Corn vs Sorghum w/ High Deer Density, Smooth Out a Rough Plot | Dream Farm w/ Bill Winke
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- Опубліковано 23 кві 2023
- I have to decide what to plant on the top field that got wiped out twice last summer. The first time, I planted soybeans and the deer ate them to ground. Then I broadcast brassicas into the stubble and they were gone by mid-October. I want grain in that plot, so in this episode, I talk about options, what you can and can't plant in areas with high deer density.
Then I demonstrate how to smooth out a very rough field with minimal equipment. Finally, I go through my soil test results on two fields to show how to read them and go over what I will need to add to get a great crop this fall.
Downloadable Soil Test Kits: whitetailinstitute.com/soil-t...
I know she's a pro but I was still shocked at the speed she covered that field! Especially in those running shoes! Lol... she's quick
Thanks Bryan. Yes, Jordan is a good runner. She ran track in college and is now much faster than she was back then. She does compete still, occasionally, but mostly she just loves to run - fast.
Bill, you know Jordan could outlast your atv all day long, even in those clod hoppers she was wearing😄. Haha, the look on her face when she turned around and said, "you were right" was priceless. Thank you two for keeping it real and informative. Your videos are always spot on and direct. They are greatly appreciated.
Thanks RS. We appreciate the support and the comment. Yes, she is the real deal when it comes to running. She recently went 8 miles at a 5:45 mile pace. I am not sure that old Coleman ATV could do that! Have a great day.
It’s 2:00am, I’m running my shift of stoking my potters wood fired kiln listening to you two. The way J says “I have a question” is exactly as my youngest daughter did about a hundred times a day! Made me smile.
Great episode I’m gonna add a clover center strip thanks for the idea.
Thanks Kevin. I appreciate the comment and the support. I may also plant something else around the very outside of the plot too, as some viewers have suggested. Just not sure what yet, maybe something like Power Plant from Whitetail Institute. It looks like a really interesting blend: whitetailinstitute.com/imperial-powerplant-annual/
I truly believe in clover. I put it in my leased ag fields and in all of my food plots. It is very resilient to herbicides and it consistently comes back. It also fills in the gaps when the deer take out the crops. Deer truly love clover!
Agreed. It is my go-to for any plot under an acre in size. I then rotate every three years with a brassica blend such as the Wintergreens blend Whitetail Institute sells. Good luck.
Been watching you for a long time, but this content with you and your daughter is the best!
Thanks Eric. I really appreciate it. Hoping you have a great day.
I hope I can do this kind of thing with my daughter when she's older. We had to use IVF to get pregnant which means bye bye to my hunting land fund. Hoping I can make something work in the next 5 years even if it's only 20-40 acres. Love the videos!
Hey man even if it’s 20 acres if you get it in the right spot still something great to enjoy and hunt. Good luck
I agree with Melvin. Keep the dream alive. Good luck.
Great content Bill, you should hook a log or telephone pole behind disc to fill in low spots. Works great.
Good tip Kyle. I appreciate it and the support. Have a great day.
Thanks for all the plot education you two. I appreciate all the tips.
Thanks Sir. We appreciate your support so we are even. Have a great day.
Loving the food plot info keep it coming..I was blessed enough to buy a farm in North Mo and I'm planning to plant food plots this year.👏🙌
Good luck Jubal. It becomes an addiction.
Great info. We had the same thing happen at our place. They started to catch on to the sorghum and mow it off in the dough stage. We like to have a pheasant and dove plot on our place every year, and the deer always hammer our corn when it's young, so we stick with sorghum. Our best plots are when we have a farmer come take our sorghum off when as soon as he can, and then we broadcast rye into it. Huge amounts of tonnage come off plots like that. Plus, it's good for your soil. Also to add, the darker the soil, generally the more organic matter is in it. So without a doubt she's right it's more fertile!
Thanks Mason. I am going to try to keep deer numbers down so I can have good hunting with a manageable number of plot acres. We also have a few ruffed grouse so the sorghum up on that ridge might really benefit them. Have a great day.
I can COMPLETELY relate to your situation. I basically had the Exact same situation. I found a solution that worked Amazing !!!. When planting corn I waited until the corn was 10"- 12" tall ( about when you spray your last time) and I broadcasted 50-60 lbs per acre of cow peas. Then ran it over between the rows with my ATV. They come up and eventually "vine/crawl" up some of the corn. It added the extra food needed to eliminate over use of the food source. Another benefit is they focus more on the peas when the corn is in the critical stage of ear growth ( when the ears are small as you mentioned) .
This is really good advice hhhh. I will do that. I had not thought of this solution. I appreciate the input. Anything you can do to keep the deer away from those small ears will make the plot way more productive. And there are benefits to corn over other options (if you can get it past the deer in the summer): you can sneak through it to stands or blinds and you can pull deer from a long distance during the late season. Good luck.
I couldn't agree more. Cow-peas also have the benefit of helping with soil building.... Which never hurts when growing corn. When growing soybeans I've tried the late planting brassicas in them thing.... Which I haven't got to work though. I'll be interested to see if pees in your corn works for. And thanks for all your Very helpful insights
Great video. This is a great subject to spend some time on. I am working a food plot for the second time. I learned a lot last year.
Getting stuff to grow well is tough enough but to do that with deer actively browsing on it takes extra thought and planning. Good luck.
Very cool, great have Jordan hanging and learning!
Thanks Robert. Yes, I am really enjoying it and I think she is too. She is a fast learner. Have a great day.
Love the channel good info. Here is my experience, ditch the soybeans and plant cowpeas. Do this with your sorghum. They benefit each other and you will get the same leaf structure as soybeans, but they vine and grow more when nipped. You will, also get pods The sorghum grows short enough to get sun to beans and gives structure for beans to grow. This will help suppress weeds as well. One other thing deer hit soy hard if they've had it in their area. They will not hit the cow peas quite as hard until later. I also experimented with cow peas growth in shaded areas and got surprisingly good results. Food for thought.
Very good input. I will add some peas or a blend with peas to the areas where I plant the sorghum. Have a great day.
sunflowers around the outside of the corn slows the deer down eating the corn and deer love sunflower in the winter
That is a good tip. I am thinking about planting something there. I see that Whitetail Institute has a blend called "Power Plant" that has some interesting ingredients - one of which is sunflowers. I may try that. Have a great day.
Hi Bill and Jordan. You made a comment about why the soil sample required adding nitrogen when seeding clover. I'm definitely no expert on this. However, I plant Imperial whitetail clover in my kill plots and was told that clover needs some nitrogen to start. Once the clover reaches a certain stage, and produces nodules, it will then begin to produce it's own nitrogen. At this stage, nitrogen is no longer required when fertilizing.
Looking forward to more of your great content!
Thanks Allen. I wonder if that is just overkill. Or I have been doing it wrong for 28 years! I have never added N to my clover seedings. It does really well if you pound it with P and K though. I have enjoyed very impressive results from Imperial pack when I started in the mid 90s. Looking forward to using it again.
Nice to see you restoring the goat prairie!
The goat prairie is pretty cool. I guess just 20 to 30 years ago, all those steep slopes that are now covered in cedar trees were native prairie. Will be interesting to see what comes in after we burn it.
You need to try Green Cover Summer Release , it has multiple grain variety in it along with buckwheat, jemp and sunflowers as well as other seed . Good cover crop also to leave a good base to protect the soil. We get good results from it.
Looks like a good blend. It is similar in many ways to the Power Plant from Whitetail Institute. I have a bag of that, I may plant eight feet around the outside of the plot. Thanks for the input.
Hey Bill I really enjoy your videos. I like that you are always trying new things. I think you would have good luck with canola. You can buy liberty or rr canola and have easy weed control. In my experience it is best to swath it when ripe in late august early september. Just leave the swaths and you will have enough volunteer canola for a great green plot and the deer will hammer the pods in the windrows when real winter sets in. Might want to check baiting regs in your area and make sure it is legit, but provides a ton of season long food that takes them a long time to eat. Thanks for the videos
Thanks Neck Neck. That is good input. I have heard of people doing that especially up in northern US and Canada. I have never tried it in the Midwest, but will give it try in the future. I appreciate the support. Have a great day.
You have to watch out for coons when the corn is in the milky stage. We had coon take out a lot of our corn in our corn fields. Great videos
Agreed, raccoons are worse that deer in most areas now. Have a great day.
Bill, from a hunter in central WI, I'll give you my proven advice to help keep deer off your corn. It's really simple and works to perfection. Plant soybeans in your corn. Here is what you do, plant your corn with a corn planter like you normally would. Then broadcast your soybean seeds over the top of the entire area and lightly drag the soil. Corn should be planted deeper in the soil so the drag won't hurt the seed yet throwing enough soil over the top of the bean. Culitpack the entire field. Deer will leave the silk of the corn alone to munch on the tasty green soybean leaf while the corn is in the pollinating phase. I too usually have clover around the edges to give the deer certain food at all times of the year and watching this video; I'd even have a strip, just wide enough for a brush mower, down the middle to kind of break the plot into quadrants. But, overseed soybean on top of your corn, use all roundup ready beans and corn to control weeds. I will fertilize with triple 19 just as the seeds sprout to about 3" tall and then spray a week later. Then I will spread urea on the plot just before the corn leaves fully engulf the rows and spray again. Watch it grow and beans will take off causing the deer to leave the corn alone. I'm not looking for the beans, that are planted in the corn, to blossom into a pod so I don't care if they get shadowed over. The deer will still eat the green leaves before the silk (minus some of the outside rows) but adding a clover buffer will help with that also.
That is a great suggestion. I will definitely do that next time I plant corn. Also, you have the benefit of soybeans possibly making pods in areas where the corn comes in thin for whatever reason. I appreciate the comment. Have a great day.
Bill if possible try and find a 2 or 3 section drag harrow to pull behind your disk. That would work well. Generally the disks have a hitch on the back where you can put a clevis and chain to the drag.
Good input. I have a one section drag in the scrap pile on my farm, but I need to find a better one someone. I think that field should be good to go now, but maybe I will hit it one more time next spring. Thanks for the input.
@@bill-winke yes it looked good. I like your UA-cam channel good info. 👌🏼
My favorite WI seed is the Power Plant... Im planting it this year again. Last year with the drought and all, the deer stayed ahead of it but I have had tremendous success with it in the past.
Merit Seeds “Buck Draw” is just like Power Plant but has buckwheat, sunhemp and Lab Lab mixed in and it’s $54 per 25# Bag vs $74 per 25# Bag of Power Plant
@@brettbeato4774 shipping evened them out, but I do like the merit mix better.
@@georgehelzer7569 I just planted 2 plots in a WI & Merit Buck Draw mix today. Looking forward to comparing but I have a feeling I’ll be sticking with Merit seed from here on out
Thanks George, I am going to give Power Plant a try this year. I am going to plant the outside of the plot to a very light rate of sorghum and then drill the Power Plant right into that. I believe that will take the pressure off the corn during the vulnerable time when the corn ears are starting to pollinate. Have a great day.
I've had deer eat all kinds of stuff to the ground, even sorghum. Thanks for the video.
This should be a good experiment then. I am going to try a few things up there on that ridge to see what works and what doesn't. Thanks for the input.
That is a excellent view on top of that hill , it’s always a gamble what to plant with Mother Nature and of course the raccoons and squirrels will always eat the corn and the beans if it’s a dry season and not many acorns, Jordan will you be running laps around the field in August 👍✌🏻🇺🇸
Thanks David. Raccoons are definitely a big factor when deciding whether to plant corn. Fortunately they don't mess with sorghum.
Great video, thx u guys! 😊
We appreciate the support and comment David. Have a great day.
Perfect timing on this 1. I would add red clover and or whitetail clover at planting with the sorghum. Or a short date rr corn then 1st of august seed into it clover radish oats and rye.
Those are very good suggestions. I am also going to plant a vining bean/pea blend (Power Plant has some of that in it) shortly after planting the sorghum around the outside. I think I will try corn on that plot too and hope the Power Plant will keep the deer away from the corn during the time when the ears are starting to pollinate. Good input.
@Bill Winke never thought of powerplant. I just think giving deer more than just corn will make the corn last. I watched a understanding ag video on 60 inch corn rows. Cover crops seeded between the rows. At v5. Thinking of this as a idea.
Awsome info
Thanks Jarrod. Have a great day.
Bill, ever hear of planting corn in 15 inch rows to keep the deer out due to its thickness? Deer don't like the tight quarters especially bucks with growing antlers...thinking of giving that a try in the future...excellent video!!
I have tried it with a drill but it didn't work because of inconsistent planting depth. Corn is kind of fickle that way. I have heard of guys doing it with Kinze planters with the mid row units. Also, my neighbor broadcast his corn and drug it in. That seemed to work really well too.
Thanks for the info
I appreciate the comment and support Brian.
Bill, great content. I had great luck planting sorghum on sandy plots. Do you recommend using seed for different heights of sorghum or the taller the better? Also, any benefits to using sudan grass along with sorghum?
Dave, I don't know anything about Sudan grass. So I am the wrong guy on that one. I used to plant both grain sorghum and forage sorghum (the tall stuff), but separated them into sets of rows so the forage sorghum didn't shade out the grain sorghum when it was growing. It worked well. The forage sorghum had a head that was above the deer until later in the year when the weather brought the stalk down and put the grain head at nose level to the deer.
Plant a solid spring/summer blend mix. WI Power Plant & Backwoods Attraction Velvet Plus max very quality blends. Tons of forage
I did plant some Power Plant there along with corn and sorghum and even some beans and pumpkins. Just a kind of experiment this year to see what the deer will eat and when they will eat it. Should be interesting. Now we just need rain!
Great episode again. How did the acorns germinate from last year?
The soil temp is still not warm enough for them to push out. I expect we will see them in the next week. I will do an episode on establishing those seedings once they pop out and we can evaluate how well the seeding did.
Great information! I struggle with what to plant every year with my summer plots.
Have you considered Small Burnett or Sainfoin for the 3 acre field?
I want grain up there, at least as an experiment for this year. If I can get grain growing there, that ridge will be awesome hunting in late October. I have a few other tricks up my sleeve that I will try, such as interseeding other plants into the rows to take the pressure off the corn/sorghum during their vulnerable stages. Have a great day.
I would put a ring of clover all around the plot to take early season pressure off beans and brassica
That is a good idea Jack. I will probably do something like that. Have a great day.
I remember way back on Midwest Whitetail you planted sorghum was it treaded with safened? If not how did you control the weeds in it?
Tom, I don't know what that stuff was. I know it was grain sorghum and that's about it. For weed control, I no-till drilled the sorghum on 15 inch rows and then sprayed with glyphosate, 2-4D, atrazine right after planting. As the weeds were dying the sorghum was growing up and got far enough ahead of the weeds (giant foxtail on that farm) to shade them out and keep them from thriving. It worked pretty well. I think the narrow rows was important for that reason. Have a great day.
Those Cedar make very good places for the deer to crawl under have little ones or just hide, especially in the rain and snow so they have a lot of value
There are still plenty of cedars on that farm. It is just nice to revitalize that slope. Traditional cover there is prairie and that is why they call it "goat prairie" because a goat would find such a steep sloping prairie to his liking.
👍👍
My favorite Gun UA-cam watching my favorite Hunting UA-cam!!!!
Thanks for the support.
I was just listening to your problem with the deer eating your stand early and wiping it out. I have heard that you can use a fertilizer from Milwaukee called maloganite. It's suppose to keep the deer away. I used to put city sludge on my fields and the deer wouldn't come near the field. Something to look into. If you have a city sewer treatment plant, start their.
Shannon, I have heard that too, but I struggle getting past the fact that it is made of microbes from sewage treatment plants. Maybe that is no big deal, but the other factor is that it is low in potency and you need tons of it (literally) to get the effect you need on just a few acres. Finally, it is not available in bulk here in my area. I think it is more for small yards than big fields or food plots.
Thanks for the info. Great job! Im from Northern Indiana i planted milo, had good success with it. Not sure if you tried it or not?? Bucks hit it hard all through the fall. Good luck with your food plots
Travis, milo is just another name for grain sorghum so that is the same stuff I am talking about. Thanks for the comment and support.
Stupid question, do you mow whitetail clover the same as you would a normal clover mix? I usually mow my plots when the clover blooms but wasn’t sure if whitetail institute was the same.
Dakota, I never used to mow my clover if it wasn't weedy. More people are coming around to that idea. But, if you do mow them either the weed load will dictate when or you can mow roughly six weeks before the first frost to get a lush regrowth going into the season (after the hottest driest time of the summer). I will stick with the idea of not mowing it unless you have to. I have seen more harm done with the residue piling up and potential stress to the clover when mowing it versus the gain of having lush regrowth.
3 way mix planted thick with grain drill. Sorghum, sunflowers, soybeans.
That does sound like a great mix. Good job.
The sorghum protects the other stuff from the deer so they get a chance to grow instead of 100% beans out in open
I have high deer density and the mix I use is buck forage oats winter peas crimson clover winter rye and winter wheat and kale …that mix seems to hold up well all season long all the way into the spring and the deer hammer it
I may end up going that route. I appreciate the input. I really want to see if I can grow grain up on that ridge top plot. I think it would be dynamite hunting if possible, because I can use the taller plants (corn/sorghum) as screen to sneak through to stands and blinds. This year will be a good test of that plan. Have a great day.
Great video! Do you have any concerns about erosion on that top field after disking and then going to corn/sorghum?
I will probably never till it again. I just needed to smooth it. I will use a no-till drill or corn planter from here on out.
@@bill-winke copy that, wasn't pointing fingers at all just curious. I know that driftless area over here in WI is known for some absolute deluge rainfall periods where way too much rain can come down in 30 minutes or less
Dang she gone lol. Looking forward to watching the progression.
Thanks William for the comment and the support. Have a great day.
That ridge field is a perfect application for 100 lbs of DAP (18-46-0), if you can find 50 lb bags of it 👍🏼
Thanks Dan. I am guessing the local coop carries that. They have bagged pelletized lime, so I am guessing they have bagged fertilizer too. If not, I have a couple of big tubs that I can put in my truck and I can get bulk fertilizer. Have a great day.
Another great video! I would like to see you and Jordan in a foot race! An acre is 43,560 sq ft.👍🇺🇸
TJT, that would be a really bad idea. She would literally run circles around me!
yes we worked with biologic and bobby cole to market that tall stuff back in the day . can't remember what they called it🤨 but it didn't have much of a head on it.
No, it puts most of its growth into the stalk. Farmers chop it for silage and some food plot seed companies combine it with Egyptian wheat and sell it as a screening cover. It does a good job of that.
Sorghum, buckwheat, sunhemp, soybean & cowpea blend is what you need
I will take a look at it Brett. I see that Whitetail Institute has a blend called Power Plant that I will try in that plot too. Thanks for the input. whitetailinstitute.com/imperial-powerplant-annual/
@@bill-winke Merit Seed’s “Buckdraw” and WI “PowerPlant” are the best two pre mixed summer blends for deer IMO
Dream Big.
Dark dirt usually correlates with higher organic matter and in my area 5+ percent is a good percentage
Thanks Bigboi. We run pretty high on organic matter here where pushing 10% is fairly normal. I appreciate the input.
One thing I don’t see a lot of people planting is pumpkins. They love them and it takes awhile to get the middle of them all. I’m guessing the seed isn’t cost efficient.
I’ve also been reading that WI soil test is not accurate and to get one at the local co-op. I’ve never tried theirs. Soil looks great man. I was guessing high to med 5s on the cattle pasture. Thanks for letting us tag along. I think your daughter is a runner. She knew meters right off.
I think more people would plant them if they heard about it. The seed is not super expensive, but I am not sure about the fertilizer requirement. I may plant some this spring just for fun to learn more about it. Have a great day.
Interested to see if your deer eat the sorguhm. I planted some a few years ago in Houston county mn and they didn’t touch it at all, not even late season
Hmm, I am guessing your property has plenty of food or they would definitely have started on it. I bet my deer eat it, but I doubt they eat the whole 3 acres. The deer in southern Iowa on our farm down there had never seen it either, but they ate it just fine starting about mid-November. Time will tell.
Get a large metal pipe the width of the disk. chain it to the back of the disk to make a drag.
That's good advice. Would be pretty easy to do also. Thanks.
Try dragging chain links fence with blocks on it for weight to level it out
That is a good idea. Another guy recommended dragging a post or pole behind the disc. Thanks for the comment.
Plow the plot then drag a heavy pole 20 foot long behind the tractor (old utility pole) then repeat, it will level it right up.
That is a good idea. If it is still rough after this year I will do that next spring.
What setting did you use on the Earthway spreader for the clover? I need to plant some & I am seeing a wide range of recommendations, including one channel that says don't use the Earthway spreader as the clover seed is too small. (They are also selling a very high priced seed drill)
It is up at the farm right now, but I opened it only a very small amount - about the width of two seeds. That got me a decent rate, but I did have to go over it twice. I would always start small because you can always double seed rather than starting too wide and then putting out too much seed. I have planted dozens of acres of clover with the Earthway. Not sure why anyone would think it won't work. Good luck.
@@bill-winke Thanks, I will try that.
I use 1.5 and it works very well, but I walk pretty quickly. It is better to use too little and over lap later than to plant too heavy which is easy to do with small seeds
I planted 150 lb of coated red clover today. 1.5 wasn't quite enough, 2 worked just right.
Eyy. You are using the idea I gave from a previous video... I am curious to see the difference it makes having all the added forage you will have in the timber and glade restoration especially when you start burning.
In my experience, the better you make the browse in the timber, the less damage you get to food plots and ag fields. I saw this on the farm we owned in southern Iowa. For several years right after aggressive TSI the food plots flourished because the deer were eating more browse. Good input. Have a great day.
you could have put a bunch of Winter Rye last September
By the time I noticed the brassicas weren't going to make it through the fall, it was getting close to frost time. I would have to do that in August here, to get a good start on the fall freeze. But that is a good option. I did that in the bottom field and the deer hit that area hard after the beans were gone from that plot - all through the winter.
Maybe plant th3 corn and as the corn browns up, throw rye down heavy, you’ll have an extra crop possibly taking the heat off the corn?
I think it will be too late by then. In my experience, the deer hit the little ears when they are silking (pollinating). They must be really sweet at that time. If that happens (and there is no guarantee they would do that) there is no ear on the stalk as the plant matures. So, that is why I am reluctant to plant corn. Have a great day.
Plant that field in brassica and Australian winter pes's at the same time. Once the brassica reach 8 inches top dress with 200lbs rye per acre. Food all season with high browse pressure.
That does sound like it would work great. I like corn or sorghum for one main reason I failed to mention. You can sneak through it to get to and from your stands very easily. That alone can be a game changer in some spots.
@@bill-winke absolutely if you need the access
did soil test ph 4.8 said add 5620lbs lime. planted beans got ate up now planted alfalfa got good stand .
Good point. I do think that ridge will be better in alfalfa because it dries out really fast in the sun during a dry summer. At least alfalfa is pretty drought hardy. Good input. Have a great day.
Darker the dirt,the higher the carbon content. 🙂👍
Thanks for the input AW. I appreciate it. Have a great day.
Bill, being up high on those bluffs and turning up the dirt on a spot that never has been curious if you took any time to look for artifacts at all
I didn't look, but I sure should. Not too far away is a Effigy Mounds National Monument - a series of burial mounds up on the bluffs. In fact, just across the valley is another area with some old mounds. I will have to look closely next time I am up there. Good eye.
@@bill-winke yes you are in a great area to look. After a rain before they may plot starts to green up you should definitely spend an hour looking around
My grandfather who farmed most of his life said, “dark dirt is good dirt:)”
A lot of this part of Iowa is black dirt. Your grandpa was right about that!
I love my Garmin also, it is a Venu 2. Those Asics don't look like running shoes, maybe hiking shoes. Respectfully I say nice calves.
Mark, thanks for the comment. Jordan was just joking about those boots being running shoes. She loves her Fenix 7 Garmin watch. It has all kinds of cool features that assess performance, heart rate, pace, power output, even accounts for wind direction and incline/decline when running. It also has output related to stress levels and even how well she slept the night before. Pretty amazing technology for someone who takes running seriously. Here is the link to that one: www.garmin.com/en-US/p/735573
@@bill-winke Sorry I meant to put a "LOL" in the comment those were running shoes, since OBV she was joking. My watch has a lot of those functions as well including the sleep ones.
Its a weird thing in Georgia the deer seem to have some different taste. I used the Big N Beasty blend and it worked great as far as it being big and leafy and growing well but the deer didn't really hammer it here probably because winter severity is so low. They did eat it but they seem to really like rape and clover much more. We don't get a ton of frost either but I've heard that deer will eat the Brassica whether or not its been frosted over.
Allen, some varieties of brassicas are definitely more palatable before frost than others. In my experience, deer like dwarf Essex rape before the frost while other brassicas (like turnips) are more attractive after the frost. Has something to do with sugar content in the leaves, I guess. Good input. Have a great day.
@@bill-winke Thanks Bill always look forward to your tips!
what type of sorghum do u plant? what variety would u suggest for planting in the deep south? thanks
I am dealing with a 2 acre plot on a powerline that cuts thru a pine plantation. I have had trouble with it getting extremely dry in late summer and burning anything I plant up. hoping sorghum will be able to survive these conditions.
Jarred, sorghum is drought hardy, but I am not sure if it will survive intense heat and intense dry if the soil is poor. I have just used grain sorghum of any variety I can get from Pheasants Forever or another wildlife group. The Iowa DNR used to have it in southern Iowa, but they don't have it in the area I am at now.
Get a piece of 4 inch steel pipe, weld 2 chains on it and hook it behind the disk.
Very good advice. That's what I will do next time around. I appreciate it. Have a great day.
What about alfalfa? Keep it mowed up. Stays green until dec
Alfalfa would be a good option, but I really want grain up there at least until I find out it is not possible. I want something tall enough to sneak behind that is why I was looking at the tradeoff of corn vs sorghum. I have had bad experiences with alfalfa though if not farmed correctly. I have mowed alfalfa and then had the whole stand die. I think it is because it needs to be baled or the residue will become moldy and spread something that kills the stand. That happened to me twice on two very nice stands. So, I am slow to plant alfalfa in a food plot. I would definitely favor a really good white clover blend, like Imperial Whitetail, over alfalfa if I wasn't going to bale the field. Good input.
Mix in winter rye grain end of summer.
That is a great point. I have also broadcast brassicas into corn during late summer with pretty good results.
Is there a specific variety of sorghum you look for?
No, I have always just planted the stuff I go for free from the DNR for food plots. Pheasant hunters have been planting sorghum for years as food plots for birds and the DNR in the area I lived before had tons of it for free. In the area I am at now, I will have to do some digging or else just buy sone seed. I will get grain sorghum. A bag goes a long ways as it will plant roughly 4 to 5 acres, so I don't need much. Have a great day.
@@bill-winke thanks for responding. I enjoy the content.
Shocked you aren’t planting PowerPlant?
I think I will plant a strip of it around the entire outside. That would be a good blend for that area.
Bill, just an observation, my deer in north Georgia obliterate my sorghum in the dough stage.
Yes, had that in southern Iowa too. Just checked my sorghum an hour ago and the deer have not touched it yet. I don't have tons of them here and they have probably never seen sorghum before. Will be tougher to get the sorghum past them next year, I am guessing.
Man that looks like a Rifle Bind Food Plot not a Bowhunting Plot. Your going to have your hands full figuring that plot out for bowhunting.
If it comes to it, I can knock down some of the plot to encourage deer to spend most of their time in that part.
What would happen if I used miracle gro instead of normal fertilizer
I think that stuff would be really expensive. Some coops have liquid fertilizer that you just spray on. You are limited by how much you can supply that way but it is convenient to cover your fertilizer and herbicide in one pass.
@@bill-winke thanks I am trying to grow my first food plot this year.
Tell your wife you need a no-till drill for Christmas.
I have one coming from RTP that should be here soon. I am definitely looking forward to that. They will be a sponsor again, like back in the Midwest Whitetail days.
i don't think power plant will keep up with your grazing pressure. when i hunted fort reily they used a tall type sorghum 8 to 10 feet tall it had a decent size head on it. the elk would wipe out any other food plot, but not the sorghum .the weather would bring it down late fall early winter then the deer could get at it. you still need to try a small plot of ag type sunflowers 3to 4 foot tall and the striped seed, not black oil type.
I once managed a property in the mid90s that had a lot of deer. I used the forage sorghum too. That is what they call the tall stuff. I used a six row corn planter and put three adjacent rows in grain sorghum and three in forage sorghum. Then by going down and back I had six rows or grain sorghum next to six rows of forage sorghum. The deer cleaned out the grain sorghum by mid October but the forage sorghum lasted into December for the reasons you state. By the way, that forage sorghum was awesome to sneak through heading to and from stands.
Cultimulcher behind the disc.
Good advice Tim. Thanks. Have a great day.
Cal peas they rejuvenate once they nip them off
Good input Mike. I appreciate the comment and the support.
1 stand on the beans looked terrible 2 I've had good luck seeding rye over the top of beans
They looked good at first but the deer pounded them relentlessly when they were too small to handle the pressure. I did spread some winter rye in my bean plot in the bottom field and the deer did gravitate to that during the winter. I think that is a great idea for anyone planting beans. Good input. Thanks.
@Bill Winke I like to spread rye before the beans start dropping leaves works really good
Land plane will help level it.
If I had one. All I have is that old tractor and that little disk. It worked pretty well, but took a while. Have a great day.
What was your reasoning for planting a monoculture food plots the last several years?
The fad of blends everywhere will pass with time and soon the experts will be saying - Plant Beans here and clover there and corn next to it! I have seen these things come and go a few times. Mine are not monocultures in the true sense. I may have planted beans but then I broadcast brassicas and winter rye into them, in all cases. The only monoculture on the farm is the corn and even with the corn I planted sorghum into the outside rows and some pumpkins. I will likely always have corn. There are a lot of ways to feed deer, not just the trendy ones.
Thank you for the reply. Do you plant RR corn, if not how do you deal with weeds?@@bill-winke
Hey Bill I was wondering if you doing anything with Interns
We took applications back in March and ended up finding two very good candidates that we accepted and several more that were top shelf that we we didn't have a place for. You will see those guys this fall on the episodes.
43560 sq ft per acre
Got it. Thanks.
CEC = Cation Exchange Capacity
Got it. Thanks Paul.
@@bill-winke dont ask me to explain it but Mo CEC mean Mo Better Soil, Soils ability to hold on to nutrients
43,560 sq ft. to an acre
Got it. Thanks Jonathan.
The reason your crops are getting killed is you are planting basically a monoculture, so the deer have nothing much to eat until the plant is ready then they kill it. Plant a variety of seeds that provide food at different and longer periods of time. Look at greencover seed's summer blend and fall blends. Both have enough variety to carry each growing season into the next. The only other reason I can think of based off what I see in this video is there is not a ton of natural vegetation around for browse so when your beans or corn is ready they kill it due to not much else to eat at least as good as what you got for them. Blends is the secret here. This is just an opinion
Hunterworks, on a good property with diversity in small plots of clover and lots of natural browse, the deer don't really start on the ag fields until mid-summer. That is the goal on my farm, to have so much available in small plots and naturally that food plots aren't hit hard. I have seen this happen, (and have done it), but it takes some work to get there (Lots of TSI work and small plot creation). I like having corn or sorghum in some areas because I can use it as a screen for sneaking in and out and a food source combined. Have a great day.
@@bill-winke I was commenting on the fact you were saying this got hit hard, the variety helps that, that is all I was getting at
Why not a blend
Blends do make sense in some cases. Even those can be eaten to the ground if the area is too small or the numbers too high though. I may not have been clear, but in this discussion, I was really focused on the tradeoff between corn vs sorghum as I want a tall grain on that ridge field. My ideal situation would be corn so I can sneak through it to get to and from stand sites. That would make that area much, much easier to hunt, but not if the deer wipe it out in the summer. I think I will plant something around the outside to occupy the deer during the times when the corn is most sensitive to pressure (when the ears are just starting to silk).
@@bill-winke maybe sunflowers would be great high in protein and gives you cover may also help with your grouse with the seed heads I'm more south we've already planted some for dove but may be enough time generally 45-50 when they bloom
She was hardly winded,I would’ve been dying on the ground. Lol
Yes, me too. I was even tired just running the 4 wheeler that fast!
43560 bill😁
Yep, got it. Thanks.
Well, that little girl can at least run like a deer!
She is fast, that is for sure.
I have to say, I'm really surprised that you're planting monocultures and wondering why they are failing. You list three different types of planting and none of them are good for areas with high deer density. The key to solving the problem you're facing isn't going to be solved with "one" thing...that's actually the problem. The key to wildlife food plots is diversity. I've seen you plant diverse plots in the past, so I'm very confused why you are approaching this like a farmer instead of a habitat manager. I honestly thought you knew better.
Everyone keeps saying diversity somehow is the magic bullet. It comes down to the number of deer using an area and the amount of food in that area. I could plant the whole thing to clover and they wouldn't wipe it out, but I can't sneak behind clover to get to my stands on that ridge. Let's wait until the season is over before you pass judgment. This isn't my first rodeo.
@@bill-winke - I've been planting food plots for almost 15 years now. I've made most of the mistakes and learned that diversity makes a huge difference, especially when there is a lot of browse pressure. I have respected you for years and know that you're a true outdoorsman. This gap in your knowledge base, vis a vis highly diverse food plot plantings, really caught me off guard. I suspect you'll try them yourself, once you get tired of monoculture failures, over and over again. If you'd ever like to discuss why diverse plots are so much more risk tolerant, let me know.
Y’all need to watch grant. Y’all are not very good at what your doing
I know Grant very well. He just has different goals and needs. We may end up doing something similar on some acres, but I have always liked having at least some grain plots (corn, beans, sorghum) for late season hunting.
My issue with corn is destruction from coons not deer. Just about the time you think man this is great the raccoons strike.
As far as soybeans I just broadcast them at over twice the normal rate and seem to always get good pods. Also have clover along the beans and that seems to help take the pressure off of them a bit. If in an ag area do not plant until the neighboring farmers do.
Nate, agreed. I have seen that too. No one traps or hunts coons anymore and they have become thick. I think planting some clover around the outside will be a big win. Thanks for the input.