How to Fertilize Food Plots: Understanding the Numbers | Dream Farm w/ Bill Winke
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มี.ค. 2023
- Trying to figure out the correct amount of bagged fertilizer to apply to various food plot plantings can be intimidating. Whitetail Institute offers an app called Plot Perfection that has a fertilizer calculator built in. That is a great resource. Link below.
With this tutorial on fertilizer and the pH needs of food plots, we take you through a very practical look at how much you need, how to apply it and even where to buy it. As expensive as fertilizer is, there are also other methods to improve soil quality through the rotation of what you plant.
Whitetail Institute Plot Perfection: plotperfection.com/home
Whitetail Institute Food Plot Blends: whitetailinstitute.com/
Soil Testing Kits: whitetailinstitute.com/soil-t...
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Bill one of the best informational and important videos out for proper foodplot growth. Great job both of you!
Thanks Karl. Much appreciated. Have a great day.
This is so cool your doing this channel together! Memories for a lifetime!!
For sure. We are really enjoying this process. Thanks for the comment. Best of luck to you.
Such fun episodes when Jordan is involved. Nice information and great questions. Thanks Bill and Jordan
Thanks Shane. I appreciate it. Have a great day.
Just finished the last couple minutes of the episode 👍 living quarters look great What a difference.
Yes, that is an understatement! Thanks for the watching.
Great video, looking forward to your next one!
Thanks TJT. I really appreciate the support. Have a great day.
Great overview, translated into easy to understand English. Thanks brother!
I appreciate the support and the comment. Thanks.
This is a real thought provoking process. We’re trying to transition to less tillage, and more of the release process that Grant Woods is having success with. I. E. incorporating the N, etc, and reducing the need to fertilize. It’s just getting too expensive. Green Manure in the rotations seems to be the future.
I really like the rotation from clover to brassicas and back to clover, especially for larger plots, but I don't know that it is the answer for larger plots. Grant's system is likely the best bet for larger plots. I still like corn, so until I stop planting that, I will always have to come out of that system for the corn. Have a great day.
Great information Bill and Jordan.
Thanks Mitchell. We appreciate the support. Have a great day.
Awesome video as always, thanks for the info everybody!
Thanks Jason. Much appreciated.
This was very helpful. Thank you.
I appreciate the support and the comment. Have a great day.
I really liked this format, Jordan was asking the questions a lot of us would be asking, extremely helpful and informative
Thanks Jordan. We appreciate the support and the comment. Have a great day.
Great information Bill!
Thanks Eric. I appreciate it. Have a great day.
Great video, Bill! I live in upstate NY so we get plenty of maple leaves during the fall. I’ve been bagging and tilling maple leaves in the soil for years. Good nitrogen, and my plots flourish every year.
That is interesting Connor. I guess I never thought of the leaves as potential natural fertilizer. I always tried to remove them because they tend to make the soil acidic when they breakdown. Thanks for the input. I will definitely give this more thought. Have a great day.
Great information. Thanks for shout sound knowledge!
Sharing....not shout. I hate word insert!
You are welcome. Thanks for the support and the comment. Have a great day.
awesome information about 30 years ago that was my job at gold kist fertilizer !! i too agree the buffalo system is way to complicated just a soil test a good disc and good fertilizer or just good seed to soil contact however you can get it !! thank you so much for sharing !!
Thanks Nelson. I appreciate the support and the comment. I believe a good regenerative system definitely has its place, but definitely not for everyone that plants food plots. I hope you have a great day.
This is the best series!! The comments about lime are an eye opener for me. Going to have to check that ph. Make the dog do the dishes 😅
Thanks Takur. Those dogs are more than happy to do the dishes! Have a great day.
This was a great video Bill and Jordan!
I have to admit that this is one area that I am lax in.
One of the reasons is that the COST of fertilizer and lime has become so expensive the last couple of years!
And every food plot I have, as with most others, is more accessible with ATVs and side X sides, which limits how much I can carry in at one time.
This is one of the reasons why I have become more of a fan of "natural browse" for my deer attractants. This is also one of the reasons why my food plots aren't as "pretty" as a lot of others! LOL
I sometimes think that because I am SURROUNDED by ag fields that are corn or soybeans, I wonder why I even want a food plot.
Then again, I realize that "kill plots" can be extremely affective!
But the truth is, for me, I have to weigh the benefits of the COST OF CREATING FOOD PLOTS vs the RETURN.
Again, thanks for this very useful information!!!
Oh, and BTW, I love the deer print in the background, the two bucks fighting, as I have the same one under my deer mounts!
Thanks Lonnie. I love the Michael Sieve prints. They show terrain very similar to that around our farm. Also, collect most of Larry Zach's stuff, as Larry has been a long time friend. I do think that the return on a kill plot is much greater than the cost, at least for me. Those are very good spots to bowhunt. Good luck and thanks for the comment.
Great show and thanks for breaking it down. My 1.5 acre plot is completely impossible to get an ag truck back into. I’ve had decent luck with pell lime but it’s gotten expensive. Who knows why. We live on solid limestone here. The liquid works fast much is much more expensive and short acting. Powdered ag lime would be the way to go if I could figure out how to get it over the mountain and spread it. I’m enjoying your secrets over the years.
Jay, yes that is the biggest challenge with small plots, just getting lime to them. I will give it some thought, but more than likely you are going to have to bite the bullet and haul in a few loads via something like a fertilizer cart. I think some coop have lime carts that you can pull behind a tractor. Might be worth looking around to see if you can find someone that has one. Good luck.
Great video!
Thanks. I appreciate the support.
Thanks for the support.
I just tested my SW Georgia sandy soil and the best Ph I had was 5.7 P & K were low in the 6 food plot locations that I sampled.
Kristoph, you have some work to do to get those ready to grow plots. Most plants want a pH that is roughly 6.5 to 7. Lots of liming in your future! Good luck.
Very helpful info thank you
Thanks Steve. I appreciate the support. Have a great day.
Great content! Always lime or your wasting money on fertilizer. If a local co-op can replace the stones in fertilizer with pellet lime to make weight not waste. I’ve used a ton of pellet lime and 200 to 300lbs of fertilizer. If you have high magnesium you’ll need a high calcium lime or gypsum. Always learning. Good job! Thank you
Thanks Scott. Those are all good points. pH is the key to a good planting. Have a great day.
I would also add that folks need to look into seed blends vs. monocultures. The ability for different types of seeds to mature and handle a multitude of soil conditions/temps just makes loads more sense than throwing all your eggs in one basket sort of speak. Also deer are finicky at times and having plenty to chose from seems a better option than all of the same. At least that’s the direction I’m headed this year. Good luck!
For sure. Brassica blends usually contain something that is attractive at all times of the season, not just turnips, for example. As you mention, clover blends generally do better than straight single variety plantings. Very good point. Have a great day.
Awesome Info. Having cleared five 1/2 acre or less plots in the WV mountains, my plan is to lime the next couple years while planting a summer release, crimping that down before my fall plantings and then adding winter rye before too late in the fall. Hoping that in five years, I will have added enough organic material to have raised the PH and no longer need to fertilize. Going from 3.9 PH in most of the plots will take some time, but from what I've researched, I can raise the PH naturally by 1 each year. Time consuming, but I can't wait to see the results in a few years.
That is a long-term project. I never would have guessed the pH was that low. Gosh, there is no telling how many tons per acre of ground up lime it would take to get that up to 6.5. I will be really curious how much success you have raising the pH naturally. One point per year would be huge. Good luck and keep us in the loop on how it goes.
@@bill-winke 5 tons of lime hauled up in the bed of my truck over the last two years, and then 200 lbs at a time onto an atv and then spread by hand. Short term results were PH raised to 6. I'll be spraying the lime mixture on this year, so hope to maintain the PH levels going into the cover crop release program. I'll keep you two updated.
i also spread redmond mineral for micro mineral content .it helps a lot
Good point. None of the common fertilizers focus on the micro-nutrients.
explains why my brassicas grew but not good. Had the P and K right but the lime didnt raise the PH. so my most recent test showed great P and K and still a 5.5PH...Gonna have to hit it harder this year with lime.
Also, brassicas really like nitrogen so you may need to add N. I have also found that brassicas don't do well year after year. I like to put a rotation of clover in there to break the cycle and add natural nitrogen to the ground. But the clover definitely wants a pH of 6.5 or more, so you still need the lime. Good luck.
Bill the type u show with the large spreader FLOATER is MAG lime is all mined from lime stone
Yes, I just called that "ag lime" since that is what most farmers use. Good point.
Some larger fertilizer supply companies will have the ground up ag lime it is very reasonable but it’s hard to spread with small equipment, I would usually just get some 5 gallon bucket’s and spread it by hand before working up the ground and it definitely lasts longer 👍✌🏻🇺🇸
Agreed. I have used pelletized lime for that reason, supposed to be a bit faster acting, but more expensive. It is worth trying to figure out how to get the ag lime spread. If you can get it there, the 3-point hitch small tractor spreaders are good. Even the bigger ATV spreaders will work, but it will take a lot of trips. Just getting the bulk lime to the plot is the hardest part. Good luck.
Hey Bill and Jordan great information. I am wondering if combining pelletized lime and the liquid calcium together offers any benefits over just one of them? I have been using the liquid calcium for many years and it seems to work, but always looking to improve the end result. Thanks again.
I don't know Art. If I had to guess, I would say the liquid is faster acting even than the pelletized, but both should be OK on their own or in combination.
GREAT DETAILS! What is your preferred wet ground/clay seed besides clover? I need to do a perrenial as it is ofter too wet to get into with equipment.
I am not expert enough to know the best solutions on this one. I think I would call a few of the top food plot companies and ask them. Most will offer a recommendation. Here are some thoughts: white clovers and alsike clovers do better in those places than other clover varieties. Also, consider a few fruit trees. I am sure some varieties of fruit trees do well in wetter conditions too. Pears may be one example and possibly some apple varieties. Good luck.
@@bill-winke Thanks Bill, I always appreciate your input.
Just to add to this good info, there is plenty of P and K in the soil and N in the air. Building up the microbes in the soil to go get it and bring it to the plants is more effective than fertilizer. Nitrogen fertilizer causes aciidity. I've been using no till multispecies cover crops for many years, mostly out of necessity at first, and once I understood the science behind soil health, I "see the light" now and am doubling down on getting the microbial health of the soil right instead of being addicted to fertilizer. Soil tests give you what is in solution, not what is in the soil. I use lime and fertilizer on new client properties to get started then get to where it is no longer needed with regenerative ag techniques. Also, the plants are more nutritious and the deer know it and flock to the forage...ok Ill get off my soap box, but everyone should look into these methods.
I agree and it makes sense for the larger food plot growers. I think I need to be careful with my audience though, as it is not the same as Grant Woods's - or yours. Many people just want to know how to create and grow a couple of half acre plots. They don't have the size required to justify equipment dedicated to regenerative methods such as the roller crimper and the no-till drill. I think there will eventually be a trickle down effect where you will start to see a "Poor Man's Regenerative Plot" system, but for now it seems beyond the horizon for most deer hunters. I think the closest many of our viewers will get to a true regenerative system is a basic clover/brassica rotation that relies on very little chemicals (if any) and very little nitrogen (if any), but would still require P&K. Thanks for the input. Very good topic to keep addressing.
@Bill Winke ive been using compost extract as a seed treatment and the deer show a preference to treated plots, which is pretty exciting considering how easy it is
1400lbs nitrogen over every sq ft of garden/food plot
On phosphorus it needs to be tilled in, it will only move a 1/10 of a inch to maybe 2/10 of a inch a year with rain. If you put it on top of the ground that is where it will be.
Interesting. I never heard of that. I have fertilized my clover plots by top-dressing for my entire life. I know farmers do that with their alfalfa. I wonder if some formulations of P are more soluble. I can't imagine those big dairy farmers spending that much money if the fertilizer isn't getting to the roots. I will find out.
Okay all The information you have given me is good and I will be using it also .. can You give me information on how to get my SWEET CORN SECTION OF THE GARDEN TO GET GROWING ? Thank you
You might have to do a soil test before you know exactly what to do. You can buy the test online and send in the sample. Nitrogen is a main need for corn so if you aren't putting down a good bit of N when planting, that is probably the most obvious reason the corn is not doing well.
Bill great video and explanation of fertilizers. What manufacturer of spreader are you using behind your UTV? It looks like it attaches to your 2" receiver and how many lbs. does it hold? thanks, Bob
It doesn't attach to the hitch, I don't think. It has a brace that runs along the top of the back rack (U bolts to it). A nylon strap holds it forward so the weight doesn't get too heavy for the connecting bars. It holds roughly 90 pounds - more or less. But you have to be careful not to go too fast over bumps with a full load. That would be a lot of force. It is made by Moultrie, I think. www.moultriefeeders.com/products/food-plot/atv-spreaders
Thanks will check it out, appreciate your videos. Bob
Thoughts on chemistry of fertilizer killing the soil biology and not actually building topsoil?
The expense of fertilizer is definitely a concern for those with higher acreage of plots. I’m looking into more green release processes that build topsoil instead of get you buy for one season.
Like you I started plots in the early 90s..Constantly learning and a student of the outdoors..but I think we need to get away from chemical fertilizers and use what God created to nurture plants. Some of Grant Woods stuff lately is on the cutting edge of these processes. I think what you cover here is overall great info, but we can actually start taking less and growing more, while building topsoil.
Thanks Bill!
Yes, I agree. It takes a swing in perspective and some unique equipment to do it Grant's way. I think my clover/brassica rotation is similar but doesn't get completely away from fertilizer - just more or less eliminates the need for nitrogen. Another thing I don't like about the "buffalo" system is that there is no place for corn in those rotations. I still love having a corn plot for late season deer hunting. Beans will work too, but are not as attractive as corn. I will start looking at options. Thanks for the input. Have a great day.
Another thing I always need to consider is my audience. I think the regenerative system (or a hybrid) starts to make sense on my farm where I have several food plot acres. I can eventually justify the specialized equipment needed to execute, but a small percentage of our viewers fit into that category. A lot of people (a high percentage of our viewers) just have a few small plots - maybe 1/2 acre each - scattered around their property. They may adopt a simple clover/brassica rotation that accomplishes similar goals on a smaller scale, but they are very unlikely to ever get into a true "buffalo system" plot rotation with roller crimpers and no-till equipment.
@@bill-winke This is definitely a concern especially with the high costs of no till equipment. I think there is a way to incorporate diverse plot blends that build soil as well as reserve space for late season food. Lack of summer and fall moisture has become a big concern lately and it becomes a matter of not how much rain ya get, but how much you can hold. That’s where green release really shines. It’s very frustrating/expensive to replant those plots that fail due to lack of moisture. Clay soils like many of us have are very susceptible to drought. I’m sure I’ll never have it all figured out, but I sure love the experiment process. I’m learning the more we leave any soil bare, the worse off we are as stewards and even production ag is making changes and I’m seeing more and more cover crops. Thanks Bill, always love your content!
So if I want to plant clover or alfala this fall you would suggest putting down P and K down in the spring and not wait until I plant the seed in the fall?
Ideally, yes. It takes time to break down and work into the soil. If you do wait, it is then best if you can till in the fertilizer so it is more available right away. Good luck.
Excellent Bill and Jordan!
Bill, would you consider putting clover (scratch, broadcast and pack) into existing food plot this Spring? (Northeast Missouri)
Thanks Steve. It depends on the food plot that is already growing there. I don't think I would if it was already clover. But maybe some other planting such as brassicas or beans. However, I have had very good success just frost seeding clover into those kinds of plantings in the late winter. If was already a clover plot, I would be more likely to just rotate into brassicas for a year and then back into clover. That has been a really good rotation for me over the years.
@@bill-winke Thanks Bill..my existing plot was cereal rye on one half and a chicory included green blend on the other. All was pretty stunted due to a dry planting season.
@@stevebostic9812 Steve, I think you can just frost seed clover into those (starting about now) if you want clover for this growing season. Good luck.
Can you over apply the lime?
You can, but it rarely happens. If you get a soil test, that is the best bet. Whitetail Institute has an app you can download called Plot Perfection that comes with a couple of free soil test kits. Definitely worth getting. plotperfection.com/home Good luck.
Chip off the block that young lady is! Great job!
Thanks for the comment and the support, Patriot. We really appreciate it. Have a great day.
And you’re gonna let us know the best time of the month to plant
John, it is region specific since it is related to frost dates and soil temperature. I will have to spend some time looking for a resource that has those regional dates in it. You can plant clover earlier than most anything else, but plants like corn and beans really need to be timed to make sure the soil temp is high enough to germinate or the seed may die before it germinates if it sits cold and wet for too long. I will see what I can find.