Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Planting advice Very Sandy soil

Any of you guys deal with planting in sandy soils? What do y’all generally plant?

What works for us is Abruzzi Cereal Rye on sandy sites in SE Alabama. It works great with throw and mow. Spread seed/fertilizer and then mow. Sandy soil in this scenario allows for the seed to work its way in. Soil will slowly improve each year. I like to go a with a higher seeding rate in sandy spots.

Yep.....it'll really help to stop tilling and build topsoil as well

Not sandy where we hunting, mostly cheat. Had the place for 24 years. It has slowly improved somewhat. Planting tomorrow and Saturday. Wms magnet, buck busters, black oats, clover, 3 and 6 way mixes. And plenty of triple 13.

Chert soil. Dang auto correct

Throw and mow cereal grains do work well in sand.

Buck forage oats and wheat with a little rye. I’ll bushhogg and whenever we plant just spread the seed and fertilizer and lightly scratch in with the disk and drag. My soil has changed from sandy to it’s starting to build a topsoil layer.

3 way mix 100 lbs/acre. Add 10-12 lbs clover and 3 lbs hairy vetch. Lime early and often until pH is close to 6,5. If you can’t get a line buggy on it apply 20-25 bags of pelletized lime at planting then 10-12 bags each year. 30 lbs of N at planting and 60 lbs in split application. If you throw and mow you may want to break that 60 lb of N into 2 applications.

Send soil sample to Waters Ag. Their basic test is $10 and much better than Auburn in the quality of the report.

Cnc, the soil around here is very sandy. If someone thinks theyll change that, theyre wrong. You can add organic material to it. But what you have then is sandy soil with some organic material. My small garden spot, about 40ftx100ft or so is a good example. It was very low ph and organic matter. Ive put several dump truck loads of gin trash on it. Probably 25yrs worth of cover crops and no tilling worth of organic matter. It helped tremendously but its still just sandy soil with a descent ammount of organic matter. The cover crop and no till method would work for sure but i think it would be a really slow process. I mran actually seeing results in dirt youre holding in your hand. I did have a big field that had been tilled so much the weeds were even struggling to grow. I planted it in crimson clover and just bushhogged it a couple times a year. You cpuld really tell a difference in it in just a couple of years, as far as the presentation of what was growing on it. It just looked healthier. But i guarentee you the dirt didnt change much. There would certainly be a layer on top of the dirt, which is a big part of your concept, i guesd. If you turn it and disk it, youre just about right back where you started. Sandy soil with just a little more organic matter. I guess im agreeing with you but its a slow process for sure and the change to the dirt is pretty much right on top.

Without organic matter, sand has very little nutrient and water holding capacity….It has a very low cation exchange capacity or CEC…..Building organic matter greatly improves the fertility

With a low CEC soil you lack sufficient negative charged sites to bond with positively charged ions (cations). It also suffers from larger pore spaces which holds less water therefore water and nutrients move through the soil profile quicker. The only way to increase a soils ability to hold water and nutrients is to increase organic matter.

Surface residue is beneficial, that’s why I recommended vetch in my reply above. It will produce a lot of biomass but also fixes nitrogen. Additionally, its C:N ratio is lower helping offset the higher C:N from the rye and wheat straw.

With no till or limited till you’re going to need lots of N to break down that residue.

A good summer mix with millet and sorghum Sudan plus some N fixing plants will help your situation. Their massive root systems really help build OM.

That’s why a balanced program like Vitalize Seed CO’s blends work so well. They’re blended to provide the optimum C:N ratio so each planting compliments the next.

Osceola or Ocoee Ladino White Clover. May have to electric fence it off if there is little food or plant extra if the deer take to it.

You won't make sandy soil suddenly look like an Iowa corn farm, but there is a huge difference between constantly tilled sandy soil with almost no organic matter vs no tilled soil with a 6 inch layer of organic matter, then a foot of blended organic/sand mix. Most of your root and nutrient intake is in that top 6 inches anyways.

I agree. Its a process though. It certainly isnt going to be fast. But, as i said, you can see some results in the first couple years. And i believe its just about more of a lifestyle change too. If you notill it a few years then decide to turn it and disk it, youre just about wasting all the progress youve made by incorperation that top layer into the soil below. Pretty much like taking the soil you made 90% better and mixing it with a bunch of sand and then it becomes a thicker layer of 20% better soil.

Sandspurs thrive in ours!

We have gotten pictures of does with roots hanging out of their mouth.

Prowl pre-emergent late spring is your friend. If you plan on any summer plots it will limit your choices though. I clip the seed heads and spot spray with Gly but usually have a spot or two that gets away from me. I used Treflan as a pre in my chufa plot this year and it does good but doesn't have lasting residual that will keep them at bay all summer long.