Been watching the TV outdoor channels and on a regular basis the folks are hunting over standing or picked corn. Last year an old Minnonite farmer planted a corn field on our farm and it turned out to be a deer magnet. He picked several rows by hand and then had one of the neighbors finish it up with a picker. It was out in December before they picked it and a lot of it was on the ground. It was unusual not to see sets of eyes shining as we would come and go at night. I had planted an oat plot and it was not utilized by the deer as in previous seasons. Also very few pictures of deer at an automatic corn feeder next to the oat patch. Even after the corn was picked and the field was disked, the deer continued to hammer that field. So...... Why not plant a patch in the woods and leave it for Bambi to enjoy during the winter? I turned the oats under as green manure and waited about 30 days, then disked and applied about 250 lbs of 5-10-15 per acre. Had a couple of small showers 3/10" or so and was able to plant the little field this morning. Weatherman says we should get a good soaking this weekend. My wife took some pictures while I was planting and then I took a picture of the old "stripped down" planters we use in the woods. Notice it has all the track plows removed so that it literally will roll over roots and stumps without hanging up like a set of "full dress" planters would. Will try to keep a photo journal of this experiment and share it with anyone who is intrested in food plots. Treefarmer
Looks sweet...............I would un a bush hog over it when the corn is dried. I mean like every 50' make a pass thru the corn and leave the rest standing. Also rite before dove season make a couple passes and the doves should tear it up also.
My buddy and I are gonna plant some corn this year also in a couple spots on the lease. I've never tried it before but can't see how it could hurt.
I should have mentioned, it's a little late in the season to plant corn as some of the feilds here in the panhandle are already tossling. There are folks that plant sweetcorn for the produce markets that plant later to have the corn available over a longer period of time. There are lots of insect pests to deal with the later you plant. Most of the field con is planted in Feb. and March in this neck of the woods. Treefarmer
I didn't realize we should be planting already. Looks like the soonest we could really plant it would be a month or so from now. Gonna be up in the next few weeks but won't have time on this trip. We may have to wait till next year or I'll give it a shot anyways. The guys that had the place before us planted it in a powerline and we saw a lot of deer crossing and feeding at the same spot all year. We've been talking about getting someone up there to do our planting this year so I may have to try to find someone on the next trip up. Thanks for the heads up TF.
