[blevely]

Ok boyz and girlz I am very new to planting food plots and a have a question or 2 for you.

Here is what I have done thus far;

Cleared land, sprayed round up and let set a week, spread some 13-13-13 fertilizer per MFG guidelines. Now the planting times on the bag say Aug 1 to mid Sept, will it hurt to seed it early, like next weekend maybe?

DOes anyone have any experience with Whitetail Institute products? I wanted Bio Logic but they were all out of the seed that doesn't take alot of equipment to plant and I was too impatient to wait around for more.

Thanks in advance
Brett

 

[Thayer]

Brett, I would wait till mid August, at least, before you plant any fall food plot mix. Moisture generally, does not meet up with us till late August or September.

Have you done a soil test? Why did you fertilize vacant soil, save your fertilizer till you plant...now, if you said you were putting down lime...that would have been a great idea.

I would use July for preparation of your plot..maybe disc up your area in a couple weeks, put down some lime, and see if you get a bunch of weeds come up...if so, spray again.

When planting any seeds, remember that you don't want to bury the seeds during planting, any more that 3X the diameter of the seed....

For instance, clover is a small seed, maybe 1/8th" in diameter, so don't bury it more than 3/8"...this is a farmers rule of thumb and works very well.

The Whitetail Institute has some real good info on how to plant clover...I would suggest visiting the QDMA website and searching the food plot section for answers to alot of plotting questions.

 

[90acres]

Planting now would run the risk of the seed germinating in a good rain shower but not have the moisture to maintain and encourage growth. Hence, it would die out. I agree with Thayer, save the fertilizer until you are ready to plant, think lime. And if you are doing clover you may want to stay away from the nitrogen.

 

[blevely]

Thanks guys, I was going to put lime down instead of the fertilizer but I guess I interpeted the instructions wrong. I'm planitng Secret Spot XL.

I have plenty of time left then so I'll do some more reading and working with everything then.

 

[MObigbuck]

blevely,
That's some good advice from Thayer. This summer, my plots are being sprayed/disced about 3 times to clean up the seed bed. I'm going to replant my Imperial Whitetail Clover on our 5 acre plot. We have had phenomenal success with this product. Please wait to plant till Sept. August is too dry to risk it. Funny, my brother and I had the same conversation last week. What I'm afraid of is a quick hit of rain from a thunderstorm in August, then no rain at all for weeks. This is a guaranteed way to kill all your seed. Rain comes at a much more frequent pace come Sept and beyond. As far as planting, don't bury that seed too deep. What we do is use a homemade drag, made with chainlink fence and some 6x6 posts to barely cover the seed. Works very well. Best of luck with the plots.

 

[pinwheel]

Has anyone mentioned lime yet? It's as important, probably more important, than fertilizer. Also agree, mid to late august for fall plots.