Good Plot Food
Can't agree more about the soil testing. Best resource is usually agricultural service near you, or alternatively whitetail institute will send you out a bag with instructions and you mail it back. Cheaper to do local and agricultural consultants will usually help you out. Whitetail institute can also help you with selection once you have soil test. They will recommend best seed mix for your area. Seed isn't cheap but advice is qualified.
The frustrating part is that for the best soil test they want to know what you are planting first so they can recommend soil treatments that are best suited to the plants needs. When I first start a new site, I plan what I am going to plant after I see the soil test results. Because depending on my results, the amount of cash I have, what kind of ammendments are needed to get the soil in the right pH range I may decide this is not the "low cost, or low maintenance" I was looking for and may move to another site or give up the idea entirely (which I have done on a few places due to economic and management issues).
I agree that the two most overlooked areas of successful food plotting are weed control and soil testing.
vetjudy
Can't agree more about the soil testing. Best resource is usually agricultural service near you, or alternatively whitetail institute will send you out a bag with instructions and you mail it back. Cheaper to do local and agricultural consultants will usually help you out. Whitetail institute can also help you with selection once you have soil test. They will recommend best seed mix for your area. Seed isn't cheap but advice is qualified.
The frustrating part is that for the best soil test they want to know what you are planting first so they can recommend soil treatments that are best suited to the plants needs. When I first start a new site, I plan what I am going to plant after I see the soil test results. Because depending on my results, the amount of cash I have, what kind of ammendments are needed to get the soil in the right pH range I may decide this is not the "low cost, or low maintenance" I was looking for and may move to another site or give up the idea entirely (which I have done on a few places due to economic and management issues).
I agree that the two most overlooked areas of successful food plotting are weed control and soil testing.
vetjudy
