Late season plot

Here is my situation. I’m going up to put up a new stand the first week of august. I’m going to be breaking ground on a new plot. I’m not sure if I will have a 3 point tiller to use yet. If not I will be mowing up short and discing it numerous times to work it up. I won’t be there again until I hunt. Am I just wasting money by putting down some type of seed and see if it takes? I could probably get someone to spray it for me at some point. I have a bag of big and beasty but don’t want to waste it on a half prepared see bed. I was thinking clover or rye and if it doesn’t take, no big loss.
Thoughts?

I should add that if it is not worth putting down seed I will just spray it with round-up and be ready for the spring.
DT

That’s a tough one. I know myself I would hate to have to spot for a plot and not have anything in there, but yeah you don’t want to throw good money away on seed if it doesn’t work. How big of a plot are you talking? I guess what I would do if you have the time to get it worked up is get a bag of less expensive seed, some type of brassica and spread it and pack it and hope it works out. Some of it will surely come up. I am heading up next weekend to till and plant my brassica, but I have the plots prepped and have hit them with gly once already.

I copied this from another site, but have been using this the past few years and is a great green fall/winter plot and also improves the soil for next season.

“Cereal rye is always my first choice over wheat or any other grain because it is higher in protein, requires no fertilizer, will grow on low PH soils, has alleopathic chemicals that discourage weeds, is a nitrogen scavenger and a root system that breaks up soil hardpan and improves soil.” And I’ll add it stays green much longer then oats or wheat, after the first hard frost oats/wheat are done. Rye stays green even under snow. And just so we’re on the same page, we are talking Cereal Rye, not Rye grass. You don’t want to plant Rye grass.

That being said, it would not be a waste of money in my opinion. And if you want to start a year round food plot, mix your clover in with the rye. The rye will keep the browse pressure off the young clover. Next spring frost seed more clover, and when your rye starts to grow again in the spring, mow it off and you’ll have a fantastic stand of clover for all summer or until you choose to work it up and plant something else.

I was trying to find cereal rye online for sale with not much luck. Do I just go to a local seed dealer and ask for cereal rye? How much does it normally cost for a bag?
Thanks

I have never heard of cereal rye. It sounds like a great idea with the low ph needs, breaking up soil, and staying green for a long time. I deal with Biologic for all my food plots and I am very happy with the results. I plant maximum, lablab, and biomass in the spring for all of my big plots which is about 12 acres added up or so, varying in size from 1 acre to 3 acres. I plant Biologic brassica and hotspot in the fall for hunting plots and after season feed for deer and turkeys. Size wise for the fall plots varies from 1/3 to 1/2 acre for the most part adding up to another 3+ acres.
In my opinion, whenever you can better your hunting properties, it is a good thing. Whether its only breaking up a bit of dirt and spreading clover or a full on vegetation killer spray, tilling, lime, fertilizer, brush and tree removal, picking stones, and laying down a high quality food plot seed & rolling it in. The next time you redo that plot it will be a bit easier to till and the deer will have made a habit of using the food plot for a source of food.
I do a lot of plot work with a 6 disc harrow I pulled out of the overgrown brush and brought back to life with new weight boxes and replacing all of the bolts plus a bit of welding. I pull the small disc harrow with my 650cc ATV pretty easily and it does a great job, especially in those plots that trucking bigger equipment like tractor & tiller would be a project. With the ATV and small harrow, I can load it on my little 5×10 guide trailer very easily. So keep your eyes open for an old disc harrow lost in time stuck in the brush that someone would sell cheap, its a good investment. For the big plots that I can drive the tractor equipment to the location, instead of trailering, it really makes short work of tilling up a plot leaving more time for stone removal and such. Good luck this season!
Whitetail Strategies Guide Service
Fred Scott Owner/Head Guide

Fall rye, winter rye, cereal rye are basically the same. Albert Lea seed company if you’re in southern mn. Should be able to get it from any seed dealer or coop though.

Thanks for all the replies. I kind of thought they were the same but wanted to double check. After reading up on cereal rye, I’m starting to get excited about it. I will probably add in some winter peas and maybe some oats as I already have them. Now I just need to finish building the stand and get up there.
DT

Most any seed dealer will carry cereal rye, I get mine at a little mom and pop seed store. You and the deer will live the results of fall planted rye

I agree, for stuff like rye, wheat, clover, etc. the prices being charged per pound for the big name wildlife brands are just ridiculous. There’s nothing different about anything in these varieties that can justify charging 2-10x the price.

Especially in the situation Deertracker has where soil prep is going to be a rush job at best.

I’m in a similar situation, because I just bought the property last fall, I’m doing everything I can, as fast as I can, but clearing large food plots AND doing all the work to condition the soil that has never grown anything but scrub and softwoods will be a long-term challenge.

I’m scratching in clover in a plot that I made right on a fence line. In an existing clearing in the woods, I’m going to put a quarter acre of a winter mix (peas, radish, rye, turnips, and a few other goodies) that I got on sale for $12.99 a bag on the interweb.

DT, what I WOULD recommend you do is get a soil test done on that new plot and take the time to spread lime if needed. Which it almost certainly will. You can buy pelletized lime for $4 a bag at Menards and spread it with a rotary lawn spreader. Total time investment for a small plot would be 30 minutes, but then you get the advantage of having the lime work into the soil and start to reduce the acid over the next 9 months. Then when you plant the plot next year “for real” you’ll have the Ph aspect already trending in the right direction.

Grouse

I picked up a 50# bag of winter peas today. Will he picking up 100# of winter rye tomorrow. Ill have more peas than I need but hey, go big. I might add in a few buck forage oats.
DT

Attachments:

1. 

   2014-07-09-12.42.56.jpg
   

Food plots are addicting, once you get going its hard to stop. No such thing as left over seed, just means one more food plot. We’re addicts, first step is admitting you have a problem. I am thinking of joining a FPA (food-plots-anonymous) if I can find one, only for current seed availability of course. LOL!

How’d it go?? Did you get all the seed down?

I would of suggested the same thing. Rye Grain is cheap and what I would have used. It’ll grow fast and might beat out some of the weeds.

Another option and what I do a lot of the time is just cut my plots outs and then kill it with 41% Gly. You could have cut it, killed it then planted it in the same day. What that’ll do is kill everything there except your seed. You could have planted a brassica mix, beans, peas, rye grain or whatever else you would like to plant. Over-seed so you get good germination but I have success every year doing this. You won’t have as much weed competition.

As you know by discing it and turning the soil all you do is turn up new seed and the weeds will over take it. Generally you want to wait at least two weeks and then kill and plant after turning soil.

Another thing.. Rye Grass and Rye Grain are two different things so make sure you get the right one

Fred Scott wrote:

Food plots are addicting, once you get going its hard to stop. No such thing as left over seed, just means one more food plot. We’re addicts, first step is admitting you have a problem. I am thinking of joining a FPA (food-plots-anonymous) if I can find one, only for current seed availability of course. LOL!

I will join your club