone is sitting on the edge of a 20 acre clover plot and 40 deer pile in every night and they have the pick of the litter on mature bucks. This is not realistic for most of us and the biggest thing to understand is that every property and every herd require different things. There is not one prescription that can be applied to any farm that will guarantee results.
We will give our advice on how to write your own prescription in future blog posts but for now want to focus on the execution of that prescription when you have little to no equipment to put it in place. We are sure most of you have some ideas in your heads that you want to execute but equipment/money/time may be holding you back, Below we will touch on some of our favorite strategies to still getting the job done.
Frost Seeding/ Mowing Clover
Frost seeding is an extraordinary way to get clover planted with no equipment!
Its no secret that clover has become quite possibly the most popular go to staple in any farms plot rotation. Once established clover provides year round forage for the herd. Most clovers are also perennial which means once you have that first stand established you can be nearly hands off for up to 5 years and beyond in some cases. Clover also adds nitrogen to the soil and is a natural fertilizer when disced in for plot rotation. (Think you have clover stand established and you want to rotate to soybeans in the fall). We could go on and on about the Pros of clover but lets get to the actual establishment of it with no large equipment. This is the process we have used that has proven successful in establishing anything from half acre kill plots up to multiple acre destination feeding plots.
Shopping Cart:
- Backpack sprayer and Glyphosate
- Hand spreader
- Your favorite clover blend
- ATV/UTV/Truck
- Drag Harrow
- Mower
The Process:
The trickiest thing about establishing a good clover plot is weed control. You do not have the round up ready luxury and will have to think about how you will go about controlling every plots biggest enemy...weeds. While there are some very expensive herbicides we have found success following these steps...
- Late fall after vegetation growth has slowed and nearly stopped. Identify area and apply glyphosate at the recommended rates. Repeat if necessary.
- Once existing vegetation has expired utilize your small vehicle and small harrow of some sort to rough up soil and clear some of the excess matter. We use a gator with a small spring toothed harrow section. Goal is simply to expose soil for good seed to soil contact.
- Once soil is exposed broadcast your seed using the hand spreader immediately before a rain. If you have the time you can also lightly drag the seed into the soil with a less aggressive harrow setting. Depending on soil you can apply a low nitrogen fertilizer at this time as well.
- Do not expect booming growth for the current season, the idea here is to get a head start for a good spring clover stand the following year.
- During the winter return to the area while the ground is frozen and the thaw season is on the horizon. Broadcast another application of clover onto the area, The freeze thaw cycle of winter months will incorporate your seed into the soil for spring germination.
- Once thaw occurs your clover should have a head start on weed growth. Clover grows much more aggressively than local vegetation in most cases.
- Finally monitor growth and determine when mowing is needed. Mowing of the plot will cut down the competing weeds and give the clover yet another chance to outgrow and choke out its competition. Well timed mowing also increases attractiveness by promoting fresh young growth that the herd enjoys most. We typically mow 2-3 times a summer.\
- You now have a plot that will produce tons of farage for the next 5-7 years with only supplemental mowing needed!!
You can achieve a great stand using these methods!
Broadcasting into standing Beans
In some situations we may want to increase an areas late season attractiveness for the up coming season, Maybe we did not have the time or equipment to get the work done during spring/summer. Do not panic there are still ways to get your plot in for the upcoming season that are very cheap and low impact.
Shopping Cart:
- Cereal Grain Seed
- Hand Broadcaster
- Permission from farmer
The Process:
One of the easiest ways to establish a quick and effective fall food plot is to utilize your surroundings concerning AG production. Bean fields in particular are a great opportunity because the soil work is already done for you concerning tillage/fertilizer and weed control. With the seasons change and the beans changing color and losing their leafy forage the soil they grow in is naturally exposed weed free right before harvest. We can take advantage of this for a very quick and very effective type of food plot.
- First step is having a conversation with the farmer of the AG ground that you will be utilizing. In some cases we own the ground, share crop, rent etc. In any case explain the process and make sure everyone is on the same page.
- Once the leaves have turned and the soil is exposed in the bean field broadcast your seed directly into the standing beans. These fields have already been fertilized and weed control is complete so growth is typically easy to establish when good seed soil contact it made. Any cereal grain will be quick growing and the deer love the young fresh growth.
- After the beans have been harvested you will see the fresh young growth of your cereal grain start to pop right around that pre-rut time period and will prove to help promote specific movements during that time period. This attractiveness will last through the late season when food is king as far as creating predictable timing of movements within the deer herd.
- Anything remaining on the Ag land the following spring will simply be tilled into the ground and the area will once again be usable for farm production.
- Repeat The Process each year for one of the easiest lowest impact plot opportunities out there!!!
Help Wanted!
Finally a strategy that works well when equipment/time/money are limited is to simply ask for help. This could be your neighbor land manager, farmer, buddy etc that does have access to the equipment needed to get higher impact plot production practices. Maybe you pay for the seed, fertilizer, herbicide and your help utilizes their tillage, planting, application equipment to execute your plan. A good relationship with your neighbors and the farmers that utilize your land is key to good management and can be a powerful tool in getting things done!
Conclusion
So there it is a few different ways that we have managed to get effective plots in place without any large equipment and keeping costs very low. The main thing to remember here is that with the right desire to improve the food available to your herd at different times in the year there are several ways to get the job done!
We always love the feeling of overlooking the results of our labor.
