We have just leased some property. There were 5-6 small (1-3 acre) food plots on it. The plots seemed to have come up good last year. We don't really have access to much machinery right now, just a small tractor with a bush hog (no disk). My question is this: We bush hogged the plots about a week and a half ago fairly high. Can we spread winter rye and some oats on the cut grass and maybe go back over it and cut shorter? Will that suffice for a decent plot for this year? Thanks for your thoughts/suggestions

Many times if I got short on time I would scatter wheat and fertilizer first. Then bush hog and let it go. It works, but you don’t want to do it year after year. It won’t be the prettiest greenfield you have ever seen, but deer aren’t that big on ambiance.

If you get a rain after doing that you should get a decent plot. But I would add a good amount of fertilizer.

Check your PM's redhedder

More than likely if you already bushhogged most of the stuff is already gonna be roted so you might not have much coverage. Be good if you could somehow rent a disk or something to just sratch the ground so the seed will have some soil contact

Three acres is a big plot in most cases, that’s three football fields. Might want to step it off before guessing the size.

I was thinking “Wow, in who’s world are 1-3 acre plots small?”

Those are actually real big plots.

The Hunt Stand app has a pretty cool tool for that. You place as many dots as you need to go around the plot and it will tell you area. Works pretty well on odd shaped plots

I do believe I over stated the size of the green fields. The field that is the largest, we will only plant about 3/4 acre with it having a lot of browse around it. The field is only an acre after getting measurements on the map. We have cutover that we were thinking of creating a plot that would be closer to 3 acres but are going to table that for now. The rest of the plots are very small, maybe 1/3 acre? Sorry I overshot that so much.

I hav successfully done this and just did it again below - something to consider for next time if hav limited equipment - qdma was Promoting it as well For different reasons

Spray - come back several days later - cut. Wait for good rain - go spread seed and fertilizer before the rain - plots look as good as any I hav disked but rain right after spreading seed is key. I drive over some w Polaris After spreading

Tdog, I also did just as you described on a couple small test plots this week. I sprayed three weeks ago. I Bush hogged it last week. I spread seed and fert right before a 2.5” rain. We shall see.

The moisture may be more important than the cover if one can get the seed in contact with the soil/cover.

Be careful Matt, you may like what you find. I typically like to spray before the grasses get real tall. I've decided that I prefer vertical thatch more than horizontal. Horizontal thatch can get too thick sometimes. Bushhogg mid summer, then spray before it gets over a foot tall.

Do most people do it like ^this^, spray-cut-spread? Or spray-spread-cut?

I did my first attempt at it with one of my fields. I bush hogged, let it get about a foot or some tall and then sprayed. spread seed right at the beginning of this rain. I'll know how it worked in a few more days. The dead stuff seemed to lay over good with the rain.

Fillmore, if no herbicide is applied I’ve spread and mowed. I’m trying something different with this method just to see what happens. The grass wasn’t that tall before spraying. I just knocked over dead blades of grass and let the heavy rain beat it down to the soil. We shall see.

I've done it every whichaway. Its according to what the conditions are with the vegetation . I've sprayed, spread, then mowed. I've sprayed, spread and drug the thatch down. Moisture is the key.

They have a lot of info online about what I mentioned above - spray, cut - spread or the no toll approach. But there is also info out there on throw and Mow. I actually tried that on a small bow spot single field I hav this year for first time. I sprayer and came back later and threw out seed then mowed - Then we just got good rain 3-4 days later - will see.

Blunsden point is key - need to do the above before good rain. I drive over mine several times Also w Polaris to try to help it work in ground after throwing

Show lot of benefits to planting this way on line and hav seminars on how to - simple - like stated above