Just hoped on a new lease and want to try a summer food plot this year.
I have never done one but have the ground and fence about ready to plant.
Any seed blend recommendations?
Where is everyone buying seeds?
Anywhere around Hallettsville or Gonzales area that would have seeds in bulk?
Am I too late to plant already?
I have a little under 1 acre to plant.

What equipment do you have? Whether or not you are too late depends entirely on how the rains fall (or don't) but in Gonzales you are probably too late / cutting it pretty close. I usually plant around 4/1, this year I planted 3/12. I'm in the La Grange area

Buckwheat has a short life cycle and likes warm soils for germination, so that could be a good option, but my advice would be to fertilize what's already growing there and wait for the fall (plant some cereal grains, radish and clover in October). It's a lot easier to plant a spring food plot into an old fall plot vs trying to kill off a bunch of warm season grasses and broadleaf weeds that have been growing for 45 days at this point. You will have a tough time outrunning goatweed this late in the year (especially if you are disturbing the soil).

If you're dead set on planting something, I'd consider Iron & Clay Cowpeas. A good friend of mine had very good results with a plot two years ago around your area.

That said, MrWonderful makes some good points. You might want to focus on setting up a good fall food plot.

I was just about to make a food plot post.

I just put out a ton of lime, but no fertilizer. Was that a mistake? Can I put fertilizer down later?

TxAgPreacher said:

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I was just about to make a food plot post.

I just put out a ton of lime, but no fertilizer. Was that a mistake? Can I put fertilizer down later?

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Assuming you did a soil test and had acidic soil? What was your PH and NPK values? Pelletized lime takes a few months to have an impact, ag lime even longer. PH of soil just effects how easily plants can convert nutrients (i.e. fertilizer). You can put fertilizer out any time, just know that if you don't get a rain shortly after, your nitrogen will leach away. I like to fertilize once I've confirmed good germination of what I was trying to plant, that way you aren't just supercharging weeds (I once gave a nitrogen boost to a plot that didn't make it due to a flood and cows, goatweed was 6 feet mid-summer).

MrWonderful said:

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TxAgPreacher said:

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I was just about to make a food plot post.

I just put out a ton of lime, but no fertilizer. Was that a mistake? Can I put fertilizer down later?

---

Assuming you did a soil test and had acidic soil? What was your PH and NPK values? Pelletized lime takes a few months to have an impact, ag lime even longer. PH of soil just effects how easily plants can convert nutrients (i.e. fertilizer). You can put fertilizer out any time, just know that if you don't get a rain shortly after, your nitrogen will leach away. I like to fertilize once I've confirmed good germination of what I was trying to plant, that way you aren't just supercharging weeds (I once gave a nitrogen boost to a plot that didn't make it due to a flood and cows, goatweed was 6 feet mid-summer).

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It was pellets and I tilled it in. I didn't test the soil but I put lime on my garden last year and it did great. All my plots are shaded, and under trees. Lots of leaves. I heard that the leaves hurt the PH.

Thanks. I think I'll do that. Fertilize what comes up, and replant in the late summer for a fall plot whatever doesnt come up.

MrWonderful said:

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What equipment do you have? Whether or not you are too late depends entirely on how the rains fall (or don't) but in Gonzales you are probably too late / cutting it pretty close. I usually plant around 4/1, this year I planted 3/12. I'm in the La Grange area

Buckwheat has a short life cycle and likes warm soils for germination, so that could be a good option, but my advice would be to fertilize what's already growing there and wait for the fall (plant some cereal grains, radish and clover in October). It's a lot easier to plant a spring food plot into an old fall plot vs trying to kill off a bunch of warm season grasses and broadleaf weeds that have been growing for 45 days at this point. You will have a tough time outrunning goatweed this late in the year (especially if you are disturbing the soil).

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I think I'll follow this advice. Just get it prepped better for the fall and start from there.
Equipment is basic tractor, shredder, disc.
There's an old bean planter in the barn but needs some tlc to get going.

For a first time plot, I'd go heavy on cereal rye - 75# per acre (not ryegrass - elbon rye). Feed stores will either have it or can order it. Mix in 4-6# per acre of daikon radish and 6# per acre of white clover and crimson clover each. Deer like rye, but won't hammer it (like wheat or oats in my experience). In a sub-acre plot you have to find the middle ground plants that deer like but don't love if you want it to actually get established. Plus it's good for the soil and extremely allelopathic (doesn't let weeds grow around it), so next spring you will have a thick stand of predominantly nothing but easy to spray and shred rye to kill. Will make your spring plot a lot easier to get going, as the weeds will be dormant. Then you can add in more oats / wheat the following fall to bump up your attractiveness levels for deer.

What's growing there currently? Probably worth a soil test, I've skipped that before on pastures that already had good stands of native grasses and broadleaves, but if you have heavily grazed, compacted soil, you might need some amendments to get it going.

Give Jason Nerada at Pogue Seed in Kenedy a call (830-583-3456). He can help you out.