[outdoor_premonition]

I am from central MO. I have cleared a half acre plot. This is my first time trying to start a plot. What should I plant for a first time plot? I am mainly wanting to provide food during the fall and winter months.

 

[beanpile]

winter wheat..soo simple even I can do it

 

[henry]

What was there ? Whats around it ect?

 

[BackyardBandit]

I'd plant some lime first thing.

 

[Dafish]

What part of the state? What type of soild
Is it disked? Plowed? Mowed?
Get a soil sample and see if you need to add anything to get things to grow good.

 

[20']

i'll preface this as usual, there are a ton of knowledgable foodplotters on here, moreso than myself! But, I would frost seed clover in February, then disc it under in the Fall and plant big n beasty! Throw the lime on there like BYB mentioned. get a soil sample as well.

 

[trapperBR549]

Wheat and turnips is what I would try first.

 

[DonJuan]

1/2 acre won’t get you much so you will need fencing or you will never produce much

 

[Ewibob]

First thing is a proper soil test. Then I would suggest doing the plot in late summer after it has been limed and fertilized. I believe the best choice for a food plot is clover. So the first year you have to plant something in addition to the clover. Go to Whitetail Institute webpage. End of August plant the Pure Attraction oats and the clover. The oats will grow fast and protect the clover from being eaten. The oats are real good the first season and then the next year you will have a great clover plot. Good luck. Do not skip the soil test!

 

[Uncleray]

Of course your soil PH is going to dictate what grows well.

Frost seeding red clover a little later in Feb. is how to start. Don't forget the inoculant.
Mow it spring and summer but let it lay. Disk in after last cutting. That will add organic matter to your soil.
That is what holds your moisture.

September double plant Winter wheat and Alfalfa. If you're not going to use insecticide
best to plant after the 15th. to avoid weevil problems. Cut it high the following Spring
before the wheat tops out.

If the neighbors also plant winter wheat use bob oats instead.
Deer will walk across a WW field to get bob oats.

 

[Triple Creek Hunter]

Clover always a good bet. Fairly cheap and if mowed will be around for several years.
Deer always seem to hit it. One my best plots is almost 100% ladino clover. I have never tried frost seeding but several on here have. If you have bare ground that's what I would do next month. I plan on overseeding several plots with clover mix in mid Feb

 

[HardForBoneOutdoors]

For just a half acre I'd do clover with wheat as a nurse crop the first year.

 

[tinhorn]

I would put in Wheat, the best time is between Sept 1 to 15th anyway in central Missouri.
A small plot for deer is 1 acre (put in 1 acre plot on 40 acre property)

4 bags of "field" wheat (cheaper) and 2 bags 13-13-13 fertilizer per 1 acre
[you don't have to put any lime really but no fertilizer and you want have anything growing]

brush hog it,
disk it,
broad cast the stuff,
cut down a cedar and drag it around the field with the tractor to cover it

deer love it

 

[20']

Of course your soil PH is going to dictate what grows well.

Frost seeding red clover a little later in Feb. is how to start. Don't forget the inoculant.
Mow it spring and summer but let it lay. Disk in after last cutting. That will add organic matter to your soil.
That is what holds your moisture.

September double plant Winter wheat and Alfalfa. If you're not going to use insecticide
best to plant after the 15th. to avoid weevil problems. Cut it high the following Spring
before the wheat tops out.

If the neighbors also plant winter wheat use bob oats instead.
Deer will walk across a WW field to get bob oats.

Adding the OM was why I suggested frost seeding next month.

 

[WBF]

I am from central MO. I have cleared a half acre plot. This is my first time trying to start a plot. What should I plant for a first time plot? I am mainly wanting to provide food during the fall and winter months.

With your main goal directed towards a fall plot... I would pull a soil sample now then spend your money on soil amendments. (Lime, N,P,K) nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)... you can still mix some clover in with your fertilizer application so your providing food/attraction to the plot during spring/summer... Being new ground your going to be competing with the seed bank. Depending on how much weed competition Vs clover establishes (if you do decide to add a spring planting) you may decide to burn the plot down with gly prior to your intended fall seeding. The issue with a spring seeding of clover is the weed competition. Disking the soil erupts the seed bank resulting in competing weeds. Going into the fall I would consider cutting the plot in half. One half being a cereal grain and clover mix (winter rye, winter wheat or triticale) mixed with clover (ladino, Kopu II,) Regardless of the clover variety you pick, I highly recommend the addition of Crimson Clover in every fall clover planting... The other half of the plot you might consider a brassica blend (ground hog radish, daikon radish, purple top turnips). Depending on weather/soil moisture if your timing is off planting around a weather event and you experience drought conditions resulting in plot seeding failure... You can always broadcast Winter Rye late in the growing season being Winter Rye will germinate down into the mid/lower 30's. The following late winter into spring you can take an inventory of your plot and possibly frost seed clover into any areas that are bare. At this time you may decide to convert the entire plot into clover. If you decide to continue dividing the plot you'll want to rotate the seedings in the plot. The 1/2 of plot that was seeded in clover you will seed in brassicas (taking advantage of the previous nitrogen fixation legumes/clover provides). The other half of the plot you will plant your cereal grain/clover mix. Brassicas run tap roots that help "mine" the soil, in effect pulling nutrients up through the soil as well as leaving a slow released fertilizer via any bulbs that weren't consumed, left to decompose. Don't be discouraged if your particular deer herd doesn't consume your brassica plot the first 1-2 years. Sometimes there's a learning curve when it comes to brassicas esp the larger tubers such as Purple Tops.

 

[t-tomshooter]

clover with a corn feeder in middle

 

[antlercrazed]

Plant you some clover for this summer and add some lime at the same time.Work this summer trying to expand the plot and make it into 1.5 acre plot or maybe add 2 more 1/2 acre plots in other areas.For fall plant winter wheat and some greens like big and beastly or whatever you wish.If you have the cover in the area to support a lot of deer a good rule of thumb would be plant about 10% of your property.So if you have 40 acres around 4 acres worth of good foodplots etc etc.If you have a super small place that’s surrounded by cover from neighboring properties then you want to be good at one thing and that’s food.So if you can’t beat the neighbors in cover and say you only had 10 acres to work with I would go against the normal rule of thumb and I would have 5 acres or more of food.Each property is different so you gotta take advantage of not only what you have but what else is in the area

 

[rat]

What was there ? Whats around it ect?

This is what I would want to know as a first consideration. Depending on the answer to this, a lot of things either will or wont work very good.