food plots & sandy ground

1pheas4

1pheas4

Moderator
I need some help with a food plot question if anyone is willing. I have an area with very sandy ground. Last season I planted some "test" food plot sections on it. To no surprise it didn't come up very well.

My question is this, can I put minerals in the ground to make this stuff grow? If so, what and how much of a difference will it make?

I'm planting a mix of grains like sorghum, oats, corn, wheat, sunflower seeds.

Thanks for any help! :) --1pheas4
 
You can try some Humic acid products. Hydra hume is one brand name from Helena. It kind of subtitutes for organic matter. Also no till the sand, if you work it the top couple inches will dry out quickly and you will not be planting into moisture. Seeds won't germinate in dry ground. I have seen soybeans planted after canning peas and not germinate for a month until it rains.
 
Wirehairs said:
You can try some Humic acid products. Hydra hume is one brand name from Helena. It kind of subtitutes for organic matter. Also no till the sand, if you work it the top couple inches will dry out quickly and you will not be planting into moisture. Seeds won't germinate in dry ground. I have seen soybeans planted after canning peas and not germinate for a month until it rains.
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yeah, Wirehairs I tilled it pretty heavily:eek:. That explains why the crops grew on small mounds (that held moisture) and not the flat areas. Thanks

I was told to add lime to the ground. Do you recommend this or just the Humic Acid products?:) --1pheas4
 
1pheas4 said:
I need some help with a food plot question if anyone is willing. I have an area with very sandy ground. Last season I planted some "test" food plot sections on it. To no surprise it didn't come up very well.

My question is this, can I put minerals in the ground to make this stuff grow? If so, what and how much of a difference will it make?

I'm planting a mix of grains like sorghum, oats, corn, wheat, sunflower seeds.

Thanks for any help! :) --1pheas4
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Try putting real organic matter. If you have access to manure put that on top and don't till it.
 
Information is limited. I would work on adding organic matter over time. As for crop choices, the corn and some sorghums are far from drought tolerant. If you want to have more success, use some more drought tolerant options. I'm on sandy loam here with a 29 inch rainfall belt. I like to mix seed varieties to take advantage of varied conditions. I often mix proso millet, German millet, African millet, Egyptian wheat, Ellis, Atlas, and some other forage sorghum type varieties to better cover the adaptive range our weather can throw. Make sure your fertility is managed. They make better use of the water available if the fertility is right.
 
How big of an area are you wanting to plant? Sounds like you need to get some OM in the ground and manure is a pretty good way to do it. Not sure if this is feasable but you might be able to spread some old rotting hay on the ground as well to get your OM built up. Is there anything growing on it now?
 
1pheas4 said:
yeah, Wirehairs I tilled it pretty heavily:eek:. That explains why the crops grew on small mounds (that held moisture) and not the flat areas. Thanks

I was told to add lime to the ground. Do you recommend this or just the Humic Acid products?:) --1pheas4
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Before you lime, get a soil test done and find out your pH. Most nutrients are more available to the plants the closer to 7 pH your soil is. Lime will raise your pH. Most sand doesn't have to high a pH and lime helps alot of sandy soils. Organic Matter is one of the hardest things to build on any land. Manure with alot of bedding can help, but it takes extra nitrogen to get the bacteria working to break down the straw or wood chip bedding. Even putting 2-3 tons of manure on per acre it will take years to build organic matter. The Humic acid won't build your organic matter but it does seem to make a substitute. I definatley wouldn't garanutee it, but it is worth a shot. To broadcast Humic acid it gets cost prohibitive but banding it with fertilizer isn't to bad.
 
Wirehairs said:
Before you lime, get a soil test done and find out your pH. Most nutrients are more available to the plants the closer to 7 pH your soil is. Lime will raise your pH. Most sand doesn't have to high a pH and lime helps alot of sandy soils. Organic Matter is one of the hardest things to build on any land. Manure with alot of bedding can help, but it takes extra nitrogen to get the bacteria working to break down the straw or wood chip bedding. Even putting 2-3 tons of manure on per acre it will take years to build organic matter. The Humic acid won't build your organic matter but it does seem to make a substitute. I definatley wouldn't garanutee it, but it is worth a shot. To broadcast Humic acid it gets cost prohibitive but banding it with fertilizer isn't to bad.
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Thank you. I think what I'm going to do is break the plots into sections again and try a little of everything then see what will do best.

Thanks again!:) --1pheas4
 
soil test is best start to establish what you do and don't need. If you add enough fertilizer you should be able to grow stuff in a parking lot provided you have some moisture. Working in resdue from left over crops will create OM b ut will take seasons. Manure is probably best recommendation to get fert and OM in one. Hard to beat it.
 
Dittos to those who said the place to start is a soil test. We send to MSU with info on specific target crops so that fertilizer recs can be customized, not just generalized.

As others have opined, likely you'll need to add lime, lots of it, plus OM. Adding manure is one way but you'll also be adding 80 gazzillion weed seeds that will keep coming up for yr grandchildren. Green manure is another way, two crops of grain rye, which will grow anywhere, till down and replant spring and fall, will build up the tilth quite quickly. After five years of this program on sandy soils that would hardly grow weeds before, we have some nice clover food plots.

NB
 
Can you get compost from waste management.
Here all leaves grass clipping etc are piled and composted. Huge piles free for hauling. Would be great soil builder.
Sandy soil will grow great crops with nutrients and water. Lots of water.
 
mnmthunting said:
Can you get compost from waste management.
Here all leaves grass clipping etc are piled and composted. Huge piles free for hauling. Would be great soil builder.
Sandy soil will grow great crops with nutrients and water. Lots of water.
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That's a good idea mnmthunting. I'll look into it. Thank you:):) -1pheas4
 
One more thing. When should I put such nutrients into the ground? How much time prior to planting?:)
 
On sand put your Nitrogen on as close to planting as possible. Phosphorus and Potash are Immobile and you can put them on anytime. Sulfur on sand is also a good thing.
 
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