Any one plant a food plot? Tractor attachments?

[blue-5]

I would like to plant a couple of small food plots on our hunting property in upstate NY. The average food plot would be around 1/2 acre in small clearings in wooded areas. We have done the “throw n grow/ no-plow” in the past w some success but we would like to improve on that.

I have a compact tractor (24 hp) w a 3pt hitch i would like to use. I am not familiar with what would be the correct attachments to get. One person i spoke w said i need a tiller. We have a lot of shale & rock (Oneonta area) so a tiller seems to be counterintuitive to the terrain to me.

Anyone have any suggestions? We are willing to make the investment in the right attachments. Any help os appreciated.

 

[dfiler2]

We have about 20 acres of food plots and my first choice for this area is a tiller, a disc would be my second. The tiller will do a better job but once tilled the disc is faster. I would find some locals and ask them what works best in that area.

As far as what to plant we like to use some winter wheat or rye and mix in some turnip seed, the turnips will sometimes feed them most of the winter. They will dig down through the the snow to get to them and the field will look like it is full of gopher mounds made of snow.

 

[Rst277]

There are no attachments that are going to deal / survive shale and rock. A tiller is the best for breaking up soil but it is slow and your tractor will need a low enough gear to run it successfully. A single bottom plow will turn up unplowed land and then run a discer over it a few times to break up the furrows. Seems like a lot of money and work just to hunt IMHO.

 

[alfadan]

You can buy 2 or 3, 6 foot discs for the price of a tiller around here; and they do a fine job.

 

[Sumboodie]

I couldn't imagine tending to 20 acres, that's approaching small farm territory. Even 1/2 acre is a big garden.

What crops are you planting?

 

[dfiler2]

Around here 20 acres is very small, it's in two fields and right now it's in alfalfa and grass mix. My BIL farms 37 sections and they are the biggest in our area but I'm sure there are places where the farms are bigger. I used to farm about 400 acres using a 970 Case, 5 bottom plow and a 14' cultivator. We planted mostly wheat and barley but also oats, buckwheat and used red clover in the rotation for the cattle we had. That is what is considered a hobby farm here, I always worked a full time job off the farm and spent most weekends and vacation farming.

 

[Sumboodie]

Around here 20 acres is very small, it's in two fields and right now it's in alfalfa and grass mix. My BIL farms 37 sections and they are the biggest in our area but I'm sure there are places where the farms are bigger.

Most farms here are under 100 acres.

What purpose is alphafalfa and grass for food?

I'd be planting Taco and beer trees. Hahaha

 

[Chevy72pu]

There are no attachments that are going to deal / survive shale and rock. A tiller is the best for breaking up soil but it is slow and your tractor will need a low enough gear to run it successfully. A single bottom plow will turn up unplowed land and then run a discer over it a few times to break up the furrows. Seems like a lot of money and work just to hunt IMHO.

We have good sandy soil. We mow the plots in the summer with a swisher cutter behind a four wheeler. Then harrow them once or twice with a pull harrow behind a kubota s x s. In September we Broadcast Plant a combination of wheat and turnips again wih the four weeler followed by some 10-10-10 then go over it with a roller packer behind the kubota. With any rain at all we get a good stand and the deer visit the plots regularly. As for the amount of work, My hunting partner and I enjoy the time spent prepping the plots and planting them as part of the hunting experience. we spend time year round mowing the roads, repairing and relocating stands, clearing shooting lanes etc. The when season arrives we are ready to enjoy the hunt. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

A compact tractor won't pull much of a plow, maybe just a ripper or subsoiler. I'd be surprised if a disc sized for that tractor will cut into undisturbed ground.
A tiller would work what size are the rocks?
You may want to get someone with a larger tractor and plow to turn it up at least the first time.

 

[dogdog]

Raise bed garden is an option

 

[shoot summ]

My Youngest and DIL have a regenerative farm, sell produce at the Farmer's Market. They have about 2 acres planted. They started with tarping for a period of time to try to kill as much of the grass and weeds as possible. Then they tilled, once. Added compost, broad forked, then plant and add mulch from the green wasted site for ground cover. According to DIL tilling basically kills the soil if you do it over and over.

 

[alfadan]

Most farms here are under 100 acres.

What purpose is alphafalfa and grass for food?

I'd be planting Taco and beer trees. Hahaha

Deer food plots

 

[SCWOOD]

Bog harrow. It will roll over roots, stumps, and rocks won't hurt it.

 

[theoldwizard1]

A tiller is a great tool for soil preparation, but they don't get along well with rocks or shale. Maybe if you had someone go through with a single tooth ripper and break things up then you could use a tiller.

Short of that, you want a disc harrow. It will take many passes on "virgin" ground. Get started early, as soon as the ground dries out. Weeds will be your enemy. Propane weed burner is good. So is glyphosate (generic Roundup). Clover is a good inexpensive food crop.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I'm over in the Berkshires and have 4 small food plots. You can easily prep, plant, and maintain small 1/2 acre plots in the woods with 3 basic tools. Get yourself some kind of a sprayer...for your tractor, for an ATV, or even a backpack sprayer, and give whatever is in those plots now a good burn down with glyphosate this spring. It will take a good 2 or 3 weeks to see everything turn brown. You may have to hit it a few times.

Once you have a good burn down, you'll then want to hit it with a disc harrow sized for your tractor. On virgin dirt this may take several days of discing. A 20 hp tractor can easily pull a 4' disc.

Finally, run over your newly disced fields with a cultipacker, spread your seeds with some kind of an ATV spreader or a chest mount spreader, and then cultipack again. Done. If your soil is decent and you plant something like rye or buckwheat this is basically failproof.

Of course you'll want to do a soil test and see what, if any, amendments you'll have to add. If these opening are in the middle of a forest there's a good chance your soil is acidic and you'll have to add lime.

If you plant something like buckwheat this spring you'll should get a nice crop. If you have a high deer density though it might get wiped out at the seedling stage. But, you could try buckwheat and then in August overseed rye, oats, clover, etc. into that standing buckwheat and then run over everything with your cultipacker. The dead buckwheat will provide a nice layer of thatch for your new seeds, and you'll get a nice fall crop coming up just in time for deer season.

 

[ycgoat]

Awesome topic, I have been considering a food plot in the woods and got a lot of good insight already reading this

 

[Rst277]

No offense intended but this seems like a crazy amount of work to harvest a few deer every fall. You could literally raise a dozen pigs and a couple of cows for that level of money and effort. Are there really that few deer in your counties? I drove through Wisconsin and I was amazed that there seemed to be 5 deer stands to the mile off the highway - is it that there are so many hunters?

 

[Natty Bumppo]

A compact tractor won't pull much of a plow, maybe just a ripper or subsoiler.

I would not recommend using a bottom plow these days for anything but a lawn ornament. Really damaging to soil and counter-productive to maintaining good soil health. However, a small tractor up to about 20 hp can pull a single bottom plow no problem. I was doing food plots 20 years ago with a 10 hp Farmall Cub. I'm now on a 40 horse JD 990 and a 20 hp JD 40....but no longer use a plow.

 

[blue-5]

Thanks for all the awesome input. Our biggest issue is we don’t live at the hunting camp so work and family dictates when we can work but we have a good crew that all pitch in. We almost all live on Long Island and the trip to camp is about 4 hours.
We were planning on chicory and clover to start.

 

[John in OH]

If you have rocky soil and a compact tractor a tiller will be expensive and a PITA.

You aren't farming, you're just trying to get seed into the ground. All you really need to do is break open the sod enough for the seed to set below the surface. I'd suggest a simple double disc to break open the sod ... it will clash and bang over the rocks but will do most of what you need to accomplish. Disc the ground multiple times, broadcast the seed, and re-disc or use a drag harrow to more or less cover the seed.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

No offense intended but this seems like a crazy amount of work to harvest a few deer every fall. You could literally raise a dozen pigs and a couple of cows for that level of money and effort. Are there really that few deer in your counties? I drove through Wisconsin and I was amazed that there seemed to be 5 deer stands to the mile off the highway - is it that there are so many hunters?

Food plotting is more than just harvesting deer...it's one tool in a quality habitat management program. If I just wanted to harvest deer I'd throw a 200 lb. pile of corn out in the back 40 and shoot the first buck that walks by.

Instead, I want to provide as much quality nutrition to deer for as many months as I can...to include the stressful winters months here in the Northeast. I want healthy does and fawns. I want lots of quality protein for antler development. My food plots also provide lots of food for turkeys, and they provide edge habitat for rabbits, birds, butterflies, woodcock, grouse. The clover in my plots attracts bees which in turn help pollinate my apples trees. Food plots provide areas for whitetail deer social interactions. On the edges of my plots I plant all kinds of native trees and shrubs...for deer, turkeys, birds, butterflies, etc.

And yes...of course, they provide me with more high quality deer hunting opportunities. I live in on a cold, big Northern spruce/harwood 2,000 swampy plateau. No oaks. No mast. No agriculture. Miles and miles vast, flat forested swamps. My food plots are the only game in town.

Without my plots, sitting in a treestand waiting for a deer to walk by would be a cold, lonely, deer-less existence.

 

[Sumboodie]

Deer food plots

Never heard of that one before. Is that even legal?

Seemslike buying beef would be much less work and cost?

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks for all the awesome input. Our biggest issue is we don’t live at the hunting camp so work and family dictates when we can work but we have a good crew that all pitch in. We almost all live on Long Island and the trip to camp is about 4 hours.
We were planning on chicory and clover to start.

Just be aware, clover and chicory tend to establish poorly when planted in the spring. They are slower to establish than spring weeds and often get outcompeted. It's better to plant them in August along with a nurse crop such as rye. Follow the directions I mentioned above...and then in August sow your clover and chicory into your standing buckwheat along with some rye, then roll over the buckwheat to kill it. The rye will act as a nice nurse crop to the clover and chicory. The following spring it will all come back up...but if you terminate the rye you will be left with a beautiful clover/chicory plot that should last about 3 to 5 years.

With that all said...being 4 hours away is going to limit what you can do unless you can spend several weekends in a row up there in the spring.

 

[Firebrick43]

A compact tractor won't pull much of a plow, maybe just a ripper or subsoiler. I'd be surprised if a disc sized for that tractor will cut into undisturbed ground.
A tiller would work what size are the rocks?
You may want to get someone with a larger tractor and plow to turn it up at least the first time.

Umm, a SINGLE shank of a subsoiler needs 25-35 hp depending on the foot/mole design. They pull hard.

A single 16” bottom pulls just fine by many compact tractors.

I pull two 12” bottom plow with my 21 hp Allis. If it had long kervereland style bottoms it could pull 2-14”

And I run an old JD 6’ single gang disc behind my draft horse in the spring to over seed my pasture and give them some work. It lighter built than many tractor disc but cuts in just fine. May need several passes in different direction to cut trash up.

 

[alfadan]

Never heard of that one before. Is that even legal?

Seemslike buying beef would be much less work and cost?

Legal in many places. It's like a corn feeder, but some say more nutritious for the deer and seed and fuel are the only costs.
Hunters should never think too much about the costs per pound of the sport!

 

[Firebrick43]

I would not recommend using a bottom plow these days for anything but a lawn ornament. Really damaging to soil and counter-productive to maintaining good soil health. However, a small tractor up to about 20 hp can pull a single bottom plow no problem. I was doing food plots 20 years ago with a 10 hp Farmall Cub. I'm now on a 40 horse JD 990 and a 20 hp JD 40....but no longer use a plow.

Continuous plowing is bad but is not a bad tool to use every 5 years or so and is very advantageous to the soil to turn over cover crops(green manure) as long as tillage radishes are used to break up the hard pan. If your not bury green manures then I agree.

A lot of it depends on the soil structure/composition. Multi year No till on clays has found to be terrible in places due to the compaction

Using the traditional horizontal axis tiller/root stir is one of the worst for the soil and the Hardpan a tiller forms is worse than the moldboard plow. Most that do production crops with tillers have switch to vertical axis tillers aka. rotary cultivators. They don’t invert the soil structure or form hard pan. They also do much better in rocky soil

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Continuous plowing is bad but is not a bad tool to use every 5 years or so and is very advantageous to the soil to turn over cover crops(green manure) as long as tillage radishes are used to break up the hard pan. If your not bury green manures then I agree.

A lot of it depends on the soil structure/composition. Multi year No till on clays has found to be terrible in places due to the compaction

Using the traditional horizontal axis tiller/root stir is one of the worst for the soil and the Hardpan a tiller forms is worse than the moldboard plow. Most that do production crops with tillers have switch to vertical axis tillers aka. rotary cultivators. They don’t invert the soil structure or form hard pan. They also do much better in rocky soil

Oh sure...agreed on all points. For small scale food plotters though plows are not a great tool. My plots in the forest were literally mature forests before I felled every tree and pulled every stump. There is almost no quality top soil. By growing buckwheat and rye year after year for 20 years I am now starting to see a nice top soil develop with good pH, nutrients, organic matter that I can now finally seed things like clover, brassicas, birdsfoot trefoil, chicory into. If I turned all of that under I would simply undue 20 years of soil improvements and bring up **** sub-soil to the surface.

No-till or minimum till seems to be the way to go under these conditions. When I use my discs I set them to just scratch the top 3 or 4" inches.

 

[RPH]

I plant food plots on my lands. I’m not much of a hunter but I feel helping nature is just good karma. We take a lot from her. Giving some back can only help.
An old farmer taught me years ago that you always plant three seeds to get the one plant you need. Of the other two, one goes to Mother Earth and the last one to nature herself. Seems like a fair deal.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Seemslike buying beef would be much less work and cost?

Of course it would. But you're missing the point. Buying beef is buying beef. Hunting deer is time spent afield with friends and family, making memories, sharing common experiences...and yes, sometimes putting venison in the freezer.

If I added up the time and money I spend on deer hunting...rifles, bows, shotguns, ammo, treestands, clothes, boots, tractors, implements, etc...the hours spent in a treestand or tracking a buck through a Maine swamp, of course, it's pure financial lunacy what I spend per pound of venison in the freezer. But that's not the point. I'm a deer hunter. It's what I do. Anybody can buy beef.

 

[blue-5]

Of course it would. But you're missing the point. Buying beef is buying beef. Hunting deer is time spent afield with friends and family, making memories, sharing common experiences...and yes, sometimes putting venison in the freezer.

If I added up the time and money I spend on deer hunting...rifles, bows, shotguns, ammo, treestands, clothes, boots, tractors, implements, etc...the hours spent in a treestand or tracking a buck through a Maine swamp, of course, it's pure financial lunacy what I spend per pound of venison in the freezer. But that's not the point. I'm a deer hunter. It's what I do. Anybody can buy beef.

100% this!!!!!

 

[clutchee]

Go for a disk, then grab a harrow rake, the chain type, or old mattress spring.
Disk up, the go opposite way on second pass.
After sew your planting…. Then go over with a harrow rake and cover over seeds.

Do this when I plant rye, or grass and works for me.

 

[BLW]

Natty provides good advice to follow. I second that the first thing you need to do is soil test the plots. If your soil is acidic and the test recommends adding lime it is best to add it up to 6 months prior to planting so it has time to fully correct the acidity.

I am not familiar enough with your area to recommend specific varieties but clover is a great forage for deer. I suggest looking for a clover variety that you can maintain for several years. That way you don't have to replant every year.

 

[Rst277]

Well I have definitely learned something here. A lot more to deer hunting than I figured.

 

[Firebrick43]

Well I have definitely learned something here. A lot more to deer hunting than I figured.

Some places, like in my area of indiana, we let the city folk that own "hunting" properties in our area plant the food plots and then we shoot the deer when they walk across our property. Of course we had record sized deer before the food plots became fashionable.

Way to many deer here now.

Nothing to see 100 plus deer every afternoon (4-5 pm) on the way home in a 6 mile stretch eating in the fields. This evening on the way home I saw three bald eagles eating on 3 different dead roadkill deer in that stretch.

 

[ZRX61]

There are no attachments that are going to deal / survive shale and rock. A tiller is the best for breaking up soil but it is slow and your tractor will need a low enough gear to run it successfully. A single bottom plow will turn up unplowed land and then run a discer over it a few times to break up the furrows. Seems like a lot of money and work just to hunt IMHO.

well there are rock rakes & rock pickers...

& then there's those Rotadairon attachments:

 

[Sumboodie]

Food plotting is more than just harvesting deer...it's one tool in a quality habitat management program. If I just wanted to harvest deer I'd throw a 200 lb. pile of corn out in the back 40 and shoot the first buck that walks by.

Instead, I want to provide as much quality nutrition to deer for as many months as I can...to include the stressful winters months here in the Northeast. I want healthy does and fawns. I want lots of quality protein for antler development. My food plots also provide lots of food for turkeys, and they provide edge habitat for rabbits, birds, butterflies, woodcock, grouse. The clover in my plots attracts bees which in turn help pollinate my apples trees. Food plots provide areas for whitetail deer social interactions. On the edges of my plots I plant all kinds of native trees and shrubs...for deer, turkeys, birds, butterflies, etc.

And yes...of course, they provide me with more high quality deer hunting opportunities. I live in on a cold, big Northern spruce/harwood 2,000 swampy plateau. No oaks. No mast. No agriculture. Miles and miles vast, flat forested swamps. My food plots are the only game in town.

Without my plots, sitting in a treestand waiting for a deer to walk by would be a cold, lonely, deer-less existence.

Northeast where? I grew up in Maine. Baiting for hunting was illegal.

Of course it would. But you're missing the point. Buying beef is buying beef. Hunting deer is time spent afield with friends and family, making memories, sharing common experiences...and yes, sometimes putting venison in the freezer.

If I added up the time and money I spend on deer hunting...rifles, bows, shotguns, ammo, treestands, clothes, boots, tractors, implements, etc...the hours spent in a treestand or tracking a buck through a Maine swamp, of course, it's pure financial lunacy what I spend per pound of venison in the freezer. But that's not the point. I'm a deer hunter. It's what I do. Anybody can buy beef.

We just hiked through the woods for deer. No way my Dad would have spent more than what a couple bullets cost for deer.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Northeast where? I grew up in Maine. Baiting for hunting was illegal.

We just hiked through the woods for deer. No way my Dad would have spent more than what a couple bullets cost for deer.

I live in the Berkshires of Northwest Mass...but also hunt VT and Maine. Food plotting is not baiting. Two completely different things for all the reasons I mentioned above, and therefore not illegal.

Food plotting isn't for everybody. One, you have to be a landowner. That's a luxury. Two, you have to have the means to plant food plots...tractors, equipment, seed, fertilizer, lime, and the time. I enjoy everything about habitat management. I have a BS degree in Wildlife Biology and Forestry. Even if I didn't hunt...I would still plant food plots and improve the habitat for wildlife.

And I hear you about you and your dad. I also hunt the mountains of Maine and VT on the track of a big buck. I take a sandwich, a length of a rope, a map and compass, 2 different ways to start a fire, and my rifle and will routinely walk for days and days without even seeing a deer on the track of big woods buck, 1 on 1, matching my skills as a woodsman and a hunter with that of the buck.

 

[Sumboodie]

I live in the Berkshires of Northwest Mass...but also hunt VT and Maine. Food plotting is not baiting. Two completely different things for all the reasons I mentioned above, and therefore not illegal.

Food plotting isn't for everybody. One, you have to be a landowner. That's a luxury. Two, you have to have the means to plant food plots...tractors, equipment, seed, fertilizer, lime, and the time. I enjoy everything about habitat management. I have a BS degree in Wildlife Biology and Forestry. Even if I didn't hunt...I would still plant food plots and improve the habitat for wildlife.

And I hear you about you and your dad. I also hunt the mountains of Maine and VT on the track of a big buck. I take a sandwich, a length of a rope, a map and compass, 2 different ways to start a fire, and my rifle and will routinely walk for days and days without even seeing a deer on the track of big woods buck, 1 on 1, matching my skills as a woodsman and a hunter with that of the buck.

I'd never even heard of planting food for deers before.
If the woods can't support them, they move on or die.. kinda how nature works.

How about for moose? Bears?

My brother has 100 acres in Maine which was originally a ~500 acre property. I'll have to ask him about feeding deers.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I'd never even heard of planting food for deers before.
If the woods can't support them, they move on or die.. kinda how nature works.

Food plotting is a multi-billion dollar industry in the USA. You could fill a small library with the books that have been written about it.
Food plots become a part of the deer's landscape, and thus you increase the carrying capacity for deer. That's exactly the point. I put bird seed out too every year...to see more birds.

I've never heard of anybody plotting for moose or bear. Moose are pretty easy to kill as it is, and there's really nothing you could plant that they eat. And baiting is legal for bears in Maine...so thus also fairly easy to kill. Whitetail deer are the #1 big game animal in North America. Thousands of mid-west and southern farmers have converted parts of their former corn, wheat, or soybean farms to "whitetail deer hunting farms"...managing their farms and planting food plots to maximize whitetail deer populations. And then selling very expensive 6 or 7 day hunts to people willing to pay for a chance at a monster buck. It's become big business.

For example....a typical whitetail outfitter might charge $3000 for a 6 day hunt. They can host 6 hunters a week. And a typical deer season might last 8 weeks.

$3000 x 6 x 8 = $144,000 per year. That ain't bad for a midwest farmer.

 

[MushCreek]

I've been trying to improve a 1/2 acre, not necessarily as a food plot; just so it will look like a picturesque meadow. If the critters like it, so much the better. My plot hadn't been worked in 50 years, and before that, it was used to grow cotton, which is really hard on the soil. After the pine stumps were removed, I plowed it with a two-bottom plow behind my very tired Ford 3000, originally 46 hp, but I doubt it produces that now. Then, I pulled a disc harrow, first up and down hill, then cross-wise. My soil is extremely acid, and I've been liming it twice a year. I've planted various cover crops to try to get some organic material into the mix.

It's slowly getting better. Some areas still won't even grow weeds. Now that I'm starting to make progress, I need to have a comprehensive soil test done to figure out where to go from here. Mine is pure clay. I swear you could throw a chunk of it in a kiln and make bricks out of it. My problem is that I have limited funds to throw at it. I only plowed it the one time. I hit it with the disc once a year. Note- if you have any kind of turf, you'll need a fair amount of weight for the disc to sink in and get a bite.