Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
By Glen Wunderlich
Mid-summer is a time for county fairs, cool drinks, barbeques, swimming, fishing, vacations and just plain being lazy in the shade. Ah, that would be the life, but when it comes to farming – in my case wildlife food plots – it’s business before pleasure.
With only days remaining before heading down South for a business conference, I had put the food plot work on the back burner until returning the first week in August. Read more
I had a lot going on so I took a chance and planted my food plots in the last days of July – a bit early but rain was predicted and fell some 9 hours later. Now, we’ve had non-stop rain for three days and the brassicas are singing my song. In the top photo, you can see the turnips and rape emerging.
QDMA Special Brassica Mix
In the lower photo, I planted a brassica mix and clover into a stand of alfalfa. The alfalfa remained after an early-spring spraying with glyphosate (RoundUp). After that, I just ran a disk across it a few times and over-seeded followed by cultipacking.
Total acreage planted this fall was about 6.5. These plots feed the wildlife year-round, with a mix of perennials and annuals. The worse the December weather, the better the late-season deer hunting. The foliage on the turnips and rape stays green well into December – even under the snow, when all the farmers have picked their crops. After that, the deer feast on the turnips themselves. If enough are planted, some will rot in the spring and subsequently go back to the earth as nutrients for the next planting.
Lots of work, lots of fertilizer and lime ($) and seed but it’s worth it to me when the snow is on.