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Post by nhmountains on Dec 17, 2022 14:23:26 GMT -6
I was extremely impressed with the Alice White clover that Doubletree always raved about at my old place. Alice White is what I have used on my place and it competes well, grows thick and the deer browse it. With limited sunlight?
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Post by Foggy on Dec 17, 2022 14:37:51 GMT -6
Alice White is what I have used on my place and it competes well, grows thick and the deer browse it. With limited sunlight? Yep. Sometimes it does better in the partial shade. EDIT: and I have grown it in nearly full shade situations on my trails
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Post by badgerfowl on Dec 19, 2022 9:31:47 GMT -6
I use alice white quite a bit. It does well. Better w/ some shade, but all clover is like that.
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Post by smsmith on Dec 28, 2022 10:23:14 GMT -6
I didn't order any foodplot seed from them, but did just order a bunch of Russell Lupine seed. Outside Pride has 10% off orders by using the coupon code YEAR.
FWIW, I've ordered plenty of foodplot seed from them in the past (and flower seed) and have been happy with the products.
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Post by daydreamer on Dec 28, 2022 10:25:50 GMT -6
I didn't order any foodplot seed from them, but did just order a bunch of Russell Lupine seed. Outside Pride has 10% off orders by using the coupon code YEAR. FWIW, I've ordered plenty of foodplot seed from them in the past (and flower seed) and have been happy with the products. Remind me how you plant your Lupines?
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Post by smsmith on Dec 28, 2022 10:34:58 GMT -6
I didn't order any foodplot seed from them, but did just order a bunch of Russell Lupine seed. Outside Pride has 10% off orders by using the coupon code YEAR. FWIW, I've ordered plenty of foodplot seed from them in the past (and flower seed) and have been happy with the products. Remind me how you plant your Lupines? lol...the lazy way. First, I wander around the flower field looking for any pocket gopher mounds once the snow melts. I'll throw a palmful of seed on each mound. Once I'm done with that, I put the rest of the seed in my el cheapo hand spreader and go for a walk on the wildflower field. I am frostseeding them just like you do with clover. The seed does require a period of cold stratification to germinate, so I order the seed about now most years and throw it in the fridge until spring. I get new clumps of lupines popping up each year. Last year was a great year for seed production from the established plants. If the coming spring is cool and damp, there should be a hell of a show. I will caution on planting them in more "formal" flower plantings. The damn things can take over if you let them. I plant specific (red, yellow, white) Russells in our perennial flower garden near the house. I mulch that flower bed most years and the lupine seed from the established plants really love that mulch. I tell my wife each year to cut the seed pods off before they mature, but she doesn't do that most years. At some point, we'll have to start pulling lupines out...or just let them take over. What's kind of interesting on that plot is we'll have lupines blooming pretty much from June through September, due to the mulch and new plants getting established. edited to add, last year I threw a few handfuls of seed on some gopher mounds along trails/wood edges. I'll do some more of that next spring. I don't know how they'll do in more shaded locations, but I'm going to find out.
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Post by daydreamer on Dec 28, 2022 10:49:29 GMT -6
Remind me how you plant your Lupines? lol...the lazy way. First, I wander around the flower field looking for any pocket gopher mounds once the snow melts. I'll throw a palmful of seed on each mound. Once I'm done with that, I put the rest of the seed in my el cheapo hand spreader and go for a walk on the wildflower field. I am frostseeding them just like you do with clover. The seed does require a period of cold stratification to germinate, so I order the seed about now most years and throw it in the fridge until spring. I get new clumps of lupines popping up each year. Last year was a great year for seed production from the established plants. If the coming spring is cool and damp, there should be a hell of a show. I will caution on planting them in more "formal" flower plantings. The damn things can take over if you let them. I plant specific (red, yellow, white) Russells in our perennial flower garden near the house. I mulch that flower bed most years and the lupine seed from the established plants really love that mulch. I tell my wife each year to cut the seed pods off before they mature, but she doesn't do that most years. At some point, we'll have to start pulling lupines out...or just let them take over. What's kind of interesting on that plot is we'll have lupines blooming pretty much from June through September, due to the mulch and new plants getting established. edited to add, last year I threw a few handfuls of seed on some gopher mounds along trails/wood edges. I'll do some more of that next spring. I don't know how they'll do in more shaded locations, but I'm going to find out. I bought some last fall for fun and simply broadcast them in the field where I don't have anything planted. More of an experiment than anything. I think my wife will like them if they come up.
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 17, 2023 7:23:57 GMT -6
maybe a foodplot isn’t needed. Just mow the grass occasionally!
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Post by Foggy on Feb 16, 2023 20:21:56 GMT -6
Bought my seeds on Monday from Welter Seed down in Iowa. I got nearly 1700 lbs of seed coming......and the shipping was $160......which I dont think is too bad. Saves me from running all over creation......and I got all the seed I need for the year at one time. Also bought a load of ag-lime to deliver in May. Sold my grain drill....(again)......and the guy is coming to pick It up on Saturday. Then, today I picked up the new (to me) Great Plains 3P500 drill.
I'm planning to plant more "high cover" strips and screens this year to break up my plots and provide some daytime use of the plots in some cases. (I hope) Also thinking about a land tour sometime in late spring. One way to get together and get more "free" advice. Grin. Things have changed so much here from the last "land tour" about 12 years ago.
Here is my new (to me) 3 Point grain drill. (oops....something is not working with pics).
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Post by benmnwi on Feb 16, 2023 20:59:36 GMT -6
Big food plot changes for me coming in 2023. My rusk county place is 3 hours from home, so food plots are tough. I just don’t want to mess with them any more since I’d rather go fishing with my kids and dad when we go up there. The farmer renting my 35 acres of tillable would leave about 2 acres of crops standing for me, but every year the crops he leaves look worse and worse. He was not a very trustworthy guy. This year I’m switching farmers to a guy who will plant hay. Up there the deer seem to be drawn more to hay than anything else, so this could be good.
I’m not doing any plots this year for the first time ever and he will plant it all to hay. He said after the last cutting it should grow over 8”, so that will leave lots of browse. He will check the soil and then determine if the hay will be a clover mix or alfalfa mix. Either way it should be pretty good.
I have about 75 apple trees up there that are starting to produce, so that is a bonus as well.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 17, 2023 7:07:18 GMT -6
Big food plot changes for me coming in 2023. My rusk county place is 3 hours from home, so food plots are tough. I just don’t want to mess with them any more since I’d rather go fishing with my kids and dad when we go up there. The farmer renting my 35 acres of tillable would leave about 2 acres of crops standing for me, but every year the crops he leaves look worse and worse. He was not a very trustworthy guy. This year I’m switching farmers to a guy who will plant hay. Up there the deer seem to be drawn more to hay than anything else, so this could be good. I’m not doing any plots this year for the first time ever and he will plant it all to hay. He said after the last cutting it should grow over 8”, so that will leave lots of browse. He will check the soil and then determine if the hay will be a clover mix or alfalfa mix. Either way it should be pretty good. I have about 75 apple trees up there that are starting to produce, so that is a bonus as well. I would rather fish than work on foodplots as well. On the north Sandbox, I do very little anymore but just occasional timber harvests. On the Sandbox at home, 3-4 acres of corn put in by the farmer who rents my place is enough. On the rental acres it is about 40% alfalfa and the rest is corn. Sometimes silage, sometime combined. I have no idea what ‘cut corn’ means to some who post things in other places.
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Post by Sandbur on Feb 17, 2023 7:09:18 GMT -6
Bought my seeds on Monday from Welter Seed down in Iowa. I got nearly 1700 lbs of seed coming......and the shipping was $160......which I dont think is too bad. Saves me from running all over creation......and I got all the seed I need for the year at one time. Also bought a load of ag-lime to deliver in May. Sold my grain drill....(again)......and the guy is coming to pick It up on Saturday. Then, today I picked up the new (to me) Great Plains 3P500 drill. I'm planning to plant more "high cover" strips and screens this year to break up my plots and provide some daytime use of the plots in some cases. (I hope) Also thinking about a land tour sometime in late spring. One way to get together and get more "free" advice. Grin. Things have changed so much here from the last "land tour" about 12 years ago. Here is my new (to me) 3 Point grain drill. (oops....something is not working with pics). Hey, foggy, we give lots of free advice. Remember that it’s worth what you pay for it! I am glad you got the old drill sold.
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Post by smsmith on Feb 17, 2023 7:52:59 GMT -6
Big food plot changes for me coming in 2023. My rusk county place is 3 hours from home, so food plots are tough. I just don’t want to mess with them any more since I’d rather go fishing with my kids and dad when we go up there. The farmer renting my 35 acres of tillable would leave about 2 acres of crops standing for me, but every year the crops he leaves look worse and worse. He was not a very trustworthy guy. This year I’m switching farmers to a guy who will plant hay. Up there the deer seem to be drawn more to hay than anything else, so this could be good. I’m not doing any plots this year for the first time ever and he will plant it all to hay. He said after the last cutting it should grow over 8”, so that will leave lots of browse. He will check the soil and then determine if the hay will be a clover mix or alfalfa mix. Either way it should be pretty good. I have about 75 apple trees up there that are starting to produce, so that is a bonus as well. That makes perfect sense to me. I agree that in your area a good clover/alfalfa field draws more deer than anything else (except during winter anyway). You are close to a bunch of great lakes in that area, you could fish a different lake for many days before you'd have to fish the same one again if you didn't want to.
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Post by benmnwi on Feb 17, 2023 12:01:51 GMT -6
Big food plot changes for me coming in 2023. My rusk county place is 3 hours from home, so food plots are tough. I just don’t want to mess with them any more since I’d rather go fishing with my kids and dad when we go up there. The farmer renting my 35 acres of tillable would leave about 2 acres of crops standing for me, but every year the crops he leaves look worse and worse. He was not a very trustworthy guy. This year I’m switching farmers to a guy who will plant hay. Up there the deer seem to be drawn more to hay than anything else, so this could be good. I’m not doing any plots this year for the first time ever and he will plant it all to hay. He said after the last cutting it should grow over 8”, so that will leave lots of browse. He will check the soil and then determine if the hay will be a clover mix or alfalfa mix. Either way it should be pretty good. I have about 75 apple trees up there that are starting to produce, so that is a bonus as well. I would rather fish than work on foodplots as well. On the north Sandbox, I do very little anymore but just occasional timber harvests. On the Sandbox at home, 3-4 acres of corn put in by the farmer who rents my place is enough. On the rental acres it is about 40% alfalfa and the rest is corn. Sometimes silage, sometime combined. I have no idea what ‘cut corn’ means to some who post things in other places. I've had about an acre of a clover mix as a plot up there as long as I've had the place. It was pretty nice looking when I took the time to work on it, but the last few years it has been pretty pathetic looking. It should be interesting to see how it turns out with a farmer taking over that plot section as well. It has taken a few years, but we've finally found a few pretty good patterns for walleyes on lakes up by my cabin so that is impacting my food plot decisions as well. I can spend a couple weekends to create a marginal food plot (that likely won't impact our deer hunting success one way or the other) or spend those same weekends catching great tasting walleyes. I've made my decision! I really enjoy working on plots and habitat work when I can walk out my back door at home, so I'm spoiled in that regard. I don't get the same enjoyment at my cabin where it seems like all I do is work when I go up there, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out.
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Post by benmnwi on Feb 17, 2023 12:15:36 GMT -6
Big food plot changes for me coming in 2023. My rusk county place is 3 hours from home, so food plots are tough. I just don’t want to mess with them any more since I’d rather go fishing with my kids and dad when we go up there. The farmer renting my 35 acres of tillable would leave about 2 acres of crops standing for me, but every year the crops he leaves look worse and worse. He was not a very trustworthy guy. This year I’m switching farmers to a guy who will plant hay. Up there the deer seem to be drawn more to hay than anything else, so this could be good. I’m not doing any plots this year for the first time ever and he will plant it all to hay. He said after the last cutting it should grow over 8”, so that will leave lots of browse. He will check the soil and then determine if the hay will be a clover mix or alfalfa mix. Either way it should be pretty good. I have about 75 apple trees up there that are starting to produce, so that is a bonus as well. That makes perfect sense to me. I agree that in your area a good clover/alfalfa field draws more deer than anything else (except during winter anyway). You are close to a bunch of great lakes in that area, you could fish a different lake for many days before you'd have to fish the same one again if you didn't want to. The hay fields up there are an unbelievable draw for the deer, so I think this will be a good change. I was briefly considering renting out most of my tillable to the highest bidder (that was a guy who would run a continuous corn rotation) and then keep out about 6 acres of tillable land for me to do food plots. I was going to plant a clover/alfalfa mix there since I thought that would be a great draw for a deer. Then the more I thought about the effort that would take on my part since I have minimal equipment up there, the less I liked that plan. I went with a farmer who actually offered the lowest rental dollar amount per acre, but he seemed like the most trustworthy and his hay plan would give me some solid deer food with no effort on my end. I'm definitely losing some winter food I had with the former corn/bean rotation, but I don't think it will negatively impact our deer harvest up there. It seems like we usually have good luck in the early bow season on field edges, but all the action during the rut and gun season happens in the thick swamp without regard to crop rotation. Now that my boys are getting older and are really into fishing, we've been spending more time at the cabin fishing. The panfish are pretty stunted in most areas in Rusk County, but there is some really good walleye fishing along with some random bonus fish that taste pretty good - channel cats, rock bass, northerns, smallmouth bass. It has taken a while, but we now have some pretty decent fishing patterns and locations for pretty much the entire fishing season up there. We have a really solid milk run of spots now and we typically can count on a great fish fry every time up there. Throw in some pretty decent trout fishing up there and it made it hard to justify giving up all that good fishing to mess around with food plots. Time will tell if this plan is a good one or not, but my kids and dad all think this is a good idea.
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