What to Plant in New Plots after Logging
Filed under: Ask Grant, Food Plots
Great site, just found this today. My father, brother and I just had two, 1 acre areas cleared to do our first food plots in Sullivan County, NY.
The loggers should be done pulling the stumps by tomorrow. I’ve been reading as much as I can, but would love to know what your thoughts are on what our next step should be. We took some soil samples and will be sending those out for analyzing. Then I guess we will proceed with disking the plots, liming, and seeding. I’d love to get something established for this first year. I’m guessing a mix of clover and brassicas?
John
John,
Congrats on establishing the new plots! All the activities that go with logging tend to compact the soil. I’d strongly suggest ripping or fracturing the hard pan/compaction caused by the logging operation. This is an additional expense, but can significantly increase the productivity of such sites for years!! Remember that disking usually adds to compaction. Disking will loosen the top few inches of the soil, but not the deeper portions where root development is critical. Soil compaction is worse in soils with moderate to high clay content.
Once the soil compaction has been addressed, your plan sounds good! Clover is slow to become established. I suggest you consider adding wheat as a cover crop. This is especially true if you wish to hunt these plots during the early bow season the first fall after establishment. Seedling wheat is a good attractant if it is fertilized appropriately. The clover will develop a good root system the first fall and produce much more forage the following spring. Brassicas are a good addition to the blend. However, they won’t provide the attractiveness during the early season that wheat would.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
