Food Plots - No or Low Till

Posted by David on Apr 8th 2015

   I want to share few thoughts on no till food plotting. First of all No till food plotting does not mean that you should just find a great place for a plot and go and spread seeds. I haven't personally done a lot of no till because I know it is tough to get a picture perfect food plot by doing it that way. None the less you can make a no till food plot work. A lot of people experience mixed results. If you have a spot that is difficult to get to and or you don't have the equipment and you want to have a food plot there by all means give it a shot. You still need to clear the area from brush and grass so the seed can get good soil contact. So get the area cleared well and make sure the sun will bit hitting the area atleast 5-6 hours a day. I still recommend doing a soil test to make sure the planting will grow in the first place. Even if you cleared the area well you should still spray with Round Up to kill the left over vegetation. While the round up is working (give it 7-10 days) you have time to get your soil test done and gather your lime/fertilizer. Being you are not tilling the soil it is a good idea to spread fertilizer product early and let a rain soak it into the ground. Hopefully you ground is hard as a rock as this could make germination difficult. You will also want to bump up the seed lbs per acre by about 30% with a no till planting because of the germination factor. Keep in mind that No till only works will with small seeds. No Corn, Soybeans, Peas, Oat and seed of that nature unless you have a no till planter. I'm assuming you are spreading small seeds like Clover, Brassicas, etc. A couple of good seed blends would be Frigid Forage Wild Game Buffet, Pure Trophy Clover or Big N Beasty. After you spread your seed in might be a good to light pack the seed in the ground for better soil contact. This is how I go about a no till planting. It does work and the more work you put into it the better it will turn out. If you do have access to equipment and can get into you location by all mean till it. Thanks for reading.