When are you discing/breaking plots

When do you plan to "break/disc" your plots? I in the past because I lived so far away from my lease would disc and plant on the same day. Now I don't have to do that... I was told (so now I want to hear from the group) disc and let sit for a week or two and then come back disc light and plant.

So, what do you do?

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I like to disc and plant same time, helps with the moisture and nutrients I feel like. Everytime you plow that ground after it’s already been plowed is breaking it down. That’s just my opinion

I think im done plantin food plots…corn works better anyway

BUSh hogging and discing what we can this weekend. gonna plant the following weekend

Timing on disking and planting shouldnt matter. I will do everything I can to let the grass lay for a few weeks before disking. Hate grass wrapping up in disk.

I bush hogged mine this past weekend. Plan to spray in the next couple of weeks. Then disc and plant sometime in early-ish October.

It just works better in general if you aren't trying to disk it up and plant it while everything is still green. I am on the same page with crocker I try to bush hog the plot down to the dirt then let it lay a week or two.

Kev, I sprayed all mine yesterday. I’m gonna let it die good. I’ll run a bush hog over it disk and plant and plant in early October

Bush hog the weekend of Sept 22nd and plant the weekend of Oct 13th. Works great for us in SE AL. Cooler nights by then, let's the grass start to go dormant and hopefully fall fronts bring some rain.

I mow first, wait a few days for a little new growth then spray. After that I'll wait 10-14 days for it to dry out and degrade before discing. Trying to disc standing knee to waist high crabgrass, weeds, etc. is a no go. It needs to burn up in the sun for a period of time before it's ready for me to disc

IDK why anyone would plant plots anymore when you can achieve the same thing with a corn feeder you simply have to pull up to in your truck and fill up every 2 weeks. Dont even need a tractor, simply use a weedeater to clear out a 10'x10' area and throw a feeder up....it is less expensive than seed/diesel/fertilizer, and is less work

Also don't have to plan around weather, takes less time, not as glamorous as a pretty winter plot, but pretty much achieves the same result.

I just got access to about 320 acres down here in Mobile county. Small plots except for a powerline plot. I’m thinking about just broadcasting into the standing existing vegetation and then running it down with the skid steer. Laying all the existing grasses down flat.

What y’all think about that?

This will probably be the only year this land is able to be hunted. So these plots won’t be planted next year.

I’d spray before or after

Was told by multiple older farmers that the nitrogen will be bound up during the initial decomp process of the green biomass in the soil, hence give it a week or so after. It may be slightly delayed, but after decomp does it’s thing the seed will emerge and be fine when planted immediately after breaking ground (if not sprayed or clipped low ahead of breaking/planting day).
It’s just like after you grind a stump and the grass doesn’t grow well there for a while. The more grindings you leave around and in the hole, the longer it takes for the grass to grow well…the more green biomass you turn into the soil, the longer the process takes before releasing the nitrogen needed by the seed.

I sprayed my fields four weeks ago and disc the fields today. they were still a little wet from rain last week and that really helped. I will drag the fields and plant them next Sat. and then drag them again after we put out the fertilizer and seed. This will depend on how wet the soil is or when the next good rain is predicted. Don't mind putting down the fertilizer when it is dry, but need rain in forecast to put seed down.

When discing, I don’t waste my time spraying my fields if I’m not gonna burn them off.

If you use the timing I use above, you never have to burn.

Try 300 lbs of corn in a broadcaster and just drive the fields. Do it the week before rut in your area. You can thank me later.

Already completed

Most of the time I’ll bushhogg all of mine then disk them one time the week after. Then after a couple weeks of everything rotting I’ll spread seed and fertilize and lightly disk and cultipack the seed in

I wait for everything to die from spraying. Still works best after burning.

I dont bush hog - i spray (dont hav a bush hog). I sprayed last weekend. Prob plant first weekend in oct or when a rain is coming. I disk - spread seed and fert - cover and hope it rains - will cast some clover over covered

This year looks like i planting alabama blend - miss blend - crimson and aeroleaf - just got bama blend today - other 3 are ordered

I start spraying the first of August and have everything disc by Labor Day. I will start planting the 3rd weekend in September. My property is broken into 3 sections by dirt roads so I'll plant over 3 weekends. I cut shapes in the high weeds so the deer will move around from field to field We have been planting these fields for 40 years so clover grows in the high weeds.

Sprayed last week. When it’s time to plant I burn em, spread seed and run the tiller over it.

Damn, I hope that's drone shot. Otherwise your stand is in the nosebleed section

You plant both bow and gun plots in mid September? Do you fertilize again later in season?

Its gonna be a minute, I broke my disk monday, so I have to take it apart and take the frame to my fix it guy.

It’s in the mountainous region of Pelham.

This is a drone shot. There are 3 killing fields to the left and 1 to the right for bow hunting that you can't see here. I'll do a video one day. I live on the property so as long as I have everything disc I can plant anytime I want. I will fertilize when I plant and come back mid to late-December and put down nitrogen to green up the fields for the rut.

I bush hogged most of my stuff 2 weeks ago. Next weekend I'll spray. Then disc and sow early October and lightly cut in that same day.

I usually disc and plant around the first of November since our rifle season doesn't come in til Thanksgiving morning.

I’m about over disking. Forever if I had my way. All our plots are sprayed. First or second weekend of October we spread seed and fertilizer and disc very lightly or just run a cultipacker over it. On prairie soil in wet years I’ve planted plots with nothing but a bush hog, sprayer and spreader. Up your seed rates and go to work.

If you’ve ever disked a too damp prairie dirt field you’ll never do it again. I’d quit planting plots all together if I couldn’t spray. I’ve bush hogged then tried to disc in foot long green grass and weeds. That’s frustration that’ll prepare you for being married. Screw that.

I love to disk, but stopped doing it about 10 years ago, and haven't looked back. I get phenomenal results after bush hogging, spraying, and seeding. You can do it all the same day if you want.

I was spending so much time discing I was having a hard time getting it all done, so I stopped, and my plots still look really good.

I'm not sure if this technique works everywhere, but it has worked in Alabama and Mississippi.

Throw and mow does work. It’s funny more and more folks are seeing that.
I was doing that back in the late 90s after reading on cover crops and organic farming. Cover crops are basically hat we plant for green fields. You can get into green manures etc and use methods to increase organic matter. The soil is a living thing supported by numerous microorganisms etc. CNC has been all over this.

I learned about it because of lack of equipment. We had a crappy tractor and disk that had a lot to do and the last couple of fields were often ignored. I used a backpack sprayer, pelletized lime and gly along with a drag and my 4 wheeler I eventually was able to grow alfalfa on those 2 fields.

Does that soil bind up or something? Is it kinda like gumbo? I’ve heard it mentioned but really don’t recall. It sounds like a tough situation to plant in.

Spraying and then disking works as long as I have soil moisture. Dried out ground in the fall is pretty tough situation to get implements into and actually work the ground. Comparing the agland to green fields I’ve planted it’s very similar. We got a Great Plains turbo chopper at the farm and moisture in the soil was important to get the desired effect.

My preferred way around here is to cut the field and disk. Plants still growing help keep moisture in the soil. Also helps with soil tilth. Burned down fields that lay there it and when I can get them cut seem to have a more definitive hard pan and more powdery soil. Kinda looses its structure.

Yeah. True prairie (black belt) soil has a heavy clay base. You disk it too wet and it’ll gum up between the disk blades until it makes each disc gang essentially a rolling drum of wet clay. Getting it out of there after it dries could have been one of the great jobs of Hercules. Water won’t get it out, only makes it soft. Has to be dug out.

If you wait till the dirt is good and dry it’ll be so hard a good heavy disk will barely scratch it. If you FA and get a really heavy duty disc and lay off in it you’ll make softball size clods that are hard as bricks.


There is no perfect system. Rain will be either make you look like a genius or a dumb ass.

Gotcha. Sounds like fun. 😂

I’ve tracked a lot of deer in these prairie soil areas and seen other people’s plots but I haven’t had the joy of trying to deal with it myself…..If I did though, my approach would be to try and build up a buffer layer of organic soil on top of the gumbo clay and never expose it. This is really the idea for any soil type…..Its the same thing I do with really sandy soil…..It’s the natural process for any of it.

We spray, wait a few weeks, burn then disc. Usually plant weekend after discing

Yup. Grain drill or throw and mow will work wonders for those types of souls.

You can buy a LOT of corn for what seed and especially fertilizer costs these days to do plots!!

May not being doing either this year if we dont get some rain. Bought seed weeks ago and its just sitting. I aint plowing dusty concrete.

We worked up all but 1 this past weekend. We’re planning to plant the first weekend in October. They all worked up great. Need a little rain but the ground was good.

I hate the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" philosophy. If that were the case, we'd be way behind in technology. I'm always open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. Anyway, I spray, wait approx a month and burn. The previous fall, I made sure the fields were disced and VERY level. After burning (you have to be smart w burning), I very lightly disc and spread seed. IF it's going to be a while before a rain, I'll lightly disc seed in (this works well if you have level soil). If it's going to rain soon, I'll cultipack the seed down. But I've also found that if you condition your soil (pH), and plant clover fairly thick, you won't have too much competition from weeds. IF you plant the clover thick enough. And oh.... that clover puts the nitrogen in the ground!!!

One day, maybe I'll have a drill and at that point, I'll NEVER disc again!!

Preach it

Spray about 4 weeks prior. Then just before a good rain making front in October, spread fertilizer. Then spread seed/lightly disk in leaving as much thatch as possible on the plot. On the plots I have the Firminator available I disk/spread/cultipack in one pass. In the past I have bush hogged the burned down plots, usually prior to planting. Now that I have a flail mower I'll run it over the plot if needed after planting. I want to minimize soil disturbance as much as possible, both to conserve moisture and organic matter.

In the past I have run a fire over plots when there was a super heavy residue layer. Then just spread seed/fertilizer and disk very lightly and follow with a cultipacker. Clover is usually applied separately from cereal grains after cultipacking and again, just before a rain.

I see no real benefit from multiple tillage passes in the fall as weed pressure is usually much lighter. I want to be very stingy with soil moisture as if I were dry land farming in the Dakota's LOL. In some years it's not necessary but years like this, it matters.

I thought when it was getting passed everyone said corn and food plots is the same thing? You saying one is more difficult than the other? No….

I sprayed my fields last week. I’m waiting on rain, so I can spread fertilizer and seed then bush hog the fields. First time I’m trying it this way, so we will see

Did it today
Planting Saturday

Try not to leave wind rows.....spread the "hay" as evenly as possible

👍

Planted 17 last weekend
Bush hog, disc and planted the same day

Bushhog disk and plant. Been doing it this way forever and seems to work great still. It'll come up.

We getting it done next weekend

I actually bottom plowed my plots this year. Probably gonna start tilling them tommorrow. Several of my plots have a really good potential for artifacts and had really really wanted to get a couple of hard rains on the furrows before knocking them down. But it does not look like that’s gonna happen. Two weeks until even a little rain chance so no hurry.

X2 on the no hurry. I'm less than 30 minutes from both pieces of property I need to plant. Hope to have everything burned down and ready to go when the magic front we need rolls in with some good rain. May be another November planting the way it's looking.

Bushhogged everything 2 weeks ago, I’ll probably start tilling fields (5) total next weekend. Probably should take a dust mask, I imagine it’s not going to be ideal. Then I’ll wait and watch for rain. Several years ago when we had the drought me and guy hunting with me waited the whole month of October and never got any rain. We planted second week of November and ended up with some nice fields. All others around us had planted in September and had dirt fields all season.

I planted mid September and it’s super dry. I checked them today and they’re about 4” tall. We need a good rain in a bad way.

Did y’all get that rain that a lot of Tuscaloosa co got a few days ago? We entirely missed it.

If we did, it sure dried up quickly. It’s still dusty in the fields.

If you look at the weather this week you will see we are about to change over to lows in the 50's this coming weekend.

I would NEVER plant a food plot before this weather pattern change myself. Every year. I will start on my plots this weekend and probably plant mid-October depending on rain. I would preferably like to catch 1 rain before I plant in front of the 2nd rain event.

If it doesn't rain I will wait until it does I have planted in November many times and had beautiful fields especially in late January when it really matters.

Question for those that use a no till drill. When planting with only one seed box do you mix your smaller seeds in with say wheat, rye and oats? Or do you drill your larger seed first then come back and drill smaller seeds. Also waiting on good moisture to plant. Looking at 30 day forecast showing nothing for the next 15-20 days.

Mowed 3 weeks ago and without much rain the grass didnt really grow back. Disked everything last weekend. We usually plant 3rd weekend of October. Tennessee game\Panola day.

Panola day is a good time to plant and stay away from town!!

Yes it is. When I first started hunting there I didnt know about it. I turn off 17 onto 34 and went about 300 yards and hit the traffic. Was pulling a trailer and cars were already parked on both sides of road all the way to 17 so there was no way to turn around. It took me 4.5 hours to get through Panola (about 3 miles total).

Never did that again. Now Ill turn on 85 or go to Geiger and loop back.

Yep!!😁
I used to hunt on 34 and a place on 85. Great hunting and fishing but you DO NOT want to be in Panola on Panola Day!!!

I planted mine here on the farm, 3 weeks ago today. There was some moisture in the soil, but not much. I planted a mix of Rye, Black Oats and Winter Peas. I figured that I'd have a total loss with no rain since then. I've got some good looking spots and some completely bare spots. Not sure if I'll need to over seed before a rain or not.

^^^
I hav planted last weekend of sept for decades - think i had issue once w dryness. Wish i had all my plots planted now - most are not. When the fields are up by mid oct your deer hav many weeks to get used to them and i stay out of them. One of the reason i like opening weekend the best. If wether cool - u can see some good deer n plots opening weekend. Rut can b very unpredictable. Not even sure my fields will b up by first of nov now - opening weekend likely suck this year

Slinging seed tomorrow. Finally have a good chance of rain this week.

Same here. Hope the rain chances don't fade away this time.

It’s way dry in most of my area. Dirt is powder after one pass.

Planted all ours today!

Bow plot sept 24

Others i hope wednesday r Thursday this week - need to asap - waitin on tractor guy

rain comin wed and friday...of course we are planing saturday lol with sunny clear days all next week. hope the turkeys don't get it all

I finished Sun @ noon. Earlier than I normally plant, but forecast calling for 1-2" rain tomorrow. Hope we get it because I've never seen it this dry on my place.

Plan on planting tonight. Disced fields Sunday afternoon.