Fall plots are in…

Had to burn the midnight oil to beat the rain Saturday night but worth it in the end…

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Finished…

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Last pass

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Planting the road ditch?

I planted all my open spots with soybeans saturday afternoon. Hopefully got enough rain to make them sprout. When the surrounding fields are corn they sure seem to like the beans when they are about 4 inches tall.

It’s along the drive into my place but not in the ditch…I have another small plot just behind it in the woods too…and cameras to make people pay if they want to do anything dumb…(:

Nice.

Got my 1st plot tore up a few weeks back. It is starting to green up now. Not much activity on it yet.

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You’re planting soybeans this late in the year? Typically, they get planted earlier and you’d get a lot more forage off them than just 4″ plants.
But hey, if it works for you great.

I forgot to take a pic of the brassicas I planted 3rd week of July. With the rain we had lately, it’s a forest of green carpet. I tried not to get it too thick but I did anyhow.

I planted this in the spring. Not really for the deer but the pheasants love it and man do the Bees ever use it. It’s alive with buzzing. Bees have taken a hit lately so I’m helping the pollinators out a bit. Sunflowers, buck wheat, peas and sorghum mix.

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There is hundreds of acres of mature soybeans on the neighbors property. They just really seem to enjoy eating the fresh little plants. At least by me. Plus I just happened to have like 600lbs of roundup ready soybean seed.

It’s not so much the fresh little plants they like as much as it’s “new” growth they like.
They do love them but I can plant 2 acres of beans in early June and they never get more than 8″ high cuz the deer chow em right down. They keep eating the new growth.

Grouse has a variety of forage beans that really put out the tonnage but even those, the deer mow em right down to nothing so by October there’s nothing left.
I had to give up planting them as I wanted something to last into early Winter.

Good planting, Jack, and this year you have to do just what you did–time planting right before a good chance (or the best chance we can get, anyway) of rain.

Very few people are happy with their plots this year because almost nobody in the area where most of our customers reside have properties (WI, MN, MI, and the Dakotas) has had the rainfall that is even close to normal levels. Far northern MN has been okay, but almost everyone else I talk to has been dry, dry, dry.

Regarding late summer planting of soybeans. I know certain YouTube personalities recommend this, but I always tell people this: Everything is different in the north!

What you have to look at is WHERE is this food plot guru located when he’s doing all this late summer or even fall planting?

Yes, Grant Woods does a lot of “layered” plantings, but Grant Woods did a lot of his YouTube videos when he was in Missouri. Missouri ain’t Minnesota. I calculated out Grant’s growing degree days versus ours here in MN, and basically, he has almost 2 months MORE effective growing season than we do in most of MN. Wow.

So yes you CAN plant soybeans in the late summer and if we’re getting the moisture, they will grow. And of course, the deer will love you for it, because tender young soybeans are one of their favorite snacks. Filling in areas that didn’t grow or washed out is a good use of soybeans, as is using them to top up a multi-species plot that came in a little thin.

But you have to consider this as part of your overall plan and determine if the effort is worth it OR are there more productive things you could spend your time and money planting?

The key thing I tell everyone to think about is this: Tons per acre. Tons per acre. Tons per acre.

What is the absolute maximum you can produce with your available plots and in the available growing season?

Right now the scale tips toward the multi-species blends like Real World’s Harvest Salad or Deadly Dozen and the pure grain species like winter rye (grain, not grass). These crops are cool weather growers that produce as much forage as possible in the growing season we have left.

Best of luck out there. May the rain be with you.

I wasnt trying to feed them for the winter with my late soybeans they can eat all the corn and beans they want on the rest of my dads property. I planted them right in front of my stand for one reason.

Happy with the one week growth!

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Got up to check mine this weekend. It actually looked better than I thought it would. I planted it a day before some forecasted rain. The rain ended up missing the area. It sat for 2 weeks with little to none rain. Then got a decent rain and not much since so not idea growing conditions. So was surprised to see it look as good as it did

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Desperate times call for desperate measures!

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Jackfish wrote:

Desperate times call for desperate measures!

That’s a feel good measure at this point. Good luck with the plot. Growing season is done. Not sure what you have in the ground but most likely a little water won’t get it much better at this point.

Riverruns wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jackfish wrote:</div>
Desperate times call for desperate measures!

That’s a feel good measure at this point. Good luck with the plot. Growing season is done. Not sure what you have in the ground but most likely a little water won’t get it much better at this point.

There are still 3-4 weeks of productive growing season for the Cities and to the south for grain and brassicas.

Yep…Riverruns, not sure where you’re coming from…my plots are green/growing into the first of November most years…here’s a November 1st pic from 2 years ago…

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Jackfish wrote:

Yep…Riverruns, not sure where you’re coming from…my plots are green/growing into the first of November most years…here’s a November 1st pic from 2 years ago…

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That’s looking really nice and you have a huge advantage in the you’re able to water the plots.

This year the bar is not going to be set very high as far as what makes for an attractive plot. I think the deer are going to be eating anything they can get to. If you have anything for a plot you’re going to pull in deer and lots of them.

Grouse

If you are in an area with oaks they might not care about those food plots for awhile. I was up at the cabin over Labor Day and it was raining acorns nonstop and the ground was blanketed. Biggest acorn year I have seen in a long time.

FinnyDinDin wrote:

If you are in an area with oaks they might not care about those food plots for awhile. I was up at the cabin over Labor Day and it was raining acorns nonstop and the ground was blanketed. Biggest acorn year I have seen in a long time.

Yes, I have a huge acorn crop as well.

The interesting thing I’ve noticed about acorns is even when there is a good crop, there is no noticeable dip in the number of deer visiting the food plots as far as the trail cameras show.

I’ve thought the exact opposite would be true. I’d love to ask the deer about this, but it seems like no matter how good the acorn crop is, they can’t eat one thing all the time.

Even my plots that have terrible weeds are still getting hammered. Amazing the way the deer will pick through the weeds to get to the clover. One thing I’ve noticed is when the acorns are dropping I get less day light activity in the plots. I assume the deer take a little extra time making it out from the bedding when they’re tripping over food on the way. There also seems to be a bumper crop of apples this year. Even some of the trees that haven’t had apples in 5 or 6 years are full this year. I wonder if that’s not part of the reason the deer are getting to the clover later than they were.

Yep…my small plot in the woods is covered with acorns…got a bit of rain a couple days after I watered and some rain in the forecast tomorrow…fingers crossed…

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