No Till Food Plot Explosion and How To 

That's great to hear Jeremy....perfect! I'm near there a lot in MI 🙂 typically around 25 clients per year and I stay in Big Rapids...

Ha, 10 more Wednesdays...my wife thought that was funny! And yes they are...even old ones. You are very welcome...really hope that they help you out!

"grizzly",

You are welcome Drake! Probably good timing about now as long as you guys are getting good moisture 🙂 Looking forward to hearing how it goes!

Ever consider fencing areas off?

That's awesome to hear...thanks a lot for the feedback! So many more things to consider than just herbicide and if you can afford big dollar equipment or not

That's great to hear Joshua! Here is a very simple method...it is also further explained in my 2014 food plot book ☺️ www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/easy-no-till-food-plot-methods

Thanks Brian and you are very welcome...too much info is for the top 1% of the 1% of all food plotters. You are welcome and have a happy 4th 🙂

Happy 4th to you too!!

@@brianlenneman5032 thanks Brian! Diane and I just sitting on the porch watching some storms roll thru and having a couple of beverages...very nice

Tell Diane I say Hi!! Doing the same thing here!! Just got done shooting the bows with the kids..

Thanks for watching and I hope they help! No till is easy to do...but takes some planning ahead for sure. Or 10s of thousands of dollars of equipment...which you do not need ☺️

Thank you very much Doug, have a happy 4th 🙂

Oh definitely! I have my 6th book coming since 2012 🙂 If you check out my website I have over 600 whitetail strategy articles too, and have had nearly 900 clients in 26 states since 2005...teaching folks how to better their herd, habitat and hunt. Extremely busy...

Ha that's pretty funny! I have a picture of my 18 year old daughter standing in it when she was around 6 or 7...that was a stand I played for my lawn, lol. Very cool tho and thanks for the comments Dan, always appreciate them!

Really great seed variety for several reasons!

Thank you very much and Happy 4th to you too!

Happy 4th to both of you.

@@bJH3105 hope you had a great one Brad!

I appreciate it Bruce!

Thank you Adam!

Thank you very much. A system I first developed many years ago and it works - really hope it helps folks out!

Andy I would get it in the ground right now...look for 7-8 weeks of growth and then no till your Fall plots into it. Excellent for summer cover for critters and food for all kinds of wildlife. Although you probably won't take it until the point of maturity and seed.

Thank you Boneheads!

I would like to hear the solution to this.

Rob you are so very welcome! For sure you don't have to sacrifice quality and variety of food plots when you don't have the rich boy toys 🙂

Thanks a lot David! I use a Fimco I purchased from TSC...similar to the one I used from Cabela's for almost 20 years. Used a LOT! 40" boom, 2 nozzles...very simple and compact, 25 gallon. I would spray that rye and let it get crispy for about 4 weeks before working in with the ATV disc. If there is a lot of soil exposure at that time before working in...you can just spread your seed on the soil, cultipack and spray again if needed. That will set you up well for this year. That rye can be a PAIN if too tall!! Best to mow or burn when young depending on what you are doing in the Spring. Best case you burn now and there is still plenty of soil exposed for good seed to soil contact in early August to spread your seed into, then cultipack or mow over the seed. I wouldn't mow over the small seeds...Brassica, clover, chicory...it would potentially be too thick for growth and sunlight requirements. Thanks again David!

Awesome! Thanks for the help!

@@deercamp3479 sure thing David!

Hi Wade you definitely want to plant separate from the clover...that clover can easily shade out the young brassica plants. Unless you have a minimum of 50% soil exposure. That Packermaxx does roll really nice! Very affordable by high quality cultipacker! The owner Lincoln is awesome to work with!

Thanks Bill! It seems the generic names are always changing...but just have to make sure 41% concentrate. Great question!

A couple options are to just keep running the buckwheat down with your ATV/ATV tires...another a drag like your ATV ramps turned sideways. They do work OK 🙂 What I like about a quality cultipacker is that they will create grooves into the soil...dig the seed into the soil a bit better.

I’m also from the mitten. Either way your plots deteriorate after the temps drop. I’ve done no till. And I’ve also tilled with a rototiller and planted that way. Both grow good, as soon as the first frost hits the deer tear into it. When the temp drops, yes the quality goes down. But when the snow comes mid to late November, the start digging up at your plots finding food. I plant mine very thick and as big as possible to keep a good food source into the latter part of the hunting season. Good luck to you this season, opener Thursday!

For sure...likely the best "smother crop" that food plotters can plant...and then the best for planting into for Fall crops 🙂

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Hi Tuma! I buy a lot from www.northwoodswhitetails.com/, and then for the basics of oats, rye and sometimes peas...I go thru the Fred store at the Tru Value in Viroqua. Some things I buy at the Westby grainery behind the Tru Value. I buy chemicals at both of those places.

G...thank you! It really all depends on the amount of soil exposure. Meaning...will at least 80-90% of the seeds land on the soil. If soil. If so, then you can seed, roll and spray to keep the weeds down and to give the seeds a good mulch base. You just don't want the seed to be so covered up that when it germinated...it doesn't get to the sun.

Whitetail Habitat Solutions Ok. I believe there will be enough soil exposure so I will go ahead and do that. Thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated!

Bob that was at 21 days....what day are you on with yours!? Are the deer hitting it at all?

We planted ours on June10th, not much growth but we will see. We put up 3 stands and licking vines by the water holes you suggested. Very buggy and about 90 degrees, not a good day to be in the woods!!!!!

@@rfb7117 ha, no not at all! I shot a video with Diane, then sprayed and replanted a 1/2 acre...I still liked being outside tho!

What and when do you fertilize on the peas and oats 1/2, and on the brassica 1/2?

@@rfb7117 hi Bob I purely go by a soil test with one exception: I like to add 50-75#s of Urea per acre on the Brassica 1/2, roughly 4 weeks after planting and prior to rain. Happy 4th btw!

Hi Paul...no buckwheat for you at that point which isn't a bad thing...saves you on seed 🙂

I would only if the Brassica failed due to overbrowsing, poor germination, lack of moisture, etc. You want that brassica growing well into October, until the first frost, without competition. Rye is huge competition for Brassica and I can't think of a time to purposely plant them together. Especially rye should be planted roughly 4-6 weeks after Brassica timing.

@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 thank you.

@@foodplotinnovations7086 you are welcome!

You have a lot going on for sure! That buckwheat could be really tall. Where are you located? 1 very big concern is cover in that field. You HAVE to have solid portions of that field in escape cover for pheasants and rabbits. Depending on your location that means something like Switchgrass if in an area that receives a decent amount of annual snow. Most pheasant mixes lack solid cover pockets, so they do not produce sustainable small game populations. It has to be solid...it can't just have a 1/2# of switch per acre. It has to be solid pockets of cover...5-6#s per acre of switch. If you see in my videos I have strips of switch and pockets that make up 20-30% of the area that can potentially hold pheasants...and we now have them! Also rabbits used the switchgrass during the first Winter. I have seen so many pheasant mixes that do no create sustainable pheasant populations I actually am at the point I feel really bad for folks. Many have to plant pheasants every Spring...but that can be changed with 20-30% of solid pockets of escape cover. Sorry for the rant 🙂 Back to the buckwheat! Planting in November means frost seeding...which you can also do in late Winter too. BUT you have to have open soil to spread the seed on, just like in November. I would say as long as the soil temps are down to where the seed will not germinate, you could take a chance seeding into the standing buckwheat at that time. I have seen some incredible pheasant parcels that were created purely by planting pockets of switch that equal 20 to 50% of the area, and then letting early successional growth come up between the pockets. Consider if you aren't already, broadcasting solid pockets of switch grass into areas, WITHOUT the mix in it.

@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 Hi Jeff. Thanks for your reply. My farm is 122 acres and is located in West Central Illinois about an hour south of the Quad Cities. We get plenty of snow. It is mostly a deer/turkey hunting farm but I do currently have 9 acres enrolled in CRP program, specifically CP-33 Quail Buffer Mix. It's pretty thick (mostly switchgrass) and stands up well to the winter. There are lots of pheasants and quail on my farm. I watch them from my tree stand all the time. They spend some time in the CRP, woods and some scattered brush plies. But mostly they hang out in the large hedgerows that are the borders of my farm. Big cottonwoods, downed limbs that the farmer dozed in there, cedars, etc. It is excellent cover. However, whenever I walk the edge of my farm with my dog, pheasants and coveys of quail bust out the other side of the hedgerows onto neighboring farms where they have huge stands of switch grass, like 100's of acres. These fields I am trying to build are an attempt to keep the birds more in the interior of my farm where maybe I can hunt them a bit. I am open for suggestions. That is just what the Pheasants Forever guys recommended to achieve my goals after viewing my farm. I do maintain a few early successional fields on my farm but, so far, they are not the primary places on my farm that the birds spend their time. I will heed your advice. Ken

@@gobblerchaser man your land sounds awesome!! Definitely plant 8-10#s per acre within pure pockets up to an 1/8th of an acre...lines of switch, pockets, etc...within that mix. That mix alone is really bad for pheasants because it does not offer sustainable cover. I have seen large plantings if it where landowners have to replant pheasants every single year. Definitely those pockets of pure switch are greatly needed. Then you will have great Summer habitat and great Fall/Winter habitat at the same time.

Great question Chase I would say that would be pushing it unless you receive excessive moisture or can irrigate. I've seen some plantings do very well in prolonged drought in northern areas...but you are of course in a lot different area! You could try and report back 🙂 But I would be worried about it. What about iron clay peas?

@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 clay peas are very popular in our area. We typically see winter wheat, clay peas and sorghum. Are the clay peas able to be broadcast out into the wheat, rye, oat mixture in your no till method?

Did you get advice or figure out the setting?

Not yet, lol.

Just have to watch and pay attention...also check out the other Ultimate No Till videos of mine, chapter 12 of my 2014 food plot book, or search hashtag #ultimatenottill on Instagram. No offense...but the video is assuming at least a basic understanding of food plotting or farming terms ☺️

​@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 I do understand those and that's why it sounded weird when you said that you broadcast the next crop's seed in the standing buckwheat, then smash it down, then spray-kill it if needed - you get a mulch of dead buckwheat residue over the seeds, which get sun exposure - could please you explain this? I wouldn't bother commenting if I didn't like this video and didn't find it interesting, I will watch those other stuff too, don't take my question personally ☺️

Hi Charles, yes definitely mow it down or the clover will come up sparse.

@@whitetailhabitatsolutions9751 ok thanks

Hey Donald. Each sprayer is different. It is not really about ratio oz/gal than it is about how your sprayer sprays and how fast you drive. 2 quarts per acre of chemical, amount of water is really just the means to spread the chemical. Jeff did a video on this earlier this year, check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_erSvQfWsaw.html. Hope this helps

Damnit was just going to post that vid length...thank you 🙂 Think 2 quarts per acre/per how many gallons you can spread evenly over an acre. For example I can spray on somewhat even ground, 25 gallons of water over 2 acres at 8mph with my ATV sprayer setup. That means I just add 4 quarts per acre to a full 25 gallon tank and then spray. For others that may be 10 gallons to cover an acre...or 15...or 17. So many variables so that's why if you figure your ATV setup coverage per acre...it all becomes easy after that.

Whitetail Habitat Solutions makes perfect sense. Ty for the info. Have a great 4th🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Hi Matteo! If you are no tilling into it, 3' is great...4-5' not so great. You don't want so much thatch over your seed that it doesn't allow anything to grow...especially small seeds. And you don't want too little growth that it doesn't smother the ground and control weeds. 7-8 weeks prior to planting your August crops is perfect. You let the timing of your August plantings determine when you plant by counting back 7-8 weeks. I would look at planting into your buckwheat within a couple of weeks at latest...if you are planting no till into it. If you are discing or tilling it up...then waiting isn't a bad thing, or the height. The lowest hole in the bucket is being able to plant into, so that tanks higher than any other factors of soil improvement, nitrogen levels, etc. It will ALL be good...but if you can't plant into because it is too low or too high, then it kind of defeats the purpose. I hope that makes sense? You should be good for planting soon! Very good it grew so well

Whitetail Habitat Solutions thanks again Jeff that’s what I needed to Insure. I haven’t hinting this property in 10 years and the land owner pretty much free reign on the fields this year as long as I look over the property and fix some roads for him. It’s a smaller piece and always has been my dream property to have. It’s a great mix field, hardwoods, swamp, and cedar. And want to start implementing everything to make it a paradise for bucks. Lots of pressure all around but pretty rural area.surrounded by a school and houses. 32 acres with a total of 3acres of fields. So trying screening with Egyptian wheat this year to separate fields into smaller plots. And hopefully next can start implementing switch grass next year. Along with hinge cutting in strategic places.

That's a tough one... somewhere in the middle but I mostly go by feel. I know that doesn't help much but I begin light and make sure if my coverage on my first field. If I had to guess around 3.5 to 4...but always check your rate during the seeding process.