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News and Events
Early Winter Food Plot Fertilization
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The process of preparing land for food plots will be in varying stages by now. Fall weather patterns often delay the process involved in food plot preparation. We either get the ground broke then rain delays planting or rain delays all the processes. This can force tillage, planting and fertilizing to take place in a small window, closer to Opening Day than we would prefer.
There are many schools of thought on the how-to of food plot management. Each manager, be that the Hunting Club Food Plot Committee or a professional in the field will have a different approach to the process. Arguments can be made for all, whether no till, minimum till or conventional tillage. Many times these decisions are made based on what equipment you have available and your level of farming prowess.
Regardless which school of thought is your preference, no farming method or combination of crops will be successful if steps aren’t taken first to identify what you are planting into. This brings up the subject of Food Plot Fertilization. As simple as that sounds it’s really not. Many factors determine whether the soil on your property will need more attention than say, your friends. His club is in the Delta while yours is in the hills. Where Delta soils can vary as much as anywhere, they are alluvial soils and tend to be very fertile with acceptable P. H. levels. Hill soils on the other hand while sometimes being fertile tends to need lime in order to bring P. H. levels up so those nutrients can be utilized. Without the knowledge of your soils ability to produce the crop your time and money may be wasted.
A successful food plot program starts with a soil test. Until you know what the PH and nutrient levels are in your plots, don’t buy a bag of fertilizer. Soil sample boxes and the accompanying paper work are available through your county agents office. There are plenty of labs that will process your samples for a fee. They can be found through Google or most state colleges provide these services also. Ideally samples should be pulled in early spring so analysis can be done and corrections such as liming can be finished prior to fall planting. That does not mean if you didn’t get to sample until August that you shouldn’t sample. Soil analysis is not a step you skip. Once you pull samples and have them analyzed then you can decide where to spend your money. If you don’t need lime you are lucky. If you do, an agricultural grade lime is the most cost effective product to use. Depending on how many acres of food plots you manage, either a spreader truck owned by many agricultural suppliers or a specially equipped pull type buggy may be used to apply lime. If you have small acreages a pull type buggy equipped specifically for lime spreading can be leased along with the purchase of the lime through area agricultural suppliers. Not all suppliers have this type of buggy. It pays to check around before you show up Saturday morning expecting the local supplier to be able to equip you for a day’s work only to find out they don’t have access to this type of buggy or there is a waiting list to use it. Once lime is spread it should be incorporated, preferably a couple of months before planting, allowing the buffering process of acid soils to begin taking place. If you are pushed until planting to apply lime, pelletized lime can be purchased in bags and applied with nearly any type dry fertilizer spreader. Pelletized lime is more expensive, and therefore rates are usually lowered to one tenth of what is called for of agricultural lime. For example, if 2000 lbs./acre of agricultural lime is recommended pelletized lime can be used at 200 lbs./acre for a short term fix only, one season. Agricultural lime is a much better choice and worth the added effort to spread if possible.
The soil test analysis will also recommend nitrogen, potash and phosphorus needs for your soils and the crop you specify will be grown on that area. Depending on the soil test recommendation and how many acres of food plots you are treating you may choose to have your N, P & K bulk blended. This requires your needs to be at least a ton. Blends are easily applied with a bulk spreader. Bag fertilizers are the other choice. N, P & K percentages will be indicate on bagged fertilizer. Triple 13 for example 13-13-13 will contain 13% nitrogen 13% Phosphorus and 13% potassium, so 100 lbs. of 13-13-13 will supply 13 lbs. of each N, P & K. There are many different blends in bagged fertilizer available. If you don’t need nitrogen in your plots you might choose a 0-24-24 blend. Farm Supply personnel can be a great help when making these decisions.
Food plot crops may vary from grass crops, wheat, and oats to legumes like clover or combinations of the two. Grass crops grown alone may only need nitrogen fertilizer if sufficient P & K levels are present. Clovers, which are legumes, will produce their own nitrogen so P & K may be all you need for them. To make sure your clover will produce their own nitrogen, they should be inoculated at planting. Inoculants are available from your seed supplier. With any food plot program be it Deer, Ducks, Doves or Turkey; have a plan going into the planting season. Once your objectives are laid out it is easier to achieve your goal. If you want lush green clover or wheat to hunt over in December it all starts with the soil in September or October. Soil testing is your road map to successful food plots. It will tell you how to get to where you want to be and how much it will cost to get there.