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Food Plots Experiment for next year?

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megalomaniac

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Oct 28, 2005
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Mississippi
Buddy and I have been thinking... wonder what would happen if we planted early Aug (assuming regular rains) before our usual drought hits....

Brassicas would get huge, but wheat would be 12-13in tall by November, so deer wouldn't prefer it any longer... BUT, what if we bushhogged the wheat down to the level of the brassicas mid Oct or so? It 'should' begin to grow again with tender and preferable growth?

Biggest downside I guess is the potential for an extended period of 100 deg temps without rain. Other big downside is potential for crop loss due to bugs, slugs, snails, and army worms.

Right now, I'm sitting on about a 20% survival rate for the seed I've drilled due to lack of moisture.
 
What will happen? IF we get adequate rains, you'll have the most productive plots in the area by mid-September. If we DON'T get adequate rains (like so many years) you'll be replanting everything in October.

Below are my plots planted in early August. Both pictures were taken late September. We had good fall rains both years these pictures were taken.
 

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Too many challenges as you listed and warm season weeds and grasses getting a big boost when you open soil, fertilize. You are not avoiding the potential drought, only postponing the age of your crop at which it encounters the drought. In a rainy wet year you are absolutely correct but in a dry year or more normal year you may not even have a rain to plant ahead of till the 15th or later. This year most of us west of the timeline started in a deficit and it only got worse.
 
This is the earliest we have planted in 6 years. For what we plant, plant date doesn't matter imo. We aren't trying to grow any brassicas because of all the drought challenges, and focuses more on grains in the spring to off set that. If works it'll work well, unsure on clipping the wheat. But if you miss the rain your replanting. But that's what we have been dealing with for what 3 or I years in a row now.
 
deerhunter10 said:
This is the earliest we have planted in 6 years. For what we plant, plant date doesn't matter imo. We aren't trying to grow any brassicas because of all the drought challenges, and focuses more on grains in the spring to off set that. If works it'll work well, unsure on clipping the wheat. But if you miss the rain your replanting. But that's what we have been dealing with for what 3 or I years in a row now.
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Three years of La Nina falls - three years of fall droughts.
 
tellico4x4 said:
Been thinking while riding around inspecting plots today, if we hadn't had two hurricanes, we'd have no plots this year! Can't remember that ever being the case before.
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We had no plots and no acorns during the brutal 2022 drought. Rains stopped in early June and didn't start again until the last week of October. No plots, no acorns. Worst hunting year we've ever had.
 
BSK said:
We had no plots and no acorns during the brutal 2022 drought. Rains stopped in early June and didn't start again until the last week of October. No plots, no acorns. Worst hunting year we've ever had.
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Same here.

Mega, I'd be worried and killing all the brassicas your tractor tires drive over. Seems like they would crush all the circulatory systems in the brassicas. As someone mentioned above, maybe hand spread the grains overtop (would-be established brassicas) come sept-Oct (whenever rain is predicted).
 

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