Now that Spring is in full swing, its time to make your plans for this year’s planting projects. The first step is to get your map done that will tell you how many acres each plot measures and what you will do there in order to get your thoughts together and be able to order seeds, fertilizers and herbicides that you will need. This map is a tract I have been working on recently that is featured in my youtube videos.  Last year, we had good success with double cropping soybeans and brassicas in the neighbor’s field.  So, this year we will expand that planting to use the entire 5-acre field so the deer can’t keep up with the growth and will not eat up the forage before it can grow.  We will also use some herbicide and over-seeding of existing perennial plots that are being ruined by grass and Canada Thistle.  The plan will be to apply glyphosate to any weeds in the bean field in late May and rent a no-till seed drill from the County Soil Conservation District to plant the beans.  We will use Pursuit at a low rate if weeds start to become a problem.  I have some Poast herbicide left over from last year and will use it on any grass problem areas and we can spot spray the thistle as-needed as summer progresses.  Using no-till planting should help to prevent thistle as I think tillage only serves to bring more weed seed to the surface.  I have lots of clover and bought some chicory for this year so all we need to buy are soybeans, brassicas for out over-seeding later on and some Pursuit herbicide and whatever amendments the soil test indicates.  We have the seed drill scheduled to be delivered and so are set to go.

While we are there working on the forage supply, it will be a good time to cut shooting lanes and prepare stand locations.  Better to get that done in spring so as not to disturb the area.  Everything should be done when you go to hunt so you can use a stealth hunting approach in the fall.