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The smell of freshly turned earth during spring planting brings back plenty of memories of learning how to plow behind a mule. The mule I’m talking about was an all-terrain-vehicle but instead of consuming gas and oil, it consumed grass and hay. The best part was I could still hear all the sounds of nature around me with only the jingle of the trace chains, rocks scraping past the plow teeth and the mule’s rhythmic breathing to interrupt the natural music of rural life.

I continue to enjoy breaking ground each spring when planting food plots for wildlife. In addition, warm season plots can give wildlife the much needed food for lactating does, antler-growing bucks, hungry turkey poults, and dove and quail. Before investing money in seed and fertilizer, it’s necessary to make a plan for success.

Soil Test

First, if you haven’t completed a soil test within three years, get that done. For the cost of a bag of fertilizer, you’ll know exactly how much lime and fertilizer, if any, you need to add. For instance, food plots consisting heavily of legumes like clovers will have low nitrogen requirements. On the other hand, plants like corn require heavier amounts of nitrogen. State on the soil test report what you intend to plant so the lab can give an exact analysis of the nutrients you will need.

Ag Spray offers an ATV sprayer that can be ordered through your local Co-op.

Spraying

For warm season plots, keep in mind there will be weed competition with your forage. Even before plowing and planting, spraying may be required. For most applications, your ATV can easily be outfitted with a sprayer for spot spraying or complete coverage.

Through your local Co-op, you can order an Ag Spray (www. agspray.com) boom-style sprayer to quickly do the job with its three gallon per minute pump. For instance, if your food plot has unwanted fescue growing in it, it’s difficult to plow through and kill the thick, bunch grass and bundled root system. Spraying with a Roundup®- type chemical does an efficient job of getting rid of tough bunch grass like fescue before you plow.

Once you’ve planted and growing begins, competition from weeds like thistle can be controlled through spot spraying. It’s critical to get control of thistle quickly before the plant bolts into a seed head. One mature seed head can scatter thistle throughout the entire plot.

Plowing

Plowing with a traditional disc harrow will get the field ready for planting, but there are a few tips for making plowing more productive. Instead of plowing in the same direction, you can cut your plowing time in half by crossing directions. First, plow in one direction, then, plow across the field. This will cut through thatch and debris much more efficiently.

Pick your plowing time in advance. If your food plot is on a well-drained hilltop, you can plow a few days after a good rain and the disks will cut the soil better. In bottomland where the soil stays moist, dryer conditions are better. If the plow is leaving damp clods, you are better off to wait until drier conditions. The dirt should be just damp enough to see your boot and tractor tire imprints.

Plow first in one direction then, cross the direction to cut more debris.

Sorghum
Sorghum provides rich seed heads for wildlife and lasts into late season.

Find the right forage

It is possible to plant food plots that serve all types of wildlife during warm season. Sunflower, sorghum, millet, corn, soybeans and peas provide plenty of food for deer, turkeys and other birds. If you stagger your planting dates and plant in strips, you’ll have forage for a longer period of time and avoid potential disasters due to drought or blowing rains.

I like to plant high profile forage like sunflower, sorghum and corn in strips to create travel corridors for deer and turkeys. Even after the forage dies, the standing stalks continue to provide cover for wildlife and the seeds continue to be available, often well into bow season.

In between the high profile strips, I like to plant clovers and other low profile, nitrogen fixing forage. If timed correctly, you can have a couple of large food plots to serve as an opening day dove shoot and last until well into deer season. While parts of the warm-season food plots are fading, use this time to plant cool-season grasses and clovers that will serve through deer season and into spring turkey season.

Work smarter not harder

Many of the ATV implements I use require a 12-volt battery. Instead of clamping onto and draining the ATV battery, I use a low-cost lawn and garden battery for both sprayers and seed sowers. This preserves my ATV battery and makes for easier hook up.

Clover seeds are small and expensive. The last thing you want to do is accidentally rip a bag of clover seed open on the way to the field. To remedy this, I pre-measure my clover seeds into hard plastic juice bottles. One 64-ounce juice bottle holds approximately four pounds of clover seeds.

It’s important to know how much forage is being eaten from your food plots. The best way to determine this is with an exclusion cage. You can roll hog or dog wire into a hoop and secure it to the ground with two metal T-posts. The forage inside the hoop grows without being eaten and gives an accurate measurement of the actual amount of forage being consumed.

To aid in plowing, a little extra weight on the disc harrows helps the discs cut deeper. I fit a piece of plywood to the top of the plow to carry extra fertilizer or bags of seeds to the field on this platform, and the extra weight aids in plowing. If the tractor front end becomes too light to steer, you have too much weight.

A lawn and garden battery can conveniently power ATV implements.

This spring, don’t forget to stop and smell the fresh earth as you are plowing, and bring the youngsters along. You can bring back fond memories and create new ones for your children whether your "mule" has hoofs or tires.

John Howle is a freelance writer from Heflin.