Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Minimal to No Fertilizer Fields

If CNC says it, I would do it. He opened my eyes to a lot of things. It also doesn’t have to be as complex as we make it. I would love all my plots to look like an Illinois bean field. Most of the time they look like a ratty Alabama greenfield. I have to tell myself the deer are using them, so I must be doing something right. Deer are using my fields regularly, all seasons. So I try to figure out what that is and do it more, and consistently. Time is my biggest constraint, so I just do the best I can

I tried no tilling my fields for a few years. I learned that discing the fields were way more effective than the no till method. Ionly use no till as a last resort nowadays.

May lime the buck field tomorrow

When i do no till - seems like i got to throw a heck of a lot more seed

Think i will spray clithidiim on my big field in august to kill everything but the clover - its loaded w clover

do i need a cultipacker with no till/throw & mow?

Not required but it sure helps

Wish the days you could find an old Brillion in the weeds for $50-100 a foot were still here

I have been testing the throw and mow method for quite some time now. From what I have seen you need a good thatch layer come planting time. Mowing your plots late June/early July and stunting the early succession weed growth has helped with creating an ideal thatch layer. I have let the natural summer growth go until I mowed it after planting and it didnt create a thick enough thatch due to the ground being blocked by weeds from the sunduring summer growth.

If you are wanting to get away from fertilizer completely I think you have to stop mowing altogether. You need to plant in the fall and let it grow out. Then drill right into that and crimp it. Then come fall drill into your summer plot and crimp it. When you mow you are taking nutrients. In my experience if you just throw and mow you will still need to supplement with fertilizer because when you mow you are losing all the nutrients in the plants.

Chiller, the two ways you are most likely losing measurable nutrients is when animals ingest the plants and walk away with them or through runoff and vaporization (nitrogen particularly). When you mow and leave the residue, the nutrients within remain to be released in organic form as they break down.
N is the most difficult to bank which is why I continue to add urea in small doses through winter for my grains. But my P and K are more or less steady over the last three years. I’m using a 10-10-10 super rainbow fertilizer in mid spring every other year to help with the micros.

I may try that urea in small doses. How much are you putting per acre and how often.

I get a nice bump with one bag of 34-0-0 on 3/4ac after germination and I hit it with another bag in mid December. I keep legumes in my plots all summer so they bank stable N for me going into fall. There’s probably enough in situ for the cereals to get a good start but my fall mix always has some brassica in it and they Hoover up N so I add a little to help out.

10-4. I have 3 plots that I test different stuff on each year so ill try that this fall and report back. Thanks for the input.

Chiller, my input is worth every penny you’ve paid for it. But it’s working for me my little plots aren’t pretty and one of them doesn’t even look like a plot but come the season I have, on average, 8 does day and night and a few bucks mostly at night plus the hogs and turkey and they don’t wear it out until January. By then I have a roasted corn/soybean mix rather than just corn in my feeders but still see them out there in the plots eating I don’t know what since everything is lip high.

I have 5 green fields that I plant. , last year I limed 2 of them and I did not see any difference in stuff that I planted, I did one field in just nitrogen and the other 4 in 13 13 13 and the one I spread nitrogen was by far the best

i had soil tested and put amount of lime recommended. My limed fields turned a dark green like i never seen which hit later in season! Deer flooded to the fields - more than i seen before

When I got my place in October I didn't have time for soil samples just planted and the deer would hardly touch them..When I did samples this Spring my Ph was way low..So this is encouraging!

^^
When i tested - my ph was like 4.1-4.2 - horrible!! Put amount of lime they said. I was told - takes 3 months after a good rain or 2. Put out in august - had drought. Got hard rains in october. On into january i arrived at field one day - looked at field. Got confused as heck! I was like - why did my field turn this tremendously dark-dark green. Just kept staring thinking what the heck??? Then it hit me - hey stupid - lime just hit! And more Deer followed😀