Rye Plot

This is my first attempt at a food plot. I planted the rye labor day weekend.

Attachments:

1. 

   0917161057a.jpg
   

Congrats on the first plot actually growing something. My first few were not so lucky. Next thing you know you will be addicted and strategizing food plot stuff all year.
DT

Looks perfect. Excellent first attempt.

That looks like a nice plot, ground looks pretty decent.

Grouse

Here is a picture of the rye plot I planted on Labor day weekend.

Attachments:

1. 

   I__00045.jpg
   

Very nice!

That looks great!! Nice work

Did you use the groundhog max!!!?? Let us know how it worked for you.
Food plot looks awesome!
I would get the chainsaw fired up this winter and feather edge/hinge cut the edge of the food plot.

I used a Groundhog Maxx on this plot. Worked great!

Attachments:

1. 

   plot2.jpg
   

ranger777 wrote:

I would get the chainsaw fired up this winter and feather edge/hinge cut the edge of the food plot.

X2!

super_do wrote:

I used a Groundhog Maxx on this plot. Worked great!

Great feed back on a product, thanks!

What exactly to you guys mean by hinge cut the edges?

Yes I used the groundhog max. It worked great, will really work good for food plots back in the woods.

Nitrodog wrote:

What exactly to you guys mean by hinge cut the edges?

The trees, especially poplars that surround your plot, cut the tree part way through so the fall over but don’t cut them all the way through. the deer will browse on the tops all winter long and they will stay tender if you don’t cut all the way through

throw some turnips and radish in next year, they plant easy

Well, so much for that ol’ whopper that MN deer don’t like rye. Nice plot Nitro. I see you fertilized very nicely, good work. The deer are obviously hammering that plot and the payoff with rye will come when all the other green stuff disappeared.

Do everyone a favor, Nitro, and snap another picture during deer season. Most people around these parts are amazed at how GREEN rye stays even after hard frosts and snow. This plot will only get better as far as attractiveness.

Pete S wrote:

Throw some turnips and radish in next year, they plant easy

Pete, he planted this plot on Labor Day, so adding turnips and radish would have been a waste of good seed and money at that point. Turnips and radish in his area need 90 days at least to achieve full size and realistically they need at least 45 average pre-frost growing-season days to achieve any edible size at all.

I found out the hard way and very much appreciate the advice others gave me when it comes to brassicas planting. The Buck on the Bag seed from big box stores is just plain WRONG when it comes to their general advice for planting dates for brassicas.

Here’s the real story: North of the Iowa/Minnesota border, the time to plant Brassicas like turnips, radish, and beets is July 4 +/- 3 days. That is all you need to know. Anytime between July 1 and July 7, get ’em in the ground if you live north of the MN/IA border.

The advantage to grain blends like rye is that they grow fast, thick, and they continue to grow even after the cool weather sets in. They also are great as a “caretaker” cover crop for a new plot because the grow thick and outcompeted weeds.

Grouse

grouse
I was referring to next year. Good advice on the time, we actually put ours in on 8/3 this year (near hwy 8 WI) and they came in great. We were a little late this year but mother nature smiled with the nice weather and all the rain.

Pete S wrote:

grouse
I was referring to next year. Good advice on the time, we actually put ours in on 8/3 this year (near hwy 8 WI) and they came in great. We were a little late this year but mother nature smiled with the nice weather and all the rain.

I get it, sorry, I thought you meant throwing brassicas in with fall rye seedings.

This year in most of MN, IA, and WI we could get away with almost anything when it came to food plot crops. We had such ample and frequent rains and warm weather across the vast majority of the 5 state area, it was, I suspect, the perfect year.

We planted our brassicas plots on July 5 and we had a good, soaking rain about 2 days later. The seeds had sprouted and the plot was visibly green within a week and the plants got at least weekly rains after that so the growth never slowed down.

Most people probably could have gotten away with August planting this year, but the risk is always there for brassicas in terms of putting seed in the ground and then having weeks of no rain to help it sprout. Or finally getting it to sprout and then getting no rain to sustain it.

Brassicas are, IMO, the toughest crop to get exactly right in our area. That’s why I say make these crops only part of your plan, not your whole plant. Grain plots and clover plots sound kind of dull and boring, but they are also very reliable. To me they are the food plot equivalent of a good ground game in football. 4 yards in a cloud of dust isn’t exciting, but it ultimately gets the job done.

Grouse

Agreed on the brassicas, we’ve been fortunate the past few years. We tried something new this year, we killed a sprayer width around the perimeter of our clover plots and put the turnip and radish in that strip. It turned out really well, fun to see the two different color variations come in.

I do something similar. I have plots of 4-5 acres, but they are planted in “strips” within the plots. So for example, my south plot is 1/3 clover, 1/3 brassicas, and the remaining 1/3 is rye. The clover strip will be good for 3-4 years, while the other 2/3 will be for different annual crops.

Because of the different planting times and different crops, it’s very unlikely that I won’t have at least one strip in each plot that has good forage.

I keep reminding myself, the last 3 years are NOT typical in terms of mid-summer rainfalls. We have been getting way more rain in July-September than the long term average, so for the last few years we have been getting results that probably won’t be typical over the long haul.

Grouse

You have the system down. I might have to diversify a little more. thanks for the good info

Here’s a couple recent visitor to the plot

Attachments:

1. 

   1104162010.jpg
   

2. 

   1104162018.jpg
   

Cool!

I have 20 to 30 wild turkey visiting my rye every morning. Dad said yesterday he will not sit at that plot in the morning because the turkey make so much noise it would be impossible to get any sleep.

Grouse

I just need these guys to show themselves during daylight hours.

Attachments:

1. 

   I__00022.jpg