Corn food plots and cover

1

1GB

New member
I planted corn this year for the first time and sprayed it twice. The corn is growing great, but I'm starting to think that perhaps I shouldn't have sprayed the second time. Under the canopy is largely bare now. I could have kept it "weedy corn" instead, offering more cover/seeds/bugs/etc and maybe keeping birds from running full tilt through it when hunting. Does anyone do this, or would it just hurt the corn crop too much, making it undesirable?

Does anyone overseed their corn plots with anything for pheasants? I know for deer brassica or cereal grains are a popular choice. I've been contemplating buckwheat or millet.
 
Something like millet or any small grain with the corn would make excellent pheasant cover and long lasting food source.

At this time it sounds like the corn canopy will limit much growth of anything planted with your corn.

If you wanted the corn only for the birds and had no thoughts of harvest it would have been best have sprayed once early. The second growth of weeds were probably mostly foxtails and other warm weather weeds, good pheasant stuff.
 
I'd probably focus anything I broadcast into it at the thinner areas of the plot so there will be some sunlight.

The corn is mainly for the birds, but unavoidably also the deer. The second flush of weeds was lots of good stuff - foxtail, milkweed, lambsquarter, and ragweed.

It's growing really good so far. This portion is part of an 8-10 row travel corridor between winter cover thickets:
IMG_2454.jpg


Example of a thinner area I'm thinking about overseeding:
IMG_2462.jpg
 
That's good work, good stuff for the wild critters your doing. :thumbsup:

Good idea planting in the thinner areas, South edge of the field in a few rows will work to.
 
corn additives

I'm a big fan of working Millet or Sorgum along the edges or thin spots. Plus this seed only has to be covered by 1/2 inch of top soil so you can work the ground with a garden rake and broad cast by hand then re rake. With moisture the stuff pops up in 5-8 days, so you can see results rather quickly. Plus the stuff can be planted up until the first week of July and still produce cover and even seed heads.

Nice job on what you have going! viking
 
sdviking said:
I'm a big fan of working Millet or Sorgum along the edges or thin spots. Plus this seed only has to be covered by 1/2 inch of top soil so you can work the ground with a garden rake and broad cast by hand then re rake. With moisture the stuff pops up in 5-8 days, so you can see results rather quickly. Plus the stuff can be planted up until the first week of July and still produce cover and even seed heads.

Nice job on what you have going! viking
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Thanks. I do have sorghum left - might just have to get the rake out!

McFarmer said:
What spray did you use ? Anything with residual ? Or just Roundup ?
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I only used gly, no residual. Anything I put down should be able to grow unhampered.
 
Spray

I planted my corn on May 2nd and it was up around the 18th, just missed the frost that happen two days before. Corn was sprayed around the 4th of June which i know was a little late but moisture in the field prohibited it from being done earlier. Corn was sprayed with round up and flex something.

Millet and Pheasant Forever Blend was planted 30 May and up 5 days later thanks to some timely rain and heat. It hasn't been sprayed yet hope to do that this weekend with some 2-4D. We planted the stuff in a 12 foot drill plugging every other row, so 12 or so inches between rows. First year using this drill so I'm hoping it worked ok. Will post pictures upon my return.

Still wish I could have planted some sunflower patches but no time this year.

Viking
 
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I'd sure stay away from anything else that might draw in more deer. Yes, some short season millet planted in the thin spots might add more calories for the winter. A lot depends upon what moisture you will have available. You don't want another planting to prevent the original planting from putting on seed. In the future, you may find planting alternating drill boxes between corn and millet would provide not only the additional seed source, but also the cover you want within the food plot to hold the birds. If you divide your plot in half and plant one 90 degrees to the other, you can run the birds down the rows one way to run into the rows at the end.
 
sdviking said:
Will post pictures upon my return.
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Definitely do. We always like pictures. :thumbsup:

Prairie Drifter said:
I'd sure stay away from anything else that might draw in more deer. Yes, some short season millet planted in the thin spots might add more calories for the winter. A lot depends upon what moisture you will have available.
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Moisture will probably be better here in MI than you'd expect out west. You guys have me leaning more and more to trying to get a short maturity grain sorghum raked in.

In the future, you may find planting alternating drill boxes between corn and millet would provide not only the additional seed source, but also the cover you want within the food plot to hold the birds.
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I'd thought about that, but was worried about being able to spray the corn with RU without killing the other stuff.
If you divide your plot in half and plant one 90 degrees to the other, you can run the birds down the rows one way to run into the rows at the end.
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That thought occurred to me when I was almost done putting the rows in. I did run about 3 rows perpendicular at the ends of the larger block planting I did, across the other rows. I've also got shrubbery on each of the ends, so hopefully the birds hold up there for a moment before being flushed. Next year I'll plan this better.
 
strips

Last year while driving to the Black Hills of South Dakota at Christmas time we drove by a couple of fields on the west river side of the state that were pheasant heavens. They started off with slough ground and a grassy strip followed by 6-8 rows of 6 to 8 foot cedar trees, then a short grass strip, followed by 2-4 rows of 3 foot tall millet wide enough to walk down the rows, next was, I'm guessing 16 rows of corn followed by the 2-4 rows of millet. I assume the hunters walked down the millet and let the dogs work the corn. Same concept along the cedar trees with the hunters walking the grass strips. This had to be a hunting club or someone that has pay to hunt. But the layout of the ground was fantastic.

All I can think is some day I'd really like the chance to try setting up a planting plan similar to that one. I still am super impressed.

viking
 
sdviking said:
Last year while driving to the Black Hills of South Dakota at Christmas time we drove by a couple of fields on the west river side of the state that were pheasant heavens. They started off with slough ground and a grassy strip followed by 6-8 rows of 6 to 8 foot cedar trees, then a short grass strip, followed by 2-4 rows of 3 foot tall millet wide enough to walk down the rows, next was, I'm guessing 16 rows of corn followed by the 2-4 rows of millet. I assume the hunters walked down the millet and let the dogs work the corn. Same concept along the cedar trees with the hunters walking the grass strips. This had to be a hunting club or someone that has pay to hunt. But the layout of the ground was fantastic.

All I can think is some day I'd really like the chance to try setting up a planting plan similar to that one. I still am super impressed.

viking
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I see patches like this in ND. A friend of mine in the SW has stuff similar. Undisturbed grass areas whether low ground, shelterbelt, farmstead, section line, corners, hillsides, etc. Always undisturbed with the new grass growing up in the old growth. Lots of brushy stuff in the coulees, rows of trees with more rows of cedar. 3-4 thousand acres and produces literally thousands of wild pheasants per year.
It is a pay to hunt, he does well. Knows what the wild birds require. Lots of good weedy foodplots. The cropland is not tilled until Spring. Rows of corn or standing wheat left over Winter next to the cover
I just stopped to visit and see the place a couple weeks ago.
Lots of hens and broods.
I'm not advertising for him, He's booked through Thanksgiving.
 
proper management

mnm,

I really enjoy property like you just described, really is nice to see. I don't own much land but the little I do own, I hope to set it up to support the birds plus make it enjoyable to hunt. I enjoy learning from those that have already figured it out on proper land management. I'm lucky to have 160 acres of CRP across the road which means my land can be the food source or extreme bad weather sanctuary. viking
 
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