Building Organic Matter

By GrowingDeer,

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Question
I am a land manager and founder for Trinity Special Sportsman Ministries in Central Florida.  We recently obtained this lease and our soils are horrible.  We planted Aeschynomene & Millet for our summer crops (I wish I would have found your Eagle Seed Soybeans sooner).  Anyway, if I want to improve the organic matter within my plots, what do you recommend doing?  Transporting Antler Dirt down here is too expensive.  I think the Lord’s money is better spent elsewhere.  I recently bought a pull behind leaf catcher and plan on making my own compost piles.  I realize this will take time.  Do you have any other suggestions?

In His Name,

Dennis

Dennis,

The two ways to increase organic matter are to haul it in (use Antler Dirt or other compost based fertilizer) or conserve the organic matter that is there.  I recommend using a no-till drill where practical and always using a cover crop when production crops are not established.  Any form of tillage limits the production and conservation of organic matter.  I have watched soils with very limited organic matter become fairly productive by simply using a no-till system for several years consecutively.  Building organic matter can be a very slow process at food plots if the deer consume most of the forage.  However, the benefits are certainly worth the effort.

Growing Deer together,

Grant