Honey Hole Food Plot - Dead Tree

[nettereo16]

I had a large oak tree die in the woods on an oak ridge that deer frequent. With this dead mature tree, there is a big opening in the canopy letting in a lot of light. All this light has sparked a big field of Japanese stiltgrass to take off in the middle of the ridge (an invasive). This got me thinking... I should use all this light from the canopy opening to make a little kill plot.

I will spray the stiltgrass later this summer and want to plant something. Any suggestions? Maybe cereal rye for this fall and then frost seed white clover late winter for next year. It's a smaller area, so I'm not bothering with a soil test. Located in NC.

 

[onlybrowning]

You’ll want to add lime and likely some fertilizer at even just a “generic” rate if you don’t want to do a soil test. I’d recommend doing one since they are so cheap just to get the knowledge. Who knows, maybe you find a couple other spots close by and the data and experience will be helpful.


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[Honyock]

I would also recommend doing a soil test. That's usually the step guys fail to take on food plots and then they can't figure out why their food plots don't work out. That big oak pulled a lot of nutrients from the soil over its lifetime. If you have a soil conservation office, they will do the soil test for cheap and can also tailor it to what you're wanting to plant. I'm speaking from experience. I skipped the soil samples the first couple of years and had kind of okay food plots, now I do them yearly on all of my food plots. If you're going to do the work to do a food plot, spend the $30 for a soil test. I'm not from NC so I'm not for sure what crops do well but winter wheat is an easy food plot In my area.

 

[TSAMP]

Ive done some similar stuff in Iowa. I always tried turnips or other late season blends because anything else they destroy before the season starts.

 

[HoosierHunter07]

Here is a link to the soil test I used. They send you the bag, and you mail it to the lab. Once the lab has the results, they send them to Harper's, and they will then tell you which specific products they recommend, and at what rates. I sent them samples from (4) small plots ranging from 1/16th to 1/4th of an acre back in the woods. They all need something different. Harper's also gave me their "full" recommendation of products, and a "budget" recommendation of the bare minimum.

Soil Sample Kits — Harper Growing Solutions

Soil sample testing kit. This includes one bag and the submittal form needed to send in. If multiple bags are needed, order multiple kits (ex. if 5 bags are needed, order 5 soil sample kits). Fill out your information with your food plot names as the sample ID. Match the information on the bags to

www.harpergs.com

 

[Texasbuckeye]

I would do a blend of cereal
Rye, wheat/oats (depending on how cold you will get, oats are not as tolerant of cold but deer prefer them more) and clover. Can add some turnips or some sort of tuber to help break up the soil a little. I bet with a good kill of the existing invasive grass, you will get a good kill plot and could potentially hang a stand or two in that oak tree if it is stable enough

Deer prefer a variety of food sources rather than a single cultivar

 

[ZeeGermans]

Buck forage oats are more cold hardy than other varieties.

 

[brancher147]

Spray the stiltgrass before it goes to seed. Hopefully you don’t have too much seed already in the soil because stiltgrass seeds are viable fir 7 years I think. If there is other stiltgrass around it you may have a lost cause. I haven’t had much luck managing that stuff.

 

[Mustard Tiger]

If I were in your shoes I would spray, burn, broadcast a brassica blend with a healthy dose of 19-19-19 and then overseed with rye & oats 4 weeks later, if it yellows give it a little urea.

If this is a long term plot then I would echo what the others have said and soil test/lime/etc then maybe open up some more canopy.