A lot of what we are doing these days, from a food plot perspective, is a direst result of the marketing strategies that have been used by the commercial BOB seed market. For years now you have heard pH and proper seed bed preached over and over and over. Now I’m not saying pH and soil surface conditions aren’t important as they most certainly are….but just thinking those two aspects are the keys to successful food plots is being very short sighted. It’s kind of like if you took the stance that wind speed and humidity were all one needed to consider when prescribed burning. There’s just a lot more to it than that. With that being said……

I think the role of water is the most under appreciated aspect of food plotting and is likely having a bigger impact on your field than either of the two prior mentioned. I see folks go to all kinds of lengths to get lime into a field or to make a pristine seed bed…..but rarely do you ever hear someone talk about managing for soil moisture. It’s like folks just don’t even give it consideration and rely strictly on the hope and prayer method when it comes to water.

Take what has just happened this spring as an example. It’s been rain, rain, rain up until this point. Now folks are starting to throw down seed to grow summer plots and what has all of sudden happened??? The rain shut off just like someone cutting off a water hose. The long range forecast I saw on the news last night was nothing but sunshine and rising temps. It’s not like this is an unusual pattern either. In fact it seems to be more the rule instead of the exception……Same thing happened last fall.

So how did you manage all of the moisture that fell this spring? Where is that moisture now? Is it in your soil for your plants to utilize or is it in the creek or lake? Has your soil been freshly tilled and drying out for weeks or is it covered over and conserving soil moisture? Does your soil have structure and allow rainwater to infiltrate the ground or does the water just runoff?? Are you only relying on the rain that might fall after you plant or are you efficiently utilizing all of the rainfall that we receive even prior to planting? Just some things to think about.

Consider this too……Where your water goes, then so goes your fertilizer.