Food Plot Equipment

The main food plot page details the food plot equipment that we now use to prepare our plots and other methods that we have tried over the years. Everyone’s situation will be different when it comes to the equipment available for working the soil. Cost is a large consideration when it comes to choosing the equipment that you will use. Whether you are using a tractor or ATV to prepare you food plots also is part of the consideration.

There are seed blends that can be sown on un-prepared ground and provide forage for deer, but even these seed blends will perform much better if the ground can be tilled to some extent.

The simplest form of food plot equipment is to rig up something yourself that will disturb the ground. This could perhaps be railroad spikes in some sort of frame and pulled by an ATV or tractor, anything that would start to rough up the ground surface. You could also use a rake to rough up the ground. Raking could become a little difficult in larger plots. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how big of a plot you would be willing to rake.

In combination with simply roughing up the soil you can also spray an herbicide to kill the vegetation before planting, but this also has a cost and you have to buy something to spray the herbicide with.

Rototillers do an excellent job of preparing ground for planting. The only limitation is the time and work that it would take to prepare a large plot. On the other hand the tiller/cultivator attachments that can be used on tractors work great.

There are several varieties of disks available ranging from small units that can be pulled by garden tractors and ATV’s to large disks used with farm tractors. The limitation with disks is that pulled behind models require weight to force the disks to dig into the ground. This can be a problem with the smaller models in hard ground or where the vegetation is thick. It can take quite a bit of weight to force the disks into the ground. We had this problem with a small set that we bought and pulled with an ATV. The disks themselves probably only weighed about one hundred pounds requiring us to strap logs or cement blocks onto them to get them to penetrate the ground and it was still difficult. I would recomend getting the heaviest disk you can afford to buy and have the power to pull. One problem that I have had with our larger pull behind disks is maneuvering them in a couple of our smaller plots. They do not go backwards very well!

If a set of plows are available they are your best bet in combination with disking. One option that some hunters use is to pay a local farmer to plow and disk their plots for them.

There is now food plot equipment made specifically for food plot cultivation. Companies are making pull behind disks for ATV’s and even food plot equipment that will do everything including disking, fertilizing, sowing, cultipacking and covering. These pieces of equipment come in several varieties and many prices.

The bottom line in food plot preparation is, the better the ground is worked the more likely your food plot will be successful but we all have limitations on equipment availability. Depending on your needs and financial commitment there is food plot equipment available today for us amateur farmers. They are all designed to be pulled behind ATV’s which are not in short supply among hunters.

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