Food Plots

The last few weeks have been busy for me away from the farm.  Naturally, work piles up at just the time when farm deadlines also loom.  But I managed to get a few days away from the office to get done what needs to get done before the end of May.

First, on the 18th and 20th I sprayed the entire area where we plan to plant native grasses with a mix of Glyphosate (Roundup) and Plateau.  (1 quart of Glyphosate and 6 ounces of Plateau per gallon, approximately 10 gallons to the acre.)  I did the spraying myself, using a 60-gallon boomless Fimco sprayer pulled behind my Polaris Ranger, which saved me probably $1000.  In two weeks (Derby weekend here in Kentucky) I plan to spray the whole thing again, this time using Glyphosate only.

I ordered the grass seed this week:  1 pound each of Little Bluestem, Side Oats Gramma, Virginia Wildrye, and Short Switchgrass per acre (60 pounds of each), plus an assortment of wildflowers including Blackeyed Susan, Bergamot, Purple Coneflower, Illinois Bundleflower, New England Aster, and False Sunflower.  The plan is to drill the seed in mid-May, a week or two after the final spraying.

I've also been working on my food plots for deer, turkey, and doves.  I've plowed about 3 acres on my highest ridge for a dove field.  The plan is to plant Clearfield Sunflowers in mid-May.  Plowing turned up hundreds of rocks, ranging from the size of your hand to the size of a coffee table.  My son David and his friend Tom helped me clear those out of the field last weekend (very hard work).  This coming week I plan to disc the field, then spray it with the Glyphosate/Plateau mix to kill any grass that survives.  I'll try to get the seeds in the ground by mid-May.  Sunflowers require 110 days to mature, so if I plant in mid-May they should be ready for doves by late August.

I also plowed a small bottom down by a creek where I plan to plant a mixture of Deer Vetch and Alyceclover, both summer legumes that tolerate wet soil and shade reasonably well.  I was surprised at the number of rocks that turned up in this plot--I figured it would be relatively rock-free since it was down by the creek.  Fortunately the plot is small so it won't take too much time to clear (and the rocks are all small!).  The plan is to pick the rocks, fertilize, and disc next weekend and then plant as soon as possible after.

Finally, a farmer from nearby Harrodsburg will be planting about 30 acres of corn in the bottom by the river.  He's already sprayed and fertilized and should be coming by to drill the seed around May 1.  Our deal is that he'll leave about 3 acres of corn standing in the back corner of the field when he harvests, and we'll use that as a deer and turkey plot next fall and winter.

So lots is going on.  On Friday we plan to stake the cabin, and I hope next week my dozer man will start digging the foundation.  And we're narrowing in on the plan for the lakes, which I hope to being building around June 1.  More on those developments soon.