Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Food plots cost per acre

I hear ya brother!

This thread needed a voice of reason.

I don't want to hear any of you guys bitchin' about club dues with the kind of money you spend on doe salad ...

Growing weeds is cheap

Two bags of cereal grains, 1 bag nitrogen and about 30-40 minutes of tractor time......This year I'm gonna try and go completely fert free and cut out the nitrogen

I call it natural vegetation.....

8 bags of seed per acre? What kinda seed are we talking about?

I think you are forgetting tractor time. Even if you don't pay someone to do it, you are forgetting the acquisition cost of the tractor, the maintenance, etc. if you are paying someone to do your tractor work, you are looking at 250-300 an acre.

Spend $30k on a tractor that is only capable of pulling 5 and 6ft equipment.

Drive in circles for 3 weekends trying to prep 10 acres.

Throw out 300lbs+ of the most expensive seed per acre you can find.

Tell someone that knows what they are doing how they are doing it all wrong.

I don’t count tractor time. That’s like vacation to me.

+1

I guess some of us just don't do many soil samples.

mine are about 120 an acre....plant peas in summer and oats and rye in winter..
for example my back field is 2.5 acres I plant 150 pound of seed and 750 pounds of fert. tractor might use 3 to 5 gal fuel..

Y'all must have them fancy air-conditioned tractors. It damn sure ain't a vacation for me. 🤔

Too much is being made about seed costs and not enough emphasis is being put on tractor cost. Doing it right is higher than doing it wrong. If your food plots' pH is low and you're not checking it and implementing lime, you're doing it wrong and yes, it doesn't cost as much to do it wrong.
It COSTS a lot in fuel cost just to get your foods plots ready to plant.

Did anyone figure the cost per acre (probably easier per hr) of a tractor? At some point, you're going to have to replace those tires! Change oil & hydraulic fluid changes. And believe it or not, things break on tractors AND on implements and it is EXPENSIVE to fix them or buy a new part. That's a cost a lot of clubs don't realize when tractor work is donated to the club by a very generous tractor owner and member.

Using glyphosate to spray and get the food plots ready to disk.

HOWEVER, there is consideration of not disking your food plots and doing Throw-N-Mow or drilling-in your seed.

I wish I knew the real answer to which methodology is better and costs of each.

$300 per acre is probably close when ALL is considered and not just seed and fertilizer. I own a tractor and I tell ya.... it ani't cheap owning a tractor as the other members don't see maintenance and replacing tires and all the $%^& that goes wrong with a tractor AND implements. I.E. diskblades break and need replacing and bearing go out and sprayer malfunction and.... it never stops in costs.

Oh, I love doing tractor work. It's therapy and I LOVE it. HOWEVER, I ain't made of money and it has become very apparent that the hunting members that don't own tractors have not one clue the costs of running a tractor and implements and the TIME it takes to get the job done. One .50 cent pin/bolt/part can cost you an entire day or weekend and if you have to work for a living, you have to postpone whatever it is you're doing for 6-7 days 'til the following weekend. And, with my luck, it's going to rain on day 4 or 5 and then, you can't get on the food plots 'cause it's too wet! Everything bad that can happen, WILL happen. There needs to be a whole new thread dedicated to tractor work cost and the hunting club members that own tractors and do the work and spend their own money on upkeep of their tractors and implements and the many hours they volunteer!

100 pounds of seed may be ok if you are drilling it. It if you are broadcasting you better bump it up to at least 300 pounds (of cereal grains).

You are only going to burn $10 of fuel to lime, spray, bushhog, disc, spread, and cover per acre? Not hardly. $10 won’t get most people’s tractor to the camp house.

I do about 40 acres. It would cost me $12,000 at $300 per acre. I am not spending anywhere near that and mine look like a green carpet. It would take a propane cannon to keep the deer out of them.

So, how you are supposed to be doing them vs. what works is the real question. Who's doing it wrong? Maybe it's neither side of this debate.

If someone wants to spend $300 it's not my money.

The cost of the equipment is relative. I have big stuff with dual tires and folding implements. I can break 40 acres of plots by lunch. I will guarantee everyone I have less $$ sunk into my stuff than someone has in a 35hp glorified lawnmower and can get work done 10x faster. It's old and that God awful green paint is faded but I don't have the time to spend playing around out there. There is no club and no workday. The vast majority of the work I do by myself. I couldn't turn my stuff around in most people's food plots. If they are doing 10 acres @ $300 that a whole different scenario with different requirements. A little tractor and some time is all you need.

So maybe the true answer is... there is no right or wrong answer. This isn't a cash crop. And this isn't rocket surgery either. Plot seed sprouts in my truck bed every fall. And I could run out of bullets hunting over them.

Got a stereo in ours too.

Got a stereo in ours too.

300 pounds to the acre for cereal grains? You may be doing something wrong. Seriously.

Maybe a better drag (not enough seed covering) or less disking (too much seed covering).

I've never gone over 100# broadcast and covered over with a drag.

I’m serious. Been planting plots for 30 something years. 100 pounds per acre is paper thin. I have done it before When I spread my seed I like it to look like it snowed. 300 pounds of cereal grain seed produces a much more thick and better looking plot. I have planted up to 400 pounds per acre. Then top seeded some clover and or rape behind covering it. I have had wildlife biologist tell me that it is too much, but them same ones tell me how pretty the plots were when they saw them in person.

This is high site index soils in Clarke and Wilcox counties and you may not want to do it on poor soils.