April 10th Update
Food Plot Journal
Applying Fertilizer

This week we wanted to apply fertilizer and lime and it was another beautiful day to work on our food plots with sunny skies and a high temperature in the low 60's. The grass is starting to grow and we'll have to get the garden plot planted on our next visit, before grass mowing kicks into full swing. We spread pelletized lime and 10:20:20 fertilizer in the garden food plot. We also made several passes with the disks and the soil began to work quite well. It was still a little damp from all of the rain that we've had and the dirt was still clumping some. The next time we will disk the food plot again and sow the clover seed. Hopefully the ground will dry. If it does it should work into a good seedbed.

Fertilizer for clover should have low nitrogen content, which is the first number of the three. Clover also needs a lot of potassium, which is the last number. The 10:20:20 was the best combination available at the local Co-op.

In the other four food plots we spread fertilizer and broadcast a light coat of Imperial Whitetail Clover. In the old house food plot we seeded a bare area where the deer had created a muddy spot and at the whippoorwill food plot we broadcast a fair amount of seed. The clover in the whippoorwill plot had been grazed heavily over the last year and was very sparse. In prior years I had lightly overseeded the middle food plot in the years after the original planting and had favorable results. The food plot at whippoorwill will be a good test for overseeding. We are supposed to get some rain over the next couple of days. If so, the rain should work the seed into the ground just right.

The clover didn't look like it had started to take off yet this spring but it did appear greener than the visit on March 20. I would say that if we get some warm weather it should jump back up quick.

This is a photo of the garden food plot after it was disked, limed and fertilized.

This is a photo of the oldhouse food plot. Notice the bare spot that needed re-seeded.

This is a photo of the whippoorwill food plot. There is green but most of the green is not clover.

This is a close-up of the clover in the oldhouse food plot.

Click Here To Read March 2004 Food Plot Update


Return from the April 10th Food Plot Update to the Main Food Plot Page.