Peas are looking good Radar ! A little grass won't hurt. Hopefully the peas will shade the grass out before long. Wish I had some wild plums, but my place was fully wooded when I bought it and plums just don't grow well in the woods. I have planted dome fruit trees though, and they're coming along.
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Originally posted by barnag View PostLooks good!
Can you give me a run down on the clover?
I'm trying for the first time this fall.
Plan on planing mid September, central texas.
Does it need to be planted yearly? Or just mowed down each spring?
Any advice is appreciated!
Mid-September is fine for planting clover. It needs to be planted in the fall. It won't impress you though until next spring. That clover plot above literally burned up last summer in the heat, but it keeps reseeding itself. Clover likes heavy soils, sandy soils that rainfall kinda " goes through " are not good for clover. Soils that will hold some moisture do best. Be sure and prepare a good, weed and grass free seedbed, because clover seed are very small, don't compete well with grass and weeds that are already growing. Kill all your grass and weeds with glyphosate at two to three ounces per gallon of water, ( depending on how thick or tall the weeds are ), wait about 8/10 days, disc all the dead stuff under, and drag/level/smooth your seedbed as best you can. Broadcast the clover on top immediately before a rain ,roll it in, or LIGHTLY drag it with something that doesn't bury it too deep. I have had excellent results with the tire drag pictured above. So cheap to build, I have one on every place I plant.
I left out an important point, hence the edit. You are gonna bring up all kinds of seeds when you disc grass and weeds under, but most of that will not be a problem until next spring. Then, you'll have grass and weeds in your clover plot. Use Clethodim to kill grass. Be patient, it works slow. Use Butyrac 200 to kill weeds, or just mow your clover about eight inches off the ground, clipping the blooms off as well as the weed tops. Clover " makes " its own nitrogen, so when you fertilize it use a low nitrogen fertilizer. Nitrogen promotes grass growth, so no need to add to your problem. Lots of good info on QDMA website and Whitetail Institute will answer any questions you have about their products.
Good luck to you !Last edited by Drycreek3189; 05-06-2017, 04:33 PM.
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Originally posted by barnag View PostThank you for the great info.
The soil has been tested and its ph is right at 8.0.
Will clover do okay in that range?
A little googling tells me that Berseem, Red, White, and Ball clovers will tolerate ph up to 7.5/8. Not familiar with Ball, but the other three are frequently used in food plots.Last edited by Drycreek3189; 05-06-2017, 05:33 PM.
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Great thread Don! I know next to nothing about food plots but sure have been wanting a small one on my back hill where I do my hunting/deer watching. Very sandy loam soil. I guess I'll figure out how to do the soil sample and then go from there. What is the minimal equipment you think I'd need for a small plot (less than 1 acre)?
All I have at the time is a 34 hp kubota, front loader, brush hog, and a box blade with rippers/scarifiers.
This is the area I'd like to plant. Some pines, big oaks, and a pretty good mix of sun and shade.
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Bobby, I see that your Kubota has front wheel assist, so it will easily pull a 5' disc in that Centerville soil. That soil is quite like what I farm in Trinity Co. That's all the extra equipment you will have to have, but a seeder would be nice to have also. You could get by with a pull behind and pull it with your four wheeler. However, you can seed with a hand seeder and fertilize with a five gallon bucket if you have to. You could buy a used disc and that's what I did when I started planting food plots years ago. When I progressed into more and more of it, I needed a heavy disc so I could get it done better and faster.
As for the soil test, go to Whitetail Institute and order a kit ($15 or so), follow the directions, send it to them, and they will email your results in a few days. Tell them what you want to plant and they will tailor fertilizer recommendations to your crop. If you want a fall plot, I find it hard to beat wheat, forage oats, or rye grain with a few Austrian Winter peas mixed in. Cheap and easy ! Wheat and winter peas are my standbys.
Just noticed your fruit trees are two years old. How are they doing ? I have some 3/4 years old and they just took off this year. I need to pull the tubes off and build some cages to keep the bucks and porkers from destroying them as soon as I plant one more place.Last edited by Drycreek3189; 05-07-2017, 02:13 PM.
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