Holy cow is it hot. It was 95 and humid yesterday here in Michigan. Suffice it to say, green stuff struggles. Our yard is toast, my field is brown and dead. Clovers, at this point, are likely dormant, or about to go there. Which begs the question-is it important to have a food source in the summer?

I think it is important for this reason-it gives the deer a place to feed and it keeps them in your area. If you only have a cold weather crop, you may miss a key attractant during bow and gun season. It's important to have both, if you can, simply because of the fact that you want deer in and around your hunting zone as much as possible. By giving them a consistent forage year-round, you ensure that they are in your area and this means you will increase your odds of hunting success.

The great thing about mid to late summer, is that even the weeds get stressed out and die. Now is the time to disc your land, and think about your fall planting schedule. August 15 is my target here to put in my batch of Extreme and also a turnip and brassica mix, yet un-named. It's time to start practicing your bow shooting skills, and getting your gun in order...Less than 90 days and bow season opens...that is not much time.

Summer Mowing

Summer is here and I’d like to say that I underestimated the power of mowing. With annual weeds, if you cut them off before they seed, you safely eliminate them from returning to your plot. This means that you can make a huge dent in weed problems in your plots just by hitting it with the brushog or mower. It also means no chemicals, spraying, etc. It’s a much more natural method of weed control, and very effective.

Don’t mow on very hot days, or if no rain is predicted, as it can be overly stressful on your plot plants.

You’ll likely notice that as we head into full summer, your clovers will tend to go dormant. Not a problem, as there is plenty of other forage out there for our whitetail friends. This is a good time to see if your plot is producing as you want, and assess if you should re-think your plans. Now is also a good time to begin disking, twice a month, for a fall planting, if you decide to re-do your plot.

Spring Update

It's May 23, and everything is green, including the weeds. My food plot is not doing as good as I had hoped. Last fall, around September 15, I put down the Alfa-Rack product from the WhiteTail Institute. We had a lot of rain, but the temperatures were quite cool following the seeding and the germination appeared to have failed. I did not fertilize, however, and should have. Today, I can say that I have about 40% germination. The rest is broadleaf weeds. I have virtually no field grass type weeds. The good news is that the weeds are likely annuals, and mowing (with my brushog) should keep the seed tops cut off, thus causing the plants to die off this fall after frost.

While I didn't get a full germination, I am going to leave this plot alone, and care for it in hopes that it flourishes. I will likely do an overseeding this fall to fill in the areas that are sparse. I did put down 6-24-24 fertilizer yesterday, about 100 lbs/acre. Using an Earthway spreader is a pure joy. My Model 2150 is built like a rock and performed flawlessly. I even put down some 12-12-12 just because I wanted to get rid of it(and use the 2150).

I am now clearing an area that is about an acre in size. I put Roundup on it yesterday to kill off the native grasses. I will re-apply any areas that I missed in a month or so. Then we'll disk it every 2 weeks through the summer, incorporate (by disking) ag-lime at #3200/acre to bring the PH up from 5.5 to something closer to 7. PH is the most critical element. Low PH encourages weeds and clover crops require a good sweet soil, as close to 7 as possible. This fall, we'll put down some brassica mix, likely turnips and winter wheat or rye. That will give the deer forage through the winter. Then, in the spring, we'll disk that under in early June to help build our soil, and plant buckwheat for our warm weather crop. Check back later for an update on that project.

I also have a small 1/3 acre spot in the woods that is a test clearing. I put a clover/chicory mix down and its coming in, albeit slowly. We'll see if it can thrive, more importantly, once the leaves fall, we'll see if the sun it gets from October-May is enough to keep it growing. Our bow stand will be near there as it is a travel corridor.

For the summer, your plans should be to mow your plots, or if you are preparing for something for this fall, or even next year, hit them with Roundup. Glyphosate based products are 'gone' from the soil in 14 days after application making them a great 'green' product. They are not harmful to the environment and they really work great. Killing off native grasses, with their extensive root systems is a must, and makes disking much easier, and insures a clean seed bed come this fall or next spring. Spray now, and again in June, then again in September for a frost seeding (March) next Spring. Or, eliminate the September Roundup application and plant your brassicas mid-August. (We're in Michigan). Using the CareSpray backpack sprayer (from Ebay) really helps make it easy to cover a lot of area quickly. 5 gallons goes a long way.

Good hunting and farming!