Food Plot Advice needed

[Brad H.]

To say I neglected my food plot this year is an understatement. I planted clover last year and it was doing well this spring,but the grasses and Weeds overtook it. I went down today and checked, and the clover is definitely still there, but it's quite overgrown with weed and grass.

I'd like to get it back before bow season. Should I mow it, spray it, or a combination of both? Any suggestions are appreciated!

[farmertrappe]

If the trash has not gone to seed I would mow. Can you wack off the weed tops first in this heat will kill off some junk. And then mow lower when the ungodly heat is over.

[bk]

Jul 24, 2016 15:07:27 GMT -5 farmertrappe said:

If the trash has not gone to seed I would mow. Can you wack off the weed tops first in this heat will kill off some junk. And then mow lower when the ungodly heat is over.

Good advice, farmertrappe.  Exactly what I would do.

[Brad H.]

I went in this afternoon with a weed trimmer and knocked down the weeds and vegetation to about 6 inches. Worked the gas trimmer so hard that the nut on the end of the head that you unscrew to take the head off and change the line out welded itself shut. I can't get the damn head off to change the line.

It looked like there is alot of good clover in there just waiting for some sunlight. Now that the weeds are knocked down it looks like mainly clover and grasses, which I will spray with grass specific herbicide sometime this week. Hopefully this is enough to get the clover to take off.

Pictures to follow. Stay tuned!

[Brad H.]

Here's some pics of my field after my trimmings yesterday. The high weeds are well over 5 feet high, and I trimmed them down to about 6 inches. I only was able to do about half of the field before my trimmer gave way.



As you can see there is alot of grass leftover, and that will be sprayed later this week or next once the clover has a chance to recover from my butchering. Definitely some nice forage in here though.

[shawn]

I believe clover needs a periodical grazing or mowing to flourish. I don't think it is a maintenance free food plot, just a hardy one. If I remember rigth from reading articles that is.

[Brad H.]

Jul 25, 2016 14:06:13 GMT -5 shawn said:

I believe clover needs a periodical grazing or mowing to flourish. I don't think it is a maintenance free food plot, just a hardy one. If I remember rigth from reading articles that is.

Some guys spray and some guys mow. I was trying to use the spraying method because this was recently logged, and when I planted it I left all of the stumps in place so getting through with a mower is about impossible. I obviously didn't keep up with the spraying as you can see. Hopefully the mowing gets things back where they ought to be.

[farmertrappe]

I believe when possible mowing helps keep the clover the most palatable for the deer also. They prefer the new growth.

[Gomer746]

If your whacker is out of string, you can always use zip ties in a pinch.