Looks like a perfect plan to me.

The only thing I would add is to double the amount of lime and put it on ASAP. Like today.

Again just suggestions/ideas at this point. I would go bigger. Maybe add another 1000sq into the area with less sun. The rye will still grow and reduce the browse a bit. Or spray a trail to the plot about 4ft wide and follow your same plan on that trail. That will help keep the deer there longer without much more expense/time.

You place sounds exactly the same as my place in lake county and the deer are going to pound your new plot!

 

i have same soil and cant stress enough to get lime out asap

 

If u don't put a cam on plot or small little cage you will think nothing's growing up there....They will eat it to the dirt in that area

 

I second adding a trail and a cage in the plot. You could also try oats, they seem to grow pretty easy. Then add more rye around the end of September. You can use a weed wacker or push mower to mow the buckwheat for your no till.

 

My buckwheat never makes it to the mowing stage.

 

None of my plots last fall made it to the mowing stage either. But this spring my rye is about waist high now.

 

Second putting a cage in plot. Shows if seed lime and fertilizer are adaquate. Use a string trimmer to scarify the soil after gly has done it's job.
With high deer density you might think about putting rye seed down 2 or 3 times.
First plant first week in August. Then again in a few weeks. Then again a few weeks after the second seeding. I'd also seed in some crimson clover in september.
The multiple planting of rye give you a plot with plants of several ages which keep on coming back even with heavy browsing. The crimson won't do much in the fall but really takes off in April/May and adds significant nitrogen to the plot which helps keep fertilizer costs more reasonable.
Re: lime
With your low ph your looking at a need for tons/acre application. Do the math and add what u can afford each year.
With your sandy soil you should consider
multipule fertilizer applications as well.
Maybe try putting it down in 1/3's with the rye seed.
You will be suprized at how the deer keep coming to the plot when it looks like there is not much left but dirt.
Good luck with what ever you decide on.

 

Re: lime
With your low ph your looking at a need for tons/acre application. Do the math and add what u can afford each year.

Your best money will be spent on the $11 soil sample. Sandier soils (low on cec) take less lime to raise the ph The same amount, compared to higher cec soils.
I assumed I needed a lot of lime before I took a soil test, luckily I didn't order lime, 2 of 3 tests came back at 8.0 and 8.1. (The 3rd at 6.4)
Not only do you need the test to let you know the ph, but to find out how much lime is needed for your soil to get it to where you need it.

 

Just so you know tron, you will be makeing them bigger next year after you see the drawing power.. I'm not far from Dublin store

 

Good luck tron. Clickity clikity clack :lol:

 

I had two soil tests done in 2014, of two potential food plot areas, and requested lime and fertilizer information for planting clover. I am putting my food plot into one of those areas, but unfortunately, I wasn't very specific when I labeled the soil tests, so I don't know which one is the right one. One shows a pH of 4.6 and a CEC of 2.6. The other shows a pH of 4.9 and CEC of 1.5. The lime and fertilizer recommendations that came back from the soil testing are very similar, although not 100% identical. I need lots of lime and lots of fertilizer.

On June 10, I spread 320 lbs. of pelletized lime. I also sprayed the existing vegetation with glyphosate (2 gallons of distilled water + 12 oz. of 41% glyphosate).

I thought I had done a decent job of getting the fallen branches and other junk out of the area, but I was wrong. It was brutal pushing the spreader through there with the lime. I'll be back up there this weekend, and I plan to spend some time picking up more of the branches and sticks that are on the ground. I also plan to spray some more glyphosate if there are any areas that I obviously missed.

 

If you haven't seen them yet, Bill Winke has some good videos on what he calls "Poor Man Plots" which is essentially what you are looking for.

Rich Man vs Poor Man

 

I would add some clover or canolla. Clover is cheap for what it can produce in nitrogen which your low on, if it will grow. I would probably steer toward a yellow, white Dutch, or crimson in your case.

 

My wife did a hand tilled plot for a couple of years. It was in an area where it had a heavy canopy of trees.

She did the work with a hoe, spread throw and grow and made a buried salt lick using lucky buck.

The number of nice deer we're amazing. A couple we're taken, mainly nice fat does. But on camera , last winter some nice bucks we're seen.

She gave up that site but they are still pawing at the lucky buck site.

Here's one of the pics off the camera on her plot

 

I did a second application of Round Up this morning. It has only been a week since the first application, but I could definitely see areas that I had missed. I also picked up more of the dead branches and rotting tree parts that were laying around. I won't be up there again until the first weekend in July. Hopefully it will be ready for some seed and fertilizer.

I went to the Acres Co-Op on Saturday morning to get the buckwheat seed and some 19-19-19. I also decided to buy some rye while I was there. I asked for "rye grain" or "winter rye" and the lady working at the desk had no idea what I was talking about. She said that they had "cover crop rye" for $8 for a 50 lb. bag. I grabbed one of those. I hope that's the right stuff for planting in the fall. Can anybody confirm that?

 

I beleave the rye is the same as winter rye...if it was rye grass you wouldn't be getting 50 pounds for 8 bucks..which is the cheapest I've heard of it..you will notice with ferns after the first spray just some of the leaves edges with turn crispy yellow

 

I went to the Acres Co-Op on Saturday morning to get the buckwheat seed and some 19-19-19. I also decided to buy some rye while I was there. I asked for "rye grain" or "winter rye" and the lady working at the desk had no idea what I was talking about. She said that they had "cover crop rye" for $8 for a 50 lb. bag. I grabbed one of those. I hope that's the right stuff for planting in the fall. Can anybody confirm that?

Interesting that an employee at a co-op would not know what "winter rye" is. I have never heard anyone refer to it as "cover crop rye" even though that is what it is typically used for. Cereal rye is also a common name for it.

I'm sure you got the right stuff, although you probably got 56# of it as it is usually sold by the bushel and that is what one bushel of rye weighs.

I would not plant rye the first week of July. You could go ahead and broadcast your fertilizer and buckwheat that week, but I would recommend coming back in another 6-8 weeks after that and planting your rye in late August or early September. It will be much more tender and palatable for hunting season if planted later.

 

I would not plant rye the first week of July. You could go ahead and broadcast your fertilizer and buckwheat that week, but I would recommend coming back in another 6-8 weeks after that and planting your rye in late August or early September. It will be much more tender and palatable for hunting season if planted later.

That's the plan - buckwheat now, rye in late summer.

 

Have heard the tender and palatable before.
Does it hold true if the deer browse it heavily such that it never gets any taller than about 3 inches?
I usually plant a 50/50 mix of wheat and rye around the first week in August with a couple subsequent over seeding of rye and fetilizer. By the end of November all that's left is stubble approximately 1/2" tall. But the deer still come to it daily.
Have never seen it get over 4 " tall and suspect that all the new growth is tender and palatable to the deer.

 

Wow! That does sound like you have heavy browse pressure. Apparently that does keep the new growth tender. "Subsequent over seeding" or layering also ensures that there is something tender and palatable coming up throughout the hunting season as well. May have to try that myself this year....

 

Will rye just dye after seeding it self the following year?Say if you didn't spray or cut it in the spring

 

Grass won't but the grain type will. It can sprout back up from the seed that it drops.

 

After the rye goes to seed and drys just mow it and then roll it in. No need to till. If it doesn't come back thick enough to suit you then overseed it with rye seed. Rye seed doesn't need to be covered to sprout. Just get wet.

 

When does it go to seed like that? Late summer? I have some from last fall that I haven't mowed yet.

 

Look at the picture Wildthing posted. Usually turns a golden color. Take a couple of seed heads and rub them in the palm of your hands. When the seed heads separate into individual seed (grains) it ripe and dry and time to mow it.

 

I spread my buckwheat seed today - 6 lbs. for about 3500 sq. ft. I also spread about 25 lbs. of 19-19-19. I'll continue to follow up on this thread, and let you know what happens over the course of this year and next year.

On a side note, I also spread a couple pounds of rye seed on a service driveway that was cleared when I had a pole barn put up last year. I have not treated the driveway with lime or fertilizer, and I haven't done a soil test for it. The driveway is mostly sand, with traces of the thin topsoil that I generally have, and is mostly shaded. We'll see if rye truly will grow anywhere.

 

If turkeys and other birds don't eat the seed, I am confident it will grow.

 

I've seen rye fall on the sand of a 2 track up there and grow..thats true beach sand.lol

 

Awesome enjoying following this thread.

 

im pretty close to you too, big bass lake Area.

Last year was my first time doing food plots. i put buckwheat in hoping to build the soil. growth was really slow at first and deer were hitting it but not to hard. Then we had a week of perfect weather i go to check my plot all i had left was knee high stems, the deer whipped them out in a week. I followed that up with a planting of rye clover and radishes. the deer kept its pretty short but they kept coming into it all season. now the rye it waist high and the clover it thick.

This years plan it to mow and leave these ones and plant new ones doubling the amount of food. Then next year ill till in the old plots and let this years grow.

Anyways, the winter rye will grow any where. i had some left overs and just threw it out in a couple place just to see what would happen and it grew with no prep work at all

 

Update from July 22, 2017. We had a couple of nice rain events in the week after I spread the buckwheat and rye seed. After two weeks, the buckwheat was coming up nicely, but a little patchy. The plants were about to the top of my shoe, and there was no sign of browsing by the deer yet. I set up a new trail cam on the buckwheat plot.

The rye seed on the service drive also appears to be growing well with several plants that were about 5-6 inches tall. However, the rain washed all of the seed to one side of the drive - everything is growing on the east side and nothing is growing on the west side. I guess I'll try some cultipacking with my riding lawnmower tires the next time I seed the drive.