Deertracker's 2018 Food Plots

Not much to report on my end as far as plots go. Finally made it up to the hunting land last week. Everything is so wet up in NW MN that they haven’t even been able to hay. Ended up getting one of the tractors stuck in one of my plots. I was able to disc a circle around one of my plots but that’s it. Total area is only about a quarter acre. Once I ran the disc through I spread down an all nitrogen fertilizer and packed it with the treactor tires. Got it as prepped as I could for brassica planting in July. Also sprayed my clovers plots with a light dose of Gly. I forgot my Clethodem of course. I did what I could, just one of those years.
DT

Attachments:

1. 

   20180618_143116.jpg
   

2. 

   20180618_113656.jpg
   

3. 

   20180618_101753.jpg
   

I also pulled all of my bow stands. They have been in the woods for a few years now. Going to do the right thing and replace all of the bolts and straps.
DT

Attachments:

1. 

   20180619_122824.jpg
   

Boy does that looks sloppy.

Clover looks good though!!

deertracker wrote:

Going to do the right thing and replace all of the bolts and straps.
DT

Great idea!

Yes, I’ve been fighting to get everything planted because my place has averaged about 3 inches of rain per week for the past 2 months. It’s wetter now than it was in the early spring.

It’s a tough one, as you expand the plots, the equipment gets bigger. And the bigger they are, the deeper they sink. I had a couple of “oh sh!t” moments when I thought I was hosed, but I have 3 pt disc, so I can hit the up button and get rid of all that drag if wheels start slipping.

Nice job to get done what you could. That clover plot still looks good, you had the nicest clover stand on that power line.

Grouse

Made it back up to plant my brassicas. Only a month late. Lol. No pics to share though. Basically pit the phone down for a couple days. It was kind of nice. I also planted some oats in another area that will hopefully have corn next year. Just a way to try and keep the weeds down. It’s been very dry up there since I was there last so we will see how it goes.
DT

Do what you can DT, hope you get some rain today!!

I need to get a soil sample done this fall. Not sure if theyou are stunted because of my late planting or my soil is missing something.
DT

Attachments:

1. 

   20180925_140133.jpg
   

2. 

   20180925_140137.jpg
   

Actually for a late planting and all the dang rain you had up there, those don’t look too bad DT! Did you hit them with N at planting time? Looks like you have about perfect coverage for brassica.

Nice planting and good coverage without over-planting, DT. Unfortunately, if you planted around July 24 per your previous post, that’s about the size they get to in northern MN unless you have high ground with very optimal sun exposure.

Here’s the problem up here in the Frozen Tundra: High protine plants need not just time, but sunlight/heat to grow. In Ag, you’ll hear “Growing Degree Days” or “heat units” used as a measure of the amount of sun needed to bring a crop to maturity.

The problem is that we lose heat units per day VERY quickly after July.

Here’s an example: At my farm near Hinckley, I planted Brassicas Bender blend from Midwest Monster Whitetail Products on June 24, so let’s assume it germinated on July 1.

In my area, I got 1632 heat units from July 1 to September 15.

Run the same calculation had I got planted 1 month later, assuming germination on August 1, and I’d only get 933 GDD. Roughly 40% less. And after August 15, it drops off a cliff at this lattitude, so really that 933 number is front loaded because I’d have gotten very little growth after September 1.

Basically, you needed about another 800 heat units to bring those closer to maturity.

Here’s a handy calculator that calculates your GDD by zip code. Very handy planning tool:

http://www.nutrien-ekonomics.com/tools-to-calculate-fertilizer-needs/calculators/gdd/

Grouse