Food Plots

Very little experience with planting green fields. Up until this year I only hunted public land, but this year will be the first year hunting a private lease. What sorts of seeds/mixes have worked for you guys in the past? It seems to me like clover is pretty popular. I don't just want to go out and arbitrarily purchase expensive food plot seed. Any insight from you guys would be much appreciated.

wheat and oats or rye grain all go well together and you can get crimson clover pretty cheap compared to in the past. the clover and turnip size seeds go along way so you don't have to buy much of them. cereal grains are like 100 to 150 lbs to the acre if broadcasting and the clover and turnips will be more like 3-5 lbs and acre. The smaller seeds are spread better with a hand spreader in my opinion

Be sure to Lime and fertilize! Go out there this weekend and get some soil samples to send off to auburn then go ahead and throw lime.

You don't have to buy those expensive seed mixes. We buy Feed Wheat , Feed oat , and rye grain also rape and purple top turnip.

on a typical 1/2 acre plot , I would put 3 bags feed wheat, 1/2 bag of feed oats , and 1/2 bag of rye grain. 3 bags 13-13-13
after covering seed (careful not to cover to deep) , I would top sow 2# rape and 1 # turnips.
Feed wheat 9.00/bag , feed oat 10.00/bag Rye 15.00/bag , fertilizer 11.00 / bag rape 1.00/pound, turnips 4.00/pound total cost about $88.00 , you will have half bag of oats and rye to go on another plot. Good Luck !

What are we looking at as far as germination time? I am looking for something that will be ready to hunt over this year. How fast does oats/rye grain grow?

Thanks a lot! that is really useful information. I really appreciate it.

BA, i like your ingredients, but i prefer more rye grain than wheat. More oats too.

I agree with you blumsden , but when you have a budget to stick to , as our club does ( We plant 28 plots )we have to take what we can afford. For our 28 plots we are buying 90 bags 13-13-13,
100 bags feed wheat , 20 bags feed oat and 15 bags of Elbon Rye,
100 pounds of Rape ,and 100 pounds of purple top turnip.
a few of our plots are 1 acre or so.
We mix the blends in the seed spreader at each plot.
When we cover , we take all the gang out of the disc .
If we get lucky with the rain , this method works well

Nightwatchman , Germination is quick , if you have soil moisture when you plant and can get a decent rain on it a few days after , you could hunt on it in 2 weeks.
the Rye will germinate first.

Hey, i completely understand about a budget. This dang deer hunting cost done got outta hand.

Is this for 1/2 acre. If I read right thats $88 minus $33 for fertilizer which would be $55 for 1/2 of seed. I can get 1 bag with all the good stuff for a lot less and it will cover a whole acre. just another way to look at it

1 bag per acre might work if you have a drill, I like to seed heavy , the Dove , Turkey , crows etc. will eat up a lot of it.

We don't have a drill and spread our seed . Been doing this for about 25 years , and monsoon rain will wash it away , and if whoever is covering ,gets in a hurry , and cover too deep , well
it wont turn out well.

Another way to look at it is , if a 50 pound bag of some of those fancy blends cost 34.00 , that is about .67 per pound,
compared to 1 bag of wheat , 1 bag of oat and 1 bag of rye , that is 150 pounds of seed for about 34.00 or about 0.23 / pound

Boils down to the number of seeds you put on the ground. Being that clover seed is a fraction of the size of wheat or oats that would mean if you add 2 lbs of clover/brassicas it would be like adding another 50lbs of grain when it comes to the actual number of seeds/plants. Just another opinion. If you ever come through bham give me a hollar. I will hook you up with a 50lb mix that will easily plant over an acre broadcasting and it will last all year. not just winter.

Where are you getting those prices in Milton?

Crocker, my dad lives in Birmingham. He and I are the ones hunting this lease together. I'll give you a shout next time I come to visit him there. This is all really helpful information guys, I really appreciate it.

Easiest food plot I ever planted was Biologic Green Patch Plus. Years of test plots and research to back up quality at reasonable price. Comes in quick. Most of folks on here go to their coop & buy separate seed to plant. Walmart usually has GPP in stock to plant 1/2 acre and acre. Try both and see what works best for you. I'd rather pay a little more for convenience than have to mix seed and add inoculants in hopefully the right proportion. Plant before a rain.

dagwood, I am getting the feed wheat , feed oat, 13-13-13 and Elbon rye from Stacey Farms , the per pound price for rape and turnips from Manning's in Milton .
If you PM me your e-mail address , I will send you the price sheet from Stacey farms. (If your interested)

I forgot to tell you that Stacey Farms is out hwy 83 from Evergreen Al

That's heavy on seed and a little light on fertilizer compared to what most folks recommend. Per acre we plant 1 bag oats 1 wheat and 1 rye top seeded with 12-15 lbs clover. Fertilize according to soil test recommendation, usually 250-300 lbs 17-17-17 per acre

if you just want the field to bring deer in ?

#180 feed oats per ac.
1000-1500 lbs of lime per ac
250-300 lbs 13-13-13
bout month and half hit it with 150-200lbs 34-0-0 nitrogen

but best way is soil sample if it aint right you pissing in the wind planting clover . a soil sample in the long run will save you money

Well I look at it like this if you want to grow big bucks and kill big bucks you have got to plant what they eat.if you plant what everyone else does then the deer ain't got to move. what you guy,s said are right about the money.it is an expensive sport.

Some people overlook, what I have to say.But everyone else on here has there say,no matter what issues they are.I'm just a diehard deer hunter trying to give,what little advice I can.so here are a few tip,so of mine.most hunting clubs have been around for along time.no matter who is leasing them.well there always had the land before you lease it.my point most have several established greenfeilds.well the deer in that area know this.what I'm saying is change things up make some newer fields that has never beven hunted and you will see a big difference. A big buck or most important older does know when they step out in the older fields exactly were your stands are so just trying to help out.

Believe it or not, there are zero established food plots on this lease. Pops and I have spent all summer working our butts off clearing places to put in a few plots. (It was hot, I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a way to kill a Saturday) Not sure what the neighbors are planting but it seems like the right plots might really bring the deer out of the woodwork.

Rock? Is that you?