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Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew


More Fall Plot Soil Samples + Spraying
   WeHuntSC.com - Adam Smith taking a soil sample
  Adam Smith taking a soil sample

This past Saturday Adam and I spent a great deal of time working in the heat and boy was it hot!  We are preparing to put in some of our Tecomate Seed fall food plots.  We went out collected a few soil samples and sprayed some round-up.  At this location we're going to put in two food plots.  One will be a half acre plot where we will plant Monster Mix.  The other will be around 3 acres located on an old power line where we will plant Max-Attract and Ultraforage in alternating sections. The smaller plot has had crops on it before so conditioning the soil won't be too bad in that location.  There are some weeds there, but not too many. The old power line, however, is slam full of grass and weeds so we've got our work cut out for us to be able to have a successful plot in this area.

While we were there, we also spent a good deal of time scouting and walking the land.  We found some rubs, saw some sign, and even saw a deer as we scouted.  We feel these are good signs, but we shall see as the season goes on. Our goal was to find areas where we wanted to put our food plots at this location and get the soil samples + start spraying and that's exactly what we did.  I think I soaked 2 shirts with sweat and I got really dirty by the end of it all. I wore pants out this time since last time we did this I caught poison ivy. I also wore boots since I've been seeing a lot of pics of snakes lately.  I had the perfect combination for being protected from the elements and also being hot and sweaty.

The Small Plot
The smaller location is at the back end of the property and it looks to be a good location. Our area of SC has parts of town that are all clay, some are all sand, and then there are areas that are mixtures of both. The area of this plot is made up more of clay than dirt. The small plot is probably about 100 - 120 yards long and 25 yards wide.  This should turn out to be a nice food plot and it also has a few oaks on the edge with a good crop of acorns. We'll need to trim back some of the other trees to improve the vision to all end s of the plot. This location will be the easier of the two to plant. As you'll see in the below video, Adam took the soil sample and then sprayed the field with Round-up to kill the weeds while I documented everything.

In hopes of not getting our plot overtaken with weeds (as we did in the summer at the one location), we're going to spray it with Round-up, then come back in with the GroundHog MAX to disk it up, then return a few days later to spray it again.  The reason we'll spray it the second time is to kill any dormant seed that we may have turned up while disking. After we spray again, we'll give it a few days before we go back in to plant the seed.

The Large Plot
The larger plot is the one that's located on an old power line. The power company use to have poles run through this section of woods, but in recent years they have removed the poles. This left a great place to put in a food plot.  The only problem we have is the weeds and grass that now resides in the area. There are a ton of weeds currently in the area and so we've got our work cut out for us to get an effective food plot installed. 

WeHuntSC.com - The large plot along an old power line

We are going to try to put another long and narrow plot in this location. Here again we collected another soil sample and sprayed Round-up heavily. We're going to let it sit for a few days and hopefully get a good portion of the grass and weeds killed. The weeds are so tall that I may even go back in and mow it down some. Then we'll go back in, with a tractor and the GroundHog Max, and disk. Following suit, we'll let it sit for a few days then return to spray again as we want to kill off any dormant seeds turned up while disking. 

You can see the video of all this below to get a visual for what we?re talking about and attempting to do.

So you've seen the hopeful locations of 2 of our fall plots. We're optimistic that we can pull it off, but again only time will tell. In the mean time, we've got a lot of work to do. More to come.

Regards,

Clint
 


Update: Game Camera Pics from 2 of the Tecomate Seed Food Plots
   WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed Lab Lab Plus growing up outlying trees
  Here is a pic of the Lab Lab Plus growing up a sweet gum limb on the edge of the plot

Remember when I said that I was taking some new batteries back out to the game-cam on the GroundHog MAX, remote food plot?  Well, turns out that if you actually have working batteries in the game camera that it does take pics!  Also, lithium batteries work better than the regular.  Looks like I?m learning about all kind of stuff this summer.

Since putting new batteries in the game camera, I?ve been able to get some decent pics of does in the plot munching on some Tecomate Seed Lab Lab Plus!  Still have not gotten any bucks to walk past the camera yet though.  I?m thinking about putting a camera on the other end of the plot as well since it is very long and narrow and I can tell that the deer are browsing the plot and crossing through it at various locations. 

Another thing I?ll note is that at the remote food plot, the Lab Lab Plus is growing so much that it?s starting to grow to the edges of the food plot and up the sides of other trees and branches of nearby plants.  It?s pretty neat to see it doing that.

Here is a pic of the remote food plot as of August 20th.  This food plot made possible by GroundHog_MAX & Tecomate Seed

WeHuntSC.com - A pic of the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot

Below are some of the pics that I pulled from the camera of does browsing the remote food plot.  I think it has taken them a little time to get use to this new food plot being in their area and again, it looks like they?re being selective of which plants they eat.  Nothing amazing, but does show how high lab lab plus as well as some deer getting tangled up in some Tecomate!

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

WeHuntSC.com - A doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   WeHuntSC.com - A Doe in the Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot   

 

Location 2 Update Pics

   WeHuntSC.com - The Tecomate Seed Milo from the Lab Lab is getting tall
  The milo is getting pretty tall

I also got some pics from one of the other food plots we?ve been working on.  This location grew well and did not have a drastic weed problem like the other area I was documenting so thoroughly.  As you can see from the pic to the right the milo is growing strong and is getting tall.  I believe these plants are the ones that once they get hit with a frost that the starches in them turn to sugar and the deer will start eating them more.   At this location, the deer are accustomed to having food plots in it year after year and are ready to eat as soon as the plants start growing.  The deer have wiped out most of the broad-leaf plants already, but they?re still coming through to eat. 

Below is one of the pics we got of some does in the plot at night.  I could post several more, but it?s the same does in the plot over and over again.

WeHuntSC.com - Does in the Tecomate Seed Food Plot - Night Pic

It?s good to get some pics of deer in the plots and hopefully we?ll get some bucks in the pics before too long.  Sure hope that I have working batteries in my camera should a monster buck come through?and if he does, I?ll post it here for you to see.

Regards,

Clint
 


Tecomate Update: Mike Lee takes on a New Role
   WeHuntSC.com - Jon Charles of River Oaks Wildlife Management
  Jon Charles of River Oaks Wildlife Management

As many of you have read on the site, Mike Lee has been our go-to guy at Tecomate Seed throughout the Food Plot Journey and he also spoke at our ?Hunter?s Night Out?.  Mike has been great throughout the whole process and he has endured my elementary level of knowledge of all things food plot related.  Mike is now transitioning into a new role with the company and we wish him well in his new role.  When you wear many hats at an organization this sometimes happens and so Mike will be concentrating on a different division and will thrive there as well. 

Mike?s transition into a new role helped us meet another knowledgeable resource with regards to food plots and game management.  Jon Charles, out of Raleigh NC, is stepping in to be the new Southeastern Regional Representative for Tecomate.  I?ve spoken with Jon several times and he was also a featured speaker at the Pee Dee Deer Classic.  I can tell you that he?s very educated about game management and food plots.  Jon owns River Oaks Wildlife Management which is a professional wildlife management and consulting firm specializing in deer health, nutrition, wildlife habitat development, high forage food plots, crop production, custom deer feeds, and mineral supplements specifically designed for deer and elk.  Jon brings a nice mesh between science and the outdoors that we can greatly benefit from.  He is a well noted speaker and writes for several outdoor publications.  Jon will be our new go-to guy at Tecomate for the remainder of the Food Plot Journey and is the new contact for Tecomate Seed in the Southeast.  So if you?re looking for a very knowledge resource in the Carolinas with all things food plot / herd management related?or to get some Tecomate Seed, then Jon Charles is your guy!

So the Food Plot Journey continues and we are half-way there!  It?s been a while already and I?ve learned a lot since January.  We?ll be starting the process again and installing our fall plots in the coming weeks/months.  I?ll continue to document that as well and I hope that we can get some good pictures throughout the fall/winter.  I?m excited to try to get some more Tecomate products to grow again!  I think I?m learning and the deer are benefitting?more to come.

In the mean time, here are 2 updated pics from the Remote Food Plot.  I?m going to try to get updated images of the other plots soon as well.

WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed - GroundHog MAX Remote Food Plot Update Pic

WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed - GroundHog MAX Remote Food Plot Update Pic

Regards,

Clint

 


It's Time for another Soil Sample + Remote Food Plot Update
   WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Pic
  The Remote Food Plot at the 1st of August

This week has been very busy with all that we?ve got going on, but that is fine by me.  As we continue to monitor the food plots, we have to get ready to plant the fall plots as well.  So, when we got back from the Pee Dee Deer Classic, we journeyed out to the woods to check up on the remote food plot.  We also went and took a new soil sample at a location where we?re going to try to plant a different fall plot to get an idea of the composition of the soil.  Since this will be the first time we?re planting a food plot in this location it will take us some time to get the soil in the best conditions possible, but you have to start somewhere.

Soil Sample
Earlier in this series, I covered the reasons why one needs to take a soil sample. You can see that blog entry here: Collecting a Soil Sample in case you haven?t been following along.  Even at the Pee Dee Deer Classic, the Tecomate Seed representatives and other food plot experts presented and spoke about the importance of the soil and how the composition of the soil directly affects your food plot?s success. They talked about the ?pieces of the puzzle? necessary for a successful food plot.  I may be leaving some pieces out, but what stuck with me were three main pieces: the soil, the seed, and the knowledge.  In order to have success with a food plot you?ve got to have soil that is ready and conditioned to foment the growth of plants, good quality seed, and most importantly?you?ve got to know what to do!  (That last part is what I?ve been working on for some time now).  So it?s the week of August 1st and we?re taking a soil sample and intend to plant a fall food plot in late September to early October.

If you?re in South Carolina and want to know where you can get a soil sample analyzed, just find your local Clemson Cooperative Extension by clicking here.  For a small fee, you can send off your soil sample and they will return you a read out with detailed information about the makeup of your soil.  If you have trouble understanding the pH and all that, then you can take it to a seed and feed store and they can assist you with interpreting the results.  The staff at the local coop can also help you with that as well.

Remote Food Plot Update
The remote food plot continues to grow well.  As I continue to be clueless about this all, I was wondering why all of this stuff wasn?t eaten already.  I know there are deer out there, but yet some plants continue to grow untouched by the deer.  I knew that the seed was a mixture of plants (milo, clover, peas, etc), but I didn?t know that the deer would be eating them at different times of the summer/fall. The deer are being selective about what they eat as they walk through the food plot.  That is, they are eating some specific types of plants and not the others.  You can plainly see where they are passing through the plot and also which plants they are eating. It appears that they are eating the peas and the lab lab and leaving a lot of milo untouched. I spoke with the Tecomate rep and he said that after the first frost comes the starches in some of the plants will turn to sugar.  After that happens then the deer will really get in there and eat the remaining plants.  I hope this is right!  He also mentioned that the first time you plant a plot it kind of takes the deer a little while to figure out that they can get in there and eat the plants. 

Another note to mention is that I have not been getting many game-camera pics.  I thought something was wrong and it turns out that when you have dead batteries the camera won?t take pictures!  So we have put new batteries in the camera and hope to have some good pictures in upcoming blog entries.

The below video is of us getting a new soil sample where we?re going to start the process of conditioning the soil and attempt a fall food plot install + a current view of the remote food plot.  Sorry to spin so fast out there?it made the video a little blurry.  Maybe one day I?ll upgrade cameras and get better footage. 

Regards,

Clint

 


Food Plot Update

Sorry it?s taken me a bit to get this one together, but I?ve been spread thin lately.   As you know, we?ve been working on several summer food plots on our Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey.   I?ve been documenting one plot very thoroughly and we?ve been carrying out the same processes in other locations as well.   I?ve also documented much of the journey of our remote food plot.  We?ve been getting some good rain and the lab lab and lab lab plus is starting to grow pretty well. I?d like to update you on a few of the plots because we?ve got some mixed results that we can already learn some lessons from.

Food Plot Location 1

   WeHuntSC.com - Food Plot Location 1 Update Image - Filled with weeds
  The weed infested food plot 1

Food Plot Location 1 is the location where we have been doing most of the documenting and I?ve got some bad news to report on this one.  Initially we planned to plant this field with a no-till-drill which would get the seed in the ground without turning the soil up.  We wanted to do this because this field had some weeds in it in previous years and their seeds remained on the soil.  Using a no-till-drill is beneficial because it gets the seed in the ground without turning up the dirt.  When the soil isn?t turned up the seeds of the weeds remain uncovered by the dirt and do not germinate while the seeds in the no-till-drill get planted into the soil.  Since we couldn?t get access to the no-till-drill the undesired result has occurred.  By not getting the no-till-drill we were forced to disc the field.  This field had been sprayed, but spraying it only killed what was living on the surface.  The seeds of the weeds remain dormant until they get covered in dirt.  The moisture in the dirt causes them to germinate.  Add all of this + our actions up and what do you get? a field covered in weeds and food plot product as seen below.

Since we have a mess on our hands in this field we have opted to spray it with 2-4 D + Round-up.  We are going to spray it in hopes of killing the weeds in preparation for the fall plot.  In short, the summer plot at this location = fail!  Since we are spraying the field, we went ahead and sprayed a few different areas as that we are going to work on for the fall plots.  I made it out late to the field, but I did get some footage of the other areas being sprayed.  You can see how we sprayed it below.
 

Food Plot Location 2
Food Plot Location 2 has a much better result at this point and some deer tracks are already in the plot.  We?ve even seen where some of the plants are getting nipped at the top already.  This location has had food plot products placed in it year after year and there are no remaining weeds in the soil.  For that reason, we were able to use a disc here without having a bad result (as we did at the previous location).  You can see this plot clearly in the video, but here are some pics of it too.  This food plot is kind of shaped like what a golfer would call a ?dog leg right? because it?s straight for a long time and then it curves around to the right at the top.

WeHuntSC.com - Food Plot Location 2 Image WeHuntSC.com - Food Plot 2 Location Image

Here is a video contrasting Field 1 and Field 2? seeing the difference is easy

Food Plot Location 3
Food Plot Location 3 is a smaller area and is also coming along well.  The soil here is a little more like clay than the sandy soil of the others.  We were also able to get some pics of deer in this one on the game camera.

WeHuntSC.com - Deer in Tecomate Seed Food Plot WeHuntSC.com - Deer in Tecomate Seed Food Plot
   

Remote Food Plot Location
The remote food plot is also coming along well so far.  We?ve got some exclusion fences up in this location and we have fertilized it as well.  The plants are growing well and since putting the fertilizer down, I think the plants look like they are a deeper green.  Though, it could just be my eyes or something.  See images and video of it below:

WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Image
 
WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Image
 
WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Image

View from exclusion Fence 1
WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Image

View from exclusion Fence 2

We were also able to get some pics of deer in the plot in the last few days.  I couldn?t believe this one doe was so close to the camera at 5:00 in the afternoon in 100 degree heat!  Then another snuck through at night and you can barely see her because the food plot is growing so high!

WeHuntSC.com - Deer in Remote Food Plot Pic

WeHuntSC.com - Deer in Remote Food Plot Pic

Entry Summary
As we?ve traveled the ?Food Plot Journey? I?ve learned a lot about what to do and, as you can see with this journal entry, I?ve learned some of what not to do as well!  Our inability to come through with the no-till-drill did not benefit us at location 1 because of the resident weed seeds in that location.  By plowing and discing the field, we only covered the seeds of weeds (and other unwanted plants) with dirt allowing them to germinate.  This happened because some seeds of weeds remained from previous years.  Consequently, along with planting our food plot seeds and them germinating and growing, so did the seeds of the weeds.  Since we?ve currently got a less-than-desirable food plot going on at location 1, we?re going to spray it with 24-d & round-up to try to start getting ready for the fall plots in that area. 

So, we are not batting 1000, but we haven?t got benched by the coach just yet.  I?m glad that the majority of the plots are going well, but I?m bummed that the main plot that I was documenting very thoroughly did not turn out.  I?ll keep on reporting back with the others though to see what happens and we are planning to have fall plots in these locations as well.  There?s a song by Meatloaf titled ?2 out of 3 ain?t bad? so that?s going to have to be the theme at this point.

We?ve got game cameras out in some of these plots and we?ll be moving them around in hopes of getting some good pics.  There is a lot out there for deer to eat at this point, but sooner or later they?re going to come through these plots and pose for us.  If we can get some good footage, I?ll post it here.  Looks like I?m going to have to move the camera higher up the tree since the food plot product is now growing higher than the camera!

Regards,

Clint

 


Fertilizing the Remote Food Plot
    WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Update 1
  The Remote Food Plot just a few weeks out

As you know from reading our blog entries, we are putting food plots in at a few different locations with one of those locations being a ?remote food plot?.  The location is deemed as ?remote? because it?s in a location that a tractor can?t access?i.e. back deep in the woods.  This specific food plot is placed in some planted pines that have recently been ?5th rowed?, that is the lumber guys have removed some rows of the pines and they are now thinned out.  To prepare the ground we used Tuffline?s GroundHog MAX and then we came back in and planted some Tecomate Seed Lab Lab Plus

Since planting the seed, we came back and put out some Milorganite to keep the deer off the food plots for a few weeks while the food plot products grow.  We also put out some ?exclusion fences? last week.  We?ve had some rain and now the plants are starting to grow as you can see from the images in this blog. 

WeHuntSC.com - Remote Food Plot Update Image 2   
Another shot of the Lab Lab Plus starting to grow  

Now that the plants are getting good root systems established and are starting to grow, we went back in and put down some ?Triple-17? fertilizer.  We wanted to wait to put the fertilizer down until the plants started to grow, but we didn?t want to let them get too tall before we went back in so as to not damage them.  Most of the plants were just a few inches off the ground so we didn?t hurt them.  The 17-17-17 fertilizer is made up of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium which will all help the plants grow even more.   It?s kind of like getting some supplements from GNC and taking them for weight lifting in hopes of getting the best results.

There is rain forecasted for the upcoming week, so I?ll be excited to see how the plants continue to grow with the fertilizer now on the ground.  Also, I?ve got a game camera out over the plot now, but there are still no animals walking through.  Though, keep in mind that this is the intended scenario.  The reason we used Milorganite was to temporarily keep them out so the plants will have time to establish.  In the coming weeks the Milorganite will start to wear off and hopefully some deer will start to come through.

Regards,

Clint
 


Exclusion Fences - The Remote Food Plot Edition
   WeHuntSC.com - Exclusion Fence on our Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot
  Exclusion Fence #1 on our Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot

Since we?ve planted the seed, thrown out some Milorganite, and had a little rain, we expect the plants to start growing a lot soon.  One of the steps to our journey is putting out some ?exclusion fences?.  We went out on Sunday and put up 2 ?exclusion fences? in our Tecomate Seed Remote Food Plot.  I had never heard of an exclusion fence or what it was for before we started this ?Food Plot Journey?, but I have come to realize what this means and the purpose behind it.  Initially I asked myself why would we want to exclude any deer from our food plot, but it does make sense?even to a web designer posing like I know what I?m writing about!

An exclusion fence is essentially something used to guard a specific section of a food plot to keep the deer from eating it.  Ultimately this demonstrates what an untouched/uneaten plant would look like.  You use this as a compare and contrast measurement with the other plants (outside the exclusion fence) to see how much of the foliage is being consumed by the deer.  It appears that the conceptual idea is that you plant a food plot and, as deer come by, they eat the leaves and vegetation throughout the summer.  Though since a small section of the food plot has wire guarding it, then they don?t touch it.  At least that?s what we want to happen. 

For our exclusion fence we used some old tomato wire and that seemed to do the job.  I imagine you could use chicken wire, chain link fencing, or whatever you have available to create an exclusion fence.  We merely drove two stakes in the ground, placed the tomato wire on top of them.  We then wired the wire to the stakes to anchor it and that was it.  It only took us about 20 minutes to get two of these put down. 

Since it had been raining previously, we already have some of the Lab Lab Plus plants starting to show up on the surface.  There are also some weeds mixed in the middle of our remote food plot, but we?re going to go back and take care of them soon!  So it?s actually starting to grow.  I hope we continue to get some more rain to help the plants keep on growing.  If they keep growing (and the Milorganite wears off) maybe the deer will start eating them. In time and with cooperation of the weather, we should have some plants growing at 2 levels.  One level will be with deer eating the plants which would, as I envision it, be lower to the ground with another level being inside the exclusion fence which should be a little taller.  I guess only time will tell.  I hope to get some pics of the deer in there during the summer.  I?ve got to get a game camera up in there soon.

I would also like to note that the Milorganite was definitely activated by the recent rains.  We could smell it while we were working.  It wasn?t overpowering and unbearable, but you could certainly get a whiff of it every now and then.  I?m sure the deer are aware of the smell too because if not, the plants would have already been eaten down to the ground.

 

 

And the journey continues (with hopes of more rain)

Regards,

Clint

 


Planting the Seed & Spreading Milorganite (Remote Food Plot Edition)
      WeHuntSC.com - Dragging the Remote Food Plot with an Old School Drag
  Dragging the Remote Food Plot with an Old School Drag

As you can imagine, a wedding consists of a lot of planning and events which take some time to orchestrate.  This minimized my window of available time to put seed in the remote food plot.  As you can also imagine, Mother Nature doesn?t wait around on weddings to pass.  So, I had to soldier up and get the seed down.  I planned on putting the seed out with Mr. J.E. on the morning of my wedding day at 6:30am.  Little did I know that I would be up all night and only get 3 hours of sleep before hand.  It was rough and if you hear my voice, you can tell I?m struggling on the video.  Though, we got the task accomplished. 

The remote food plot is located back deep in some woods that we hunt in.  The loggers came in and cleared out some rows of pines.  To this point, we had cleared out one of the areas where the loggers removed a row of pines.  It took some time to clean out, but I think it will be worth it.  We then ran a soil sample and put some lime down to try to get the soil pH closer to 7.0.  This is the same process that we are doing at our other food plot locations that you are reading about in the other blog entries only this is the remote food plot edition. 

Since the ground was recently turned up, we only needed to smooth it back out and then spread the seed.  We simply took the 4-wheeler back in the woods with a drag hare and a spreader.  We used an old timey drag hare to smooth the soil back out.  Mr. J.E. said that the drag was used back in the day behind a mule and you can see the wear and tear on the drag in the video.  Though, it did the job and worked well. 

WeHuntSC.com - The 4-Wheeler and the Milorganite in the Remote Food Plot    
The 4-Wheeler and the Milorganite in the Remote Food Plot  

After dragging it again, we detached the drag and attached the spreader.   A few laps on the 4-wheeler (while I tried to commentate) and that was it.  Understand though that we used an extremely large amount of seed for this very small location.  The bag will seed one acre and we poured the whole bag over an area about ¼ of an acre.  I?m not sure if this will result in an abundance or if it will hurt the food plot.  I do know that there is ample amount of seed on the ground though.  I guess time will tell on all this.

A week later my dad and I went back to put down some Milorganite in hopes of acting as a fertilizer and keeping the deer off the food plot for a few weeks (as denoted in the previous blog entry).  Just a small note to self about this process, it always helps to have the right size pin for the spreader attachment or else you end up pulling the spreader around in circles with your hand!  In between 2 Saturdays and a lot of events in between we were able to get the seed and Milorganite down.  Since then we?ve had some rain so I hope everything will start to grow.  For the next little bit, it?s up to Mother Nature. 

 

(I had a million things running through my mind and I forgot the Flip, so I shot this video with the I-Phone...thus the blurriness)

Regards,

Clint

 


Milorganite
    WeHuntSC.com - Milorganite Bag
  Milorganite

As we continue our Food Plot Journey there is a critical step that should be taken within a few days of getting the seed down.  Actually, it should happen right after the first post-seeding rain comes.  There is a specific reason that we?re using this Milorganite, but first let?s look into what Milorganite is.

Milorganite is an organic, human waste product that is used as a fertilizer.  Yes, you read that correctly, it is human waste.  Milorganite is derived from dried microbes and is a slow-release fertilizer.  The nitrogen in Milorganite is not released until growing conditions are favorable for the plant to grow.  I would also mention that the level of nitrogen in the Milorganite is not great enough to damage the plants.  See an informational video on Milorganite.

Barenbrug USA / Tecomate Seed representative Mike Lee described the reasons for using Milorganite on our food plots.  Mike gave an analogy that is useful to help understand the reason for using Milorganite.  He quoted ?If I were to cook you a nice, juicy T-bone steak, put it on a plate and set the plate on a picnic table covered with fresh manure, would you really want to eat it?? Obviously you wouldn?t want to eat it.  Well, deer are the same way because they aren?t drawn to that smell either.  This is beneficial to our food plot because not only does it slowly release fertilizer into our food plot, but it keeps the deer off our food plot and gives the plants time to grow.  If we were to just leave the field as it is and let the products grow, then there is a chance that the deer may eat the plants to the ground before the plants have time to develop a good root system.  If this were to happen, the field would look like a bunch of nipped-at-the-top green stems and it would kill the plants.

WeHuntSC.com - Milorganite in Spreader   
Milorganite in Spreader  

By applying Milorganite to our field we help ourselves out in 2 ways: fertilizing and protecting the plants.  You may ask why would we plant a food plot and want to keep the deer out of it, since the purpose is to get deer to eat this stuff.  Well, this will only happen for a period of time.  After some rain and a few weeks, the smell of the Milorganite will go away and the deer will return.  During these weeks when they?re away is when our plants should be growing (if everything goes well).

See benefits of Milorganite

Below is a diagram of how we have structured our food plot

WeHuntSC.com - Diagram of our Tecomate Seed Plot
 

This step is one that you have to execute pretty accurately in order to give your food plot the best chance for success.  The timing of putting down the Milorganite is what?s important here.  It needs to be done after you have planted the seed and a few days after the first rainfall is received. You can buy Milorganite at Lowe?s for around $13 per bag with each bag containing 36lbs.

With our field, we are dividing it in half with the spreading of Milorganite.  Essentially we are creating another cross-section of our field and dividing it in half, but this half will be halving it with one side having Milorganite spread on it and the other side being left alone. 
 

And the journey continues with the wait for something to grow.

Information in this post came from Milorganite?s web site: www.milorganite.com

Regards,

Clint
 


Planting The Seed
   WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey - Food Plot Location 1 - Deer Stand beside food plot at planting
  The location where we installed the food plot

As we continue the Tecomate Seed ?Food Plot Journey? the time came to plant the seed.  Due to a mix-up at a distribution point we are not planting three different Tecomate products, but rather two.  We planted the seed for our summer plot this past weekend (Saturday, May 1st).  The products we did plant were Tecomate?s ?Lab Lab? and ?Lab Lab Plus? and I?m very eager to see what will come in the near future. 

Mike Lee of Barenbrug USA/Tecomate Seed, along with Don Willis from DBW Outdoors, were present with Keith Frachiseur representing the GroundHog MAX.  We all got together and got seed in the ground at one of our food plot feature locations.

WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey - Food Plot Location 1 - The Mule & the home made drag   
 The home-made drag  

First things first?we got up early and went to Bojangles and got some good biscuits.  Then we went to our food plot location.  The weather predictions had been forecasting rain and isolated thunderstorms for Saturday, but somehow we made it out without getting wet.  I was happy about that since I was shooting video and photos during this whole process.  I will say that I learned a lot from Mike as we installed the seed and from asking him questions throughout the day.

Our Installation
We are installing one food plot location of our ?Food Plot Journey? on about 2.4 acres of land where the soil is pretty sandy in upstate, Pageland South Carolina.  Since this specific location has been previously worked and cultivated for food plots, the soil sample readout result of the pH came back at 7.0.  Since the pH was already in check, we did not have to apply lime at this location. 

    WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey - Food Plot Location 1 - The Right Side of the Field being dragged
  The Right Side of the Field as it was being dragged

We had planned on using a no till drill to plant the seed, but were unable to secure the equipment.  Instead we used a tractor, a plow, and a spreader to put the seed out.  Per Mike?s instructions, we divided the field in half using different planting techniques on each half.  On one half we left the dirt rows that were created where we used the disc to prep the field and on the other half we used a drag to smooth the soil out before we broadcast the seed.  This left us with a field that was smooth on the right side and the small rows from the disc remained on the left.  Then we broadcasted the seed, via the spreader on the tractor, on both sides of the field.  Trust me?it was a whole lot easier hanging off the side of that tractor with a camera when we were riding on the smooth side! 

After the seed was broadcasted, we went back and drug the right side again with our drag to cover the seed with dirt.  On the left side we went back in and lightly disked and harrowed the field to cover the seed with dirt via the lightly discing method.  Dividing the field up like this with two different planting techniques will hopefully show us any differences that may occur as result of the differing implementation methods. 

WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey - Food Plot Location 1 - The Tractor and Plow    
The Tractor used to Disc and Harrow The Left Side of the Field  

Mike?s theory is that the seed on the left side (the side that was lightly disked and harrowed back in) will be a little bit deeper in the soil than the seed on the right said that was smoothly dragged in.  Mike believes that the difference in the planting depths of the seed may have an effect on the seed varieties that come up in our field. Mike is afraid the White Grain Milo in the Lab Lab Plus could be planted too deep with the harrowing method and may not establish well.  In time, and with rain, we will hopefully have pictures to demonstrate this.

Now that you understand how we divided the field in half and got dirt back on top of the seed, let me explain where we put which type of seed.  Mike indicated that the White Grain Milo in the LabLab Plus will grow a little taller than the straight LabLab.  Since it?s taller, we planted the LabLab Plus along the outside border of the field in hopes of giving the deer some kind of barrier to create an inner location where they will feel safe and less guarded.  Thus, the LabLab is lower in height and was broadcasted inside the middle of the field.  See the graphic below to help you understand how we segmented this field.  In the near future, we plan on putting up exclusion fences in each quadrant to show you how the products should grow if they are untouched by the deer.

WeHuntSC.com - Tecomate Seed Food Plot Journey - Food Plot Location 1 - Diagram of the Field

 

(We will come back after the first rain and put down some Milorganite to protect the food plot a little, but that will come in a later blog entry.)

All the planting took us about 2.5 hours to get done and we were dusty, sweaty, and hungry by the time is was all over.  Since these guys were from Georgia and Alabama, I figured I?d take them somewhere that they most likely hadn?t eaten before.  That?s right; we took them to the Legendary ?SmokeHouse Grill? in Jefferson, South Carolina.  I believe the guys really liked the food and especially liked the barbeque sauce.  We ate there for a bit and then headed to Pageland where my mom had some rum cake awaiting us!  Nothing like mama?s cooking.

After eating some rum cake we showed the guys our remote food plot, which is in a totally different location.  While we were there we discussed options for planting and discussed what would be the best fits for this location.  Keith demoed his GroundHog MAX while we were there and turned up the soil again for me.  We?re going back in there to plant soon too?probably this coming weekend. 

GroundHog MAX Update: If you?re interested in getting one, The GroundHog MAX is now available at your local Tractor Supply Stores. 

Below is a video we shot with Keith explaining a little bit about the remote food plots and the GroundHog MAX.

All in all it was a long day, but it was a good day.  I learned a lot, got dirty, ate well, and we got the seed down in a good location with guidance from a panel of experts.  I really hope that the man upstairs will bless us with some rain in order to get this stuff to grow because I?m curious to see what will happen.  So stay tuned for more as we continue to update this blog series with results of this food plot location and others as well.

Regards,

Clint
 

 


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